Matt Vensel: Good afternoon, Penguins fans. Pumped to talk hockey with you today. We'll get the chat started at 1 p.m. Go ahead and submit your questions now. We can talk about whatever you want -- the moves this offseason, the NHL's plans to get going again, my favorite place to get chicken wings, Ken Wregget. Talk to you soon.
Matt Vensel: OK, folks. Just walked the dog and scarfed down a turkey sandwich at an alarming pace. Ready to talk hockey with you for a while.
Dean: Hi Matt thank you for taking my question. And the question is next year when the Seattle has its draft whom do you think the Pens will not be able to protect?
Matt Vensel: Dean, coincidentally I wrote about this very topic on Wednesday. Here's a link to my story breaking down their protection options and possible decision-making process: https://www.post-gazette.com/sports/penguins/2020/11/11/nhl-expansion-...
Matt Vensel: To give a quick summary for those too busy or lazy to read the whole piece, it looks like the Penguins will probably choose to protect seven forwards, three defensemen and Tristan Jarry, though a lot a can change in eight or nine months. Picking the three D and first six forwards was easy. Deciding whom to protect for that final forward spot was tough. For me, it came down to Brandon Tanev, Teddy Blueger and Jared McCann. There's a decent chance one of those guys will be with the Seattle Kraken a year from now. Give it a read for much more detail.
Ron J: Good afternoon Matt. Don’t u think they have to start to build for the future? Stop trading deal picks ?
Matt Vensel: Ron, they are going to try to win the Stanley Cup again as long as Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are still playing at a high level. And they did last season while in the lineup, though Crosby did look a little off following his return from sports hernia surgery. Anyway, the Penguins realize it's going to get ugly whenever it is time to rebuild, whether they make that decision or Father Time does for them. It could be like the 2003-04 team. But if they have another deep run or two in them, it will be worth it.
Anne: How hard did Superstitious Number 87 Sidney Crosby take losing and being booted out of the playoffs on his birthday?
Matt Vensel: Anne, we have not heard from Sid since the end of the Canadiens series but I suspect it wasn't much different than any other year that didn't end with him hoisting the Stanley Cup.
Joe: Do you think the NHL will actually start in January, or will they wait to hear about vaccine possibilities first and start later if it looks like they may be able to get more fans in the stands?
Matt Vensel: Joe, the league continues to say that it is targeting on or around Jan. 1 for the start of next season and discussions with the NHLPA are supposed to be ramping up here in the next couple of weeks. If the NHL and NHLPA can find common ground on a number of complicated issues, including the possibility of short-term hubs early in the season and temporary realignment, teams could be taking the ice for training camp in the middle of December. All that said, it sure looks like our country is about to get hit by a second (or is it the third?) wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. If it gets ugly, I wonder if sports leagues will need to shut down again. Hopefully, for more bigger reasons beyond just watching our favorite athletes play some games, that is not the case.
Jim W.: What are the Penguins plans for backing up Jarry?
Matt Vensel: Jim, barring something surprising here, it will be Casey DeSmith. That's always been the most likely scenario once it became clear they would need to trade Matt Murray or Tristan Jarry. I know there was hope among the fan base that Marc-Andre Fleury would return, but that always seemed unrealistic given the salary cap and other factors. Anyway, DeSmith was really good in that No. 2 role in 2018-19. But after he spent all of last year in the AHL and had some ups and downs, it's fair to wonder if he can play like that again this upcoming season. Goaltending in general will be a huge question mark. Jarry flashed big-time potential last season but hasn't yet proved he can carry the load all year.
Joe: i read your article on players the Seattle team can and should take. If the Pens were smart, both Tanev and Matheson should be on the available list because of their contracts, and in Tanev’s case, age. It’s unlikely Seattle would take either them because of that. So why not protect both Blueger and McCann? I don’t understand your logic
Matt Vensel: Joe, thanks for reading. First off, I did not have Mike Matheson as being protected. The three D that I projected to be protected were Kris Letang, Brian Dumoulin and Marcus Pettersson. John Marino is exempt so he does not need to be protected. As for that final forward spot, I made a case for keeping each one of those guys. But I protected Tanev because he is a valuable short-term piece for the Penguins, a tone-setter on and off the ice. I get your point that maybe Tanev's contract might scare off the Kraken. But at the time of the expansion draft, he will have only four years left on that deal at a reasonable $3.5 million. If you really value what Tanev brings to the table, and I think the Penguins do, you protect him instead of praying that the Kraken don't select him in the expansion draft. But, again, I definitely see the logic in protecting Blueger or McCann, especially if one of them takes a big step forward this upcoming season. All that is in the article.
A.J. Weirton, WV: Good afternoon, as a diehard Pens fan, we have been fortunate to have had 4 Generational talents in Mario, Jagr, Sid, and Geno. Especially with Sid's injuries and now with COVID-19. Don't you feel that Sid as a player and us as fans have been cheated?
Matt Vensel: AJ, interesting question. I don't know that anyone has been cheated. Sidney Crosby has a boatload of individual awards in addition to his three Stanley Cups. It's been an amazing 15 years for both Crosby and the fan base. But, to your point, it is fair to wonder what more Crosby could have accomplished had he not dealt with his scary concussion issues midway through his career. Maybe he has another Cup, another 150-200 points and more individual trophies on his Hall-of-Fame resume.
Paul: I am surprised that GMJR annointed ERod as a third line wing, when he had trouble cracking our lineup as a 4th liner. Any thoughts on trying to sign Anthony Duclair?
Matt Vensel: Paul, I am not sure if they had any interest in Anthony Duclair, who remains unsigned after a productive scoring season for a really bad Senators squad. They didn't have much cap space and signed Evan Rodrigues for peanuts. Given that Duclair is still out there, he probably wants to be paid more than the minimum. As for the makeup of the bottom six, I wouldn't read too much about what Jim Rutherford said about how the third line could be Jared McCann, Mark Jankowski and Rodrigues. There is going to be a lot of shuffling of the bottom six until Penguins coach Mike Sullivan finds combinations that work. That's just one option.
Elsie: to cheer us up during this long hockey drought: any memorable/unexpected Sid stories you have from your years covering him that you havent shared before?
Matt Vensel: Elsie, I've only been on the beat for a couple of years and this past season was kind of a wash. He missed a few months so we didn't see him around and then everything went virtual after COVID hit. So some of the wily veterans on the beat definitely have better ones. But for me, two stand out. My very first assignment on the beat was going with Sid to deliver season tickets to a local family. First time I was ever around him in person. And it blew me away how legitimately kind he was to the family. He showed sincere interest when asking the family questions and played hockey with the kids in the driveway. He was there for almost an hour and was in no rush to get out of there. Pretty cool. And then I'll remember him taking the time after a practice on Thanksgiving Day in 2018 to chat with me for several minutes for a random story I was working on. He could have been like, "Peace out, I've got turkey to eat." Just a little thing. But I think it shows just how humble and kind he is to others. The real deal.
Jeff Z. South Side: 3rd line center??
Matt Vensel: Entering the season, it will be Teddy Blueger, Mark Jankowski or Jared McCann. If you look at time on ice, the Blueger line was actually the third line last season even though the Pens always listed it as the fourth on their gameday depth charts. I have a feeling Blueger still has more room to grow as a player. He's one of the hardest works on the team. If he improves on faceoffs and shows a little more pop offensively, he could be a really effective two-way center here for a while. (Which, of course, means they would protect him over Brandon Tanev next summer. Haha.)
Guest: Do Rutherford and Sullivan really think a bottom six of Rodrigues, Jankowski, McCann, Blueger, Sceviour, ZAR and/or Lafferty is really going to cut it for a Cup contender? Pens are no more a contender now than they were in August. Agree?
Matt Vensel: I think it's fair to say that it doesn't appear that the Penguins, on paper, got significantly better this offseason. Kasperi Kapanen should be a useful player but I don't know if he will be a big-time difference-maker. They got rid of Jack Johnson but brought in another pricey underachiever in Mike Matheson. The bottom six, the third pair and goaltending remain question marks. But, keep in mind, the playoffs don't start in January. Maybe McCann finds consistency or Blueger takes a leap forward. Maybe a youngster like Samuel Poulin comes in and contributes. The Penguins will get time to evaluate what they have and what they need and have the flexibility to improve the team at the deadline.
Joe: Matt, I think Tanev’s contract of four more years at $3.5 million per year is pretty bad for what he brings. He’s probably worth about a million less. I do think Seattle would have little interest in picking him up at age 29, regardless of whether the Pens really want to keep him and like him. I’d still expose him in the expansion draft
Matt Vensel: Joe, we'll agree to disagree. I think the Pens would side with me in regards to whether Tanev is currently worth his annual salary.
Matt Vensel: OK, folks. When we are quibbling over whether Brandon Tanev is worth $2.5 million a season or $3.5 million, that's our cue to call it a day. A lot of great questions today, especially considering that it's a quiet time in the offseason. We'll do this again soon.
First Published: November 12, 2020, 4:29 p.m.
