Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Gavin McKenna’s BIG decision could help the Penguins!

Episode Date: July 8, 2025

The presumptive first overall pick in the 2026 NHL Draft is heading to college, which could put him in the Penguins’ sights. Hunter and Patrick began the show, giving their final thoughts on develop...ment camp, which came to a close on Monday afternoon. They discuss the play of some of the Penguins’ 2025 picks, including Will Horcoff. Then, Gavin McKenna is headed to college! The presumptive first overall pick will be playing the 2025-26 season at Penn State, and while it’s no guarantee the Penguins could get him, it certainly puts him in their sights. Finally, Jack McBain re-signed in Utah, making the Penguins’ offseason a little more complicated.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.FanDuelToday's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new FanDuel customers can get $150 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.

Transcript
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Starting point is 00:00:00 Penguins Development Camp wrapped up with a tournament on Monday, and it was a lot of fun to watch. Pat and I are going to discuss that right after this. You're 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.
Starting point is 00:00:27 I am one of your host, Hunter Hodes. You can follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, joined by my host, Patrick Jamper, can follow him on all. social media platforms at send them for wet. You can follow this show's Twitter at L.O. Understall Penguins, and you can follow us on Instagram now at Locked On underscore Penguins. And finally, thank you guys so much for making this your first listen slash watch of the day. We are free and available on all platforms.
Starting point is 00:00:52 And Pat, developing camp wrapped up with a bang on Monday. And by the way, shout out to all the fans that showed up for this tournament, Pat. You would have thought that this was a full on training camp or preseason practice based on how many fans showed up to watch these four tournament games to end development camp. Shout out to Penguins fans. You guys are the real MVP's, even though this was just a development camp. It was awesome seeing how packed not just one rank was, but both ranks were at the UPMC, Lemieux Sports Complex.
Starting point is 00:01:22 Parking was very tough, I'm sure, for a lot of fans, but I just wanted to start out of the show with that. For anyone that went yesterday, Yins Rock, it was packed, really fun atmosphere. And you saw Team Stevens, Team Patrick, and Team Johnston do. a three-team round-robin tournament, and then the top two teams from there would go on to play in the final for the Michelle Breyer Cup. And Pat, it was Team Stevens that won the day
Starting point is 00:01:46 and won the Michelle Breyer Cup. They won both the Round Robbins games, and then they were able to beat Team Patrick in the Michelle Breyer Cup championship game. There were a few standouts for me throughout all these teams yesterday. Obviously, Harrison Brunich once again was fantastic. It's funny. He got beat pretty bad by Will Horcoff, more on him in just a second.
Starting point is 00:02:10 But he got a little bit of revenge after that goes bar down to tie it in the second game with 8.9 seconds left. And then he gets a shootout winner. Really nice shot right after Ben Kindle had a shootout goal because they were on the same team. He had a little bit of a greasy goal in the shootout, but it was still nice to see him have that moment because otherwise, I don't want to say like he struggled. I just didn't maybe quote unquote notice him enough. but I'm not going to make a big deal out of it.
Starting point is 00:02:36 Anyone that makes a big deal out of that, I think is missing the forest for the trees. He's going to be just fine. I'm not too concerned about it. But Harrison Brunich was once again great. I thought Will Horcoff, when you look at all four games combined, I felt like he was the biggest standout.
Starting point is 00:02:51 Now, I did see some wild takes online. Some people are saying like, oh, you look at these clips, he's going to be a beast in the NHL and all that. Let's pump the brakes a little bit. This is only development camp. I think if he continues to play like this, He could potentially have a big year at Michigan.
Starting point is 00:03:05 But that's what I am focused on right now. Is a full year for him at Michigan. It's exactly where he needs to be. Michigan is one of the best collegiate hockey programs in the country. They have been for a very long time. This is a great spot for him to keep developing. Again, he was fantastic. He showcased his skating.
Starting point is 00:03:23 He burned Brunick really bad during a sequence. He got the puck where outside the offensive zone. Pat comes in on the left side, goes right around Brunich, cuts the net for a nice goal. Another moment where he had, he had a nice power move to the net, goes chopped cheese from about 10, 15 feet out. Really nice job there. Again, I thought he was very good. I just saw some wild takes.
Starting point is 00:03:44 And I'm like, okay, people, let's bomb the brakes. It is at the end of the day, still very much Dillaume camp. But again, Horcough was really good. Harrison Brunich was really good. I thought Penguin's fifth round pick, Ryan Miller, for someone who was a bit tiny, I mean, you know, you look at him. He's six feet. I mean, honestly, when you watch him, he doesn't look like he's six feet. he's a shifty player.
Starting point is 00:04:05 And I felt like he had a really good day during development camp. I thought Quinn Bouchain and Bill Zonan also had a really fun give and go with one another during the first game, where Zonan had a nice goal in front of the net. So those were just a few of my standouts from the end of development camp, Pat. I just want to say, man, it was a lot of fun getting up to Cranberry for most of that camp. And again, Penguins fans, even though we are in July, they brought it for this development camp. You brought up the thing I was going to start with when talking about development camp. What a cool atmosphere that was over the past couple of days, especially the Monday after a holiday.
Starting point is 00:04:43 You figure everybody's back to work, doing their own thing, not really on vacation anymore. But that place was packed. So don't ever try to tell me that Pittsburgh doesn't care about hockey because Pittsburgh does care about hockey, that they showed up and showed out for a development camp scrimmage tournament. that has no bearings on anything, and they were there for it. So that was awesome to see. You sent me some of the Horcoff takes yesterday, and I don't want to beat a dead horse. I don't want to relitigate another take.
Starting point is 00:05:17 But I don't like the fact that this sort of fan war continues among people about, oh, analytics and traditional hockey and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. The argument itself has become an argument about the argument. Nobody who looks at analytics, which includes us, look at it like it's the end all be all. And no, you got to build your team only on analytics. You can't do anything else. No, it's just another tool in the toolbox. And anybody who tells you that analytics is the end all be all is not a serious person worth
Starting point is 00:05:56 listening to. And the same goes for the other end where someone goes, oh, you nerds and your spreadsheets, not watching the game, blah, blah, another person, not worth your time because the smartest people in hockey use both. And that includes the penguin's current president of hockey operations. Look at the way he's talked about how this team needs to be and how this team needs to grow moving forward. He's not sitting there telling you, I'm finding all the analytical darlings in the world. No, he's simply going to get harder to play against. And Horkoff fits that bill. He, again, we're not going to overreact to development camp because it's not a traditional camp.
Starting point is 00:06:32 It's just a moment for the organization to familiarize themselves with their prospects, figure out where they are developmentally and what they have to do to continue to develop. Orkov is in a great spot. We may have said, we, not may have said, we did say that picking him in the first round was a bit of a stretch. We didn't say he sucked. We didn't say he wasn't worth the pick. We just said it was a bit of a reach to take him late in the first round. The guy is the son of a former NHL player.
Starting point is 00:07:06 He clearly has talent because he had a spot on the U.S. development program, which is notoriously difficult to do that you don't just take anybody. And you said it, Hunter. Michigan's a great collegiate hockey program. They are historically one of the best in the best. nation and have been for decades. So getting to that program is no small feat. And he's in a great spot to develop.
Starting point is 00:07:32 He showed he has talent to grow at that level. And if he does, he can maybe grow into a great NHLer. It's not going to happen overnight. He's not suddenly going to become the next great power forward by next October. This is going to be a little bit. But the talent is there. The size is there. And as annoying as it is that there are a lot of form.
Starting point is 00:07:53 former NHL players, kids getting into the game. It's a pretty good jumping off point for a prospect. I like him a lot more after seeing him in person over the last, you know, four to five days, you know, that I did, you know, with the pick at the time. Like obviously, you know, I looked more into the tape right after they picked them and I liked him a little bit. But after watching him here at a development camp, which I know people. It's not the end.
Starting point is 00:08:17 I'll be all. I'm like, okay, I like him a bit more. He was really showcasing his release. He skates better than I thought he did. He has good hockey IQ. He was around the net, especially a lot more these last couple of days. There were parts of his game, and I'm like, okay, I see what the Penguins were going for when they took him here. But that said, this is still very much a project to me.
Starting point is 00:08:37 I don't think he is as close to playing as something like a Ben Kindle or a Bill Zonan are right now. I think those two have a fast track to being in the NHL a bit quicker than Will Horkoff. And that's not a bad thing. Will Horkoff just has to develop a little bit more. Again, development isn't the same for every player. Like, not every player needs, you know, a long time to develop. I think Khorikov might just a little bit more just because we haven't even seen a full collegiate season from him.
Starting point is 00:09:05 But that's my focus for him right now. How does he do in a full collegiate season after joining Michigan last year and playing fairly well, by the way? Like, his draft stock, in my opinion, kind of got better after he joined Michigan and was really good. for them. So I want to see what he does in a full season. Other than that, Ryan Miller, again, I thought he was one of the standouts during the scrimmages on Monday. He was all over the ice, had a good release, had 16 goals, 31 points in 50 games. He was one of the Penguins'
Starting point is 00:09:36 fifth round picks this past season. He's playing in the University of Denver for 26, 27. So that's also a great program playing for David Carl, the head coach there. That's going to be awesome. So again, I like what he did. You have KAL Doc. Remember the seventh round pick in this year's draft? He was really good in the BCHL best past season, 87 points in 54 games. He's playing for the Calgary Hitman with Ben Kindle this upcoming season. Then he's going to Penn State in 26, 27 more on Penn State.
Starting point is 00:10:05 And just a second, by the way, because there were some pretty big news on Monday. I thought Kail Doc had a couple of really nice plays on Monday, including one where he went a between the legs past Pat. No look, by the way, to set up a scoring chance, just a better save. by the goalie. But I felt like that play really needed to be highlighted for this episode because it showcased the skill that he has nice little seventh round flyer, want to see what he does in the WHL after dominating the BCHL. But those were just again, a couple more players that I felt like had good days on Monday. And I'm curious to see how they do this upcoming season. Right. And that's something that I want to stress to our audience that you have kind of hit on
Starting point is 00:10:43 a couple of times is don't look at development camp. as the end all be all, as we have said for the nine millionth time at this point. But track what these guys do this upcoming year because while I don't want people to get overly excited and think that, oh, they've found the next great superstar with every single pick, they are going to have very different, very, very nonlinear journeys. These guys are going to have good years, bad years, great moments, bad moments, you name but you can see that they took chances on players who have had success at certain levels and they want to see if they can translate that success either into consistency where
Starting point is 00:11:34 okay this season where they were really good wasn't an outlier or can they turn that success into success at the next level and there are a lot of these players that they took in the 25 draft and even the 24 draft that have a lot of raw talent, a lot of skill, a lot of upside. Now the onus is on the player in the organization to take those skills, take that success and translate it into professional hockey. But are some of these later round picks, projects? Absolutely.
Starting point is 00:12:09 Even some of their early picks are projects. But you can see the talent. You can see the potential. now the big challenge is going to see how can Kyle Dubus in this hockey operations department work developmentally because there's a lot of talent in this system right now. It's not it's not through the roof. You're not going to suddenly see the penguins jump into the top five of the athletics prospect pool rankings.
Starting point is 00:12:37 But there are a lot of gems in the rough right now in the penguin system that I think could turn into players that become contributors. on a contending team in the next four to five years. I saw one of the analytic models that someone for prospect does on Monday on social media. He had the penguins right around that 16, 17 range. So league average, I felt like that's, you know, compared to where it was two, three years ago, I will take that. What are they missing though, Pat?
Starting point is 00:13:05 It's that game-changing superstar, that game-changing prospect that can, you know, really be with your organization for, you know, seven plus, 10-plus, maybe even 15-plus years. again, going back to Miller and Doc and Horcoff, it's great that they're all going to go to college again. With Horcoff, he's going back to Michigan. Ryan Miller, he's eventually going to Denver. That's going to be such a good fit with David Carl, one of the best head coaches that's not in the NHL right now,
Starting point is 00:13:29 and I think he is going to be an NHL head coach one day. And then with Kail Doc, going to Penn State. Speaking of Penn State, Pat, they got a commitment from the best player in the 2026 NHL draft on Monday. and we are going to talk about that right after this. Summer sports are in full swing and whether you're all about baseball under the lights, golf on the green, or high-stakes soccer action,
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Starting point is 00:14:48 We got some major news on Monday. We knew that the Gavin McKenna commitment was coming. And according to Cam Robinson, multiple sources indicate that Gavin McKenna will commit to Penn State University for the 2025, 2025, 26 season. He will be choosing Penn State over Michigan State. Those were the final two programs jockeying for his commitment. And it looks like, according to Cam, who is very good, by the way, when it comes to news like this with elite prospects, Gavin McKenna to Penn State once this officially gets confirmed. Buddy, I might have to buy some tickets right away.
Starting point is 00:15:24 I am going to go to state college, make the two and a half to three hour drive, and go watch and play, especially with where the penguins are going into this season. If they finish in the bottom five and there is a chance that that happens, they will be in the running to go and get Gavin McKenna, a potential generational player in the 2026 NHL draft. Pat is already way too good for junior high. now we will get to see what he does against college players. And I'd like to think he's probably going to dominate in this league as well.
Starting point is 00:15:54 But that is big news. And Pat, as our breakdown says, could we see a Penn State to Pittsburgh pipeline here? We very much could, Hunter. But I'm, I can't wait for the inevitable freakouts that we get this upcoming season. When we get the Kyle Dubus was spotted at the Pagula Ice Center this weekend. as Penn State took on blah, blah, is he scouting Gavin McKenna? But I mean, this is huge because I want to give a little bit of perspective here to people who may not understand this.
Starting point is 00:16:31 And I don't want this to come off as condescending or pretending like I know everything about college hockey because I very much do not. But I have a unique perspective when it comes to Penn State ice hockey. So for those who may not know, I played. collegiate club at IUP for five years. Yes, I was a five-year undergrad student. Make your jokes in the comments. I appreciate those jokes. But I played against Penn State right before they became an NCAA Division I program. If you have ever played hockey at the hockey rink at Penn State that's not the Pagula Complex, and you remember those yellow lights, they stay with you forever. But
Starting point is 00:17:13 the first year I played against them was two years before. before they had an NCAA program. It was obviously known that they were getting an NCAA program. It was a competitive game. We lost, I think, five to four at State College. It was a really good game against a really good team. The next year, one year out from getting the NCAA program, we made the United States getting beaten by the Soviets at Madison Square Garden 10 to
Starting point is 00:17:43 three look like a competitive game. because all of the prospects and all of the recruits were getting ready and they dog walked us. So the fact that they have gone from starting a new program and now they have this beautiful rink in the Pagula complex. They were in the national semi-final this past season. Now they get Gavin McKenna. It's a testament to what a good job Penn State has done building. this program, that not only are they consistently one of the better teams in the nation over the past five or six years, now they land the most, maybe the most coveted
Starting point is 00:18:28 recruit of what, the last 20 years. So this is going to be really good for his development, I think, because this is not a one-to-one comparison. I know I got to make that caveat quite a lot. It's going to be like what we talked about with Harrison Brunich last, last, last episode. Brunick has proven everything he needs to prove at the junior level. And we have that stupid NHL-CHL-CHL agreement that's going to keep him from going to
Starting point is 00:18:55 Wokes Bear and playing. McKenna has done everything he can do at the junior level. The guy had 129 points in 56 games last year. I don't think going back to the CHL is going to do anything for his development. So going to the NCAA is going to do a lot for McKenna. And did you see the point streak he had as well during the? that time, yeah, he has nothing left to prove down there. Collegiate hockey, he's probably still going to dominate there. And I can't wait. I literally cannot wait to drive up to state college to
Starting point is 00:19:26 watch him play. It's going to be awesome. I'm sure you're going to see a bunch of other Penguins fans there as well for a lot of the games, especially if Penguins are not very good this upcoming season, which we expect them to not be a playoff team this year. And you also have Jackson Smith that committed to Penn State of the 2025 initial draft. I agree with you, man. The way that the Nittany Lions have been able to really build up this hockey program these last several years has been awesome. And they're going to be a favorite once again to win the national championship going into this upcoming season. And I like that you're seeing, you know, some more of these NHL prospects going to college and playing in college hockey, even if it's just for a year pack.
Starting point is 00:20:08 Like, it still, it builds up your stock even more. You're playing against, you know, other NHL draft protégés, and it's going to be awesome. I really don't have much else to add other than that is going to be sick to see him play there. Well, and I will say this too, along with giving credit to Penn State for building a good program in essentially 10-ish years because it's only been since about the mid-2010s that they've had an NCAA Division 1 program for men's ice hockey. It's also, it speaks really highly of the growth of NCAA hockey because as you said, there, there's, there were always prospects both North American and internationally that went
Starting point is 00:20:56 the NCAA route. It's always been a part of the developmental and draft pipeline to the NHL. But as you can see now, especially with Penn State getting McKenna, a lot of players are opting to go that route. It doesn't mean that the CAA. is suddenly falling. And that's good, by the way. Like,
Starting point is 00:21:16 I'm glad that more players are going the NCAA route to play against better players. Like I made this example when I talk about players in the QMJHL. I feel like the top players there, they have to go to the NCAA to play against better competition. I encourage a lot of these in your players to go play in the NCAA because you're playing against better players. Just continue. And the other thing,
Starting point is 00:21:38 and this is the last point I'll make on this. This is also. kind of showing that we have a bit of a different generation of athlete coming to the NHL now because let's keep this in perspective. McKenna is going to be a very unique case. He's not going to spend four years at Penn State. He is not going to play all. He's not even going to play two years. He's going to play next year. He's going to go first overall and then he's going to go to the NHL. But you see a lot of players realizing that your NHL career on average lasts five to six, maybe seven or eight years. And then you've got a life ahead of you.
Starting point is 00:22:22 So a lot of these guys are going the collegiate level, getting their degrees, finishing them, playing in the NHL, and then capitalizing on their education. So because let's also be honest here, this is an NCAA football. This isn't where essentially you go to, because again, McKenna, unique case. He's going to play one year there and then go to the NHL. NCAA football, those guys know that's the minor leagues for the NFL. NCAA hockey, there is no guarantee that you are going to go pro. So you still have to, it's one of the few collegiate sport, Division I collegiate sports left, where you are truly a student athlete.
Starting point is 00:23:05 You're not there just to play your sport. You have to go to the classroom. You have to keep your grades up. You have to walk a mostly straight line. So it's a good thing as a whole for these young guys going to the NCAA. NIL is still very prevalent for any sport in college. But again, that's just a different discussion for a different day, especially football, basketball, etc, etc.
Starting point is 00:23:28 But on the whole, I agree with you. But again, really excited this upcoming fall. If anyone is going to go watch Gavin McKenna at Penn State, let us know in the comments, let us know which games you're going to go to once this announcement is made official by Penn State. It's going to happen this week. If Cam and others are saying it, it is going to happen, people. But that'll do it for the second segment. Coming up to end the show, a reported Penguins trade target re-signed with his team on Monday. Pat and I are going to discuss that right after this. All right, we're back here in this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast.
Starting point is 00:24:06 I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes, joined by my co-coast, Padgetam, and Pat. Jack McBain was reportedly a penguin's target, according to Josh E.O.E.O.E. of the athletic, the penguins were looking at him to potentially trade for around the time of the 2025 NHL draft. But that is not happening now. McBain has re-signed with the Utah Mammoth, a five-year deal, 4.25 million per year. Utah actually elected salary arbitration with Jack McBain, but before the two sides even got to that point, they just said, hey, let's just agree to a deal. is what they did. So he is off the board.
Starting point is 00:24:43 And if Kyle Dubis is looking to potentially trade for a young player at some other point this off season, Pat, he will now have to look elsewhere. And that's fine with me. I think McBain is fine, but I wasn't over the moon about trading for him. I was right there with you. I don't dislike McBain as a player. I do think he has value. But I think he's a better fit in Utah with what they have and what they're doing right
Starting point is 00:25:10 now than he would be with the penguins. Essentially, McBain, and again, I don't think he's a bad player. I don't think he's not worth taking a flyer on, but you look at where Utah is compared to where the penguins are. McBain feels like a complimentary piece that you get when you're closer to playoff contention than where the penguins are right now, because he's a middle to bottom six forward, has some offensive upside, plays a very aggressive game. game. And not that that wouldn't have value for the penguins right now, but it fits into the model of
Starting point is 00:25:48 a lot of players that we talked about, both UFA, RFA, and trade candidates, where the timeline just didn't quite match up. If we're two to three years into this rebuild and they're starting to get more talent coming in and they're looking like they're about to round the corner and become a playoff contender again, you go get a McBain and add him to your roster. Right now, when you're still looking for that top tier talent, you're still stockpiling assets and stockpiling prospects. It feels like by the time you get to the contention window, whether that's playoffs or Stanley Cup, McBain probably would have less value to your team if you go get him right
Starting point is 00:26:35 now. So this one, I didn't hate the idea, but it just felt like a little too early to go after a player like that. I think that's fair. I also probably went on to have given him five years, but that's also just my opinion on the matter. But he's off the market. Caldubis will have to look at other options. And speaking of that, Pat, you look at the free agent market, not much there. And also, I don't really think they should go out and sign too many other free agents unless they're subtracting.
Starting point is 00:27:05 off the roster trade-wise, like say, you know, one of Raquel or Russ gets traded, you want to go out there and sign Jeff Skinner to a same type of deal that you did for Anthony Mantha and you want to flip him at the deadline potentially and give him top six, top nine minutes. Okay, whatever. I at least will low-key see the vision there. I know Jack Roslovick is out there, but I think if you sign him right now with everyone still on the team, I think you're blocking a spot from some of the younger guys that
Starting point is 00:27:34 are trying to make a team even outside. side of coiffant and migrorty who i do expect will be on the team this upcoming season but i still think there are also other young forwards like a philip hollander by the way or our tristan bros that want to try to make this team out of camp you know you already have a surplus of forwards right now after july one and july two from free agency so i'm not really sure they want to go out there and sign anyone else to a free agent deal i just don't think it makes uh too much sense you saw bowen byram was is now being taken to arbitration by the Sabres. By the way, that means the player and the agent can pick the term of the award.
Starting point is 00:28:08 And if Byram and his agent want to be petty, they can just say, we're going to take a two-year award and we're going to walk right to understricted free agency in a couple of years. And then I can just pick my team. We'll have to see if that happens. You're seeing that Buffalo's not getting as much trade interest in him right now. I kind of understand why away from Rasmus Dahlene this year, he wasn't that good.
Starting point is 00:28:27 I think Buffalo is asking for too much in return. But that's also just me. So, yeah, that's kind of the state of where we are right now league-wide, free agency-wide. Again, like, this is what it's kind of going to look like the rest of this month into August, into early September. Like, yeah, there are some free agents still out there. But a lot of these guys that are out there right now, they're taking their time, they're waiting to see if other teams that are interested in them want to make a move to maybe free up a spot for them. You know, it's all like a Roslovick, so like a Jeff Skinner.
Starting point is 00:28:58 So that's kind of where we're at right now. The trades have to happen first before anything else because you brought up the two biggest points. You don't want to block some of the young players that they reportedly want to give a chance to. You obviously want your Magrory's, your covenins, whomever else, to get their shot to make the team. And if you go out and get a Jack Roslovick, who is probably the best UFA remaining right now, 22 goals last year, not too bad. You could, if you get him on a one to two year deal, that's a prime deadline flip. But therein lies the contradiction.
Starting point is 00:29:41 It holds up that spot for one of the young guys. Now, obviously you want to get these older guys who have put up solid numbers that you can flip at the deadline for more young players, more trade assets, more draft picks. but then at the same time, you're blocking those young guys, which I don't think they want to do. So you have to wait until the logjam of trades come through, whether it's moving rust, whether it's moving Raquel, whether it's moving somebody else out of the bottom six. So realistically, there has to be the first snowflake of the avalanche has to fall here soon, whether it's a Rust trade or Raquel trade, even one, like I said, one of the bottom six guys, because, that's what's holding everything up right now. And when that happens, I do expect you'll see, no pun intended, a flurry of movement because then things start to get freed up.
Starting point is 00:30:39 So to put a fine bow on it, we're unfortunately going to be in a little bit of a dead zone here until these trades happen. But again, I want to stress this to people, we're at the beginning still of this rebuild phase. It's not going to be a flurry of activity. It's not going to get done overnight. They have, again, Kyle Dubas holds all the leverage here because they're really the only team that's selling. They have all of the leverage. So he can take his time. And I know for us as analysts, and I know for our listeners as fans, and even us as fans, you want your cookies and you want them right now, damn it, but it's unfortunately not the world we're living in.
Starting point is 00:31:27 Fans just have to stay patient, man. I mean, it could be dead for a little bit now, even though we're still technically in early July, but there's still a couple more months until training camp. So there's still a lot of time for moves to happen. A move can happen literally at any time. So just stay by your phone whenever, turn on the notifications for, you know, Elliot Freeman, the Penguins, some of these other accounts as well, all that. but until then we're just going to be patient and see what happens when it comes to the Penguins
Starting point is 00:31:59 Brian Russ, Ricard Raquel, Eric Carlson, bottom six player, whoever else potentially that could be on the market. But that would do it for Tuesday's episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. Thank you all so much for take the time to listen to slash watch this one. Pat and I will be back with another show for you all on Wednesday. So for Patrick Damp, I'm Hunter Hodes. Thank you guys so much for listening. We'll be back on Wednesday. day.

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