Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - BREAKING: The Pittsburgh Penguins Select Liam Ruck 22nd Overall | More YOUTH In Pittsburgh

Episode Date: June 27, 2026

With the 22nd overall pick of the 2026 NHL Draft, the Pittsburgh Penguins select Liam Ruck of the Medicine Hat Tigers Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The pick is in. With the 22nd pick in the 2026 NHL draft, the Pittsburgh Penguins have selected winger Liam Rupp from Medicine Hat in the WHL. Locked on NHL Draft Night is brought to you by Indeed. Go to Indeed.com slash podcast and you'll get a $75 sponsored job credit. Need to hire. This is a job for Indeed Sponsored Jobs. Terms and conditions apply.

I am Rachel Donner. I am joined now by Hunter Hodes from Lockdowne Penguin. and this pick is a little bit of a reach, but I think a good fit overall for the panes. What do you think? I wouldn't call it too much of a reach. I had him kind of in this range in tier two, not so much in tier three of the players that I had profiled,

but a little bit below J.P. Hurlberg, Tommy Blyle, Nikita Kleppov, etc. But I still had them in that range. Liam, that is. I think he's better than his brother. But I also do think there's a good chance now they take his brother in the second round because they play together last year in the WHL and they lit it up. Liam 45 goals, 104 points last year. He was a point per game basically in the playoffs. A lot of fun to watch.

His release is disgusting. I think it's one of the best releases in this entire class. Rest shot, especially his one-timer, he can score from wherever in the offensive zone. He can go to the front of the net. He's very comfortable in that area. I think the two areas that he needs to work on are the power in his skating and his two-way game. They're not all the way there yet, but that's why you go to a really good program like the University of North Dakota, won the top college hockey programs in the country. I don't think this is going to be a situation where you see Ben Kendall where he went to the NHL right away last year. That's the exception, not the norm. I think it's going to take at least two, maybe three-ish years before you see

Liam Ruck here with the Penguins. But I don't dislike this pick or anything like that. I wouldn't say it's really a reach. He was kind of projected to go later on in the first round. I just had him a little bit below some of my other favorites, that's all. Yeah, you know, and I think, you know, your point about his development path is a good one with his commitment to North Dakota, not until 27, 28. So he's got a little bit of time to cook and, you know, you don't have to rush him on the Pence. That's the thing is that I think with him being a winger in your system, there's no need to try and rush him like you did with Ben Kendall, like you said. And I think, you know, he is just one of those dynamic players that the pens love to have and are kind of part of the brand of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

And so, yeah, I do think it's a really good pick here. And it will be interesting to see if his brother ends up on the team as well. But for more on the Pittsburgh Penguins, subscribe to Lockdown Penguins wherever you get your podcast.