Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Ben Kindel SHINES in his rookie year for the Penguins!

Episode Date: May 18, 2026

When the Penguins took Ben Kindel 11th overall, there weren’t many expectations on him, but he exceeded all of them! Hunter and Patrick continue the Locked On Penguins season in review series today ...with a look back at Ben Kindel’s sensational rookie season. (1:30) They discuss how he surprised everyone and remained with the team for a full season, what his ceiling is, and how he can have an even better year two. Then, the Penguins’ ECHL affiliate, the Wheeling Nailers, are set for a winner-take-all game seven tonight after a dramatic game six overtime victory. (13:30) Finally, Sidney Crosby is shining on the international stage once again, and his four assists helped Canada continue its undefeated streak at the world championships! (23:30) Everydayer ClubIf you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. Click here to learn more and join your team’s community: https://lockedonpodcasts.com/everydayerclub Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Indeed Now, you can speed up your hiring process with a $75 Sponsored Job Credit. Just go to https://indeed.com/podcast right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Terms and conditions apply. KALSHI For a limited time, download the Kalshi app and use code LOCKEDON to get ten dollars when you trade ten. Kalshi. Trade on anything. Gametime Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime. FanDuel Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now new customers can bet just five dollars and get one-hundred and fifty dollars in bonus bets if your first bet wins. Visit https://FANDUEL.COM to get started — Play Your Game. 5-Hour ENERGY Get candy-flavored chaos with Fruity Rainbow 5-hour ENERGY®️ Shots - available online at https://5hourENERGY.com or Amazon QuoMake this the year where no opportunity — and no customer — slips away.Try Quo for free plus get 20% off your first 6 months when you go tohttp://Quo.com/lockedonnhl. 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.

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 Ben Kindle surprised everyone with a rookie season to remember this year, and Pat and I are going to recap his season, plus discuss Wheeling heading to a winner-take-all game seven coming up right after this. Your Locked-on Penguins, your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello and welcome to the Monday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes. You can follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, joined by my co-host, Patrick Damp.
Starting point is 00:00:39 You can follow him on all social media platforms at Send him for Wet. You can also follow the show's Twitter at L.O. underscore Penguins. And you can find us on Instagram at Lockdown, underscore Penguins. And of course, thank you all so much for making this your first listen slash watch of the day. We are free and available on all platforms. To start today's show, we're going to talk about Ben Kindle's fantastic rookie season before pivoting to Wheeling, winning game 6 and overtime forcing Game 7 tonight. It's going to be packed in Wheeling, West Virginia.
Starting point is 00:01:11 And then to end of the show, Sydney Crosby doing Sidney Crosby things at the World Championships. Yes, I know it was Denmark today, but he still put on quite the show in the third period. It was really fun to watch that game on NHL Network. But Pat, first things first, Ben Kendall with a superb rookie season. I don't think any of us saw this coming when he was picked. in late June last year. I was really excited when they picked him just because he was one of the first prospects that I identified in the Penguin specific draft board.
Starting point is 00:01:42 I felt that he would be a solid pick if he was there. I still had other players ahead of them on my draft board, but I still felt that he would be a good pick overall, considering how smart he is, his two-way play, his offensive ability, and everything else in between. And he gets picked. He comes to training camp,
Starting point is 00:02:02 blows everyone away, gets into a whole bunch of preseason games, and they keep feeding him to the wolves, really. He does a little bit in his first game, does a bit more in his second game. You continue to see that throughout the preseason, and then the coaching staff and the management staff, they were so impressed that they said,
Starting point is 00:02:17 hey, we're going to throw you to the wolves now for your first NHL regular season game. Let's see how you do. Passed beautifully in that first game against the Rangers. He then scores his first NHL goal that week against Igor Shusirken. what a great way to score your first national goal against arguably the best goaltender in the league. And they kind of have him on a pitch count to start the season.
Starting point is 00:02:40 But he plays so well even after being scratched at times that the Penguins coaching staff and management staff looked at each other and probably said, okay, we really can't afford to keep scratching this guy at this point, considering how well he is playing. And they start his ELC and the rest is history. 17 goals and 35 points in his first initial season. He gets a top 10 finish in the Calder Trophy voting, finish ninth. Pat, I understand that some people were a bit annoyed when you saw him finish ninth,
Starting point is 00:03:12 considering how great a rookie season he had. But you look at some of the players ahead of them, not even just the top three, Dobish in Montreal, Walsett in Minnesota, Niketian and Carolina, Ryan Leonard in Washington, of course. These players also had really good rookie seasons as well. so it's not a slight to Ben Kendall. He was still awesome. Hell, he had a couple third place votes from a couple people who voted on this award.
Starting point is 00:03:34 But he was an amazing two-way center, great playmaker. His hockey IQ continued to stand out all season. We're going to get into more detail. But Pat, I'll say this right here, A plus and then some for Ben Kendall this season. Easily an A-plus. That trend continues on our show that you have a season that nobody expects. You exceed all expectations. and it's fueled by a bunch of people either outperforming expectations or being an outright surprise.
Starting point is 00:04:05 And you say all that, Hunter, about Ben Kindle and you leave out one key detail, the weight of expectations. You can't just wear number 81 in Pittsburgh and not be a good player because that is Phil the thrill, Kessel forever and always. But Ben Kindle is starting to forge his own legacy. but jokes aside, I mean, you go all the way back to the way we talked after the draft going into this season. The expectation for Ben Kindle was maybe he gets a couple of games in the NHL after a surprising training camp in preseason. And then they'll send him back.
Starting point is 00:04:43 He'll send him back to junior. He's not going to be quite ready just yet. He looked like a bit of a project when he was picked. And then he just blows everybody away and has. as a phenomenal rookie season, 17 goals as an 18 year old picked outside of the top 10. When you just look at the stat line, it's not all that impressive, 35 points in 77 games. But when you put the context into it, a pick outside of the top 10, didn't look like a lot of people liked the pick, seemed like it was a bit of a reach. but you put all that context back in and it's nothing but a success.
Starting point is 00:05:25 The challenge for Ben Kindle over the next however many years is going to be building on this because the way I always look at players like Kindle and just really rookies in general is going into next season, teams are going to have more tape on you. Teams are going to have a better scouting report on you. There's always the possibility that rookies first year players, change of scenery players, you name it, when they get to their team, teams don't know how to scout them. Teams don't know the tendencies yet. Teams don't understand what this player does. And then in the next season, teams start to figure it out.
Starting point is 00:06:07 So for Ben Kindle, along on top of all of that, he's just got to build off of a phenomenal rookie season. And I'm confident that he will because of all the things you mentioned. He's further ahead of schedule than anybody could have expected, but it's in the areas that you don't expect an 18-year-old forward, now 19 years old to be. He plays a really good two-way game. He's defensively accountable. He's reliable on the defensive end of the game.
Starting point is 00:06:34 And those are things that usually for a player of that age take a while to develop. He's already pretty good at them. Now his challenge is going to be adding some more offense to that, getting to that 20-25 goal mark and upping his point. to 40 or 50 a year and really solidifying his spot as a middle six center for the Pittsburgh Penguins. But overall, a tremendous rookie year for a player that we did not have anywhere near this kind of expectation for. Yeah, again, like the fact that he scored 17 goals, put up almost 40 points as an 11th overall pick at only 18 years old. You just don't really see that
Starting point is 00:07:12 super often in NHL. That just goes to show how rare it is, that a player who was picked out of outside the top 10 comes in, makes an immediate impact, is one of your best players on this team during the season and a big reason why you made the playoffs. He was fantastic. And I do think he's going to hit 20 plus goals next season. The fact that he was only three away this year at 18 says something, says quite a bit, honestly. I still think his absolute ceiling is somewhere near maybe Braden point where he eclipses 90 plus points. Again, that's like his pure ceiling. But say he even tops out as a 65, 70 point player for an 11th overall pick, you will gladly take that, especially someone that's in the league for quite a while.
Starting point is 00:08:00 And he's a consistent, again, 60, 65, 70 point player. I think you'll take that. And I think he's going to be the third line center to open next season. I've seen some talk about him maybe being the second line center. I don't know if I'd go that far yet. I think eventually he is going to be the second line center on this team. But right now, I would still have him as the third line center. You can figure out your Tuesday situation for next year, whether that's Malkin moving back to center, whether it's Tommy Novak potentially coming back,
Starting point is 00:08:27 whether you're going out and getting someone via trade. That can go be your second line center for the short term and the long term. I don't know if he is going to be Kendall that is in that position yet, but say he still anchors your third line, has some good line mates like he did this past season, keeps playing on your PK, shows that hockey sense, adds more. to his offensive repertoire.
Starting point is 00:08:49 I think he's going to be online for an even better second season. And now Pat, he's also going to have a pure NHL offseason training program. That's also going to help immensely as he continues to bulk up. That's going to be huge for him because that is, he's going to get targeted more next season. Oh, yeah. Both just because teams are going to understand the impact Ben Kindle has on the penguin's success. And he's going to get elevated in different rules because he's shown he can handle it. He obviously has to continue to prove that.
Starting point is 00:09:19 But through 77 regular season games, he showed he was more than capable of taking on the workload of an NHL regular. So that'll get him into some situations where he's going to see more ice time. He's going to see more high leverage moments. So with that in mind, he really does have to train pretty hard this summer to come back and be better. And the final thing I'll say about him that, you know, I don't think it's one to one. you know, if he turns into Braden Point, you'd take that, say thank you and keep it moving. But yeah, I remember saying it after he got drafted. Yeah, it's the WHL.
Starting point is 00:09:57 Yeah, it's a little bit, it's obviously way different than the NHL, but 99 points is 99 points, no matter how you cut it. And he had 99 points in his final junior season. So there very much is an offensive player in Ben Kindle. So him developing that part of his game and continuing to, to play well at all 200 feet would only make him more valuable as a cornerstone of the penguins going forward. I agree. And just going off his underlines as well, since I like doing this in all the season reviews, a little over 900 minutes at 5 on 5 ice time when he was on the ice, the penguins had 52.3% of the shot attempts also had 51% of the scoring chances,
Starting point is 00:10:40 53% of the high danger chances as well, and almost 52% of the expected goal share. So really good underlines to support the I test, which obviously A plus. So all in all, a phenomenal rookie season for Ben Kendall, and we cannot wait to see what he does in year two when that starts up in October for the 26, 27 season. So Pat, I know you give him an A plus as well. I sure do. Let us know what you thought about Ben Kendall's rookie season down in the comments.
Starting point is 00:11:08 You can send us a DM as well. But that's going to do it for this first segment. Coming up in the second segment, Wheeling had a huge moment. in game six, winning that game in overtime. They will now play a winner take all against Maine tonight and Wheeling. And Pat and I are going to talk about that coming up right after this. But before we get to that, we have to tell you all about one of our sponsors, which is Indeed. Workplace chaos, deadline stacking up in boxes overflowing in the one position you have to fill
Starting point is 00:11:39 that is still sitting open. When the pressure's on and you need the right hire, this is a job for Indeed's sponsor jobs. Indeed, sponsor jobs helps you reach the people who actually feel you're looking for, skills, experience location, so you're not just hoping the right candidate stumbles across your post. And here's a stat that says it all. In the minute that I've been talking to, companies like yours have made 27 hires on Indeed, according to Indy Data worldwide. So if you're hiring, spend less time searching and more time interviewing candidates who check all your boxes with Indeed's sponsored jobs. Inlisters of the show, you will get a $75 sponsor job credit to help
Starting point is 00:12:14 get your job posts, the premium status it deserves at Indy.com slash podcast. Just go to Indeed.com slash podcast right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Indeed.com slash podcast terms and conditions apply need to hire. This is a job for Indeed's sponsored jobs. And we're not done. We still got one more to tell you about and that is Cal She. The hunt for the Stanley Cup is on and now you can trade every game on Cal She. On CalC so you can trade every single playoff game, every series of the conference finals and the Stanley Cup final.
Starting point is 00:12:47 there's one game tonight. Everyone knows what it is. Game 7, Montreal versus Buffalo. And you look at the odds, 48% excuse me for Montreal, 52% for Buffalo. The payout $189. So it's going to be a tight one, I think. I'm really excited to watch this one. And on Cali, you're trading against peers in a live market, meaning there's no cows. And as the probability changes, you can buy in and out of your position for a limited time, download the Calci app and use code locked on to get $10 when you trade $10. That's Kelsey, trade on anything. All right, we're back here on the Monday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes, joined by my co-host, Patrick Gamp. And Pat, game six, it was an elimination game for Wheeling.
Starting point is 00:13:36 They took a one-nothing lead in the third period. Maine ends up tying it, sending its overtime. And then, of all people, Emil Pianney Nemi is the hero. What a slap shot from the point. And Pat, that crowd pop, by the way, was awesome. I think it's going to be probably even louder tonight. What did I tell you? I want to say that man.
Starting point is 00:13:55 What are crowd pop for that? What did I tell you, man? West Banko Arena. It has an unbelievable atmosphere. I worked for that team for three seasons. And when they show up, dude, that barn. And that is no offense to the people who work, who work there that I still know, the town.
Starting point is 00:14:14 But that arena is the definition of a barn. It's an old school arena. It's been around for decades. But man, when the Wheeling fans show up, it is an unbelievable atmosphere. And if you haven't seen it, go find the highlights and just listen to that crowd pop when PN and Mie scores. Oh boy, it is going to be rocking tonight. And I want to say this as well for P&Memi, someone who, remember Pat, he was suspended by
Starting point is 00:14:43 the organization, eventually comes back and then has that moment just feel really happy. for him there. You need that. And you know what? I think he kind of got the message during the suspension that this is, it might not be my last chance, but I'm getting real close to being out of chances to chase a potential NHL job and an NHL dream. So him coming back, taking the assignment to the nailers. And he has been a pretty solid part of their team. And he's had some appearances in Wokes Bear as well. And he's made the most of it. And nothing raises your stock like coming in clutch with your season on the line
Starting point is 00:15:25 in overtime to force a game seven. The other players that we got to talk about, though, for both Wheeling and Maine, the goaltenders. Wheeling had nearly 50 shots on net in this game, 48 in total. Luke Callivan makes 46 saves. Taylor Godier, once again, great performance, 31 saves on 32 shots, including a huge stop in overtime. Maine gets a breakaway.
Starting point is 00:15:55 Taylor Gotea gets full extension on the breakaway chance, makes a pad save, keeps the season alive, and then obviously P&ME ends it. But this was a great profile in honestly just courage, grit, stepping up because Maine stole all of the momentum. If you remember, it was 2-0 going to Maine. Maine wins three straight. They make it 3-2. They push the nailers to the brink.
Starting point is 00:16:21 The nailers push right back. And now it's one game to go to the Eastern Conference Finals in the ECHL's Kelly Cup playoffs. And guess who they would play in the Eastern Conference final, Pat? Do you know? I know. I'm just waiting for you to say it. The Florida Everblades who are owned by who? The Hoffman Group.
Starting point is 00:16:40 Yep, who is still on track to buy the Pittsburgh Penguins. is probably going to get finalized at some point here this off season, but that would kind of be a fun full circle moment for the Hoffman group who, again, they're set to buy the penguins here pretty soon, and their ECHL team will be playing the nailers if Wheeling does win tonight. Again, I find it still very funny that we have played six games in this series. The road team has not won at all. I just knocked on wood to not jinx anything for tonight, but game seven and Wheeling, there's social media wants everyone to come out. It's going to be rocking. It's a huge game. Weiling wins
Starting point is 00:17:20 this one. They go to the Eastern Conference final to play the Everblades. No one Renwick, keep your eye on him as well, Pat, he has had a pretty good series. And again, just going back to P&Nemi, in the playoffs so far, one goal, five points in nine games, played in 26 games for the nailors the season, six goals and 11 points during that time. Also played nine games for Wilkesbury because he had to come up for a little bit, a goal in three points during that time. So for since he has come back, he's been totally fine. You know, I still don't know what his full long-term future looks like in this organization if he's ever going to make the NHL.
Starting point is 00:17:56 But he at least had that big moment there. I'm happy for him considering, you know, came back from the suspension, know he had to put in the work. And he has at least started to do that throughout the season. And then you see it in the playoffs as well. But Pat, let's see if they can continue their season tonight. game seven in-wheeling winner to the conference final. And the thing that,
Starting point is 00:18:18 two, last two things I want to say on this is one, for PN and Emmy, I know that those numbers don't jump off the page, but like Hunter and I have said, remember he was suspended at the start of the year. So he started the year behind the eight ball. I'm still not sure if he's going to light up the ECHL
Starting point is 00:18:37 and the HL on his way to the NHL, but do keep in mind that this was a weird, start to the season for him with the suspension. So he already started late, started off in a weird spot. So he had to get himself back up to speed. If things continue the way they're continuing now, however long this run goes for the nailers, and then he has a solid off season, has a good camp. We'll see what he can grow into.
Starting point is 00:19:04 But just bear in mind that it's been a weird season for him. And the other thing I want to add, my favorite season of hockey will forever be the 15-16 season for obvious reasons. The Penguins win the Stanley Cup, but that was also the year, the Wheeling Nailers made their run to the Kelly Cup final. They ultimately lost to the Allen Americans,
Starting point is 00:19:26 but that team galvanized the Wheeling Nailers in their fan base because it was a very similar team to the one you're seeing now. There were a handful of guys who you look at it and go, they shouldn't be in the ECHL, they should at the very least be in the AHL, or these are guys who should be playing overseas
Starting point is 00:19:49 and be playing in the pro leagues overseas because they're probably too good for the ECHL, but it's a really tight Naylor's team. You look at all the reporting. I've talked to a couple people I know down there who are around the team pretty much every day, and they have said, yeah, like this group is just a big old group of pals and they're hanging out together.
Starting point is 00:20:10 And obviously that's how it is in the, ECHL because if you go literally diagonal from West Banko Arena's rear entrance, there's a nice little apartment complex and that's where all the players live. So it's kind of like a college program in the sense that the majority of them are all living together. They're eating meals together. They're playing cards together. They're going out together. So it has a lot of that same feeling that they had in 2016. So I'm really excited for them. I'm really excited for them. I'm really excited for the organization and they get a win tonight. I look at the rest of the field in the ECHL
Starting point is 00:20:48 and they're going to have just as good a chance as anybody else at making a run to the Kelly Cup. It will be a tough series against Florida just because, Pat, they're eight and one in their first two rounds. They have just devoured their first two opponents. And that is the other reason that I say it's got that same vibe is it was the first round, I believe, if memory serves, that they played the Everblades.
Starting point is 00:21:11 and going into that series, everyone went, oh, Florida's a wagon. Like, there's no way that the nailers who scratched and clawed their way into the postseason are going to be able to go up against Florida. And what do you know, they outlasted Florida in six games. And here we go. Florida, if they can get this win tonight, there's going to be the same talk of, you know, Florida,
Starting point is 00:21:34 that's a really good team. We don't know. So the vibes are there. It's setting up, obviously, history is not predicted. of the future, but I'm just, I'm feeling them vibes again. So we will see. We'll see how it goes. And we'll update everyone, of course, on Tuesday, depending on what happens.
Starting point is 00:21:54 If we only wins, they move on. If they don't, obviously, their season is over. But again, we'll have an update for everyone on the Tuesday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. And I'll do it for this second segment coming up to end the show. Yep, Cindy Crosby lit it up at the World Championships again on Monday. and Pat and I are going to discuss that coming up right after this. But before we get to that, we have to tell you all about one more sponsor, which is Quo.
Starting point is 00:22:22 Miss calls and slow follow-ups are silent killers for businesses. That's how money gets left on the table without people even realizing it. And that's why today's episode, it's brought to you by Quo, spelled QUO, the business communication system built, so you never miss a call. Quo helps businesses keep every conversation organized by letting your entire team-manage calls and texts from one shared notes. number, no more drop messages, missed opportunities, or disconnected communication. It's designed for how moderate businesses actually operate. The part I love, everything lives in one clean thread when it comes to calls, text and voicemails, the whole team, sees the conversation so nothing falls through the cracks. It just makes your business feel more organized and responsive. Money is on the
Starting point is 00:23:03 line. Always say hello with quo. Try quo for free, plus get 20% off your first six months. When you go to Quote.com slash locked on NHL. That's QUO.com slash locked on NHL. All right, we're closing out the Monday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Huntsor Hodes, joined by my co-s, Patrick Gamp. And Pat, Cindy Crosby did it again today. Just absolutely torched Denmark in the third period alone, had four assists. He now has five points in three games, 14 Canada, as Canada is now 3-0 in group play in
Starting point is 00:23:40 group B. as expected they are just playing very well they have the best roster going into this tournament it's not really close i'd be surprised really if anyone else won the world championships this year especially when you look at team USA in comparison pat they don't have close to their best roster and they are not playing well to start the world championships they're one and two more on that a little bit just because tommy noback and connor clifton representing team USA from the penguins but for crosbie man he just put on a show in the third period i tuned into the game on on NHL Network.
Starting point is 00:24:12 All four of those assists were insane. The one to Ryan O'Reilly was disgusting. The one where he was with Celebrini and Martone, which I said I wanted to see, and we got to see it. I loved seeing it, obviously. Those were just two of the four, Pat. Like,
Starting point is 00:24:28 those are just half of the four assists that he had in the third period. He's doing Sydney Crosby things, not surprised. Did you expect any less from Sidney Crosby? Because I didn't. It's just who he is. at this point. And I will say it does feel a little bit the way that he is raising his game in this tournament considering he is playing with Celebrini and Martone as almost a statement of him to go, don't forget about me yet. Do not forget about me yet. Is he at the level he was even five years ago?
Starting point is 00:25:02 No, but you see the way that he's still setting up goals, the way he's still driving offense. he's playing with one guy in Celebrini who is already a superstar. As much as it's going to chap our asses to say it, Martone is going to be one as well. He is kind of looking at them and going, you can call me the gray beard all you want, but I will set you up all day, keep up with you all day,
Starting point is 00:25:26 and it's really nice to see. Don't think Markone's going to be a superstar, but I think he's still going to be really, really good. Superstar, like Celebrini, that's probably maybe, well, too, no, no, he's not going to be a, Celebrini's level, but he's going to be probably the cornerstone of the flyers for quite a while. So in my book, that counts as a star.
Starting point is 00:25:45 The other thing we got to get to real quick is that the reporting came out over the weekend from Team Canada that they didn't expect, or at least they weren't counting on Sidney Crosby going to the world championships. So they had made the decision to make Cellebrini the captain. and then when Sidney Crosby said he was going to go to the world championships, he insisted that Macklin-Cellibriene remained the captain, and Celebrini insisted that, no, Sid, you go ahead and take the captaincy. And then they said, well, the players decided that Celebrini would maintain the captaincy.
Starting point is 00:26:22 And I feel like that was probably the room going, well, Sid said Mac should keep it. So we'll just let Mac keep it. At the end of the day, it really is not a big deal. I've seen some weird tweets about it. Who cares? Macklin Slobini has the C. He is playing exceptionally well, as you would expect. And Cid, even though he's got an A, he's still playing great as well.
Starting point is 00:26:48 Again, the assist that he had today were superb. Team Canada is now 3 and O in the group stage play, and they will continue it later on this week. As for Team USA, Pat, as I hinted at, not a good start. they have lost to Switzerland and they just lost to Finland. They lost to Finland six to two. They did be Great Britain on Sunday five to one, but still only one and two. I'm not too surprised by a lot of their struggles just because when you look at this roster up and down, there are some veterans.
Starting point is 00:27:16 There's also a lot of pure young players and it's not even close to a roster that you saw the Olympics. I mean, this is not even a C roster, to be honest. So, you know, again, nothing too surprising. as for the penguins that have participated, both Tommy Novak and Connor Clifton have played in all three games. Clifton has kind of played in a third pair role while Tommy Novak is playing up in the top six. Tommy Novak, one assist in three games, Connor Clifton, no points during that time. That kind of tells you everything you need to know about the Team USA roster.
Starting point is 00:27:49 I love Tommy Novak. I think he is going to be a solid contributor for the Penguins for at least another year. We'll see how much longer he lasts if he has a great year next year. You talk about bringing him back or maybe moving him, but when he's your second line center on an international play level, sorry, Tommy. He didn't bring the A team. And I look at a lot of what Team USA did roster building wise going into these
Starting point is 00:28:15 world championships. And obviously there's some big names who aren't there for injury or other reasons. But I think they did a mix of bringing in some young players who are going to be depth contributors at the international level for the next few years. to get them some more familiarity with the national program. And then they also brought in guys who can challenge for those depth spots when we get to all this international play that we're going to get over the next few years, be it the World Cup, the Olympics, whatever other four nations kind of thing that they're going to do.
Starting point is 00:28:48 So you compare what Canada brought to what USA brought. Canada's playing to win this thing. Canada wants to get another gold and another world championship. USA, it kind of feels like they knew that they weren't going to get a lot of their big guns. So they just said, hey, let's get some people in here to get familiar with the national program, see what we got in the system for our depth when we move forward. And we know when we get to the World Cup in the Olympics, we'll have our big guns. Then we'll figure out who is going to fill out the rest of the roster.
Starting point is 00:29:19 Yeah, I can see that as well. You know, even someone like Ryan Leonard getting some minutes, maybe he challenges for a depth spot. talent line 2028's probably too quick for him and that just because you see how much talent this program has but you know maybe maybe 2030 maybe 2032 for the next world cup out of i'm just spitballing i named ryan leonard as an example but i think definitely 2028 is too soon for in there but they're one and two the world championships will continue this weekend before we get out of here pat i got one question for you who wins game seven tonight buffalo montreal i'm sticking with buffalo because i pick them in seven games and that place is going to be unglued if they advance the Eastern
Starting point is 00:30:02 Conference final. Give me Buffalo. What do you say? Yeah, I think I got to go with Buffalo as well. I mean, you look at, you look at Game 6 and like just the way that Buffalo finally seemed to figure it all out, it's going to be. And to do that not only in game six, but to do it in Montreal, in that atmosphere, just the way everything turned up, that was really impressive. I do think there's an element of it where Montreal kind of shot themselves in the foot a couple of times, but Buffalo seems to have all the momentum. You're going home.
Starting point is 00:30:40 It's a team that every time people have counted them out this year, they've given us all the proverbial middle finger. So give me Buffalo to move on to the Eastern Conference final and take on the the Carolina hurricane. Sorry, it's been so long since they played a hockey game. I forgot who was the other team. They literally have been off for a week and a half, just about almost a week and a half. It'll be almost really close to two weeks when they next play. But hey, they've benefited from long breaks before in the playoffs.
Starting point is 00:31:11 And I'm sure they will again, they've been a house on fire. Again, give me Buffalo, though. I think they win this one. And I do think they win this one. they are going to give Carolina a good fight. And the conference final, got to start UPL tonight, man. Oka Pekyllukin. I mean, he was awesome coming in relief for Alex Lyon,
Starting point is 00:31:30 who kind of went full Tristan Jari in game six. You don't go full playoff Tristan Jari in game six. But he did. Luckily, UPL was awesome in relief, and he made the big saves when the Sabres needed him to, and they completely took over the game after going down 3-1. But that's going to do it for them. Monday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. Thank you all so much for taking the time to listen
Starting point is 00:31:54 to slash watch this one. Pat and I will be back with a fresh episode for you all on Tuesday discussing all things pits or penguins. So for Patrick Damp, I'm Hunts for Hodes. Thank you all so much for tuning in. We'll be back on Tuesday.

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.