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DK Pittsburgh Sports: Daily podcasts on Steelers, Penguins, Pirates!

DK's Daily Shot of Penguins: A more physical defense

DK Pittsburgh Sports: Daily podcasts on Steelers, Penguins, Pirates!

DK Pittsburgh Sports

Hockey, Steelers, Penguins, Football, Nfl, Matt Williamson, Nhl, Pittsburgh, Mlb, Baseball, Dejan Kovacevic, Dk Pittsburgh Sports, Pittsburgh Penguin, Pittsburgh Pirates, Pittsburgh Steelers, Sports, Pirates

4.6832 Ratings

🗓️ 24 July 2025

⏱️ 12 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Is Connor Clifton enough for a more physical defense? Hear award-winning columnist Dejan Kovacevic's Daily Shots of Steelers, Penguins and Pirates -- three separate podcasts -- every weekday morning on the DK Pittsburgh Sports podcasting network, available on all platforms: https://linktr.ee/dkpghsports

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

I shared with you guys yesterday the story of Eddie Johnston stopping in at our downtown

0:12.8

headquarters surprising me on our company's 11th anniversary. Extremely cool, way cooler, talking pucks with E.J. And believe it or not, even cooler

0:25.7

than talking about, you know, him being Bobby Orr's teammate or drafting Mario Lemieux or anything,

0:31.3

is talking about the current club. And when I brought up the roster that Kyle Dubus has put together this summer, one thing, bang, like that, popped into his mind. Good morning to you. Good. Thursday morning. I'm Dan Kovachievich of D.K. Pittsburgh Sports. This is Daily Shot of Pang. Once it comes your way right and early every weekday. If you're into football and

0:55.2

or baseball, I also offer daily shots of Steelers and Pirates that I hope you'll check out.

1:01.3

E.J. wants more physicality on the back end. He wants one or two more players. Now, E.J. is

1:08.0

no longer the general manager, so he's going to have to defer to his

1:12.3

current boss, since he's still an advisor in Kyle Dubus. But I do find it interesting that after

1:21.3

Dubus acquired Connor Clifton, defenseman from the Sabres, along with the 39th overall pick in this past draft,

1:31.6

for Connor Timmons, a defenseman here for a little while this past season, Isaac Belvo,

1:36.9

defenseman in the minor leagues. Dubus was moved to say the following, and I'm going to read this

1:42.9

verbatim. We just felt that Clifton,

1:46.9

when at his best, brings an element that we have not maybe had on the back end in my time here,

1:53.5

which is he's a very highly competitive physical guy who can be very difficult to play against,

2:03.5

won't back down from anybody, and I think brings a lot of fire to the game each night end quote first off so refreshing to hear any GM

2:14.8

speak that candidly about something that could very easily be painted as a shortcoming

2:22.0

of their own work. Second point, he was right because there isn't anybody that you could put

2:28.5

into that category. In fact, the Penguins defense corps, for whatever else you can say about some of the skill that they have,

2:37.5

and they haven't exactly been overloaded with skill or mobility either, has been as soft as soft gets.

2:43.4

And that's been a massive reason they've given up all the goals that they have,

2:47.0

that they've hurt, to some extent, the goaltenders who've been here.

2:52.5

Not that the goaltenders have been great in their own right, but, you know, these things go

...

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