DK’s Daily Shot of Penguins: The Florida lesson

DK’s Daily Shot of Penguins: The Florida lesson

[Music] I love the Panthers grit I love their goal tending I love that they’re on the cusp of winning the Stanley Cup as soon is tonight morning to you good Tuesday morning I’m Dan kovachich of DK Pittsburgh sports and this is daily shot of penguins it comes your way bright and early every weekday if you’re into football Andor baseball I also offer daily shots of Steelers and pirates in the same place that you found this before I get going today I want to thank everybody for the kind wishes that were sent this way on the vacation that I took the first one really that I’ve taken since starting these daily shots right around Peak covid time a few years back it was a little weird I’m not going to lie not doing them it was a little weird being on the wrong side of the planet while the Stanley Cup Final was going on I said it’ll found my own little ways to watch at least parts of it and for as much praise as I’ve lavished on these Panthers really for weeks now going back to the earliest rounds of the playoffs and even into the regular season I felt like this was going to be the team to beat in the Eastern Conference when I watch these playoffs through the prism of a pittsburgher of someone who covers the the Penguins and I’m sure you guys will do a lot of the same stuff when you’re watching these games you’ll think boy the Penguins could do that or they could use that guy or in the case of Evan Rodriguez they really shouldn’t have let go of that guy and then you try to apply it to what reality is because you know that there’s no such thing as a Mike Sullivan team that’s ever going to be as undisciplined as the Panthers are and by the way continue to be and were again in game four they will just take their penalties and presume that they’ll kill them off you know and I know that it never happen in Pittsburgh under Sullivan so between that and looking at you know Sergey bosski versus Tristan jar it’s probably a waste of everybody’s time to you know sit here and Advocate that the Penguins ought to be like the Panthers well they’re not going to be they’re not going to have that grit and they’re not going to have that goal tending you know what I wonder though I wonder if they would at least be able to begin moving toward a defensive group like what Florida has now I’ve said before and I believe this that the Panthers have the best top four in the league but if you look at all six of their guys if you look at their main people Gustaf forcings turned into a guy that ought to be getting discussed for Norris Trophy Aaron eblad Miko mikola Brandon moror Oliver emman Larson who for a while there in Phoenix was a star and Dimitri kulakov who was in Pittsburgh for a cup of coffee that’s a hell of a group that’s a hell of a half dozen to be sending out there shift after shift after shift and not sweating who’s doing what or who’s responsible for what you know they all can do a little bit of everything this episode is brought to you by bet online your number one source for all your summer Sports needs this season from Major League Baseball golf NHL NBA playoffs get the latest odds and lines including all team matchups player props odds on just about everything that’s out there head to the website today or use your mobile device to get in on the action bet online where the game starts I said it in the first round said it in the second round said it in the third round going to repeat it now during the final the Florida defense has controlled these playoffs more than any other facet of any other hockey team but also more than any other facet of the Panthers themselves do the penguins have that no do the penguins have pedigree of course they do they have chryst tang and Eric Carlson do they have a player who’s as uh high quality and consistent as a forsling no but they have Marcus Pon and unfortunately I can’t carry the dialogue realistically a whole lot further than that I just can’t I want to think all of the good things about Jack sa ivany and I’ll continue to do that in a fair context but I’m not about to anoint him into some kind of category with these other Florida players that I’ve mentioned can David Quinn come in and take care of Ryan Graves maybe he’s done it with others but you know what TD Reen did it with others and couldn’t with Graves by the way remember everybody who listens to the show on a regular basis that it was the day before rean was fired that I pointed out to you guys that I didn’t think he’d lose his job over the power play I thought he’d lose his job over not having gotten more out of graves well look who replaced Reen Quinn’s not some power play wizard either Quinn is being brought in to do what rear and couldn’t maybe let’s say Graves works out let’s say Graves at least becomes decent he doesn’t become this horrific personified contract that he is right now who’s rounding out your six are you going to throw in a Po Jo because he had a decent finish to his season I mean I guess you could are you going to get excited about it no you going to throw in Ryan Shay I’m not I saw some defensive lapses there and if you’re not producing offense on any kind of regular basis I don’t want to see your defensive lapses can somebody be brought in could Kyle dubis kind of go away from what the conventional wisdom is about the penguin shortcomings and instead of addressing the bottom six or you know even elements of the top six could he say you know what I’m just going to take the the Florida approach I want six terrific players back there or at least like you know 5.5 if you can get Graves to a05 if I do that we become a more solid more dependable five on five team one that doesn’t blow leads one that gets the puck to Sydney Crosby faster and more accurately one that kills penalties more effectively one that might be you know a little bit tougher depending on the type of player that you would add I’m just throwing it out there all I ever hear from anybody who follows this team is you know add to somewhere in the top six add a Winger add a big name big scorer or on the bottom six get a big old tough guy I think this is more plausible we know from watching these playoffs at least with the Florida Panthers that it works when we come come back J1 [Music] Q today’s J1 Q comes from Scott who says DK I have no trust in Kyle dubis to fix the mess that is the Penguins he inherited a lot of bad stuff and then made it even worse with many of the moves he made last off season you can’t rebuild and try to keep old players happy at the same time it won’t work you know Scott I I have a hard time with really cast in concrete Labs I don’t believe that it’s an either or between rebuilding and continuing to compete with Sid I don’t believe that you have to go all out dra on and sell off every player for a zillion draft picks and then wait five six years and suck completely for a half decade before those players are you know 21 22 years old uh that’s not reality in the salary cap-based NHL it was I don’t know how old you are Scott or how long you’ve been following the game but I do know that preap that was the only route that you had if you couldn’t uh win consistently or being real here you couldn’t afford to keep up with the teams that were way out spending everybody else Rangers Red Wings Canadians and so forth then you had to blow it up you had to really blow it up that’s just not true anymore one thing that gets lost I think among hockey fans in general when you hear the term salary cap you always think of the upper end right it’s just you know cap it’s at the top I think it’s a whole lot like uh the way people misuse global warming when climate change is actually a better term for it because what climate change is it just causes a lot of different goofy things to happen to the weather it’s not just the overall General warming of the planet similarly the cap also comes with a floor it’s a pretty tight range it’s about $20 million apart teams can’t spend below that range they’re not allowed they’re not even allowed to do this thing that I think some people fear that the Penguins need to do it would never be like Sid in the kids or something you know where SIDS like Grandpa and there’s a bunch of Braden joer flying all around him and he’s just getting them ready to be part of the next great generation of Pittsburgh hockey it that’s not it they couldn’t do that quite literally if they wanted to listen I’ve been critical of dubis uh there’s a lot of people who listen to this program who feel I’ve been excessively and unfairly critical of dubis and I I could and I could take that that’s fine that’s part of the process here but one thing that I’m positive that I support with what dubis is doing if not necessarily what he’s done because I also happen to share your view that he really butchered some stuff last off season is that he’s holding on to the draft picks now I’ll bet you couldn’t get joerger off of him with a crowbar I’ll bet there’s I don’t want to say nothing I’ll bet there’s next to nothing you could offer him for his top prospect or for that matter his first round pick for 2025 and Beyond and that’s good that’s as it should be that needs to be made clear to everybody not just in the organization but also outside the organization and the public and there needs to be I feel like some sort of almost educational process that occurs here between now and the start the formal start of the coming NHL season where dubis and he’s the only one who’s going to be able to pull this off just lays it all out there listen it’s great we have Sid here we’re going to sign him to an extension he’s going to be a penguin for life we’re going to continue to do everything within our means to make sure that Sid is surrounded by a quality potentially even a contending type of roster but we’re going to do that within this context we aren’t giving up our first round pick we aren’t giving up joerger we aren’t giving up Owen Pickering we aren’t giving up yel blumquist we aren’t giving up the guys we just got in the J gansel trade we’re probably not giving up young players and we’re not giving up pieces of our future that said we still have the Weaponry here chiefly the salary cap and the money to spend up to that cap to make sure that the team is still competitive and respectable with Sid and by spending to the cap we aren’t doing anything at all to negatively impact our future that that message I think it really needs to get out there you know I appreciate the question I appreciate everybody listening to daily shot of penguins again thanks to everybody for the wishes over the vacation we’re going to have another one of these tomorrow [Music]

If there’s a lesson to be learned from Florida …

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