Wednesday’s “First Call” returns from an extended holiday weekend by looking at a pair of rumors surrounding some former Pittsburgh Penguins goalies. T.J. Watt is deemed to be the best in the business at his position. And Kordell Stewart wants in on a debate regarding his place in Steelers history.
Rumor rebuffed?
In Tuesday’s “32 Thoughts” podcast, Sportsnet’s Elliot Friedman said that the Penguins might be one of four teams bidding on goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury in free agency.
“He could have multiple options,” Friedman said of Fleury. “One of them is Minnesota, one of them is Pittsburgh. I think one of them could be Colorado if Darcy Kuemper’s not back there. The other one I think could be Toronto. I think he’s really beginning to think about it now.”
But the Penguins may have taken themselves out of the bidding by retaining goalie Casey DeSmith with a two-year contract, presumably to back up Tristan Jarry.
Presumably. Unless the Penguins are looking to trade Jarry before his final contract year begins at $3.5 million.
If that happens, the Penguins could then bring Fleury back as the starter and use DeSmith as the backup. But that prospect is likely going to be more costly and much more farfetched than DeSmith simply staying put to back up Jarry as he has the past two seasons.
How the mighty Murray has fallen
Speaking of Friedman’s podcast, he had an alarmingly bad realization about former Penguins goalie Matt Murray.
He dabbled in some discussion about the Senators using the No. 7 overall draft pick as grease to get a team to take Murray off their hands. In other words, the theory being that the Senators would give up a top-10 draft pick, but only if that team took his hefty $6.25 million contract, too.
Friedman didn’t endorse that idea, nor did he say that such a move is pending. But the fact that this kind of conversation is even possible is a sign of how dramatically Murray has fallen since the 2017 Stanley Cup Finals.
He went from a 22-year-old phenom with two rings on his fingers to being talked about as a forced toss-in on a trade for a top-10 pick.
It seems unbelievable. Until you look at Murray’s numbers. In two years with the Senators, he is 15-25-3, with a .899 save percentage and a 3.23 goals against average.
He also dealt with a concussion which shortened his 2021-22 season.
All with Watt
ESPN.com surveyed “more than 50 (NFL) league executives, coaches, scouts and players to help stack the top 10 players at 11 different positions.”
Writer Jeremy Fowler pumped out the edge rusher list Monday. Steelers linebacker T.J. Watt finished first. He was second to Cleveland’s Myles Garrett last year. Garrett was second behind Watt this year.
Via Fowler, “Where is Watt truly elite? (One NFL) exec pointed to his ability to locate the quarterback quickly and burst to him if his initial pass-rush move stalls. He’ll stop, look and then close.”
No one had Watt lower than third on the list. In 2022, Watt had 22.5 sacks to tie Michael Strahan’s single-season record.
Kordell weighs in
The folks at Steeler Nation posed a question about who is the third-best quarterback in franchise history.
One of the obvious choices, Kordell Stewart, tried to advance the debate himself on Twitter.
This is a great trivia question. Theirs been a few good QB’s that came through the Burgh. Tell me your 3rd best in franchise history behind Ben and Terry B
— Kordell Stewart (@KSlash10) July 5, 2022
Well, it’s not so much a trivia question as it is an opinion. And the three candidates are probably Stewart, Neil O’Donnell and Bobby Layne.
Stewart is third in yards (13,328), touchdowns (70) and completions (1,190). He was the best runner of the bunch, too. But O’Donnell’s TD-to-interception ratio of 68:39 is second only to Roethlisberger’s (418:211). And O’Donnell’s completion percentage of 57.1 is better than the other two.
Plus, he got the Steelers to a Super Bowl…
Read More: First Call: Penguins’ level of interest in Marc-Andre Fleury; Matt Murray trade