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AIH 20416 Ep. 30: Pittsburgh Penguins, 2016 Top Prospects and the Winnipeg Jets Pipeline!

Hello everyone! Recorded on April 4th, if you love wrestling, you'll love Episode 30's prologue! Between Wrestlemania history, Shaq being World Heavyweight Champion dwarfing Big Show and which match was the night's best, it's all the wrestling babble you never knew you needed. There was also some Winnipeg Jets talk, I suppose.

Our first guest was Michael Pityk, Pittsburgh Penguins beat writer for @TheHockeyWriter. Be sure to follow his Pens coverage on Twitter at @MPityk_PIT, not to mention his evil alter ego @MPityk_PHI for all things Philadelphia Flyers.

It was a wide-ranging conversation, including but certainly not limited to:

  • The Sidney Crosby narrative and what went into his underwhelming start
  • Looking at the differences between head coach Mike Sullivan's Pens and former head coach Mike Johnston's
  • Whether Kris Letang should be in the Norris Trophy conversation
  • Pittsburgh's goaltending both now and in the future
  • Reflecting upon the Phil Kessel trade
  • The future trade of Derrick Pouliot, one bringing Ben Lovejoy back home
  • Daniel Sprong's NHL readiness
  • Reassessing GM Jim Rutherford's performance

Our second guest was Peter Harling, Managing Editor for Dobber Prospects and Writer for both McKeen's Hockey and Today's Slapshot. Be sure to follow him on Twitter at @pharling, and check out his ongoing "Top 100 Prospects in Hockey" series.

Our discussion was a two-parter, first focusing on the 2016 NHL Entry Draft with topics such as:

  • Whether Auston Matthews is still the clear-cut favourite to go first overall
  • What someone might see in Jesse Puljujarvi's game to pick him over Patrik Laine
  • Making sense of McKeen's 5th overall ranking for Olli Juolevi
  • Should Jake Bean be in the same conversation as Juolevi, Jakob Chychrun and Mikhail Sergachev
  • Why Pierre-Luc Dubois is more than an excellent Top Prospects game
  • Being a believer in Alex DeBrincat (or not)

In part two, seeing as how AIH 20416 flies under the Arctic Ice Hockey banner and all, we seized the opportunity to touch upon Winnipeg's prospect pipeline:

  • Kyle Connor's exceptional season and comparing him to Dylan Larkin
  • What the Jets have in Josh Morrissey
  • How Winnipeg handled the Nic Petan situation and what might happen moving forward
  • Excitement (or lack thereof) over the organization's defensive prospects beyond Josh Morrissey
  • Looking at Winnipeg's lower profile kids from a fantasy perspective
  • Who won the Evander Kane trade, from both a fantasy and on-ice perspective

Whether you're a Jets fan full stop or possess more of a league-wide curiosity, Episode 30 hopefully had something for everyone. If you haven't already, use one of the options below and give it a listen!

1. Take a gander online here.

2. Visit our page on CyberEars.

3. Download the .mp3 file directly (right-click link, Save As…, etc etc).

4. Listen, subscribe and rate us on iTunes.

Tune in, let us know how we did in the Comments section below, and be sure to send your questions, concerns, thoughts and haterade our way by tweeting @AIH20416 or e-mailing aih20416@gmail.com. Remember to follow Alan at @sliiiiip and myself at @PhilipAIver.

Also, be sure to check out Arctic Ice Hockey's Jets-focused podcast, the AIH Superfans!

Thanks for reading, and thanks for listening!

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