Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - FAN TAKE FRIDAY! Which prospects could make the Penguins this year?

Episode Date: September 5, 2025

It's the last episode of the offseason before we jump into training camp and the preseason, so let's talk prospects! Hunter and Patrick begin Fan Take Friday discussing which prospects they're most excited for this year, excluding some of the most obvious ones we'll see in the NHL. They discuss Bill Zonnon, Tanner Howe, and more! Then, with the hype behind Gavin McKenna and the 2026 NHL Draft, if the Penguins don't get McKenna, who would be a good consolation prize? Finally, they talk about everyone's favorite former NHL broadcaster, Pierre McGuire, thanks to a very entertaining question.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!GametimeToday's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNHL for $20 off your first purchase. 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.

outside of the usual suspects for the top prospects in the organization, which under the radar prospects are Pat and I excited about. Well, we're going to discuss that plus all your takes and questions for fan take Friday 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 back to another episode of the Locked on Penguins podcast. I am one of your host, Hunter Hodes. You can follow me on Twitter at.

Hunter Hodes joined by my co-host Patrick Damp you can follow him on all social media platforms at send him for wet you can follow the show's Twitter at LO underscore Penguins

and you can also follow the show's Instagram account at locked on underscore Penguins and of course thank you all so much for making this your first lesson slash watch of the day we are free and available on all platforms

I am back in the host chair today after being put through the ringer this week I don't know what the hell I caught last weekend but I was in hell to start this week. Wednesday was very much my flu episode. Thank you to Pat for hosting.

But I feel much better today. Not 100% I still feel a lot better. And also Pat, this will be the final episode of our three show week schedule. We go back to Daly's starting on Monday. And that kicks off season seven. Yes, Pat. Season seven of the Locked on Penguins podcast. I started this show, September 2019.

So six years, but seven seasons. I can't believe it's been that long already. I mean, you know, I go back, if I were to go back and listen to my old voice at that point, I think I would just curl up in a ball and cringe the whole time. But this will be your third season. And we're really excited, man. We have a lot of fun things playing this year.

And even though the team is not probably not going to be very good, we're still going to make this show as enjoyable as possible. We will. And let me let me put this in perspective for some of the sickos out there. You started this show. right as myself, our friend Jesse Marshall, and our other friend Mike Darnay, we're kind of winding down the Dying Alive podcast. That's how long this show has been going on.

I'm really excited for my third season. It's been an absolute blast. And this season, we know that things aren't exactly bright in Penguinsland right now, but we're going to do our best to bring you a great show. We're going to try to do a lot more this upcoming season to make. sure you're enjoying it to make sure you're informed and of course having a good time with us talking a little bit of puck 100%. And with that, let's get into our first take slash question for Fan Take Friday for today's episode. And this first one comes from Penn Span 0082 who asks,

which prospect are you most excited about bills on it or Tanner Howl? So this is pretty close. I think when healthy Tanner Howl is the textbook rat, someone that's going to get in your face, score some greasy goals. He is a pretty underrated playmaker, in my opinion, as well. Thing is, he's not going to be healthy to start this season. Pat, he's going to be out. It sounds like until sometime in January. Once he gets back, I think they're going to put him in Wilkesbury. He's already played four junior seasons, but since he's not 20 yet, they can still technically put him back to junior, but if I were the penguins, I would just send him to the HL. I don't really think he has anything left to learn in junior at this point. But when healthy,

good rat and I do think he is going to be a fan favorite once he gets up to Pittsburgh. As for Bill Zahnan, I think he has a higher ceiling than how he also has some ratty abilities. I think his game is also more east west, really nice shot, pretty good skater, someone who I think he'd grow into a solid leader one day for the penguins. He's going to have another year in the queue this year. He's not as close as Tanner Howell, but in terms of excitability, we're going to use that as a word here, whatever. I would say zonin by a hair. That's kind of where I am as well with those two. Like you said, we got to be a little bit worried about How's health. He just, not just, it was back in April. He underwent knee surgery. That's going to be a nine month recovery time that we're already pretty deep into at this point.

But you expect you probably won't see him in any sort of action until very late in 20, or even early 2026. But I'm in pretty much the same place as you are. I think the way I would look at it is Zonan has a slightly higher ceiling than Tanner Howe. Tanner Howe kind of strikes me as a guy. You can plop him on your third line. He's going to get under the opponent's skin. He's going to play that classic grind kind of hard-nosed game,

chip in every now and then. Zonan, I can see him potentially. being a second line player in the NHL. Now, I don't want to put any undue hype onto him or unrealistic expectations, but the best way I saw Zonan described, especially post-draft once the Penguins had him, is that he kind of fits the modern chaotic energy of the NHL to where he can play pretty much any way you want to play the game. Now, it doesn't mean he's going to be one of the best players on the ice.

Doesn't mean he's going to be a superstar or anything like that. But if you want to play a speed and skill game, he'll be able to keep up. If you want to get down in the muck in the dirt and play a little bit of a more physical game, he can do that as well. Now, it doesn't mean I think he's going to suddenly become the team's one C and their best player. But I see him having a slightly higher ceiling than Tanner Howe. And that's not a knock on Tanner Howe. plays his role and he plays it very close to perfection and it's something that fans are going to

love. I think Zonan's got a little bit more, a little bit more in the toolbox than Tanner Howe, but I am excited about both. I think both could be in four to five years key contributors for the Pittsburgh Penguins should they develop correctly. Right. I see Zonanen more as a top six player. If he's fully developed right, Tanner Howe, maybe, but I kind of lean towards more of a, you know, a third line player. But hey, we have to see excited for both. But if I had to pick between the two, I would give the edge to Zonan ever so slightly.

This next one here, this one's also a lot of fun. Who is the most likely surprised player to make this roster that's not named Harrison Brunich considering Owen Pickering, Billy Coivin and Rucker McGority are basically shoe-ins. Yeah, I think all three of those guys should make the roster. Will they, to be determined? but I would be a little annoyed if all three did not make the roster. I mean, you look at the forward good right now,

and I know there's a whole bunch of forwards, but Coyvin and McGority should be locked for this team in Owen Pickering. The left side is not very good. I know they have options and quotation marks, but Owen Pickering, I think, is ready for the NHL, so I would have them there too. Outside of that, if we want to count him as a prospect pack, how about Philip Hollander?

He's coming back over from the SHL. he was one of the best players in the SHL last season. He was second in the league in both goals and points last season. This is going to be a player that I think they will give every chance out there to make this team. Again, I know they have some vets right now on the roster unit, Oulachari, Danton Hinen, Kevin Hayes. They didn't move any of these guys during the off season. But when I think of Dan Musin, you know, how much he's worked in development throughout his coaching career,

honestly, I think he might give the edge to some of these younger guys over these vets. It may sound weird to say, but again, we don't have Mike Sullivan as the head coach anymore. If Sullivan were still here, I'd probably have the opposite take where it's like, I think he'd lean more on the bet just because he was doing that a lot, especially to end his tenure. Now that you have someone like Muse, who's worked in development, he's worked with a lot of young players, I think he might give the edge to someone like a Philip Hollander to see what he can do on a nightly basis over guys who are probably not going to be here past this season. Hell past the trade deadline, if we're being honest.

So if I had to give a player, Philip Hollander, if I want me to get a second player, I'd say Tristan Brose, but I think it's more likely he starts in Wilkesbury this year. Yeah, Bros definitely strikes me as someone who's going to start in Wokesbear, but I wouldn't be surprised when injuries and poor performances crop up, he gets a look. But with that said, for Brose,

don't get too far out ahead of your skis. don't think he's going to have any sort of mainstay ability. I think he's going to be an up and down guy that they give some opportunities to, but they want to see him develop and play a larger role in the AHL than having him up in the NHL. I'm going to take a little bit of a cop out on this question because it's not a prospect, and it's a guy that I fully expect, and I think it's all but written in stone that he's going to be on the team.

And that's Arthur Sheloves. I really want to see him given a shot. We pretty much know that the organization has said without saying that they are done with Tristan Jari. They're going to have to keep them. They're going to have to play them. They're going to have to do all that because the contract is what it is. And it's going to be damn near impossible to move. But he's coming off being the Calder Cup playoff MVP.

He has shown he can play at a high level. now I want to see from him, can he steal a starting job? I know that they're going to try to showcase Tristan Jari so they can maybe move him. But if this team is dedicated to saying that they're going young and they actually want to do that, he's a 24-year-old goalie. And he has shown that he has flashes of being a pretty good goalie. Now let's see him prove it on a consistent basis. I don't want to see him given the starting job out of camp.

I don't want to see him immediately thrust into the starter's role. But if say we get to mid-November and he's outperforming Tristan Jari as we get closer and closer to December and then 2026, and Dan Muse starts going, you know what? We're going to give Shilovs two starts in a row, three starts in a row, and maybe we'll play Jari. Then we'll go back to Shilovs and then back to Shilov again. And you really have nothing to lose with it. So you might as well see what you have in him. And if he picks up the job and runs with it, great. If not, you've still got some good prospects in the system.

In my opinion, I think he is already the favorite to be the backup spot right now. She loves is going to have to earn it. But I think going in the camp, which is set to start, it looks like in a couple of weeks, he's the favorite. And I think he should be. He has shown more at the NHL level. to date than Blumquist. I know both sample sizes are pretty small,

but as of right now, Shilov should be the favorite to back up Jari. And as you said, maybe he has some good stretches and Jari falters and Dammeus is like, hey, I want to give you more than that to see if you can build on this and be more consistent. Maybe that does happen this upcoming season.

We'll have to see it. But I expect him on this roster to start the 25, 26 season. But thou do it for this first segment. Coming up in the second segment, and we're going to continue to look at some of your takes, answer some of your questions that's coming up right after this. Before we get to that, though, we have to tell you all about our first sponsor,

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or even jumping in live as the action unfolds. It makes every game more exciting, whether you're watching your team or just keeping an eye out on your fantasy lineup. It's quick, easy, and the best way to add a little more energy to Sundays. So are you ready to play? If you are, download the Fandall app right now by visiting fandle.com to get started. That's fandle.com to place your first $5 bet. All right, we're right here on this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast.

I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes, joined by my co-oist, Patrick Dam and Patrick. this is a really cool one to start out the second segment. This one comes from Landon Bartels. The second question came from Michael. Shout out to all you guys sending in your questions, sending in your takes. And Landon asks, if the Penguins do not get Gavin McKenna and they end up with the second overall pick,

if you were the GM, who would you take at that spot based off current scouting ranks at this time? I have heard and seen that there's a lot of very good consolation prizes for the next couple picks after the first overall pick. And that this coming draft could be super beneficial for a lot of teams. Well, you are correct. Yes, this draft is a lot deeper than 2025, even after you get through the generational player that Gavin McKenna is. There are franchise-type dudes that will be waiting in the wings after.

So, as you said, the Penguins, they get number two, say they don't get McKenna, say another team gets it. There will be a lot of really good options there. It's very, very early. Right now, though, if I had to pick one and it's very close, I would say Keaton Verhof going into this upcoming season. I think for this class, he is the best defenseman in 2026, and I think he has the potential to be a legitimate franchise type defenseman in the NHL. His numbers last season in the WHL, 21 goals, 45 points in 63 games. In the U18s, he had one goal, five points in five games. He's going to play for the University of North Dakota for the 25, 26 season.

He's already played a couple of seasons in the WHL. again, this is really close. We got to see how a lot of these guys do this year, but if I had to make a call right now, I would go Keaton Verhoff. Verhoff's a really good pick. I'm with you on him. Seeing as little, I mean,

I haven't dove into all the tape, but I've looked at some of his. And you can see the seeds planted of a franchise defenseman. He's a guy that if you develop him correctly, get the chance to take him and he makes the leap. He is right up there. The one for me though, that, oh, caveman brain kicked right in when I saw this one.

And that's Ethan Belchitz from the OHL right winger. He is 6.5-220 already. And I can see some people wincing when I say that. But guess what? He's 6-5-2-20 and he can move. He's not slow. He's not big and lumbering. He's a good skater.

And he is a monster to play against. He is the combination that you want out of a young player like that. Now, obviously, he's playing against a lot of smaller competition, a lot of lesser competition. So you have to be a little bit wary of that because when you're that big at that age, you're going to be able to lean on that and use that to your advantage over smaller, lesser skilled players. But he isn't afraid to use his size.

He can still move. And he's got pretty good hands. He has the makings of, I don't want to say a franchise player, but he's right on that fringe, where if you get him and you can surround him with good, solid players, It'll elevate his game and elevate the teams play. And if he is able to translate the way he plays now in the OHL to the professional level, he really strikes me as a top line winger who is going to be an absolute menace to play against. And like I said, kids already that size, already that big.

and if you can get him into an NHL program where he's got that kind of training, he's got that kind of nutrition, and he's learning how to be a pro, it really gets me excited as a player that if the penguins can nab him, say in the top five to seven, that's a really good pick.

I'll give you one more to close out this question. Ivers Denberg. I think there's a good chance that he could also go number two. overall as well. I think my top two right now, Stenberg, and I would say, Verhof, I'd lean towards Verhof a little bit more right now. But as I said, we got to see how this whole upcoming season goes. A lot of these, you know, rankings from everyone, us included, they're going to change. Like this happens all the time. But that's a small early look at some of the players that will be available for the

2026 natural draft. Let's get to our next take slash question here. And this one, comes from Penn's fan for life. What's one offseason move or decision you guys wish happened this year? And also which young guys do expect to be on the roster this upcoming season. As for young guys, we've kind of already answered that a little bit. You know, Margoody, Coyvenin, Pickering. I would say all three of those guys need to be on the roster, in my opinion. Maybe you see Harrison Brunich, but they haven't really dealt with the Carlson situation.

And the right side, it's, I wouldn't say it's loaded, but I just don't really see the room there right now. Tristan Bros. I think you would have to wait until a bit later on in the season. It fell up Hollander. I just talked about that as well. So those are the young guys that I would say have the best chance. Obviously, you know, Archer she loves. Sergey Moroshov is not ready just yet. But as for one decision or move that I wish I saw this past off season, I kind of wish they got ahead of it and traded one of those three that are involved in trade rumors. I'm not. mad at it. Like, I'm glad that they are waiting to get a legitimate offer. But part of me is just like, kind of wish you started this process a little earlier. So we, you have a potential

26 first. But I'm also not going to fault them for being patient. So I guess that's where I stand on that. Yeah. The, the thing I'll add about Brunick is I, we talked about it earlier this week. I want to see what happens with that potential deal between the NHS. and the junior leagues. If that comes to fruition, I honestly wouldn't be shocked if he makes the team out of camp. I don't know if he would stay on it, but he strikes me as the kind of kid who you tell him he can't do something

and he's going to shove it down your throat. So that'd be nice to see. But we'll see what happens on that. One move, and this isn't any of the obvious ones. And again, we don't know if they had the opportunity. but I know that Kyle Dubis and Jim Rutherford have a good relationship. I kind of wish they would have gone after Dakota Joshua. Toronto was able to get them for a fourth round pick.

And if that was the cost, now again, who knows what else goes into it because there's so many other factors that we are not privy to. But when you look at a price like that for a player like Dakota Joshua, if that's all it costs, I mean, if nothing else, he would get you probably a better return come the deadline. You can acquire him. He will give you a little bit of juice. He'll play well. If you like him, he's 29. So you might not hang on to him for a long time. But I think it would have been a nice little acquisition, give the team a little bit of a jump. And I would not be shocked if that's a guy. Now, I think Toronto is going to hold on to him for as long as they want to

because he fits into their timeline of winning. But if you're the penguins, that's a great asset to have if you're looking to build up your prospect pipeline and your draft capital, which is exactly what they're trying to do. So I would have liked to seen them make that move. But again, we don't know realistically what happened behind the scenes. So if it were up to me, I would have gone after Dakota Joshua. You could have played him anywhere in your bottom six. He, you know, big chaos merchant, I think in the lineup, someone who can give you some solid depth scoring.

Fine enough playmaker, fine enough skater. But I always had a lot of fun watching him when he was with the Canucks. So I think that I'll do it for this second segment. Coming up to end the show, we have a couple more takes slash questions to get to, including one about former broadcaster PM McGuire. And I know Pat and I are going to have some very fun takes about this one. so that's coming up right after this. All right, we're back here on this episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast.

I am one of your host, Hunter Hodes, joined by my co-host Patchdamp and Pat. This next one comes courtesy of our famous listener slash watcher who always put the, I'm tired of Mike Sullivan chewing gum on the bench. Love that comment. He's going to have to come up with something else this year for Dammeuse or another coach on the bench or something else.

I can't wait to see what he comes up with. I always laughed every time I saw that comment. And he asked, I'd like to do your thoughts on PM McGuire, haven't seen him in a while, I thought he always stood too close to people during interviews and said odd things. Yes,

he was very too close to people. The commentary, that's what I really want to focus on. The commentary during games, it felt weird. It felt like I never actually learned anything about the sport other than that he knows everyone's full names and where everyone played their pee-wee hockey

when they were like six or seven years old. His interviews were always very strange towards the end of his broadcasting career. I didn't like how he would always just dump on analytics. It was very much a, you know, old man yelling at clouds. I'm like, come on, man. We don't need to be doing this with where the game is at. Like this was a few years ago, but I'm just like, come on, man.

We don't need to be doing that. Pat, I know you might offer a different take, which I am totally good with, by the way. But once we got to the end of NBC, I was so glad that we were done with that. It was just too weird. So here's the thing I'll say about Pierre. It's this. His presentation was terrible. Everything that you said and that the commenter said is entirely accurate. The way he framed things was odd. The way he stood next to players was odd. The way that he had to let you know that he knew where every player went for their McDonald's. order after might league hockey was bizarre.

He has resurfaced recently. If you listen to The Sheet with Jeff Merrick, he's on that show. And I'll say this. It includes his time on NBC. He knows the game. He's very intelligent. He just wasn't good at the broadcast part of it. Right.

If you were to take a lot of the things that he said in transcribes, them into text and read them, you would think, this is actually pretty insightful. This actually makes a lot of sense. But because he was such a goofball, you kind of lost all of that. And it hurt his stock because, again, you can say the smartest thing in the world. But if you're juggling flaming torches and riding a unicycle and screaming, people are going to go, what the hell are you doing, man? Like, what are you talking about?

So the fact that he's like an inch from players faces and asking weird questions and telling you where they played their junior hockey, you're like, all right, man, we get it. Shut up. But like when you look at his actual analysis and then you listen to some of the stuff he talks to Merrick about, he's not a bad hockey mind. It's just the package it came in was so weird. One of the weirdest ones I still remember was he was interviewing Phil Kessel. How's your breath? Oh, it's not good. No, I meant in terms of your conditioning.

It's like, Pierre, why are you asking that type of question in a post-game interview for NBCSN? I just, why? It felt so odd, man. And again, that gets to what I was saying in the sense of if, because if I remember, I'm pretty sure that was an overtime game, right? Like, that was a game that went to OT. Or at the very least, it came down to the wire. It was a very intense game. if you want to ask them how you feeling, how's your conditioning, are you out of breath,

are you tired? It's a good question. Good question to ask in the context, but going, how's your breath? Like, what framing is that? After game three, the Eastern Conference final, that's what it was. That was the game, the Penguins went up two games to one against the Tampa Bay Lightning. But yeah, I just wanted to confirm that. It wasn't an overtime game.

The Penguins won that in regulation. But again, just very, very. very strange. So I don't know if he'll do broadcasting for ESPN TNT. I hope not. I think there's just a lot of better options out there right now. But that's just my opinion on it.

But we'll end with this one here. This one's a lot of fun. This comes from my favorite Chelsea fan that listens to this podcast. I'm sorry. I don't like Chelsea at all. But thank you for listening to the show. Go Arsenal, though.

Always go Arsenal. Come on you Gunners. But this comes from Blues Nation CFC. Have you guys ever thought of doing a crossover episode, A Tip of the Iceberg? Could be cool for a season preview. We might do something for a season preview. They have come on our show a couple of times.

We've gone on their show a couple of times. Nick and Nick are great, man. If you guys are not subscribed to their show, you are doing it wrong. We love those guys. They do great content. And we would definitely like to have them on for maybe a roundtable season preview thing. But they do great work.

Yeah, you're a lot tighter with, with them than I am. So, you know, that if you want to set that up, Hunter, I am in no way going to say no, because I echo everything you just said. They're a fantastic show. They do a hell of a job and getting to chop it up with those guys, talk about the penguins. Hell, they would be just like us. And it might devolve into us just remembering some dudes for an hour, which we know how much our audience loves doing that. But yeah, I mean, like we said at the top of the show, as we get ready to go here back to five days a week next week,

starting season seven of this show, that's something that I know Hunter and I have talked about quite a bit is we want to get better guests. We want to get whether it's other podcasters, whether it's other locked on contributors, even personalities, you name it. That's one thing we're going to try to aim to do this year is get you a more

diverse set of opinions about the penguins, about the NHL on this show. And if that includes chopping it up with our boys from tip of the iceberg, you're not going to hear me say no. 100%. And we also want maybe want to try to get another player two on some of the Penguins prospects potentially. That would be a lot of fun. I still had so much fun a couple years ago bringing Brock McGinn on when he was on the Penguins.

It just maybe want to go get another player to come on this show at some point. So that is hopefully coming at some point. Trust us on that people and maybe a prospect or two at some point as well. But that'll do it for today's episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. Thank you guys so much for taking the time to listen to slash watch this one. Pat and I will be back on Monday to kickstart season seven of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. We are daily starting next week all the way up until early July of next year. The grind starts in a few days.

So we're going to take you guys back through the offseason next week. Catch you guys up with whatever you missed. And we're super excited. And camp starts the following week after that. But for Patrick Damp, I am Hunter Hodes. Thank you guys so much for tuning in. Have a great weekend. Go Steelers.

We will talk to you guys on Monday.