Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Handing out our Pittsburgh Penguins MIDTERM grades!

Episode Date: January 6, 2026

The Penguins have played 41 games so far in the 2025-26 season, so it's time to hand out some midterm grades! Patrick and Hunter are taking a look back at the first half of the 2025-26 season and handing out some midterm grades for the roster, including the goaltending, some of the newcomers, and the rookies. (0:00) Then, they take the midterm grade focus off the ice and to the bench and the front office. How has the first season for Dan Muse been behind the bench, and how is Kyle Dubas doing in this phase of the rebuild? They answer those questions. (17:02) Finally, now that the halfway point is here, they also check in with their preseason bold predictions and if they're looking like they'll be right or wrong. (28:39)Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNHL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.FanDuelToday's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. So before tip-off, check the FanDuel app and see what’s dropping during NBA Happy Hour — every Friday from 6 to 7:30 PM Eastern. A little basketball, a little action, and a whole lot of Friday energy. Rocket MoneyTake control of your finances and cancel your unwanted subscriptions with Rocket Money.Go to https://RocketMoney.com/LOCKEDONtoday.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.

41 games are in the rearview mirror for the Pittsburgh Penguins, which means we are officially at the midpoint of the season. So who's doing well, who's doing poorly? Let's do some midterm grades here 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 back to another edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I am one of your hosts, Patrick Damp. You can follow me across all social media platforms at Synonym 4Wet.

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 find us on Instagram at Locked On underscore Penguins and TikTok at Locked On Penguins. Of course, as always, we appreciate you making us part of your daily routine. Don't forget that we are free and available wherever you get your podcasts as well as YouTube. And if you're following us on YouTube, which you should be,

make sure you've hit that notification button so you can be among the first to know when we drop our daily Monday through Friday episodes. We begin today's episode with a little bit of sort of kind of not really breaking news, but Penguins goaltender, Arter Shilovs, has officially been named to Team Latvia for the Olympics. Yeah, it's not news. He was part of the first six, but it was officially official this morning. So congratulations to Arter Shilovs for representing Latvia at the time. the upcoming Winter Olympics, and that is a good place for us to start with the theme of today's

show, which is the midterm grades. So let's start with Arter Shilovs. He has started 19 games for the Pittsburgh Penguins this season, 8-5 and 6 record, 886 save percentage and a 3.24 goals against average. It's really difficult for me, Hunter, to grade. Raid Shilovs, because I did kind of talk about this on the Monday episode of the show. He's in a weird spot as the Penguins goaltender, because you look at his numbers, you look at his record, and you think he's maybe not that good. And I do think there is some validity to that. But then you put in the context of he was in the net for a lot of games where this team just

did not play well. And while, yes, you are allowed to make a save, he hasn't been getting a ton of help. You've seen some spurts where you maybe see a starting goaltender in there. And then you see some spurts where maybe he's a 1B. So that for me is a difficult grade to hand out. So if I had to put a letter on it, C, B minus ceiling, he's been fine. Yeah, that's kind of where Island as well, B minus to C plus to a regular C. I really liked his month of October. He had a 919 say percentage. Excuse me. He started off really strong. But since then, Pat, it's just been a lot of very middling results. He finished November with an 869% percentage. I got to put on my glasses here for just a couple of seconds to make sure I get this right. He finished December

with an 866 and then in 865 so far in the month of January. The more concerning thing is, though, Pat, he hasn't had a safe percentage in a game over 900 since December 9th against the Ducks. He was 929 in that game. All of his other starts since then, he's been under 900. It's kind of what I said on Monday where I just want to see more consistency in his game. Yeah, he made some good saves down the stretch in that game against Columbus, and I praised him for that. But I think he still has to be better at the start of games as well. He still finished that game on Sunday below water and goals at above expected.

So I still want to see more out of him. I think if you put the whole first half together, it's kind of just been average. If you want to argue a little below average, sure. But again, B minus to the C range, I think is totally fair. If I had to lean towards one or the other pat, I'd probably go towards just a full on C. That's kind of where I am as well.

It's a bit of a more complex case because, yeah, he hasn't been phenomenal, but he also hasn't received a lot of help. So it's a difficult player to really judge up to this point. So let's keep it with the goaltenders. Stuart Skinner only been here for a little while after the Tristan Jari trade. You look at his numbers so far with the penguins. They've been okay. He has started five games, two, three and no record, 874 save percentage 2.87 goals against average. Very similar in my estimation to Arter Shilovs, where he's had some moments where he's come up with some big saves.

He's had some moments where he's led in some clunkers. He's also been between the pipes when this team hasn't been at its best. So it's really hard, again, to judge him. So I think he's right in that same category as Shilov's. B minus, C, where you want to see more from him, but you also can give him a bit of a pass because he's been in the net for some performances where the team in front of him just isn't bringing it. Right.

I mean, you look at the Toronto game, Pat. I mean, they were just so horrendous in front of them defensively that I really couldn't pin a lot of those goals on him. His last two starts, though, have been awesome. 964 against Carolina, 917 against Detroit. He's been really good in both those games. the Montreal game obviously that was bad he plays against his former team in the first one had a couple goals there that I think he would want back if I had to give it a letter grade even though

it's still a little unfair just because he's only played in five games I'd go be minus I'd go a little bit above she loves but again I don't want to try to overreact a small sample size or something like that but especially the last two starts I have been impressed I think he's out playing she loves right now which is at least good I like how he's playing his especially with his last two starts. Yeah, I think the potential is there. I don't think he's obviously going to be part of the team's long-term plans, but at the very least, swapping him and Jari kind of keeps you in the same position

and gives you better salary cap and contract flexibility. So that's a really good piece of business by Kyle Dubas, who we will get to later in the show. We're obviously not going to go through the entire roster here. you guys don't have two hours for us to put grades on just about every player. So we're just going to hit a couple really quickly before we head to break. Let's start and we'll keep the focus kind of on the newcomers or the young guys and things like that. We obviously know 87 having a really good year again, 71 before he got hurt, having a really good year.

we have spoken at length about the struggles of Chris LaTang. We don't really need to keep going over those. Eric Carlson, obviously, having a big year. But there is one player that I got to talk to talk about because it's my boy. It's my guy. It is Justin Briseau. 27 games, 12 goals, 8 assists, 20 points. This just looks like an absolute gem of a find by Kyle Dubas.

He has flashed skill. He has been physical. He's putting the puck in the net. He's got great chemistry on that second line with Mantha as well as Malkin when he's been in the lineup. He gets an A. Without a doubt, he gets an A grade at the midterm. That's the easiest A grade you could probably give out to the non-core guys, honestly, that have played really well, like Sid, like Gino.

I mean, he's not a full core guy, but Eric Carlson, as you said, he's been great. And I just wrote about him today for the hockey. news with how confident he's being. But yeah, Prezzo very much looks like a late bloomer with the way that he's playing. It has such soft hands. I still can't believe how silky he is with a puck on his stick. He continues to play so well on that second line. And it looks like he's going to be getting his center back here really shortly of Gennie Malkin, full participant during Tuesday's practice. It was more of an optional practice today, Pat. I think you're going to see the full

practice on Wednesday. And assuming he's there, I think there is a very good shot that Ifgeny Malkin is back on Thursday, which will be great news also for Brazil and Anthony Mantha, who I want to touch on here too, A plus for me. Kyle Dubus, I think, had a really nice re-agency this past summer, more on him a little bit later on in the show. Anthony Mantha, 14 goals, 29 points in 41 games. Pat, he is on pace for 28 goals in this full 82 game season. He is more than likely going to be at over 20 goals right around the trade deadline.

Kyle Dubus is, I know he's going to get calls on him. The question is, will he move him? I think he's going to get some good offers for him, especially for a player that can produce up and down the lineup. It'll just come down to whether or not Dubis wants to move him, just also depending on where the team is in the race. So I think he's going to make a couple moves around the deadline. I don't think he's going to sell everyone off,

just considering where the team is right now. But he is definitely going to get calls on Anthony Antha. But the way that he has played at five on five, the way that he has also played on the power play as a net front presence, even though there have been a couple of times where I've wanted Ben Kind of in his place, he has still been awesome this year and A plus signing for me over the off season. I can say the same thing for Parker Watherspoon as well. He's been really good on the top pair. Yes, on a true cup contender, you probably don't want him on your top pair. You would have him as a second

pair guy. If he's your third pair, you have a really deep defensive group, but definitely a second pair guy. But he has still been a great fit next to Eric Carlson. So I'll give him an A, as well, but I really wanted to focus on Manta. I'm going to agree on the A for Parker Watherspoon, because that's another diamond in the rough, much like Justin Brizzo. We didn't think a ton of it when it happened. And now he has become a key contributor to the team. And his performance has reflected that.

I am going to disagree, but in a different way with Manta. I'm going to kind of give him a B on the season for his performance. because it's been streaky he's had he's been a little streaky here and there he'll put up a few goals and then go cold for a little bit in no world am i saying he's bad and no world am i saying he hasn't lived up the expectations he absolutely has i will give the signing in a because it's worked out way way better than they probably could have hoped so there's a little bit of attention there for me it's not a deep disagreement i'm not saying oh no you're you're out of your mind here.

Mantha's been terrible. It's just been, he's been a little too streaky for my liking. I didn't expect him to light it up and be a first line goal scoring winger, but just a little more consistency would be nice. But at the end of the day, I'm not going to complain about the guy who's got 14 goals in 41 games and his third on the team in goals. Like that's, that's really, that's a champagne problem if there ever was one. Right.

I also think a lot of like those types of players, pat they can be streaking like you see these types of forwards go on these streaks on a whole bunch of different teams so i wouldn't really hold it that much against him just when you look at the overall body of work i still think for me it's an a but i i get what you're saying i just i push back a little bit that's all one last player that we got to get to because we're just having fun with the midterm grades because at this point i think our listeners and the fans know who's been really who's done really well who hasn't done very well what more can we say about rookie ben kindle yeah a plus absolute a plus yeah the numbers they aren't

fantastic 38 games eight goals 10 assists 18 points and somehow he's a minus 11 which i would have never guessed that but exceeded any and all expectations we said it in the lead up to the season that this was going to be an n hl player we didn't think it was going to be an hl player this year. And we didn't think that he would have a prominent role right away. But there he is as a staple as the third line center. And if Dan Muse is smart, he never leaves that position for the rest of the year. Oh, I agree. And you can old takes expose us for a lot of our preseason takes about whether he was going to make the team, you know, going back to junior, all that. You can go find them, you know, send them into our DMs and stuff. Because yeah, we definitely got

that wrong. We didn't expect him to make the team, much less. I mean, do this. And I know what you said about the production. Honestly, Pat, I think for someone who is 18 was picked outside the top 10, this is totally fine and dandy. And his hockey IQ continues to shine night and night out. I love his defensive work. He's getting better as the season progresses,

which is also a bit nuts because, again, this is the full grind of an 82 game season. He's 18 years old. And he's going out there. and kicking a bunch of these veterans butts night in and night out against these other NHL teams. He is so advanced beyond his years. And it really hasn't mattered who has been on his line this year.

He is carrying his line. He's been absolutely fantastic. I still want him to get a little bit more power play time overall. But I am just loving everything that this kid is doing, man. And even with the dash 11, the biggest standout to his game is that he's not totally refined and totally completed as a two-way forward. But for an 18-year-old just entering the league, his ability to play a two-way game is so, so advanced.

And he deserves all the credit and all the kudos that he has been getting up to this point, an absolute home run of a pick by the Penguins in the first round. Speaking of picks, speaking of the front office, got to talk about Kyle Dubus, got to talk about Dan Mews and the coaching staff. for our midterm grades here on the Tuesday edition of Locked-on Penguins. So stick with us. We're going to have that conversation when we come back right after this. Before we do that, though, we've got to tell you about today's first sponsor,

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So let Rocket Money help you reach your financial goals faster. Join at RocketMoney.com slash Locked on. That's RocketMoney.com slash locked on. One more time. RocketMoney.com slash locked on. We're back here on the Tuesday edition of Locked on Penguins. I'm Patrick Damp. That's Hunter Hodes.

We're doing some midterm grades because 41 games are in the rearview mirror. 41 games in the windshield. We got a long way to go. But at the halfway mark, you got to talk about what's happened. So let's start with the coaching staff, dear Hunter. I got to give full marks to this coaching staff for one main reason. When this team struggled in December, when they went on that losing streak, when things were looking bleak, it would have been really, really easy for Dan Mews to panic.

It would have been really easy for the coaching staff to throw everything in a blender, bench certain guys, call up other guys, make all kinds of big structural changes. and they didn't. They looked at the way they played in October and November and said, you know what, there's a competitive hockey team here. There is a team that can do some winning here. And rather than panic,

rather than snap react to a tough stretch, we're going to find our way through this. We're going to keep pushing, and we're going to get back on the other side of this. And that, at the time, it annoyed us. It made us angry. We were calling for all these changes, calling for them to do all this stuff.

And here we sit on Tuesday, January 6th. They've won five straight. They're looking a lot more like the team they did at the beginning of the year. So full marks to the coaching staff for saying, we're not going to panic. We're not going to freak out. We're going to get through this. We're going to be calm and level-headed about it.

And that turned out, at least for now, to be the right strategy. It was also evident how much this team really needed the Christmas break. You just get away from the rink of little. bit, get to spend time with their family and friends for a couple of days, and then come back, fully refreshed, ready to go. And what do you know, Pat? They rattled off this winning streak here. They have all of their confidence back, and they're looking like the team that we saw throughout the month of October and a bit into November as well. I am a big fan of this coaching staff. I give them an A for the first half of the season. Dammews with the puck

support and the puck pressure that this team plays with on a nightly basis, how entertaining they are to watch compared to the last few years of Penguins honking under Sullivan, where I can't lie, man, it was a bit of a chore to watch this team just doing the same things, nighted and night out, not really any changes, but I've just really liked what Damuse has been able to do. He has the full control over this team. I love what his assistants have done as well. Todd Nelson also gets an A. Second rank power play looks even deadlier than it did last year. The puck movement on the power play continues to be exquisite. it. The emphasis on a net front presence also has been huge getting to those high danger areas.

Todd Nelson has just unlocked even more on the power play. Heck, Eric Carlson has been better on the power play under Nelson than he was in last two years prior on the power play under two different assistant head coaches. So again, I am just a really big fan of what Todd Nelson has done. And also, you know, Mike Souther's, Nick Menino, Rich Kloon, we can keep going down the list here, Pat. I'm just a really big fan also, the penalty kill, ninth in the NBA. H.L. right now, I do think part of it has to do with Blake Lazant coming back. But this year, especially in the first half, you've seen Muses unit combined with Stubbers, also running the PK, just a lot more aggressive, forcing more clears compared to the last couple of years under Volucci,

where it was just a much more passive penalty kill. So I'm a big fan of this coaching staff. I mean, you also saw it during training camp where you can tell day one, Pat, that this was going to be a completely different training camp than before. It looked like, everyone out there was gassed after the first practice. And it was like that throughout all of them. The drills were very intense, very competitive, and you see that during each practice

during the regular season as well. So again, this staff has complete control of the team and they've been doing a fantastic job. So A, for me, if you want to get into the front office, we can as well with Kyle Dubas, but I'll just hand this over to you first.

We will get into Kyle Dubus. I just wanted to add one last thing about the coaching staff. You did a really good job there breaking down the X's and O's and the strategy and everything else. And I agree with basically all of it. I think that they have done a tremendous job getting this team to play the way they have been playing through 41 games. But on top of that, this was not going to be an easy job to take, no matter who it was.

Because one, yeah, we had the conversations painstakingly for the last year and a half about Mike Sullivan, what they should do with Sullivan. if his time was up, so on and so forth. But you have to remember that the core group of this team, Crosby, Malkin-Latang, I'll even put Brian Rust's name in there. They loved Mike Sullivan. They loved and respected Mike Sullivan. So whoever took that job was coming into a really not challenging environment

because it's not like this group has a reputation of killing coaches. They've only had a couple of them throughout their run. But those were massive shoes to fill, and it would have been really easy for the next coach to come in and struggle to break through to these guys. But very clearly, Dan Mews has broken through to these guys, and that is no small task. That is not easy to do. And the fact that he has this team in the hunt and playing really well through 41 games is a testament to him and a testament to his staff. So full marks A plus for Dan News and the coaching staff. Let's go to Kyle Dubus.

And I'm tempted to give him an A because you look at how going into the rest of this season, going into next off season, he's given this franchise options of where to go. He's given this team an opportunity to accelerate their rebuild a little bit, maybe stay on course. hell even though we don't want them to do it the possibility of going into overdrive is also there when you look at the amount of draft capital and cap space that they have highly unlikely they do that but the reason i'm not going to go straight to an a is that there's been a couple moves here and there whether it's free agency signings waiver claims that haven't been great but he still gets a b plus because we talked about anthony

Mantha. We talked about Justin Brzoe, the drafting of Ben Kindle. Basically, since the Jake Gensel trade, I am confident in saying that Kyle Dubus has done a masterful job of getting this team to a place where they can usher in the next era. Yes, I do think since then, he has been on a heater. He has done a really nice job. I mean, you look at this year's draft class. There's some diamonds in the rough that could potentially be players down the line we have to see i mean jordan charon has really took off this year of the sue greyhounds 19 goals and 34 points you have keel doc who was picked later on in the draft for the hitman this year he has 21 goals and 45 points he's going to go to penn state next year and heck ryan miller

as well you have 17 goals and 45 points in 39 games he's going to go to the university of denver we've talked about how well horcoff has been at michigan he's been great bills on and has recently come back pat and he's been lighting it up for his team in the queue at least to start season. I'm excited to see what he can do in the second half of his season. We've discussed what Ben Kindle has done so. I like a lot of this draft. I like a lot of what he did during free agency. Even with some of the trades, you know, you're getting picks to take on Connor Clifton, Matt Dumbah. You're not taking them because you think they're really good at hockey or anything. I mean, Dumba's down in the minors. Connor Clifton keeps being scratched. You're taking them because, you know,

of the extra assets that you're getting for taking those contracts. So that part of it, I like. Yeah, I know I pushed back a little bit on the Chinacom trade just because of the price. He scored that really nice goal over the weekend. If he keeps doing that, I'm just going to shut the hell up about that trade. I understood why he made it, though. It wasn't like some fleecing or anything like that. I wasn't hating on the trade like that. But overall, over the last year or so, or even gating back a bit further, I have really liked his work.

But I would say, yeah, B++, something like that. The biggest thing is, Pat, his job is not even close to done. he is going to be fully judged on whether he brings this team back to contention. He's doing a really good job so far, but how does he do with this next step? They're starting to mobilize a little bit. If they have a big off season this year, especially be in the trade market, how does he do there? Can he get this team back to being a true contender? That is where he is going to be really judged in his overall tenure is really going to be judged,

honestly. You're absolutely right. And one other move that I want to add in because it is a bit of breaking news. even though we kind of saw it coming was the Igor Zamola move, the trade with the Flyers with Tomasino and Zamola. It's very clear now that they're putting him on waivers for contract termination. He's not going to be a penguin. He's not going to go to Wilkes Bear.

I'm not doing the whole state TV. Everything is fine. Nobody, nobody look at here. But it is a bit of a savvy move in the sense that it does feel like, Dubus and the Penguins understood that he wasn't going to go to Wilkes Bear. They were probably going to get to terminate his contract. So they free up some draft, or they free up some cap space, excuse me, and they get an extra contract slot now.

So in a way, you knew that Tomasino wasn't working out anymore. He wasn't going to have a future here. You trade him away to give him another opportunity and another organization. And in return, you get some cap space. you get a contract slot now on the other side of that what do you do with it so that's why it's a little bit of a not a bad move but we got to see what the next step is the situation now is just a bit weird like yeah he gets traded here the penguin send into wilkesbury is and he was like no i'm not going to wilkesbury and they're just like well all right well we're just going to

terminate your contract and you can go find other natchal opportunities elsewhere i don't know if he thinks he's too good for Wilkesbury, I don't know, simply just odd is the way to say. And also Harrison Brunick, according to Josh Joey is en route to Pittsburgh. So a decision should be coming soon. If I had to guess, Pat, and this is a guess, I think he might be going back to Cam Loops in the WHL. But I could be totally wrong on that front. Hey, we've been threatening that the young players who might have to go back to junior are going to go back to junior all season long. And we've been wrong every single time. So we'll see what happens with Harrison Brunick, but that is going to do it here for our middle segment.

When we come back, you may recall that in the preseason every year, Hunter and I do some bold predictions, and with 41 games in the rearview mirror, how are we looking on those bold predictions? We'll check that out when we come back right after this. Welcome back to the Tuesday edition of Locked on Penguins. damp running right alongside my good pal hunter hoodies and let's revisit really quickly to close the show our preseason bold predictions now there was one that i had that is incomplete because we haven't gotten to that point of the calendar so we can't say if it's right or wrong yet and that was that

of Gennie Malkin will sign a one-year extension after the Olympics. You may not know, but I'm sure you do. The Olympics have not happened yet. So can't really make a judgment call on that one. I'm not Doc Brown. I don't have a DeLorean that can travel through time. So I don't know what happened. But that one's incomplete.

Hunter Hodes, on the other hand, this man may have a crystal ball because his two bold predictions. They are very much on pace to get to being correct. His first one, 70 plus points for Eric Carlson on the season through 41 games. He's on pace for 62. So getting close and with the way Carlson has played this season, I don't think 62 is the ceiling. I think he very much could hit 70 plus. Oh, I agree. I think he is in line for hopefully a really big second half. I'm really close on this one. Again, 31 points so far, 28 of those are assists. He's coming off. I think his best performance of this season on Sunday in Columbus, arguably his best performance of his Penguins tenure thus far. I say he still does it. I'm not backing away now.

I think he's going to hit 70 points. My other one, Pat, Tommy Novak, 20 plus goals. He is at eight at the halfway point. So just under halfway there, assuming he doesn't get moved or anything like that. I still say, I think he does it. I'm almost halfway there for both of these. The way Tommy Novak's been playing as of late, I could absolutely see it. He seems like he's getting better in picking up the pace as the season continues. So I could definitely see, if nothing else, hitting 20 even could definitely be in the cards. If he exceeds it, I would be kind of shocked. But getting to that 20 goal mark, I think is right in his grasp. Well, if Hunter was correct on two. There is one that go ahead and hit that family feud X buzzer because

I was wrong on one of these. When I said the first player traded off the roster won't be Rust, Raquel, or Carlson. It was going to be Blake Lazot. Wrong. And shame on me for six weeks because I have always liked Blake Lizott's game. And that was the basis of this bold prediction, was that I looked at him as a player who had an easily movable contract and was going to have a ton of value for a contending team. Well, not only are the penguins getting a ton of value out of Blake Lazotte as the fourth line center, they're right in the race. And I said it already this week.

You got the chance to move Blake Lazot and you're staying in the race up to the trade deadline. Don't because it stands in line with what I said a week ago. I don't want that if this team stays in the race up to the trade deadline, you have to reward the team for doing that. It doesn't mean that you have to go swing a big move. It doesn't mean you have to move a bunch of stuff to bring in a ringer. But you don't want to say, hey, congratulations on making it to the trade deadline in the playoff position. Now we're stripping everything away.

You got to reward the team by keeping some of the players around. and if I'm Dubis, again, unless it is an offer you can't refuse, he should be a penguin through the end of the season. I hear you. I am curious to see if he does keep that entire fourth line intact through the trade deadline because look back. Novi Chari pre-agent at the end of the year. Blake Lazot, same thing.

Connor Dewer, he's also on a one-year contract as well. So I think Dubis is going to get calls on all three of them. It'll just be up to him on what he decides to do because you're right. fourth line has been cooking as of late. But is he going to keep all of them through the deadline? I wouldn't be surprised if one of them gets moved. Maybe two. I know some people don't want to hear it just because of how well that fourth line is playing.

And you and I have been really shouting them out. But, you know, as you said, if maybe there's an offer that he can't refuse for one of those three, two of those three, he could potentially pull the trigger there just because of, you know, the where the team still is. this rebuild slash retool on the fly but yeah la lazot has been absolutely fantastic you and i keep saying that on every show i think there was another one that you had as well right yes i had two others one is incomplete because we still got to get through the rest of the season the penguins won't be mathematically eliminated from the playoffs until the final two weeks you got that one they're in it

and we'll see what happens the rest of the way but that is kind of where i've stood on this team overall is that I really thought that they were going to be better than expected. I didn't think that they were going to be good, but I thought better than expected. And here we are 41 games. And what do you know, better than expected? The other one, my final one, very much like your projections, I'm getting real close. Sidney Crosby will eclipse 100 points. He's on pace for 94 through 41 games.

But much like I said about Tommy Novak, you look at the way he's played the last couple weeks, and he's starting to really ramp up again. And while I'm still a little skeptical now that he's going to eclipse 100 points, 100 points, it's right in his grasp, man. I mean, he's on a 40 plus goal pace for this season. Actually, it's a 48 goal pace right now. if the assists keep coming and he keeps scoring at the pace that he has been, why not for 100 points this year, my friend? But it's just incredible to watch the way he is still able to do what he is able to do. So I'm just still marveling at it.

Whether I'm right or I'm wrong on that prediction, he has still just been absolutely top tier like he always has been. But that is us revisiting our bold predictions from the preseason. at the halfway mark. And that is our midterm grades for some players in the front office on the Tuesday edition of Locked on Penguins. So that's going to do it for us. But don't worry, we're not going anywhere even with the penguins on a little bit of a break here.

We are going to be back with a new episode for you on Wednesday. We got some calls in to some friends of the show. So hopefully we can bring them on to do a little bit of a state of the Penguins at the halfway mark so keep an eye out for that but for now for hunter hoodies i am patrick damp thank you as always for tuning in and we will be back on wednesday