Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Can Penguins defenseman Kris Letang BOUNCE BACK this year?

Episode Date: September 24, 2025

The Penguins held a very intense training camp scrimmage on Wednesday morning, and one defenseman stood out above the rest! Patrick and Hunter begin the show discussing the Penguins' very intense, 50-minute training camp intrasquad scrimmage that saw plenty of action and speed. They also discuss how, aside from netting three goals, Kris Letang showed a lot of jump and was one of the best players on the ice. Does this mean he's ready for a bounce-back season, or is this just a player looking good in camp? (0:00) Then, they take a look at the goaltending situation, but more than just how impressive young, Russian netminder Sergei Murashov has been. They discuss how Jarry has been playing, and if Joel Blomqvist's injury opens the door for other candidates. (13:07) Finally, the Penguins head to Columbus to take on the Blue Jackets for their second preseason matchup, and they get you set for that. (24:55)Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!IndeedNow, you can speed up your hiring process with a $75 Sponsored Job Credit. Just go to https://indeed.com/lockedonright now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNHL at monarchmoney.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.

If you're a fan of almost hockey, Wednesday was your day. The Penguins will head to Columbus tonight for a preseason game. And before that, they held a pretty high-octane scrimmage at training camp for those who won't be playing tonight. We're going to get into all of that right now on the Locked-on Penguins podcast. You're Locked-on Penguins, your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome into the Wednesday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Patrick Damp. You can follow me across all social media platforms at Synonym 4 Wet,

joined as always by 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 L.O. underscore Penguins. You can also find us on Instagram at Locked-on underscore Penguins. And of course, we appreciate you making. us part of your daily routine. Don't forget that we are free and available wherever you get your podcast as well as YouTube. Plus, if you follow us on YouTube, be sure to hit the notification button. That way you can be among the first to know when we drop our daily Monday through Friday

episodes before we jump into it today. This episode is brought to you by Fandul. Get started today by going to Fandual.com downloading the Fandul app and you can win $300 in bonus best. if your first $5 bet wins. Hunter, let's get started because I want to continue the theme for this training camp in that it is one that has been highly competitive. It has been high energy since the jump and today was no exception. Now, this is nothing new that Dan Mews and company did today, but it is an encouraging sign of the way they are going to be running this operation while they have the reins. And we know they're going to Columbus tonight for a preseason game.

We will get into the rosters. We will get into the preview, what we're looking for, all that later on in the show. But because we know they have made all of one cut at training camp up to this point, which means they're down to 68 attendance, give or take a few with injuries and all of that. But still, at the end of the day, you've got a lot of bodies still hanging around the UPMC Lemieux complex. So what they did this morning, instead of giving all the guys who aren't going to Columbus tonight the day off or putting them through a light skate or a little bit of a workout,

they decided to crank the intensity up a little bit. and they held a two-half scrimmage between team white and team black with team white coming out on top, five to three. Chris LaTang gets a hat trick. There's penalty shots. There's goalie trades. There's physicality. There's speed. And to me, this is a really encouraging sign for this coaching staff because we know the expectations on this team are. are not what one would describe as high going into this season. But they're not resting on that. They're not sitting there and going, hey, we're in the middle of a rebuild.

We're retooling. Our expectations aren't high. We want to see what these young guys are doing. No, they know that they've still got players like Sidney Crosby, Jenny Malkin, Chris LaTang, Eric Carlson and others, who have been in the league for a long time, have high expectations of not only themselves, but they're teammates.

So they're saying to these young guys, yeah, you're going to get an opportunity here, but you're going to have to earn it and you're going to have to earn it through a pretty intense training camp. Honestly, Pat, I think today was the most competitive day of camp yet. And not saying something compared to what we saw, you know, Thursday, Friday and Saturday where those training camp practices were insane. This scrimmage, I don't think all the players were going 100%,

but they were still going at a pretty high level. I'd go maybe 80%, 85% somewhere in that range. And let's start with Chris Lattang. He was the man of the match, gets the hat trick. The first goal, I think Jari probably could have had. The second one, though, no chance. Just a beautiful one-timer during the first period.

And for those that want to know, it was a 25-minute period on one ring and then a 25-minute period on the other ring. The clock would only stop if the puck went out of play or a penalty was committed or something like that with under two minutes to go in each period. And then the third goal that Letang scored, this one was really fun. He gets tripped along the boards. Instead of his team getting a power play, the ref was like, no, you're going to get a mini version of a penalty shot, but you have to go quick because there's two players from

the other team. They're going to be chasing you down trying to get the fuck from you. But with Lettang and his foot speed, those players had no chance. And he roofed it past Pavlenko in the second session. And Pavlanko, he replaced Tristan Jari after the first period. of the scrimmage. Sergei Murashab was also only expected to play the first period, but Yoel Blumquist apparently is day to day with an injury. He was expected to replace him, but Mirosov got to play the whole game, more on that a little bit later. But even outside of the

goals that Lettang scored, his foot speed was on display throughout. I thought his skating was fabulous today. He was an absolute animal on the ice. I think this was by far the best day of camp that he has had. And he was fine the first three days. And on Tuesday, he was isn't bad by any stretch. But again, I was just noticing some of the other defensemen more. And I don't think I usually need to say like, oh, yeah, Latang's having a great camp just because we all know he's going to be on the team. We all know he's going to get top four minutes. But today, especially, he was fantastic. And I think he's going to build on that for the rest of the camp. He was great, man. I do want to park a little bit of time in this first segment to talk about

Chris Letang, because there was a lot to go over from this scrimmage. You would think, think a 50-minute early morning training camp day five scrimmage would be a footnote. But as we said, the way this camp is being conducted, we were able to get quite a lot out of it. But I want to, again, park some time for Latang because we have been saying this since about mid-season last year, that there are a lot of concerns with Chris Latang going into this season because we know that his game has always been predicated on skating. Since he's become a mainstay for the Pittsburgh Penguins all those years ago,

he's always been a very smooth, very fluid skater, never the fastest guy on the ice, but there was always an element of speed to his game. And in the last year, we have seen him slow down. And we know with a player like Chris LaTang, and I don't mean this in an insulting way or anything like that, but it's not like, say, a Sydney Crosby where Sidney Crosby thinks and processes the game on such an elite level that if and when the physical deficiencies start, the brain will be able to compensate for those physical deficiencies. for Chris LaTang, when your game's predicated on skating, on movement, and you're losing a step, it can lead to some bad outcomes. But at least from watching some training camp footage, seeing the way he played today, I want to get your a little bit deeper take on it, Hunter.

It looks like, at least for now, and again, we have to add the caveat. It is training camp practices. It's training camp scrimmages. and you can never simulate the speed of an actual NHO game until you actually play one. But at the very least, to these eyes, I'm not ready to say that he's cured and he's back, but it does seem like if nothing else, he's got at least a half step back. And if he can find a way to work within those constraints, we might be able to quell some of those concerns.

I'd say it's a nice step in the right direction. I think that's the best way to describe it. we know he's not going to get a lot of preseason action a lot of the core players aren't he's probably only going to get a gamer to and even then pat in those preseason games you're also not going at 100 percent it's more you know as i said during the scrimmage day it's probably like you know 80 to 85 percent but what i saw today was someone who was making the right decisions he was playing well in his own zone he was skating very fluidly and that's what i want to see from him once the regular season starts he was also using his shot to his

advantage driving offense. He did all this, by the way, skating with Ryan Graves. And we've seen that pairing quite a bit over the last couple of years. I really don't need to see it again in regular season form. But I did just want to add the caveat that he did a lot of this today, skating with Ryan Graves are basically the entire scrimmage. So that needed to be mentioned. With Let's hang, though, for the upcoming season, if Damuze and company can kind of

fine tune his minutes a little bit. So he's not playing 25, 26 minutes a night. that should hopefully be a win. Give him, you know, 19 to 21 minutes a night, second pair roll. Let Eric Carlson take the top pair of minutes. I know that's going to scare some people, but he's the only one on this team right now that is probably good enough to take those minutes. I mean, no disrespect to Crystal Tang.

I just think where he is in his career, if he can eat up 19 to 21 minutes a night, keep getting closer back to some of his old self, that is a win. for the penguins considering how last year went, Pat, where is skating just looked to be completely gone? He wasn't making the right reads in the offensive zone. His defensive work was not very good. So, again, I just want to see him keep building it back. And I thought today was a good step. I thought this was by far his best day of camp. A couple others that really stood out to me today.

Sam Paland did not have a good first preseason game. He was out to lunch quite a bit. Opened up the scoring in the scrimmage, really nice goal five hole to beat Sergei Muroshov. he needs to keep that up if he wants any shot of making this team. I just wanted to park a couple of seconds to discuss that. I also liked Anton Hinen in this game. Again, Malkin was skating on a line with him and Anthony Manta. By the way, Malkin was able to set up Hinen for a mini breakaway with a really nice behind the back pass. And I'd be floor at this point if Malkin and Manta don't start on the same line.

Heinen, he is an option on that line. But if he makes this team, again, if because there's a lot of young players coming for his spot. I think he would start the year in a bottom six role. He's an option to play in the top six, but I don't think he should be there full time, at least in my opinion. But he does, I think,

have at least a little bit of chemistry with Evgeny Malkin. And then for the Crosby line, you saw him with Brian Ross and Avery Hayes. I liked seeing Avery Hayes get that opportunity. It tells me that the coaching staff is very much giving him serious consideration to make this team, considering the momentum that he has right now. And I thought he did not look out of place during the scrimmage.

We'll talk more about some other, you know, quote unquote standouts in the second segment, but that's what I got for you right now. For sure. And along with standouts, we also want to have some, I don't want to say negative discussions, but there's some players who have constantly been under the radar and under scrutiny for the Pittsburgh Penguins over the past couple of seasons. And we do have to get some update on them as well as the rest of the standouts from the morning scrimmage, which we will do when we come back.

right after this. Before we do that, though, we've got to tell you about today's first sponsor, and that is Fandul. The NFL season is in full swing, and Fandul is here to make sure you're ready for kickoff with a can't miss offer. Right now, new customers can bet just $5, and if that bet wins, they'll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. Fandul makes every game more exciting, whether you're up early watching the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Minnesota Vikings over in Dublin, Ireland, or you're just keeping an eye on your fantasy team. It's quick. It's easy.

And it's the best way to add a little bit more energy to those NFL Sundays. So if you're ready to play, download the Fandul app now by visiting fandul.com to get started. That's Fandual.com to place your first $5 bet. Back here on the Wednesday edition of Locked on Penguins, I'm Patrick Damp right alongside Hunter Hodes. and we're going to keep this training camp scrimmage discussion going before we get you ready for penguins in blue jackets tonight. So let's keep that going, Hunter. To end the segment, you talked a little bit about Avery Hayes getting his chance with Sidney Crosby and Brian Rust, which is really exciting to see the kid has been on a rocket ship, so to speak, since the Prospect Challenge.

He's been a big standout. He's played really well. but I want to kind of go somewhere a little different. I think we know, as you alluded to, and as we have alluded to, that Malkin and Manta look like they're going to be a duo, at least to start the year. Here's something that I found really interesting.

And I think obviously we're parsing a little bit because it's training camp. We got to read into every little thing. We can't just let bygones be bygones. But there was an interesting line in this game this morning. It was Rafael Harvey Pinnard between Tommy Novak and Ricard Raquel. Now, for our HP, he's fighting to get a spot. He's a very, I would say at this point, he's still a fringe guy. He's on the bubble of if he'll make it or not, depending upon what the veterans and the young guys do. We've had our discussions about

Tommy Novak, but putting him on a line with Ricard Raquel, if we're going to look at some of these lines the way we have been with say Hayes getting his shot with Sid and a few other guys getting put with veterans. While Raquel isn't quite Crosby or Malkin, he is still going to be a top six player on this team. So I do think the coaching staff pairing him with Novak is a bit of a message of them saying, we like this guy. We want to see what he can do in an elevated role. I thought Harvey Pernard actually had a very underrated scrimmage. He got a couple of really good scoring chances throughout. As a Raquel and Novak,

I actually noticed Raquel taking quite a few face-offs during this a little bit. It kind of seemed like they were experimenting him a little bit at center. Remember Pat, he played a teeny bit of center last year. We all know he's a very good winger, but I think they were kind of just taking a look to see, okay, if we need him for a role like that at any point this season, how will he do? So I thought he passed the test, but in a perfect world, you don't want Ricard Raquel playing center here.

Tommy Novak, he's a much better option for that. And I like seeing those two together as a duo. I think Pat, potentially, if they want to move Novak up to Malkin's line and maybe move Manta down, you could maybe see Novak with Malkin and Raquel if Raquel is not up with Sid and Rust. that I think has the making of a very intriguing second line. You have Novak, who is a very good playmaker, has an underrated shot. Gino, we all know how great his playmaking ability is. And then Raquel with the sniper on that line,

I could really see DMU's experimenting with that a little bit. But those are my main thoughts on that line. But again, man, Harvey Pernard, I actually thought he had a fairly good Tuesday as well. We didn't get to that during our episode, but he's been warming, up it feels like these last couple of days. And I want to see if he can have a nice end of camp over the next week because he's definitely in consideration for a spot right now. If I had to make a prediction, I'd go no.

But he's trying his best to play his way into it. And I think these last couple of days, he's done a nice job. Yeah, I've been impressed with him so far. Obviously, within reason, I don't think he's going to make the list of guys who had the best camp. But if we were to do the, you know, sports talk radio, cliche superlatives for training camp, he would be on the list of most surprising because I didn't really have much expectation for him going into this camp. And he has been pretty solid, all things considered. So that's a nice positive development coming out of cranberry. Let's talk about a couple things that we've alluded to,

but haven't spent a ton of time on. So let's get into this. The goaltenders. We talked about it. It happened in the scrimmage today. Yoel Blumquist day to day with lower body injury. That is obviously horrific luck for him because he, like you said, he has been rising a little bit in this camp, obviously.

Sergei Murashov has been the talk of camp as we expected. Archer Shilov has had himself a solid camp. And then Yoel Blumquist was coming in third. So that leaves us with the guy who we have agonized over for a couple of years now. And that is Tristan Jari. You said it during the scrimmage, gives up a goal to Latang that he probably wants back. But it's been all quiet, I think, on the Tristan Jari front. And in your estimation, because obviously he hasn't gotten into any games yet,

what are you seeing from him? Because I think when I look at the way he's been the last couple of years, if it's quiet on the Tristan Jari front, that's probably best case scenario. Pat, he's been fine. Like, Mureshov has been the talk of camp just because he's been so good. She laws, I would say, is right behind it. But none of the other goalies at camp have been bad.

For example, that first goal that Jari gave up to, what's hanging today. That was the worst school I've seen him give up at camp, but it's not even close to the worst school I've seen him give up during a regular season or playoff game, for example. He's been quiet, which as you mentioned, that's totally fine. You want it like that.

You want him to have, you know, at least for him personally, like, you know, a quiet confidence going into the season that it's not going to be the same as last year where, you know, he was sent down to Wilkesbury a couple of times. Obviously, he was waived. It was the worst season of his NHL career. to date, but he's been fine. He has not been bad during camp, to say the least. And I don't think he was bad during the scrimmage.

Again, he only played one 25-minute period. He'd have one goal back. He still made some nice saves, but he hasn't been bad at camp at all. So if some people are wondering if he's been, you know, awful, if he's giving up goals in the first shot, no, neither of those things have happened. So hopefully that calms some people down because I know we've gotten a couple of, you know, comments and I've gotten even some questions on Twitter saying like, hey, did he give up a goal in the first shot today? No, he has not been doing that at all during camp. So I know it's a running

joke right now just because of what happened last season, but that's not happening. As for Muroshov again, I mean, he obviously robs and he Crosby on a point blank chance from about 10 feet out. looked like Crosby had a sure goal. Murashov just flashes the lever and just takes it away. I'm like, oh, okay. Oh, um, he's still very much doing his thing. But again, it's really, Miroshov at the top, she loves right behind him, and I think kind of everyone else who have been fine. They haven't been, you know, amazing, but they also haven't been awful. They're just, they're doing their part. I do think to Galaxy brain this a little bit, it actually does kind of work in Tristan Jari's

favor that he's not one of the big narratives in this training camp. obviously it's going to wound your ego and your pride a little bit that everybody is talking about the two young goalies in Murashav and Sheelov's because you're the guy with the big contract, you've had the job for a while, but when the other side of that is everybody's talking about how can they trade him, how can they dump him, how can they get rid of them, that kind of gives him a space in which to just go about his work, to just try to focus on the things that he's been struggling with over the past couple of years, because we know realistically, unless he completely tanks in camp, he's going to start the year on the NHL roster.

They're not going to try to put him through waivers to start the year. It's more than likely going to be Jari and Shilovs to start the year in the NHL, because the one thing we do have to keep in mind is that waivers would probably be required for Shilovs. So if you try to send him down and somebody nabs them, then you're right back to where you started. So the last thing I want to touch on speaking of players who have given us a headache over the past couple of years is Ryan Graves. He was, as we know, not good in the preseason. game on Monday. That said, from what I have been reading and from what I have been seeing, it does feel like a new set of eyes and a new coaching staff is putting him in a different

direction. And given his age, given his experience in the NHL, I think that's going to take a little bit to really go into effect. Now, this isn't me predicting that, oh, suddenly he's going to bounce back and live up to the contract. But I do think with Mews and company, they're going to try to use him in a different role and they're going to try to refine his game, which I do think could help this team at least mitigate some of the damage from that contract. We'll see. Like that first preseason game, it's funny. If you look at hockey stat cards, he was one of the top penguin performers. The eye test does not match that. And I usually like looking at those to see if, you know, the data supports my eye test, definitely did not because

I didn't think he had a good game, just was out to lunch throughout. Today, I thought he was fine during the scrimmage. Didn't really make any ill-advised plays or anything like that, but there's still a long way to go with him if he's even back to being, you know, semi-competent for the penguins. They're going to give him at least a little bit of an opportunity during the regular season, if I had to say right now, but that leash still needs to be pretty short because of what he's given at least these first couple years on the contract. Oh, absolutely.

You can't let him run free. But I do think from some of the things I've seen, they definitely are encouraging him to use his size more, which is something that we have been screaming about for the last year. And again, I don't want to get it misconstrued here. I'm not pretending like there's going to be a renaissance for. Ryan Graves. But I do think new set of eyes, new coaching staff, redefined role, it could at least help him. And he's going to get that opportunity. It's just a matter of what he does with said opportunity. But that is going to do it for our middle segment here on the

Locked on Penguins podcast. When we come back, there's even more hockey to talk about. The Penguins are back in action tonight at Nationwide Arena for their second preseason game against the Columbus Blue Jackets. We'll get you set for that when we come back right after this. Back here on the Locked on Penguins podcast, I'm Patrick Damp right alongside Hunter Hodes and 7 o'clock tonight at Nationwide Arena. The Penguins head to Columbus to take on the blue jackets. And good news, if you want to watch this one, you can watch it right on the Penguins website where it will be streaming at 7 o'clock tonight. And let's get into the lineup.

As you would expect, none of the big names are going to be a part of this game. But there are quite a few players we want to keep our eyes on tonight. I'll start with a couple hunter and you let me know if I'm forgetting anyone. Justin Broseau, Philip Hollander, Tristan Brose once again, Ville Coivinen again, Philip Tomasino, Ben Kindle, Jack St. Ivaney, and Quinn Bouchain, though there is some talk that Bouchain might be the healthy scratch tonight because he was part of one of the scrimmages or one of the non-game day lineups. One of the thing to note is Artur Sheelovs will get the start in just like last game. The other goaltender, which is Philip Larson, will come in halfway through the game.

But again, it's going to be another chance for these young players in some of these fringe roster players to really make their mark in the preseason. Because when you look at the blue jackets lineup, this is what you see in the preseason. The home team usually dresses quite a few of the big guys just to get the fans in the building to get them excited while the visiting team. it's really evaluation time for them with their roster. You look at the blue jackets tonight. A lot of the big names are in the lineup. Varankov, Fantilli, Monahan, Jenner, Shinikov, Marchenko, Werensky,

and in net will be one or both of Nolan Lalonde and Jet Greaves. Yeah, this is another really good opportunity, just like the first game had in Montreal, where the Canadians were playing, some of their really good regular players, including Noah Dobson, Ivan Demadov, who, again, I think it's going to win the Calder this year. They had plenty of other veterans playing as well. Wood jackets have, it feels like even more veterans in this lineup.

And it's another good test for some of these young players that are trying to make the team. One thing I have my eye on, are we going to see Hollander and Coivinen together? During last practice on Tuesday, they were on a line together. They had some chemistry. I want to see if DMUs puts that to the test here against some of Columbus's top lines, especially the first one, Pat, where they have Varankov, Monaghan, and Marchenko. That'd be quite a test for someone like Hollander who is very much trying to make the team. I think Coivinen as of right now is a lock, but I still want to see that chemistry between those two,

you know, come over from practice into actual game action. Another one, he's flying under the radar a little bit. You didn't bring him up, thank God. Aidan McDonough. I'm under no illusion that he is going to make the team out of camp, but I think he's going to be solid depth for Wilkesbury this year. He's flown really under the radar in a lot of these practices. He's a good skater to me.

I think he has an underrated shot. He has some good puck skills. He seems like a very smart, intelligent player. He was a point per game player last year in Charlotte before he got banged up. So now that he's back healthy, can he show this staff a little bit more to the point where they can go, hey, we like you quite a bit. There's not a spot for you right now.

We're going to sing you down to Wilkesbury. But if you perform well, especially like you were last year, you might potentially get called up during the year. So that's someone I'm also going to have my eye on a little bit tonight just because I think he's had a pretty decent camp. I'm also excited for Lazot and Tomasino. I'm actually curious to see if they are on a line together. Thomasino this year, it's a big one for him, man.

I want to see more consistency. I think when he is on, he's a lot of fun to watch. I love his release especially, but I still want to see him be a little bit more consistent. Blake Lazott, I also think is a little under the radar among a lot of the fans this year. He's a very solid bottom six contributor who can, you know, give you some depth scoring. He can play on the penalty kill. He plays his tail off every single shift, really strong forechecker, at least last year when he was healthy. I want to see what he can do to start the preseason as well.

And you mentioned him at Ben Kendall. I think this might be the last time they're going to see him in a preseason game before they make some cuts. And I think that makes sense, right? Get a couple games out of him, man, get to evaluate him and be like, hey, we like where you're going.

Let's send you back to junior where you can cook this year. And then, you know, next year, maybe we keep you deeper into camp or something like that. Hell, they could keep him into next week. We'll see. I'm just saying, don't be surprised if this is the last preseason game he plays before he gets caught.

It would make a lot of sense for a lot of reasons. So those are some of the guys I have my eye on. Also, Alexander Alexiev, if he gets in, he's trying to win a spot on the left side. How will he fare tonight? That's also someone I'm looking for as well. It's a big night for me for someone like Tristan Bros. Because I think he has been a big standout, as we know, for the past couple of weeks, even dating all the way back to the Prospects Challenge.

and I want to see him continue this momentum. I want to see him continue to look like a bona fide NHL player. Now, it doesn't mean that if he doesn't make the team out of camp, that it's a failure, that he didn't do well. We know that this is a huge number crunch for the penguins, especially at Forward. They've got a lot of bodies, a lot of people fighting for not that many spots, but it's another opportunity for Tristan Brose to show that he belongs

with the big club. And I think, again, just like the Montreal game, you're going up against a solid roster that has a lot of NHL regulars in the lineup. So if you're able to put up another good performance against that kind of roster, it's only going to be another tick in your column to make the team out of camp.

Also very curious to see what goes on with the goalies. Sheelovs is getting the start. we obviously think that he's in pole position to take the backup job at the NHL level. A solid performance from him can solidify that. In Philip Larson, continually flying under the radar in this organization, been one of the better goalies, but because he's not the shiny pick, he's not the talented newcomer, kind of flies under the radar. But the last couple of years, Larson has been a very steady goaltender in the organization.

If he can continue that, especially with Blumquist on the shelf for the next however many days, that could also be a huge positive for him. And Pat with Murashav, the talk of camp, you know, he's at least the favorite right now to start for Wilkesbury throughout the season. Larson has a really good performance tonight. He could be like, hey, don't forget about me over here. I deserve some reps as a starter at least in maybe a one B capacity because he put up some really strong numbers in Wilkesbury last year. So I think this is his opportunity to be like,

hey, I know everyone's talking about Mirashav. I know everyone's talking about, you know, she loves, but I'm also over here, at least as a decent option to Wilkesbury. So I'm excited to see what he does tonight too. I agree. Penguins and Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena tonight at 7 p.m. You can catch it on the Penguins website. We will obviously be watching it. And we will be back tomorrow with a recap of that game, as well as any other news that comes out of Penguins training camp. So for now, for Hunter Hodes, I am Patrick Damp. Thank you as always for tuning in, and we will be back on Thursday.