Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - After several days off, the Penguins are BACK with a weekend back-to-back!

Episode Date: November 21, 2025

The Penguins' long layoff is over as they'll take on the Minnesota Wild and then the Seattle Kraken this weekend! Patrick and Hunter begin the show, previewing the Penguins vs. Minnesota Wild game tonight at PPG Paints Arena. The Wild are coming into this one the exact opposite way they came into the last one - on a hot streak. Winners of seven of their last eight, the Penguins will have to work to slow the momentum. They get into how the Penguins can do just that. (0:00) Then, the Penguins will be right back in action on Saturday night when they welcome the Seattle Kraken to town. The Kraken are hanging around the playoff picture, and while they don't do anything particularly well, they're a disciplined team that plays solid two-way hockey. The Penguins will have to counter that style. (11:24) Finally, for the first time in a couple of weeks, Fan Take Friday returns! They react to the results of this week's poll about whether or not the Thanksgiving playoff benchmark is real, take questions about faceoffs, trades, and so much more!  Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!RugietVisit https://rugiet.com/LOCKEDONNHL to get 15% off your first order. GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNHL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.MonarchTake control of your finances with Monarch. Use code LOCKEDONNHL at https://monarch.com/lockedonnhl for 50% off your first year.FanDuelDownload the FanDuel app now by visiting FanDuel.com and win $300 in bonus bets if your first $5 bet wins.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

At long last, the Pittsburgh Penguins are back in action, and they've got a back-to-back on the horizon. Hunter and I are going to get you ready for both of those games right after this. You're Locked-on Penguins, your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome in to another edition of the Locked-on. Penguins podcast. I am one of your hosts, Patrick Damp. You can follow me across all social media platforms at Synonym 4 Wet, joined as always by my partner in crime, the one and only Hunter Hodes. You can follow him on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. You can give our show's Twitter account a follow at LO underscore Penguins. You can also find us on Instagram at Locked on underscore Penguins,

as well as TikTok at Locked-on Penguins. Hunter, we are officially back. It's been quite some time since we have seen our Pittsburgh Penguins in action. They have not played since Sunday when they got a big win over the Nashville Predators in Sweden, and they will return to PPG Paints Arena tonight at 7 p.m. When they host the, I don't know if I would say Red Hot, but, pretty hot Minnesota Wild. The last time these two teams met earlier in the season,

the Penguins came away with a pretty decisive 4-1 victory on October 30th. And since then, the Wild have really picked up after a slow start. 7, 2, and 1 in their last 10 on a three-game winning streak. And they did not beat any sort of slouches in this three-game winning streak. They beat the Red Hot Anaheim Ducks, the Vegas Golden Knights, and the Carolina Hurricanes. So this is a team that has done a complete 180 from the last time they met the Pittsburgh Penguins. And honestly, Pat, ever since that loss to the Penguins, the Wild have won seven or their last nine games. If you want to include that game, seven, two and one, but they've won seven of nine since that loss,

which really got the wild fans upset, including the last three in a row, one of which was against the hurricane. 4-3 in a shootout. So they help the Penguins out a little bit standings-wise there on Wednesday. But, yeah, it's kind of been a tale of two halves so far to start this season. First half, Pat, Wild have been awful. The Penguins got them at a pretty good time. Since then, John Hines has been able to write the ship. Coral Caprisov has been great.

Matt Boldy has been great. And now they've won three in a row in seven of their last nine. And they're starting to make a little bit of a move in the standings. Right now they're tied for that final playoff spot. in the Western Conference with the Chicago Blackhawks. Blackhawks have the game in hand, but still very early when it comes to playoffs. But they're, they've slowly started to climb the ranks in the Western Conference. And they made the playoffs last year, I would not be surprised to see them back there this year.

In fact, I had them as a playoff team going into the season. But from Minnesota, we all know it starts and ends with Carrillo Caprisoff. He's one of the 10 best players on the planet. If you ask me, an absolute gamebreaker in the offensive zone has, you know, a really good shot. His playmaking and his vision are absolutely absurd, no matter if it's at 5 on 5 or on the power play. You always got to watch out for him. Matt Boldy, he's been great as well. 11 goals, 22 points and 21 games. Marcus Johansson, who's been in the league for a while. He has seven goals and 17 points.

The production drops off a little bit after those three. You got Marco Rossi, you know, Joel Erickson Eck, you know, Brock Faber, who is not having as good over the season, but he can still strike at any time. you know, Matt Zuccarello is now back in the lineup had he's only been limited to six games a season. But in those games, he's at a point per game. So again, the fact that he is back is massive for the wild. He's on the top line now with Capri So I don't think people understand how just how underrate of a player Matt Zuccarello still is. He really unlocks them in ways that, you know, they just aren't able to get when he's out of the lineup. So the fact that he's back is really big.

You know, Philip Gustafson is expected to start in net. It's funny. he's actually been the worst of the two goalies for Minnesota this year. You know, Yesper Wollstead, who has played seven games. He has a 926-8 percentage in a 2.2 goals against average. It doesn't look like he's playing tonight. It's going to be Gustafin, who's at 897. So just under 900, fair, but we've seen him be a lot better in the NHL. So we'll see if that changes.

But this is going to be a pretty good test for the Penguins coming out of this NHL global series. but again, you know, Minnesota, you're not playing a juggernaut, but this is still a team that has some good firepower and can hurt you. So the penguins are going to have to be really disciplined in this one. For sure. And when it comes to Gustafsson at this point, the one thing to keep in mind is that he kind of was a victim of the team's early sluggish start. You look at his last few starts.

There's not a ton to write home about, but puts up a 920 against a really good Vegas team. gets the win there against San Jose doesn't play too poorly but San Jose was pretty opportunistic in that game he gets the overtime decision gives up two goals 889 and then against Carolina that was another one where you got Carolina to death faced more than 30 shots and gave up four goals but at the end of the day be away from that 941 against Nashville that's Nashville we know how miserable they have been this season. Vancouver, kind of up and down, he puts a 929 up against them. But I look at that and it feels like more of an overblown kind of thing because the team as a whole was not doing well to start the season. It included him. He's right there with the rest

of the squad that is starting to pick it up. So having Wollstead be able to kind of step in and help out when needed has also aided with Minnesota's start. You also had to talk about that this is a defense for Minnesota that you look at the points and they don't jump off at the page, but when you've got two defensemen who've been able to score 10 points and you've got a couple of guys with four or five points, they're getting contributions from just about everywhere. And while you said the production drops off at the forward level, which it does, this is kind of the mix that Minnesota needs as a team.

Your top two or three guys really carry the load, but the rest of the guys chip in. So this is a well-balanced Minnesota team that the penguins are going to have to be aware of when they take them on tonight. I agree with you on that. And you look at some of their underlines. They rate 18 in the league and expected goals at 5 on 5 for Money Buck at 49.1.

Actually identical with Toronto. So if you want to say tied for 17, that's fair. you know but even for their actual goals it's a bit lower than the expected goals only 46.2% this year so both are a little bit below water if you go down to the actual goals they rank 26 in the league at 5 on 5 among all teams only you know again six other teams are lower than them including the oilers which is crazy that they rank 31st in the league in actual goals but you know the fact that they have zuccarello back is going to be massive for the rest of the season especially at 5 on 5 I expect these numbers to be better. Another area the Penguins will have to be disciplined for, Minnesota has one of the best power plays in the league. Top five right now, it actually is ranked number five overall, but Penguins penalty kill

still ranks number four overall. So that's going to be a big test there. But another area where the Penguins potentially can take advantage of, they have the top power play themselves, but then you look at Minnesota, Pat their PK, it is not good to say the least. They rang towards the bottom of the league, 28 to be exact. Only Washington, Seattle, Ottawa and Vancouver have worse penalty kills than Minnesota. So again, that's going to be a potential big area of advantage for the Penguins. Of course, if the officials want to call penalties, because at least over in Sweden, Pat Penguins really didn't get too many power play

opportunities. I'll say that. We'll see if that changes tonight, but that was to me going to be the big key for tonight's game is special teams. You brought up the disparity between the units, really good power play for Minnesota. So the penguins have to play a disciplined game tonight and stay out of the box because Minnesota will make you pay, even though the penguins have had a really good PK the last couple of weeks, you still don't want to play with that kind of fire. And the same thing goes for Minnesota with the penguins having the best power play in the league at 34.1% even though they're not getting a ton of calls, they are making very good on

every opportunity pretty much that they get. So if you're Minnesota, you really have to stay out of the box for the Penguins. But for us, as Penguins fans, take as many penalties as you want Minnesota and really hope that we get to see the Penguins make them play. But that is going to do it for our opening segment, Penguins and Wild. at PPG Paints Arena tonight. Finally, we get some hockey to watch and some hockey to talk about. And it doesn't just start tonight. They will be back in action again on Saturday against the Seattle Cracken.

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All right, we're back on the Friday edition of the Locked on Penguins podcast. I am Patrick Damp right alongside Hunter Hodes. And two days, two seven o'clock games, two Western. conference opponents coming to town. The Penguins will take on the Seattle Cracken on Saturday at PPG Paints Arena, as I said. And I'm just going to rub my temples while I say this, because I don't know what the Seattle Cracken are. I don't. I can't figure them out for the life of me.

They, they're not great. They're not bad. They might be good. They might not be. They're currently third in the Pacific at 10, 5 and 5 with 25 points. Then you look at their stats for the season, and Jaden Swartz is leading them with 15 points. Jordan Eberley is still kicking around with 14 points.

On the back end, Vince Dunn with 12 points and three goals. Then you look at their net minding and Joey DeCord, 900 save percentage. Philip Grubauer decided to remember how to goalie again. He's got a 903 old friend Matt Murray. unfortunately hurt, but has played in five games this year, 922 save percentage. It is truly a confusing team under head coach Lane Lambert. They're weird, man. I still don't know what direction they really want to go.

It feels like they're just kind of stuck in neutral where I don't know right now if they're bad enough to be a lottery team, but I also don't know if they're good enough to be a playoff team, which that's not really a place where you want to be, to be honest. they're weird and they don't really have any true superstars on this team their lineup is full of some good players but there's no true superstar like you look at their top line

Mason Marchman with Maddie Baneers and Jordan Eberley and speaking of if you are a betting person Jordan Eriley anytime goal score because he has towards the penguins throughout his career he's also having a really good year eight goals 14 points in 20 games Maddie Bineers only has two goals but does have 13 points

Jaden Schwartz, who leads the team in points, has eight goals and 15 points in those 20 games. He is on the second line with Chandler Stevenson and Eli Tolvinen. You have old friend Freddie Goodrow leading the charge on the third line with Shane Wright next to him. Vince Dunn, I like him quite a bit. I still don't think he's a bona fide number one defenseman on a cup contender, but I still like him as a player. You got Brandon Montour still there on the second pair. That was a big contract they handed out before last season.

same with Chandler Stevenson. They went pretty aggressive. They missed the playoffs. This year, you know, they changed coaches. They've moved around some of the front office structure just because it's just been a little crazy there. They're weird. That's the best way I can describe. They're a very odd team.

You look at some of their underlines. They rank 31st in the league in five-on-five expected goals. But then you look at their actual goals. They're outperforming their expected goals. They rank 13th in the league at five-on-five at 51. six percent for their actual goals so i find that a bit interesting but the second part with the expected goals i don't because lane lambert i still don't think is really that good of a coach i'm not sure how long this start for them is going to last i don't think they're going to make the playoffs but this

is still going to be a good game i think for the penguins there's real talent on this cracking team even though there's not any true game breakers there's still enough players that can really hurt you. So the penguins are going to have to be really diligent here, especially coming off a performance on Friday, hopefully a win against a pretty solid wild team. So I know they haven't played a lot lately, but they're going to be thrown right back into the fire for both of these games. And the Cracken are also going to be well rested for this game on Saturday. This is a game against a team where the best way I think I can put it is that you are going to have to lean heavily on your structure and hope that you can have better.

high-end talent that outlasts Seattle, because you look at the way they play overall. Like you said, going through that roster, there's really nobody there that truly jumps off the page at you. You're not looking at this team like it's got a couple of superstars who carry the load and some solid depth guys who can pick up the pieces. They're just a team that plays a solid, structured 60-minute game, and they just hope to outlast. you. They hope to capitalize on one or two mistakes. And then you hope they hope to get good goal tending, whether it's from Joey DeCord, who is extremely good. And Philip Grubauer, who every other year decides to be a good goalie. And this appears to be the other year where he's

figuring it out. So joy decor was also just activated off IR. So he's now healthy. Yeah. So this is a team that if you're the penguins going into this on a second half, of a back-to-back, you almost have to play this as if it's a road game. Like, you almost have to play it to the point where you keep it extremely simple. You do the very basic things to do to get a win. Don't try to do too much. Don't try to get too fancy because then the one thing that will, and this will be a big theme for the weekend,

Seattle's penalty kill is 30th in the NHL. So any opportunity that you get against this cracking team with the man advantage, you have to take advantage of. So this will be an interesting game to watch because I think we're going to be in for a pretty solid game tonight against Minnesota because there's a lot of talent on both sides in Friday night's game. Saturday, what do you have left in the tank after a game the night before? You get to sleep in your own bed.

You're not traveling, anything like that. but still it's the national hockey league 60 or more minutes of hockey in the NHL takes a toll on anybody and then you welcome in a well-rested team that plays a simple disciplined game how do you respond to that right and i did like that you brought up you know you're sleeping in your own bed you don't have to fly to another city for the second half of this back-to-back the second half of back-to-backs have been a real struggle so far for the penguins where they just they have not had their game for any of those so far the season so I'm curious to see if that changes, especially with now two extended, you know, five-day breaks.

They haven't played since Sunday. Okay, you're going to get your legs back tonight since you've been off. Now, can you have that carry over to the point where you're not gassed? So if they had played, for example, Pat, on Wednesday, I think there would be a better chance for them being gassed on Saturday. But for this one, I'm curious to see if that's not just because they haven't played a lot of hockey these last couple weeks with all. all the travel, the global series and all that. So I think they'll be still mostly well rested, even though they're playing tonight.

But we got to see just because the second half of back to backs have been a real struggle for them to date so far. And it's another, there's going to be another bit of extended rest here at the end of this back to back. You play the Minnesota Wild on Friday. You play the Seattle Cracken on Saturday. And then you're off Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, when you play Buffalo. at home, no less, on Wednesday.

So realistically, you look at this this little mini stretch of the schedule and you're getting a ton of time off to recover, to get healthy, to get some energy. You can empty the tank in these two games because then you got three days off. I imagine if they play well, they're just going to get to enjoy NFL Sunday on Sunday.

They're not going to have to go to practice. They're not going to have to do film. They play well. Dan Musil will say, hey, go enjoy. good slate of NFL games on Sunday. We'll see you Monday at the Lemieux Complex and we'll get back to work. So that to me is the biggest key here is you can't leave anything on the table this weekend because two games, two days, then you got three days off, and then you play Buffalo.

So realistically, I know it'll be tough. I know it's going to be a bit of a slog because you've been off for a while. You've got to shake some of the cobwebs off after not playing since Sunday. but good opportunity tonight, even better opportunity on Saturday for the Penguins to, I don't want to say get back on track, but at the very least start building on some of the momentum you gained after getting a big win on Sunday and sweet. You got to start banking points. That's the thing here.

Everyone in the Metro is starting to win again. Even the Islanders are playing really well right now. The Capitals just had a big win over the Canadians on Thursday. The Rangers that are, they are what they are. But, you know, the devils are still very good. Even without Hughes, the hurricanes are still very good. Metro teams are getting points at. So you got to keep pace and you got to start banking more points because even though you got that big win against Nashville,

that was huge because they were on a little bit of that slide. They hadn't really been playing as well. You got to be banking some points at the end of this month because, as we all know, December is going to be nuts. So you got to keep pace here. As Josh gets off, likes to say, we're going to need a couple two-point parties on Fifth Avenue this weekend. So once again, Penguins and Wild tonight, 7 o'clock. Same deal on Saturday night, PPG paints arena against the Seattle Cracken at 7 o'clock.

And obviously Hunter and I are going to be back on Monday to recap both of these games. But that doesn't mean that we're done here on the Friday edition of Locked on Penguins. It went away for a couple of weeks because of the schedule, but it's back. It's fan take Friday We offered you guys up a poll And to get some of your questions And hot takes, we will react to those And read all of your takes

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Welcome back to the Friday edition of Locked-on Penguins. I'm Patrick Damp right alongside Hunter Hodes, and it is the return of fan take Friday. As I said, we took a couple of weeks off because of the crazy penguin schedule and wanting to talk to a couple of guests. So unfortunately, we had to put a fun segment on the back burner, but no worries, it's back. And as we have done the last few weeks on our YouTube page, we offered you a poll to respond to. And this time it was, do you believe in the Thanksgiving playoff benchmark? Or as I said, look behind the curtain because it's me who wrote this.

Or is it crap? 67% of you say Thanksgiving means playoffs. 33% say no. It's made up. Hunter. I'm more with the same. 67% that I do think if you've banked enough points to solidly get into a playoff spot by Thanksgiving probably means if you play around 500 hockey the rest of the way,

you're probably going to get in. I'll say this though. Both conferences have quite a bit of a log jam near the playoffs right now. So I think this might be a year where if you're in at Thanksgiving, it doesn't mean you're getting in. Well, I mean just look how cluttered the East is, especially like it's just team after team you know tied in points tied in points one point off two points off three points off it's still very close it's why really not seeing anyone throw in the throw up the white flag yet like you know calgary's not good they're probably going to throw up the white flag in the west same with nashville in the east pat for god's sake buffalo even though they're not good they're still feeling like hey we rattle off a few wins in a row here we can be

right back in this so no one is really punting on the season it's still very good close you know i think thanksgiving is still the first benchmark for if you're in a playoff spot there's a good chance you'll be in it after that christmas and hey we're less than a week away so pat there's the potential that we could be pressing that hey we're back button we like to file a claim but we still have to see how they do of these next few games and you know the overall sample size and then how they do in December and all that so i do think it's one big benchmark it's why i've been really wanting to see how this team does and i love the sarnock But I was still at the time like, all right, let's see.

And they started going a little bit of that slide. And I was getting concerned. They stopped it against Nashville. But now, how do you do it these next few to end November before going up against some really good teams in December? As for some fan take Friday takes, we're not going to get to everyone today. So we really apologize about that. This one comes from Christian. When someone gets kicked out of the face off, why do they sometimes talk to each other?

Shouldn't everyone already know what the plan is? Does it have to do with the center being a lefty or righty? I think it's a multitude of things. I think it's just the plan. Like, hey, if I want it here, I want you to do this. If I want it over here, I want this person to do that. They're just kind of reinforcing what the plan is. Like they know it, but I think the center is being like, hey, remember, this is what we're going to do and stuff.

Like, you know, set plays and all that. So that's really the main thing, but it can still be a multitude of things. Right. I obviously did not play anywhere near the NHL. but I did play through college. I was a center and my height, I used my leverage quite a bit as a center. Well, we know that.

You're 5.4, so. I wish I was 5.4. But I would always use being a smaller guy, almost like I was doing a rugby scrum to get really low and try to win a face off. But that also meant a lot of the time I was getting kicked out of face off. So the lefty-righty thing is actually the more important part to me, because if you are of a certain handedness as a center, you have certain ways you like to win the draw.

And we see that there are a lot of different handedness online. So if a left-handed center gets kicked out of the draw and a right-handed winger comes in to take the draw, it's kind of going to change what they are going to do. So it's almost like, if I can cross sports here, it's almost like a quarterback calling an audible or a lineman calling an audible in the NFL. basically saying, okay, this is what we were going to do.

But now that I'm getting kicked out of the face off, this is what we're going to do now. So that's a really good question. I love those nuanced questions about hockey. I think those are fun as a hockey nerd. Let's move to a hot take. This is from Ryan Brust. He says, hot take. The pens are going to trade Yo-O Blumquist in a package for Mintykov.

I like where your head's at because I do think the emerging. of both Artur Shilov's and Sergey Murshov showing that he might be ready does kind of increase the chances that Blumquist could be a trade chip, but then you look at Anaheim, who do they got in that? Lucas Dostal, who is more than ready for this. And I don't think that Yoel Blumquist is going to be a guaranteed NHL starter, but I do think he's going to need the opportunity to show what he can do in Anaheim just isn't the place for that. But I do like where that where that thought process is that I do think Blumquist,

unfortunately, because I do think the kid has a lot of talent, has become a potential trade chip. Yeah, him or Philip Larson are probably either one I think is potentially going to get moved, especially with a long jammed up the penguins have right now. And he's not the first person to suggest. Blumquist for Menteca. There are a couple other comments that we go on our episode yesterday, potentially suggesting that. I think that would work well for the penguins,

for the ducks, though. Just with Lucas Dostal and all that, I'm just not sure that's the player that they would go for, at least in my opinion, in this deal. This one comes from Morbi. Speaking of Murosha, Pat, my question for you guys, is there any scenario where Sergei Moroshov stays in the NHL

once Tristan Jari is ready to go? I know the penguins won't rush him, but I would love to see what he does with extended time in the pros. Maybe, but I think they're going to try to send him back, get him the full time in the A, and then once this season is over, you may see him as at least a backup next year, if not a starter. But at the very least right now, you are getting the appetizer or a preview, whatever you want to call it that, hey, this kid is coming, and it's not far off that he is going to be in the NHL because he has shown that, you know, at least for a couple

of games that he can face NHL shooters and be really good against them. But I think right now the way that Shilov is going. And by the way he is starting tonight, which means Marashav is probably going on Saturday with the way Shilov is going with the way Jari was going before he got hurt. I'm not sure Damuzen them want to mess that up. That might disappoint some people, but that's just the reality of the situation. So I, you know, at the end, maybe, but I'm leaning towards them sending Marishaw back, and I do think that would be the right call. I look at it this way. They are kind of giving Sergey Murshov a harder test than most, because we know that she loves is starting tonight against Minnesota,

which means Murrachov is likely to start Saturday against the Seattle Cracken. And the same thing happened in Sweden. He played the second game. and he has played the second half of a back-to-back before. And while I know I said when he played against L.A., it was almost a kind of a tool to motivate the team at the end of a tough stretch to basically say, hey, let's try to get a little bit of extra juice to get this kid his first NHL win at the end of a tough schedule stretch.

But at the same time, they're putting him in the pressure cooker a little bit because you lose a really bad effort game against Nashville and then you turn to the rookie goalie when you need a response, they're going to give him another second half of a back-to-back here. So they're kind of seeing, okay, we're going to put him in high pressure situations, so to speak, at the NHL level and see how he responds rather than just kind of stringing him along. But then once Jari is healthy, they're going to go back to the usual test, which is we want to see what you do with a starting goaltenders load at the AHL level, because they're going to want

to try to pump the value of Tristan Jari as best they can and see if they can do something with him on the trade market or whatever else. Obviously, they want to see what they have in Artur Shilov. Is he for real? Is he just a flash in the pan who starts hot and trails off? And they want, as I've said a million times, they want Sergey Murshov to be their long-term franchise goalie. and you don't want to burn him out or rush him. I want to see him here too. He's the shiny new toy. I want to rip that packaging open and play with that toy every minute of every day,

but it's not how you keep him for long-term success. I want to finish on this one, Hunter. From our good pal, G-tots, hot take for the day, Ben Kindle will win the Calder. Unfortunately, no, Matthew Schaefer, is going to have a whole hell of a lot to say about that. 15 points in 20 games at 18 as a top pairing defenseman in the National Hockey League. Matthew Schaefer is going to be the odds-on favorite to win it.

And then you also have to talk about Ivan Demadov, who's got 14 points in 19 games. Nkishin with the Hurricanes has played really well. Niketian. Niketian, I'm not good with Russian names. Lashunov with Chicago is showing a resurgence. I do think if his trajectory continues this way, wouldn't be shocked to see him show up on a couple ballots, but he ain't winning it.

No, he's not winning it. I think maybe he could get a third place vote or two. I always love when the ballots come out because you can see at the end of the year, like who watches all the games versus who doesn't. I always love when everyone that votes gets really. the ballot because I sometimes I get to laugh at those people I do have a counter hot take though to this and it's not who's going to win it's who might show up on ballots because he is still eligible for the calder trophy archer she loves if he continues to play well he is still eligible for the

calder trophy if he continues having this good of a season wouldn't be shocked to see him showing up on a couple ballots maybe again it's really a two horse race demadov and shaffer I mean shaffer is getting drug test of the Canadian Olympic team right now because they are potentially considering even having him there, which I don't think he's going to be on that team yet. I think it's probably they're going to wait for that. But the fact that he's already drug tested for that just goes to show how great of a start. He's had. The Islanders are also just a lot more fun to watch, which is crazy.

But you know, you got Demadol there too. Those are the two guys. You got to beat Al Kindle. We obviously love what he's doing. He rocks. He's fantastic. He's not what. I'm going to get it. We appreciate the hot take, of course. He's maybe getting a, he'll be on a ballot or two, third place vote or two. Other than that, probably not. But hey, that's still awesome that he's having a great year. It's just not at the level that a couple of these other guys are at. We didn't think he was even going to play this year, let alone be potentially in the conversation to show up on Carter trophy ballots. So we are playing with nothing but found money right now. So let's just keep enjoying that. But that is going to do it.

For our Friday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast, hope that you have got yourself all your snacks, all your drinks and everything because it's a big sports weekend here in Pittsburgh. Two Penguins games, Steelers on Sunday, enjoy all of it. And Hunter and I will be back on Monday to talk about the Penguins. You can go check out Chris Carter on Locked on Steelers if you want to talk about the boys at Acresher Stadium. But for now, for Hunter Hodes, I am Patrick Dan. Thank you, as always, for tuning in, and we will be back on Monday.