Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Breaking down the Penguins TOP 5 prospects!

Episode Date: July 20, 2026

The Penguins have several players hoping to make the jump to full-time NHL action this season, but who has the highest ceiling? Hunter and Patrick begin the Monday edition of the Locked On Penguins Podcast by rounding out their top 10 prospect ranking. (1:50) They discuss the likes of Will Horcoff, Bill Zonnon, and Rutger McGroarty. How can they continue to develop and eventually become regular NHL contributors? Then, the top two prospects in the system have a lot of expectations placed upon them. (15:04) One could be a top-pairing defenseman, and the other could be a franchise goaltender, but will they reach that potential? Finally, with Hunter back on the show, he gives some thoughts on the Penguins’ 2026-27 regular-season schedule! (24:05) 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! FanDuel Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Join all the action at https://FANDUEL.COMto play Daily Dingers and make your free pick on who’s hitting a homer this MLB season.   OdooGreat organizations win because operations matter. And that’s why you should get Odoo. Try for free today at https://Odoo.com/lockedon.  IndeedNow, you can speed up your hiring process with a $75 Sponsored Job Credit. Just go to https://indeed.com/podcastright now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It's time to break down the top five prospects in the penguin system, and that's 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 Hoodies. You can follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, joined by my host, Patrick Damp. You can follow him on all social media.

platforms at Sendem for Wet. You can also follow the show's Twitter at LO underscore Penguins. And you can find us on Instagram at Locked On underscore Penguins. 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. And finally, today's episode is brought to you by Fandall. Join all the action at fandul.com to play daily dingers and make your free pick on who's hitting a home run this MLB season. Yes, everyone. I am back. Pat Held down the fort really nicely on Friday. This weekend was everything I wanted it to be.

I got to go to the beach, read my book, eat a lot of good food, spend some quality time with some of my best friends on my bachelor trip. And I got pretty hammered basically every night. So it was everything I wanted. Love that for you. Absolutely love that for you. It was nice to just get away from everything. I didn't really check social media too too much.

It was just a lot of fun to, again, just go offline for a few days, read, have some fun with my friends, all that stuff. A bit later on in the show, we're going to get into some of my thoughts on the Penguins schedule that was released on Friday. I know Pat gave some of his thoughts on that show, but we're going to get some of mine. But to kick off today's show, we are finishing up our top 10 prospects in the Penguin system going from 5 through 1. And Pat, we start here with Will Horkov, who was one of three players picked in the first

round of the 2025 annual draft. He was picked 24th overall. had a great full freshman season for Michigan, 25 goals, 39 points in 40 games, also had two goals and four points in seven games. He was a goal scoring machine, especially in the first half of the season. I know he'd tilled off a little bit towards the end of the season, but Pat was probably because he was hurt. You saw he talked about that injury during development camp that just wasn't the same.

I mean, he was still playing, but he wasn't the same player in the Penguins. They didn't want to risk anything for him. development camp. I just want to have him keep rehabbing the injury and then hopefully he'll be able to play in the Prospects Challenge a bit later on this year. He is slated to go back to Michigan for at least one more year before he potentially goes pro, but we have to see what happens there. But I just want to see continued growth from him. I want to see him add more elements to his repertoire. I want to see him bring the puck into his own, into the offensive zone, excuse me, a bit more. I want to see him become more of a playmaker. Yeah, we all know he's a strong.

strong goal score. His release is really good, but I think he could be a bit better defensively. I think he could be a bit better at, you know, bringing the puck in zone entry-wise. So those are just a couple of things that I really want him to improve on as he heads into his full sophomore season. This is on a much lesser level, very similar to Ben Kindle from that draft in the sense that we all kind of looked at it and went, this seems like a reach. This seems like a guy you didn't need to take this early. He probably would have been there later.

And we all ended up with egg on our face, a nearly point per game season at Michigan. And we documented his struggles with the U.S. development team. And then his first season at Michigan wasn't all that impressive. So they did for now at least get the scouting report right on Horkoff. And the challenge for him next season is adding other elements to his game. You said how good of a goal score he is. Now I want to see him become a little bit more of a puck distributor.

It doesn't need to become a pure playmaker, but needs to add that to the rotation. And the other thing is I want to see him have an encore season because you and I both know whether it's the NCAA, the major junior leagues, and then the pros. It's real easy to burst on the scene as an unknown. It's really easy to have that. first young season where you surprise everybody,

well, now everybody's got tape on you. Everybody has scouted you. Everybody has seen you. They're going to come at you a little bit differently. So when he has more challenging competition next year at Michigan, I want to see him put up comparable numbers. I don't know if he'll do another point per game season. I would love ideally to see him score even more.

But if he is just as effective after everybody's got tape on him, that is good news for his development. I agree, but also why not for another point per game season, especially with the way that he was playing in the first half. I mean, if he's healthy, I definitely can see him being a point per game player for Michigan. And then have another year at the World Juniors. And then again, we'll have to see if he signs his ELC after that. But so far, so good on Horcoff. Again, he's a bit more of a project.

You're not going to be seeing him for a little while. I just want to see him continue to take more strides going into next season. Number four, that is Bill Zonan. He was great during the queue. 14 goals, 46 points in 35 games. Yes, he was a bit banged up for a good part of the season. But once he came back, Pat, excuse me, he was phenomenal. His playmaking took off.

He scored some really nice goals. He was well over a point per game. He had two goals and 15 points in 17 playoff games. His season ends. He then comes to Wilkesbury, and he makes an immediate impact. Four goals, seven points, and 11 playoff. off games, helping Wilkesbury Scrant and get to the Eastern Conference final before losing to the Marley. So, of course, then went on to win the Calder Cup overall. But there was no learning

curve at all. I remember that story, Pat, where they come as on in the Wilkesbury coaching staff, and they're like, hey, you got to learn our system. He goes, no, I've already been doing that. I've been watching all your tape. I've been learning the system on my own. And you could tell from the first game that he played that he was very comfortable with this team. you're going to see him be on this team in a full-time capacity this season. If he makes his NHL debut pet, it's probably going to be due to some injuries. I don't think he's going to make the team out of camp just yet right now. But the time is coming when he is going to be in the NHL.

You just don't want to rush someone like this because I do really like him in the system. I like his play around the net. I like his release. He's a good playmaker. He's a good skater. I think his two-way game is improving as well. But you just want to get this development right so that he can, when he comes up to the NHL, he's here to stay.

So really like where he's at. He comes in at number four, and I'm excited to see what he can do and what will probably be a full season in Wilkesbury. I'm going to take what you said about Will Horkoff and flip it on you for Bill Zonan. Why not make the NHL team? I mean, ideally, I'm with you,

and I agree with the overarching point that he would probably be best served to do a full season with the baby penguins and really get himself acclimated. to being a big time contributor in the HL before he makes the step. But he fit seamlessly into the baby penguins last year. And this wasn't this wasn't empty calories. It wasn't like he was showing up and playing in meaningless games

and putting up points when it didn't matter. He jumped right into a playoff run. He puts up seven points in 11 games, four goals to go along with it. And he was just a battering ram. He was just an aggressive forechecker. He knew how to be in the right places at the right time. The hockey sense really showed.

And like you said about Horkoff, why not put up another point per game season in Michigan? The way Zonin showed up in Wilkes-Bear, I mean, it's not going to be easy. It's not going to be guaranteed. But he's someone that going into camp this year, I'm looking at like, this is someone we might want to have our eye on. because with as good as he was for the baby penguins, I can see him being motivated to take the next step. But overall, I do think at the end of the day, he'll probably spend most of the season in Wilkes Bear.

And like I said about one of the other prospects, he does strike me as a player that when we get into the dog days, January, February, when there's injuries or trades or underperformances, I can see them bringing him up and just saying, We're going to give you four to five games. Unless you wildly overperform, you are going to go back. But we want you to get that taste of the NHL. We want you to see how different it is.

We want you to see what the speed and the skill and the compete levels are at the top level. That way you know what you have to reach for. I think with Zonan, I understand your point with why not, especially because we just saw it with Kindle. I just think there's so many players ahead of him right now on the depth chart. it's just going to take a lot for him to make this team right away come early, come mid-September. Now, again, we said the same thing about Ben Kendall last year, and he was able to make the team, but I still think the more likely scenario is that he starts this season in Wilkesbury.

He's there for most of the year, and then maybe he makes his initial debut for a game or two at some point, but we're both still really excited about Bills Aon, and we see him having a future on this team for a while. But that's going to do it for this first segment. Coming up in the second segment, we're going to get into our top three plus discuss which of these players has the highest ceiling for the Penguins that's coming up right after this. But before we get to that, we have to tell you all about one of our sponsors, which is Fandall. Locked on Penguins is brought to you by Fandall and baseball fans. If you think you know who's hitting a home run today,

Fandle is giving you a free chance to call your shot with daily dangers. It's easy to play. Just make your free pick for who you think will hit a home run in their game. If you're right, you will receive a profit boost to use on your next bet for a chance at extra winnings. Best of all, you can make a free pick every day throughout the MLB season. Daily Dingers, it's another fun way to stay engaged with every day's games, whether you're following your favorite team or keeping an eye on matchups across the league. Every game has someone capable of going deep.

Now you get the chance to make your prediction before the first pitch. So, are ready to play your game today? Join all the action at fandul.com. that's fandle.com to play daily dangers and make your free pick on who is hitting a home run. Play ball and swing for the fences on Fandle, an official partner of Major League Baseball. 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 Damp. And Pat, let's get into the top three.

And I think most people know who our top three is going to be. Starting on at three, it is Rucker McGority. And yes, I understand that some people are a bit more down on him. right now, but I still think this is a prospect that if he can truly reach his potential, he can be on this team for several seasons. Now, he still has to do it because he's played a lot in the AHL these last couple of seasons. And I mean, this past season, Pat, after coming back from injury, was still pretty solid. 10 goals, 34 points in 30 games, was solid in the playoffs with four goals and nine points in 15

games. In the regular season for the Penguins, he had three goals and six points in 24 games. it was nice seeing him get a little bit of NHL production. However, it is still time for him to take that next step. I understand it is going to be a very competitive camp. Nothing is going to be given to him. But I do want to see him take that next step. I also want to see him continue to improve his skating.

It's better than where it was when they first acquired him, but it's still not to the level where I personally want it to be. It's still a lot better. Don't get me wrong. It's not like a quote-unquote major, major issue, but I still want him to continue getting better with it overall. This is a huge summer in a huge training camp upcoming for Rock and McGority.

It's big. No two ways about it. He has to take that next step. But I also do want to kind of maybe not taper expectations, but shift them when it comes to McGrady. Because I do think a lot of people are looking at him as being a potential top six contributor, which I don't think is where his career is going to end up. And I say that more in the sense of don't get too wrapped around the axle with counting stats. His counting stats rarely

jump off the page. His biggest year was his last year at Michigan where he had 52 points in 36 games. And we know that scoring in the NCAA is not exactly through the roof. So that's a solid, really solid year. But at the end of the day, with McGrady, you want to see him play a really good 200-foot game. You want to see him be a little bit more aggressive and a little bit more physical. And you want to see him helping drive offense, maybe not producing it, but you want to see him kick-starting breakouts as a winger. You want to see him distributing the puck better. You want to see him being a pest in the offensive zone on the forecheck. And you want to see him getting dirty in front of the net. He does a lot of those things and he did a lot of those things this year with

the baby penguins despite starting the year hurt. So this is a big year for him and he does have to continue to develop and get better. But I will also remind people he's 22. So there is still a good bit of runway for him over the next couple of years. But he does need to continue to grow. The skating has gotten better. The hockey sense has gotten better. And he looks like a guy who, is not out of place in the national hockey league. He just has to start carving out a rule. Yeah, I mean, he had some decent games during the season. There were also some games where he was invisible. Well, that's kind of what you expect from someone who is still a young prospect who hasn't made the full-time jump to the NHL. But again, big summer here, big camp coming up.

It's on him to make this team and show a little bit more to the coaching staff and the management staff. out on him or anything like that. We still have him third overall, but we do want to see him take a big step this year because he's played really well in the AHL. He was good this year when he came back. He was good in the playoffs. It's just time to take that next step. Now, moving to our top two, again, everyone knows who these two players are. They are by far the two best prospects in the organization. Pat, I'm going to go a little bit different than you. I'm going to do like a 1A, 1B. I'm going to have Harrison Brunich at 1A and Sergey Murshov at 1B. I think the world of both these players. I see both of them in the NHL, well, at least Murashov as soon as this upcoming season,

Brunick will see me and Cady and Corsack with that trade. I just don't see a fit for him on the right side right now. Maybe he makes it on the left side if he's able to beat out some players during training camp. But there's also a possibility where he starts the season to Wilkesbury then comes up a bit later on in the season. This past year makes the Penguins out of training camp, scores his first NHL goal against the Islanders beating Ilyosarokin, has the one goal. goal in nine games, plays a little bit with Wilkesbury, one goal in eight points in 11 games. He then was reassigned to Camloops after playing in the world juniors for Team Canada. Two goals, 24 points in 24 games.

He was one of Camloose best players this year. And then he comes to Wilkesbury for the playoffs and he plays the hockey of his life. He may only have had two goals and seven points in the playoffs, Pat. But if you watch those games, he was everywhere on the ice. great in all three zones. He was physical in front of the net. He was physical along the boards. He was Wilkesbury's top defenseman,

arguably their best player throughout that time. It was such a night and day growth from him from when we saw him at the beginning of the 25, 26 season of the Penguins. So I am ecstatic about him. I still see him as a second pair of defenseman in the NH level. I think his absolute peak will be a top. but I see him more as a second-peer-def. As for Sergey Murshov, like I said it before, I'll say it again.

I expect him to make the team out of training camp. He was sensational for Wilkesbury this past season. 2.2 goals against average, 9-19 save in the regular season. And then in the playoffs, 931 saved 2.11 goals against average. These are the two prospects that you and I are excited about. I think the entire fan base is excited about and rightfully so. The only reason that I'm putting Murshov at one is simply because he has more professional experience and we've got more of a sample size on what he has done at the professional level than we do with

Harrison Brunich. But that doesn't mean that Harrison Brunich is bad. It doesn't mean I'm out on him. I do, I will say this about Brunich, though. I want him to be undeniable this year. I want him to play so well that they have to keep him. Because the thing that impressed me most about him when he got to Wilkes-Barre for the playoff run in the end of the season was that everything we were worried about

when he got his nine-game trial this past year was no longer that big of a concern. He was really good on the walls. He played physical. He was genuinely great in front of his net, which I know the HL is not the NHL, But that was a big point of concern, if you remember his nine game trial this year, is that he was losing a lot of net front battles. He was losing a lot of battles on the wall. And he went back to Camloops.

He worked on it. He came back to the baby penguins, and he was a lot better at it. It says a lot about his ceiling as a prospect. It says a lot about where he can grow. So I'm really excited for him. And I want him to be undeniable this year. As for Mureshov, I mean, you just, you run down the numbers of what he is done in Wilkeshire and Wheeling and even Pittsburgh to an extent. Just genuinely, he is the best goalie in the system.

And it's not even close. And he has done more than enough to become an NHL regular. He has done everything he can do at the AHL and ECHL levels. I mean, you look at what happened against the Marley's, was not his fault. The scoring just dried up. He did everything to keep them in that series and give them a chance. So like you, I expect him to make it out of camp. And the only reason again that I'm putting him at number one is that I've seen more from him at the pro level than I have from Brunick. But I do still think like you, Brunick's ceiling is top pair defenseman if he develops correctly. Right. I understand. And I'm assuming when you mean professional, you're also including the HL. So I would understand that as well because Murshov has played more in the A than Harrison Brunich has. Now, in terms of which prospect does have the highest ceiling, I will go Sergey Murshov on this.

If he hits his ceiling, and I'm talking his absolute peak, this is someone who could be one of the better goaltenders in the NHL. Now, he has to go out there. He has to prove it because you're going up against you. against initial shooters. This is the hardest jump for a goalie. You go from the HL to the NHL players and teams, coaching staff, management staffs. They're going to have homework on you. They're going to know, okay, these are your strengths. These are your weaknesses.

How do you do when you're getting, excuse me, at least one start a week, maybe even two? Because again, I see him more as a one B, but probably a B, but probably a backup to R.A. She-Lovs. And if you're a backup, you're probably starting once a week, potentially, especially with how many back-to-backs the Penguins have this year.

How are you going to do when players have a good read on you? That's going to be the biggest adjustment for him at the NH level. But in terms of pure ceiling pat, I think it's Sergey Murshov if he's able to hit it. And I really obviously hope he does. Oh, he absolutely has the highest ceiling right now of any of the, the prospects simply because his ceiling is franchise goaltender. His ceiling is the guy that you can build around.

He is somebody that you can build from the net out if he develops the way they want him to. And much like I said about Magrorty, he's still only 22. And we know that with both defensemen and goalies, it takes a little while for them to really hit their stride and become consistent. the fact that he has been this good at this young of an age already in North American pro hockey, that's, I know we don't like to put unrealistic expectations on prospects on this show, but the expectation now is and should be franchise goalie just because of how well he's done. I mean, people will bring up Jari and people will bring up Murray, but like even them,

they were good, but they weren't this consistently good when they were in the minors. He has consistently been one of the best goalies in the E and then the A. So it is time for him to take that next step and become a good goalie and hopefully a great goalie for the penguins. That's surely the hope. So that does it for our top five, well, our top 10 prospects in the penguin system. Let us know what you think. Do you think we missed out on anyone? Do you think any of our rankings are really dumb?

Do you agree with us? Let us know down the comments, send us a DM and all that good stuff. But that's going to do it for our second segment. Coming up to end the show, I'm going to give some of my thoughts on the Pittsburgh's 26-27 schedule, and that's coming up right after this. All right, before we get to that, though, we have to tell you all about our last sponsor, which is Indeed. Support for today's episode comes from Indeed's sponsor jobs.

When Workplace Chaos hits and you need the right hire, Indeed's sponsor jobs, helps connect employers with candidates who match specific needs like skills, certifications, and location. So less time gets spent searching and more time gets spent finding the right fit. People are finding quality hires on Indeed right now. And in the minute that I've been talking to, companies like yours have made 27 hires on Indeed, according to Indeed data worldwide.

Listeners of the show, you will get a $75 sponsor job credit to help get your job post the premium status it deserves at Indeed.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. One more time, that is Indeed.com slash podcast. Terms and

conditions apply. Need to hire. This is a job for Indeed's sponsor jobs. All right, we're back here on the Monday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodys, joined by my co-Cost, Patrick Damp. And Pat, I know you talked a lot about like the big road trips

on the schedule. You brought up the California road trip, the western Canada road trip. Those are two of the things that I always look for on the schedule. But one thing you point out to me that I want to discuss a little bit more in depth, 13 of the final 15 games are against Metro teams. I hope everyone likes the games against the rivals because you are going to be getting them in the home stretch of the season. It kind of reminds me of what Major League Baseball used to do,

where they would put a lot of those divisional series in September to really, to really get the playoff races juicing going into October. I remember back in 2012, 2013, when the nationals were really starting to get back into being a contender, they had a lot of those series against Atlanta, New York, and Philly in September. This is kind of what you're seeing now, the NHL Pat, where the Penguins are facing Washington a bunch. You're facing the Rangers. You're facing the Flyers, et cetera, in March and in April. Hell, I saw this too.

the Penguins will not play another Western Conference team after February 23rd this upcoming season. They really want that last month and a half to be against teams in your conference that you are fighting for to get into the playoffs. I think it's a really interesting change. I said it on Friday's show. We all know at this point with 16 of the 32 teams making the Stanley Cup playoffs exactly half the league that the regular season, it's not meaningless, but it's kind of close to meaningless between the fact that a half the league gets into the playoffs and B, they have their really stupid point system that kind of forces parity upon you. So even some of the not so good teams hang around. But if there's

a way to kind of backdoor into at least making this season a little bit more meaningful, having that many games against your conference and your division to end the season, especially because with the forced parity of the point system, you are able to hopefully separate yourself from those teams. So if the Penguins want to get back, that last month and a half, they're really going to have to earn it against the Eastern Conference in the Metro Division. 100%. And also, I don't know if you pointed this out, Penguins will open with seven of their first 10 games on the road.

They'll also end the season with four straight road games. Their final home game of the year will be against Philadelphia, Saturday, April 3rd. That's a prime time game, 8 p.m. Their final four games will be Washington, New York, Detroit, and New Jersey. And then I mentioned that game against Minnesota on the 23rd of February. That's the final Western Conference game before they just play a bunch of East teams to end the year. That will also be the end pat of a huge sales. game road trip. That is their Western Canada road trip and then they'll end it of course with a

game against Minnesota. And I'm sure you also talked about this. 15 back to backs next season, Pat, they lead the league in that water is wet. I'm just not surprised by that anymore. They are always at the top of this list basically every season. So when I saw that, I'm like, yeah, this is part for the course. That's actually one that I missed on Friday. I missed the back to back. So I don't know. I mean, I think it's odd that you have got several teams with double-digit back-to-back games this year. And I know that arena scheduling and availability in TV and all that stuff plays into the factor of making the schedule. And it's a lot more complicated than just plopping down 84 days in saying these are the days you play on.

And there's also the CBA. there's rest, there's bye weeks, all that kind of stuff that goes into making a schedule. But it's not an Olympic year. Last year, I understood it. It was a condensed schedule because you had to take three weeks off to go to the Olympics. This year, you get your one by week that every team gets where they're just off. And then you've got the All Star break. Glad you also mentioned that.

There is a bye week in the schedule, yes. But the fact that there are several teams that are playing 10 or more back-to-backs this year, I mean, it's great for us as fans, because we get to watch hockey two days in a row, especially our favorite team. But, I mean, when you think about quality of competition and where you want the game to be and how you want these games to look, that's a tough look having well over half the league playing multiple double-digit back-to-back games. Right.

And this is just for selfish reasons here. They don't play on my wedding day on October 23rd. Thank you to the NHL schedule makers for that. They play the day before. They played the day after. So just want to thank the NHL for thinking of me in that moment. We'll do an emergency live pod from your wedding. I'll interrupt the vows and we'll give our takes on trades or something.

The more important things that are happening on that day. Oh, yeah, absolutely. But I just wanted to get a few thoughts of for me on the schedule because you had some on Friday. I can't believe I missed the back to backs. What an idiot. What an absolute moron. Shame on you for that. But you at least got the road trip.

The California one, the Western Canada one, the road trip to end the season. And then, again, they also have a ton of road games to start the season as well. And then, of course, they play a lot of the Western teams in the first half multiple times. You'll see on the schedule, T-PAT, there are some individual games at the start of the season, but the majority of them are in the second half because they want these races very tight going into the home stretch of the season. It's going to be exciting. it's going to be different, but I think it's also going to be pretty cool. But unless you have anything else to add, I think it's going to do it for the Monday edition of the Lockdown Penguins

podcast. Thank you all so much taking time to listen to slash watch this one. Pat and I will be back with the fresh episode for you all on Wednesday discussing all things Penguins. And then we'll be back on Friday with Fan Take Friday and other news relating to the Penguins as well. So for Patrick Damp, I'm Hunter Hodes. Thank you all so much for tuning in. We both appreciate it. We'll be back on day.