DK's Daily Shot of Penguins: A Bryan Rust experiment?

0:00From kickoff to the final whistle, trade the biggest moments in football on Kalshi, America's number one prediction market platform. Denver is currently trading at 40% to upset Los Angeles, meaning a $100 trade pays out $197 if they win. Download Kalshi, use code Music to get $25 when you trade $25. KALSHI, Kalshi, trade on anything. 18 plus only restrictions and eligibility requirements apply. The event contract trading involves risk and may not be suitable for all investors. Kalshi products are not available in all jurisdictions. Prices, values, and available markets may differ from those mentioned. For more information, see kalshi.com slash regulatory. Every game day you show up for your team, now it's your time. Ask your prescriber about Wigovie, some magletide injection 2.4 milligrams, a GLP 1. Call 1-8334 Wigovie or visit Wigovie.com to view the Medication Guide and to learn more

1:03about Wigovie. Why wait? During Lowe's pro savings days, save more on the products you count on to get the job done right. To free 2 pack of DeWalt 20 volt max XR 8 amp hour batteries, when you buy a SELECT DeWalt 20 volt max power tool. Plus, save up to 35% on SELECT major appliances. The right products, the right deals, ready when you need them. Our best lineup is here at Lowe's. Valetue 9.25, Wall Supplies last. Selection bears by location. Seaway Dan Muse could have gone through this training camp. Certainly, related to his top 6 forwards. He chose not to do that. Good morning to you. Good Tuesday morning, I'm Dan Kovacovitch of DK Pittsburgh Sports. This is Daily Shot of Penguins.

2:04It comes your way. Right normally every weekday, if you're into a football and or baseball, I also offer daily shots of Steelers and Pirates in the same place that you found this. Here's some fun for a score I've been able to use to open this show in quite some time. Penguins 4, Sabers 1. Last night, PPG Pain Serena, that's preseason of course. That's immaterial of course, unless you start picking it apart. For individual stuff, of course. Sir Gameroshov with a shot out in his half of the game, you well, Blomquist came on and gave one goal in his half. The goals scored came from Conradur, Brian Rust, Avery Hayes and then Elmer Soderblum added an empty netter. But within that, Rust had three points on the aforementioned goal. Two primary assists, another shot off the crossbar and he did exactly what you want, if

3:08not outright expect a veteran to do when you're going against somebody else's B team. And that's all that Buffalo brought. And there's an extra emphasis one would think on that when looking at the overall roster for the game last night. Other than Rust, Chris Latang, a couple other guys, not really the people that you would consider to be the key guys on the Penguins. Richard NHL roster, but then this is the way Rust carries himself. This is what he had to say after the game on that subject. I think in a situation like this, it's try to lead by example. Obviously, I might be in a different situation than some other guys in the room, but I think that I change the way that I should play or close your handle of the situation. I'm still trying to get ready for season. And I think just try to talk about what's on the agenda as an uncertain place and help them to work comfortable and just try to be, I don't know, this is helpful as I can.

4:08Okay, so let's talk about his usage to date in this camp. I wouldn't think I'd get many arguments that Rust is still a front line winger in this league. All you have to do is look at his point totals the past couple of seasons. All you have to do is look at his versatility. And by that, I mean being able to bounce right wing, left wing, power play, penalty kill, offensive rolls, defensive rolls, you name it. But there's one number that probably doesn't swing in his direction because it doesn't swing in anybody's direction and that's the age. He's 34. I say this with immense respect, but his game has always been founded on his outstanding speed. And that can be a perilous place to be in any sport once you start getting up there in age. The great Ron Francis once famously spoke about why he was able to play so efficiently, even into his late 30s and early 40s that he didn't have a step to lose.

5:13It wasn't the fastest guy around. Had a breeze with adjusting to being slower since he was always slow. So let's take all of that, roll it up into a big ball and presume that some things legitimately afoot as I've brought up on this program already this week. And let's presume that Kyle Dubas, because this decision would have to be made at his level ultimately, would want to see more youth moved into the top six or even into the top nine. What youth that deserves to be there as opposed to just gifting the roster spots? Well if you go by the default lines from last season, if you go by Sid, Rust, and Ricard Rekel, then Tommy Novak between you've getting Malcolm and Yeg or Chinakov, it would appear

6:13there's nowhere to go there unless something significant were done. If you toss on top of that a legitimate concern that that line, the Sid line was giving up way too many goals and they were at five on five, then you could see trying something different with somebody. And in this case, it's Rust. So Rust's been on the third line through Camp to date alongside Ben Kindle and Andre Kuzmanko. And that was the way the game last night started to Kindle getting hurt early and taken out of the game. No update on that. No information whatsoever from the team, including after the game in case you're wondering, although Kindle's been banged up more than once already in these sessions. But presuming that that's the line, even if it's just for conversations sake, now you have a young-ish player on each of the top three lines. One, you would have Nick Robertson on the top line and what had been Rust's place, you

7:18would have Chinakov and you would have Kindle. And you would have on top of that, I would say younger or young-ish players who've earned it, who've been there. There's not a question mark within that group that I just mentioned, not one. And again, that would be as opposed to saying, hey, Willy Coivin, and we just signed you to this $32 million contract, can you be this? Go do this. It's not earning it. Let him knock somebody out of one of those spots. But where Rust's concerned and where his age is concerned, one of the arguments that can be made in favor of a move like this is that you mitigate his ice time a little bit, not in some punitive way, but more in a preventive way. Rust's also been hurt over the years, not through any fault of his own, not because he's lacking in conditioning or something absurd like that, but rather because he plays the way

8:21he plays, and he's going to go sliding and diving in front of shots and he's going to block them and he's going to get his feet broken and have other stuff happen that'll cost him chunks of the schedule. Last season, Miss 10 games, season before that 11 games, season before that 20 games. How to reiterate, please don't misunderstand this, this is anything but a criticism. But I could see where the penguins would be invested in trying to make sure that he plays as much as possible, particularly since PK is now on his list full time. I've been asking, not for weeks, but for months, who's going to replace Noel Achari when the penguins are shorthanded. I've mentioned Rust more than once, I've also mentioned that Mike Sullivan used to call Rust an elite penalty killer in the NHL, not a term that Sully would use often, but that's evidently going to be part of the expectation now as well.

9:23It's interesting and I'll give everybody credit for this much. I don't know what's going to work, they can't know if it's going to work. But you have to start thinking of different ways to move this process forward as opposed to saying, hey, these guys made the playoffs last year, let's just run it all back exactly the same way. When we come back, J1Q. You know that feeling when you're doing five things at once and your phone rings and you just let it ring, that's the call that would have become your best customer. That's why today's episode is brought to you by Quo Spelled QUO, the business phone system built so you never miss an opportunity. All your calls, texts, voice mails live in one place so anyone on your team can pick up conversation, see the full history and respond fast. Set up in minutes on any device, keep your existing number, add teammates as you grow, no IT, no hassle. Quo's optional built-in AI agent.

10:26Quo's after hours calls, answers questions and even book appointments when your team is offline. Money's on the line. Always say hello with Quo. Try Quo for free. Plus get 20% off your first six months when you go to Quo.com slash believe that's B-L-E-A-V. So that's Q-U-O.com slash believe. Flowing ad bunched on metrics that look great, till the CFO sees them, that's bullspend. And marketers are calling it out in dashboard confessions. I remember telling my boss, it'll be good for the brand when leads were slow. Yeah, it wasn't. Cut the bullspend. LinkedIn lets you target by company, job title and more. Advertise on LinkedIn. Spend $250 on your first campaign and get a $250 credit go to LinkedIn.com slash campaign Terms and Cetitions Apply. Hey, it's Kelly Rowland. You may not know this, but I have Exema.

11:28So I get how it can steal your time. But why let Exema take over when you can talk to your doctor about Epglyce? Epglyce, lubricism app LBKZ, a 250-mg per 2-mg leador injection, is a prescription medicine used to treat adults and children 12 years of age and older, who weigh at least 88 pounds or 40 kilograms, with moderate to severe Exema. Also called a topic dermatitis that is not well controlled with prescription therapies used on the skin, or topicals, or who cannot use topical therapies. Epglyce can be used with or without topical corticosteroids. Don't use if you are allergic to Epglyce. A allergic reactions can occur that can be severe. Eye problems can occur. Tell your doctor if you have newer, worsening eye problems. You should not receive a live vaccine when treated with Epglyce. Before starting Epglyce, tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection. Paid partnership with Lili. Respect your time. Ask your doctor about Epglyce and visit Epglyce.com or call 1-800-LiliRX or 1-800-545. Today's J.W.Q comes from Josh who says, DK, the closer that we get to opening night,

12:35the more annoyed I get about the Andre Cosmaco signing. The fact that guys like Philip Hollander or Elmer Soderblum might not have room in this lineup and that that's being done for a player they truly didn't need is just confounding. Josh, I want to agree with you. I actually really want to agree with you for a couple of reasons. One is that I'd love to see Hollander get a full chance, not just because of his shutdown last year to the blood clot. More because I think that there's a lot there. I think that there's something that will benefit the penguins for years to come if they can get him out there on a consistent basis and let him really get comfortable is not the right word. But really find a fit for himself in the NHL. I feel just as strongly about Soderblum even though they're very different players.

13:39And I very much want to see what he can do at both ends of the rank. But here's the problem. If somebody's counterargument to me, like let's say you and I, Josh are standing on one side of the fence and Kyle Dubas and Jason Spetz are on the other and we're having a like a family feud style debate about this. Or I'm barking and you're barking and they're barking back. What they come back at us with is which one is the better player, meaning out of out of all these guys. And they're going to win that because Hounder Soderblum haven't done what Kuzmanko's done in the NHL. And I understand he's a few years removed from that extraordinary wincer that he had in Vancouver. But he's got a real live significant skill as you're going to see. So did they need him?

14:39No. Is he better than what they had or what they would have arguably yes. So if I come back at them and I say, well, listen, the whole thing here, the goal is supposed to be getting better and younger, better and younger. No one really ever says what order that's supposed to be in. But if it's better first and younger second and within that they're confident that over the course of a now 84 game season, there are going to be plenty of opportunities for Hounder Soderblum and maybe even a few others to get into the lineup. Just over injuries and illnesses and so forth. And I hate to say this, but I think they'll hand it to us. And I don't think it'll be particularly close. And can I throw a football parallel at you here? I got to do all three of these teams, you know? So I always have all three of them on my mind. But it's kind of a kin not directly to the whole debate that's going on with fans of the Steelers.

15:45So why you have a 42 year old quarterback starting. When you have others who would excite everybody so much more just by seeing them out there, even if they're not immediately great or even ready. I've had the sense for a while that fans of the penguins have wanted to see this team move in that direction and move violently in that direction for some time now. But you can't do it. Can't do it. Can't do it. I'm not blaming Sid for anything. Sid's here. They need to compete with Sid. If you're going to do a complete tear down, you're going to lose Sid. And he's going to finish his career somewhere else. To me, that's not worth it. It's not worth it. So try like hell to win while he's here and try at the same time to get younger. This one I can guarantee you, Josh, was a challenging call for management on the exact front that you're expressing here.

16:48I appreciate hearing from you. I appreciate everyone who listens to daily shot of penguins. I'll be back at the rink tonight. I'll be covering penguins versus red wings. Preseason game. If you're coming down to PPG, pain serena as well, you should know that the roster will be what you would want to see for a preseason game. There's going to be Sid and Gino and Eric Carlson. Yeah. As preseason events go, this one should be a good one. And before that, we'll be hooking up for a double shot of penguins that will be live on our YouTube channel. And it'll be at 4.30 pm Eastern time. I misspoke on the start time yesterday and a few of you busted me on it. And you can find that by going to our YouTube channel, which is called DK Pittsburgh Sports Penguins. Hope to have you there. As a certain great man used to speak, it's going to be a hockey night in Pittsburgh.

18:12I'm David Britschallenger, Jack Demeek Cleaver-Colin, BKFC 94, Till Verse Romero. Watch it live only on the zone. Sign up now at thezone.com.