NHL free agency: Penguins' options limited? Can Kevin Hayes really help Kyle Dubas' roster?

good morning everybody and welcome to Jason Mackey's first 10 a quick hit podcast to get you ready for the day today is Monday July 1st the NHL draft was held over the weekend in Vegas we'll get into what the Penguins did as well as some comments made by Kyle dubis and Mike suvan the Pirates also avoided a sweep in Atlanta we'll discuss plenty of that but the number one topic today is what we can expect out of the Penguins with free agency starting in a matter of hours before we do that though I want to remind you that we're sponsored by the North Tavern you don't have to be a baseball fan to love it there the interior is wal toall Pirates there appetizers Entre cocktails and of course steak and seafood on a sizling lava stone open every day the NorthShore Tavern across from PNC Park is Pittsburgh's home for steak on a stone in special today um have a bit of an announcement I've been really excited for this to come out you will notice this halfway through the podcast but would' like to welcome Bradenton Area Convention and visitors bureau U one of my favorite groups of people in my absolute favorite area in the um you know Bradon Anam Maria Island uh from pirat spring training I'm always down there and talking about it and um on the move and I'm very happy to share stories and and Reflections and all that stuff which we will be doing um we'll also see a promotional video halfway through um so anyway hope you enjoy that thank you guys for the support down there uh really really excited to further that relationship so okay penguin stuff let's get into that a little bit unfortunately it's not going to going to be a a big swinging kind of day um for Kyle dubis um you'd like him to hit a few home runs maybe maybe a double in the Gap something like that but I'm I'm pretty sure he's going to be concentrating on Singles just making contact that sort of thing um it's just reality with where the penguins are um you saw them add Kevin Hayes over the weekend I don't hate the deal um I certainly saw some criticism of it but let's remember guy's a former Allstar uh and again I'm not going to use this to prop him up as as the second coming believe me but he has had a couple of 20 goal Seasons 22 23 six Power Play Goals 16 Power Play points he's been a productive player at times he's a middle six guy can play center can play Wing it's big body doesn't necessarily play that big I don't love that but they need to find a role for him at the same time that's not necessarily why they made the trade more attractive clearly is a 2025 second round pick Kyle has a difficult thing on his hands right I wrote about this in my column at post Gaz postgazette.com I should get our website right um it's a tricky needle he's trying to thread and I do think that dubis sort of changed directions after operating One Way um giving up a lot realizing it didn't change a whole lot and then not wanting to give up more um I am again as we focus on free agency though how's that going to manifest at at noon today is dubis really going to sit all of it out is he really not going to make substantive changes to the team you know why you know what I think about when I think about dubis and why he was brought in here I mean he was brought in here to do both things certainly but one of those is the presence and I don't know how based on last year looking at where the Penguins fell short they can simply sit on their hands and think things are going to change and they need them to change they owe that to Sydney Crosby of Genny Malin Chris Tang you can sit here and say that these guys are old stale they shouldn't have kept the core together adding Eric Carlson I certainly understand why people would have a problem with that and question that at the same time we're here and I do give Sydney Crosby the benefit of the D the doubt Malin lat Tang same thing like those guys have done so much for hockey in this city they want to make another run at it I get it I mean the penguins are going to have to retool rebuild whatever the heck you want to call it after this thing but couldn't they theoretically make a run now that that's what confuses me like if you look at what they did they weren't the problem the problem was everything else now I understand there's too many no movement Clauses and and whatever and Kyle dubis doesn't have a great amount of flexibility certainly understand that the reports coming out of the draft they couldn't get anything for Tristan jar couldn't get anything for Riley Smith I don't know maybe they can at some point we don't know what their ask was maybe their ask was crazy um so anyway I think there are moves that Kyle dubis can make I think there's some short-term things and I mean it honestly reminds me a little bit about Ben charington and what he said one of the things that the Pirates could sell people on is opportunity and that's what the Penguins can do they can sell perspective players on opportunity on power play minutes on playing with Sydney Crosby playing in the top nine having a chance to resuscitate your career or up your stock and go back at free agency the next season and finding the appropriate players to do that should give the Penguins another kick at the can because that's what this should be it should be both it's not an easy thing Kyle dubis is being compensated very nicely for doing this and the Penguins you know they they should not be felt that bad for I don't think that's the right way to say it um they shouldn't get a ton of syy I mean they have plenty of pieces and good things in place too but it's all about getting them in the proper direction so we're going to take a short break you're going to hear from our wonderful people at Bradon and then I'll be back on the other side to talk a little Pirates embrace the laidback charm of Island life while sinking your toes in the sand and discovering real authentic Florida in the Bradenton Area unspoiled Beauty and pristine beaches a vibrant waterfront downtown energized by local arts and culture fresh Flor Bean Cuisine with a flourish of Rich history and friendly locals ready to welcome you to this preserved Paradise on the Florida's Gulf Coast plan your visit today at Bradenton islands.com all right so hope you enjoyed that you'll be seeing more of it we'll be talking more about it but right now I want to talk some Pirates it's a good thing they got a win Sunday in Atlanta don't think you wanted to look at that series having been swept um and I also like the way they did it with two thunderous home runs um different stories right now with Rowdy tles with what he did in June O'Neal Cruz what he's done lately um similar home runs both two-run homers um in a four-run inning and that's really all the offense the Pirates needed I want to stop for a second and talk about rowdy tles and poor Noah hil's caught some heat for this on Twitter and he didn't deserve it all he was trying to say was the Pirates did a good job backing Rowdy toz and he's exactly right they did and he dug his way out of it I give him a lot of credit 21 June games hit 333 with a 925 Ops only one better Brian Reynolds five doubles three homers 14 ribs eight runs scored was absolutely outstanding and frankly it's changed the calculus at first base I don't know if that's as big of an ad O'Neal Cruz is an interesting case for me I don't know how to feel about it it's been Boomer bust for him I tweeted something to this effect and he followed with that home run in a single so I I don't know maybe he just wanted to prove something something but over his past 10 O'Neal hitting 1676 for 36 half of those hits are homers and I don't know how many feet total but it seems like each one of them has been about 450 the strikeout rate is way too high a third of his plate appearances need a little bit more consistency need more with in Bat the ball Department the Pirates have too many guys who are not producing offensively you know this I know it's a transition to my next point and they need O'Neal to be a little bit more consistent what do with some of the other guys we're now in the second half of the Season technically how long are they going to ride this out with Jack swinsky I don't have a magic answer for you I get asked that a lot how long are they going to ride this out with Michael a Taylor I think we saw today why I don't think Michael a Taylor should or will go anywhere unless somebody wants him in a trade maybe Minnesota thinks that they can fix some of the offensive issues that he's run into in Pittsburgh but the defense is there and it helps I mean that was an absolutely huge catch also a really strong catch from Jack stawinsky in the third inning uh but Michael a Taylor showed that he can go get it we knew that it's just the offense has not been anywhere near good enough um and so that creates a bit of a problem it's why when they do add hopefully they do add I want them to get in an outfield bad I think it's extremely important I also don't know how to feel about the catching situation which was a story before today's game uh Joey Bart was recall Jason delay was sent down and yasmani grandall remains can't say I to toally understand it 35 WRC plus -3 War according to Fan graphs last 22 hitting just 148 with a 361 Ops that's a lot of numbers to say it hasn't been good um signed this off season two and a half million bucks he's done a fine job working with pitchers at the same time there's just been nothing it's Austin Hedges light Austin Hedges 2.0 tweeted out some of the defensive numbers from yasmani grall they've been worse than Austin hedges while the offense has remained about the same he's been a little less productive than hedges in terms of batting average a little bit more Ops what are we doing here um I just I don't totally understand it but at the same time worrisome injury with Henry Davis double A by the way he had his rehab paused coming back from a concussion wish him nothing but the best I'm just a little bit surprised they didn't hang on to Jason delay not that it's the world's biggest problem the Pirates certainly have big fish to fry Jack swinsky would be another one there's a lot of talk about that 155 by the way in 20 games since returning 39.1% K rate that's not going to get it done that the black hole is not just behind the plate uh but it is one of of several things that need to turn around for the Pirates so I mean those were my takeaways from this series there's just so many things internally that they need to fix and I understand that's been said on the radio but at the same time I I think it would do some people some good I think it would do a lot of people some good if they were able to bring a bad in here and get something going also have an interesting um take on on some things the Pirates can improve I'm going to write that later in the week well my time is up for today thank you again uh to Bradon our new our new friends and our new sponsor and thank you as always to the NorthShore Tavern thank you guys for watching for finding us I'll make sure to tweet this out again and um make sure as many people get the first 10 as possible you can like And subscribe you can get all of this content and from other post cazette writers and reporters be back here same time same place thanks for watching and I'll talk to you then thank you for checking out this content from Post Gazette sports if you watch this video on YouTube please like the video and subscribe to our channel for all of the sports coverage the Post Gazette has to offer visit postgazette.com [Music] he