Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Happy 37th birthday to Penguins captain Sidney Crosby!

Episode Date: August 7, 2024

It's hard to believe but Sidney Crosby is 37 years old today. On this edition of Locked On Penguins, Hunter and Patrick discuss what he's meant to the franchise and the sport, their favorite Crosby moments, and if it's right to be concerned about no contract extension yet. After that, they dive into the Erik Karlsson trade one year later and look at how it worked out for three teams. They ask themselves if the trade was still worth it and if he will silence some of his doubters this upcoming season. Finally, they end the show with Sergei Murashov getting interviewed and how he could've tipped his hand on which team in the Penguins organization he'll be playing for this year.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!IndeedStill searching for a great candidate for your company? Don’t search, just match–with Indeed.Claim your SEVENTY-FIVE DOLLAR CREDIT now at Indeed.com/LOCKEDON. Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire? You need Indeed. eBay MotorsFor parts that fit, head to eBay Motors and look for the green check. Stay in the game with eBay Guaranteed Fit at eBayMotors.com. Let’s ride. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNHL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply.FanDuelFanDuel, America’s Number One Sportsbook. As playoffs wind down, the sports stop sporting like we want them to. But this summer, FanDuel is hooking up ALL CUSTOMERS with a boost or a bonus, DAILY! That’s right, there’s something for everyone, every day, all summer long! Visit FANDUEL.COM and add a big win to your summer bucket list!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.

There's a chance that today could be a big day for the Pittsburgh Steelers, but it's already a big day for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Pat and I are going to talk about that right after this. You're Locked-on Penguin, your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello, 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 Twitter at Sunnum for Wet and you can follow the show's

Twitter at L.O. underscore Penguins. 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. And finally, today's episode is brought to you by Game Time. Down the GameTime app, create an account and use code locked on NHL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply.

So, Pat, today is August 7th, 8-7 day. Do you know what that means? Pat, I think you do. Oh, yeah. I got the jersey up right behind me. It's a joyous day when one of the greatest hockey players of all time was brought into this world on August 7, 1987, and he has since returned our city in the last 20 years to hockey glory. Absolutely. Happy 37th birthday to one of the five greatest players in NHL history. That is, of course, Sydney Crosby, someone who is a great ambassador for the sport on and off the ice.

I don't need to go into every accomplishment that he's had. I've said that probably 5,000 times on the show already. But overall, I have had such an absolute joy watching him for the last decade, basically. At this point, he does stuff on a nightly basis that I will never get tired of, man. And just some of it, it's the little things, right? Some small defensive play in his own zone, some little pass that he makes overall. It's stuff like that where it's like, man, I know we all know his great goals, his great assists, all that stuff. But it's some of the little things that I'm really going to miss once he eventually stops playing.

You're absolutely right. The nuance of his game cannot be overstated. He just does everything well. And there is no part of his game that you look at and think, you know, if the opposition has him focus on that, then that could really put the penguins in trouble. You want him to be a good defensive forward. He can be a really good defensive forward. You want him to win a crucial face off for you.

He can win a crucial face off for you. We know how much of a great playmaker he is and how, you know, outside of some of the big names we've seen, Hosa, Gensel, et cetera, et cetera, he, no disrespect because you make it to the NHL. You're a pretty talented hockey player. But in terms of the National Hockey League, he's made some absolute traffic cones look like great hockey players while playing around him.

So he is, like you said, maybe probably top five all time in the history of the game. And I don't want this to get lost either because you kind of set it offhandly, a great ambassador for the game. I'm on record as saying I want more personality out of NHL stars. I don't apply that to Sidney Crosby, just simply because what he does, the person, personality he has is not for the public. You read a lot of the stories and listen to the podcasts and read the books when people talk about what Crosby does. He is a great teammate, a great person. He does a ton of charitable work. He's not afraid to spend time with sick children or people in need away at games when they come to the games. You know, there's an infamous story about

the penguins being, I can't remember which town it was in Canada. I want to say it was either Toronto or Montreal. And the weather was garbage, but he spent time to sign autographs and take pictures and meet kids. And that's the hockey mecca of the world. So all this stuff, he has been an incredible ambassador for the sport. And whether it's big or small, every league, NHL, NFL, MLB, you name it. the biggest stars eventually have one slip up.

Whether it's large or small, whether it's just a bad day or a legitimate scandal, it's never happened for Sidney Crosby. He's just been Sidney Crosby from the time he was drafted until right now. 100%. And we should address the elephant in the room. Yes, people, it is 2.30 right now on Wednesday afternoon. The Penguins have not announced the contract extension for Sidney Crosby. So I understand this is going to put people in a panic just because I heard going

ended today. I heard late last night that the contract extension was not going to be announced today. Again, it's still 2.30, so there's a little bit of time, but I heard last night that this was not going to be announced today. So far, I am at least right on email about that. But even if it's not announced today, I want to just advise everyone not to panic fully because there's still a couple more months to go until the regular season starts for the penguins. Now, if the regular season starts and there are still no contract extension announced, okay, we can start panicking a little bit and just wondering, okay, what's up? Are they maybe changing course with Crosby, all that stuff?

Heck, maybe even when camp starts, if you want to start getting a little bit worried and there's no contract in place, you can start panicking a little bit then as well. That's still a little over a month away at this point. But right now, I know some people are still going to panic anyway, but there's no reason to, there's still a couple months to go until the regular season. Let's see where this is once October comes around. Really and truly, I'm not worried about this. unless it extends into camp.

If it extends into training camp, then yes, it's time to start having a discussion of whether or not Sidney Crosby is going to finish his career in a penguin's uniform. But it's summer. The penguins are one of many teams, if not 98% of teams in the national hockey league

at this point of the summer. It just aren't doing anything. Everybody's off on vacation. They're getting ready for training camp. They're getting ready. People got to understand this. I want to give this perspective here for some people who might not understand it as a fan. And if this comes off as a little bit condescending, I apologize.

I don't mean it that way. It's just something I want to do explain. The gruel of a professional hockey season, the grind of it, it's very long. Like people don't really understand. Like because we even, even people like you and I who do a daily show that's about, you know, 30, 35 minutes long, five days a week, we parachute in and out. this never ends if you're involved in it. You get a little bit of time around Christmas, and then you get a little bit of time around the All-Star Break or the Olympics

if you're not involved in either of those. And this is, it's nonstop from anywhere from seven months to 10 months. So in the summer, all the dates that you see, free agency, draft, etc., etc., those are the days when everybody does everything. In the summer, people go home. People go to the cottage. They go on vacation because they're about to lock into a time in their life where they don't get to go home.

They don't get to do anything other than hockey. Yeah, the players might get some time in between games when they have a stretch off. But if you're in coaching or management, you're watching film, you're talking to other general managers, you're planning for the draft, you're planning for moves you might make, you're working with the minor league team, you're working with injured players, you're working with agents. So right now, like I understand everybody wants us to get done. Everybody wants Crosby to get extended.

But the truth of the matter is in the off season, it's the off season. These guys get no time away during the regular season. So they take full advantage of the time away in the summer. Right. And it's also August. I mean, really nothing much happens in the hockey role in August as it is. So I totally concur with you. It's fine.

but if this does extend well into camp and especially into the regular season, Pat, in that case, yeah, we can start getting a bit concerned in wondering if Kyle Dupus and company have kind of changed course a little bit when it comes to Crosby and the extension. But let's have a little bit of fun to end this segment now going into some of our personal favorite Cindy Crosby moments. I mean, for me, man, this one is a bit underrated, but it's Crosby's overtime goal against Tampa Bay in the 2016 Eastern Conference final. For so many years after the Penguins won that first Stanley Cup in 2009, you had some weird rival fans going, oh, Crosby can't come up in the clutch. Even after winning that cup, he can't do anything in the playoffs.

Where's that overtime goal? Where's his big moment? Well, he got it less than a minute in to that overtime against Tampa Bay. He needed that moment. It was one hell of a goal. And I still think, which is when you look at everything he's done throughout his career, to me, that's one of the most underrated goals that he's, is scored throughout his career.

That may sound weird to say, but the penguins, they really needed that game. They had their captain deliver, and it was just an amazing moment. And just the way he scored, the way that shot went in past Vasilevsky was gorgeous. Yeah. And I think I've brought it up on the show before. The funniest thing was the TSN Sportsnet, whichever one it was in Canada. The entire intermission panel was talking about how Sid had never scored an overtime goal. and the play-by-play call instantly was, well, he's got an overtime goal now.

Yeah. So it was perfect for that. For mine, it's something that I, it's going to be extremely obvious. It's going to be an extremely popular moment, but I want to put it in some perspective. And it's November 22nd, 2011. This is almost a year after he gets his concussion at the Winter Classic, gets reconcust by Victor Headman a few days later against Tampa Bay Lightning. And people forget because of so much has happened between now and then in the concussion

saga that, you know, he's won two Stanley Cups. He's completely solidified. His legacy is one of the greatest players of all time. People often forget that offseason and that summer, there was a lot of talk he might be done. And not like, oh, he's going to sit out the 2011, in 2012 season, focus on his health. We'll see again in the 2012, 2013 season.

No, there was speculation his career was over. There was speculation that his concussion, which we later found out was also a broken neck, that he was never going to play hockey again. And it was not hard to dismiss. It was not hard to not believe because you saw the reports, because this was the early-ish days of Twitter. So this was like you would go on Twitter,

you'd see a couple things and then you'd go home for the day. But you would see like, oh, he's ramping up. He's ramping up. He takes contact setback. He's ramping up. He's ramping up. He's ramping up. He takes contact setback. And it seemed like he was never going to play hockey again. Then he comes back in that game against the Islanders,

scores an unbelievable backhand goal. And I don't think that arena has ever been that loud before. And yeah, there ended up being another setback. He missed some time. but ultimately he comes back. He's Sidney Crosby again, and he just continued to solidify his legacy after that. But that goal against the Islanders,

that backhand in the celebration to go with it, it was just nearly one year of frustration, completely lifted off of his shoulders. And it's one of my favorite Crosby moments. Just the reaction that he had overall after that goal. And heck, I surprise the neighbors down the show. street didn't come and knock on my door to just be like, hey, is everything okay just because of

the screen that I let out? That was right before I had to go to hockey practice later that night. And I was just so giddy on the ice that entire time. I was like, man, I just saw this happen right before I stepped onto the ice myself. It was just an awesome moment. So I totally agree with you there. Another one for me, game four against the Red Wings, Crosby and Malkin, the quote, unquote, goal and that was the moment when I said to myself they can beat this redwings team they can do it this felt different compared to 2008 and seeing how the camera cut to crosbie on the bench as the goal was getting announced at melan arena did you see the face that he was making it was the most serious like face just looking back and forth like he was absolutely fired up for that

and hearing how loud melanorina was through the TV was something I'll never forget even when I was only 11 years old. That's also one hell of a moment. And then, of course, Pat, the way Crosby just undressed Jason Spetsa behind the net so many times. And as the legendary Bob Cole said, give Crosby a couple of assists on that one. So those two right there are also two of my favorite moments during his Cid's career. Oh, yeah. And he was so locked in in 2009.

Like I know that of Gennie Malkin was the runaway Kahn Smyth winner, but Sid, Sid was a distant second. He was great in that run. And just the Spetsa moment was amazing because it just showed you how good he was at owning the puck, how good he was at lower body strength and just the way he could fight people off. But man, it's been an absolute joy to watch this guy for nearly 20 years. And it genuinely makes me sad thinking about that we're a lot closer to the end than we are the beginning. 37, man.

I mean, it feels like just yesterday he was just this 22 year old kid, basically. And now 15 years later, he's 37, he's going to be 40 in three years. That's really scary to think about overall. And then I guess maybe one more just to wrap up this segment. I know we're going long. November 10th, 2005, SIDS rookie year. Remember the backhand roof job against the Montreal Canadians in the shootout? And that just brought- Welcome to the Crosby show, Canada.

Yep, that call will forever live in my head as well. Just another great moment for Crosby. but Sid, happy 37th. Here's to many, many more. And here's to hopefully signing a contract extension before the 2024-2020-season kicks off in October. But that'll do it for this first segment. Coming up in the second segment,

it's been a year since Eric Carlson was officially traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Pat and I are going to look at how this trade worked out for the penguins, the sharks, and the Canadians, and how Eric Carlson could look to play for this upcoming season. But before we get to that, we have to tell you all about our first sponsor. and that is Indeed.

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Indy.com slash locked on terms and conditions apply. if you need to hire, you need indeed. All right, we're back here on this episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm one of your hosts, Hunts or Hodes, joined by my co-host Patrick Dam. So, Pat, it was a year ago on Tuesday, August 6th, that the Penguins traded for Eric Carlson from the San Jose Sharks. And I realized something, at least yesterday, that with all these Brandon Ayuk rumors to the Pittsburgh Steelers, they almost made that trade. It felt like on Tuesday, that would have come on the one-year anniversary of the Carlson trade and it would have come from basically the same area where Carlson came from.

It really is funny how the parallels are between the Penguins and the Steelers for these sort of big trades overall. But yes, a year ago on August 6th, the Penguins traded for Eric Carlson. And when we look at this trade now, obviously the Penguins get Carlson, Rem Pitlick, Dylan Hamillick, a 2026 third round pick. This sharks get Michael Granlin, John Ruda, Mike Kaufman, and a first round pick. And then Montreal gets Chef Petrie, Casey DeSmith. 2025 second round pick, Nathan Ligory.

Overall, I was pretty critical of the sharks at the time. They did fine with it when you look back at it a year later, just because that package helped them get Macklin Celebrini and kind of kickstart their rebuild overall because Celebrini is going to be really good for this year and for years to come. So the sharks, they were fine with it. And then the Canadians, they got some pieces that they were able to flip, especially to Smith and Petrie.

And then the Penguins, they got Carlson. They were trying to go for it. Yes, they did not make the play. but here's what I'll say here. I still make that trade any day of the week. The objective during this era was to go for it until you couldn't go for it anymore. That's what Kyle Dubus was trying to do with that trade. He was trying to go for it and trying to at least give them one more long run in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Yes, I understand they did not make the Stanley Cup playoffs. Carlson was a little underperforming throughout the season, though I still still feel like towards the end he was very good and I think he's going to be very good for this upcoming season. But at the end of the day, I still make that trade every time. You got rid of some quote unquote dead weight, if you will. You also gained cap space. I keep seeing this take from people like, oh, they have all this money tied up in Carlson. They really didn't have any much money to do anything. That's false. They gained cap space by getting Eric Carlson and they still had money to play with if they wanted to.

If you want to dogg on some of the other moves that they made during the off season where they kind of burn their salary cap space away, be my guess. You know, Ryan Graze, if you want to, you know, Noel Char. You know, I've definitely done that my fair share on the show. But the Carlson trade did not really do anything regarding that. They still had money to play with after that. And they would have had more money to play with had they not dished out a couple of MEC contracts on July 1st.

So I just wanted to deal with that to start what I was. going to say. But overall, Pat, when you look at this trade a year later, what do you think of it? I'm right with you. I make this trade eight, seven days a week and twice on Sunday. It's, it's a great trade. I don't care what you think about Eric Carlson. I don't care what you think about where the penguins are. This was a tremendous trade and tremendous asset management by Kyle Dubis. I also put it to you this way. Your top scoring defenseman in 22, 23, was Chris LaTang with 12 goals, 29 assists, and 41 points. You bring in Eric Carlson, who this year puts up 56 points,

scores one less goal with 11, but puts up 45 assists for 56 points. So you instantly got another high scoring defenseman to put on your blue line. But if you don't want to count it against Chris Latang, Jeff Petrie, one of the guys who, or not who you sent out in the trade, excuse me, that year 22, 23, five goals, 26 assists, 31 points. Again, Eric Carlson this year, 82 games, 11 goals, 45 assists, 56 points. So of the two guys who you could maybe consider your top two defensemen, if you're not counting, you know, Marcus Pedersen or whomever else,

if you're just talking about your production, you brought in a guy who this year outpaced both of them. And Eric Carlson, again, outpaced Chris LaTang this year. year. So you brought in a guy to be your bona fide number one defenseman. And strictly by counting stats, he was your number one defenseman. So this was a very good trade. And again, I don't think it's that big of a deal. Like we talked about how they they passed out some cap space that they probably shouldn't have, which is totally fair. But a lot of that die was cast before they made the trade. A lot of those names you named for contracts, they signed them on July 1st.

They made the trade on August 6th. Yeah. More than a month later. So they cleared out a lot of cap space and you look at who they got rid of. I mean, Michael Granlin, we know how bad that was. Like, that was just a... I don't want to say. I know people were kind of like adding the penguins for, oh, look how great Granlin played in San Jose. He got top line minutes and he also got top power play time. He's not getting that in Pittsburgh. No. No, and that's the point I was building up to is like, you have a guy like Granlin who you were overpaying to be in your middle six,

and that's not the type of player he is. You had Jan Ruda, who it was an interesting bet. I understood the logic behind it, but didn't work out here. So that contracts off your books. And then Casey DeSmith, okay, you upgraded and you got Alex Nadalcovic, who you still have, and I would still say, is a better goaltender than Casey to Smith. And I already talked about Jeff Petrie.

And Nathan Legerie doesn't look like he's going to be a great prospect at this point. He had some promise, but you got rid of a guy who was fading and you brought in the reigning Norris trophy winner who, again, you can get upset with saying he was disappointing this year, which I won't totally disagree with you. But by all accounts, he outperformed everybody you sent out. and then outperform the people he was brought into play with. So again, I think it's a great trade. I'd make it again in a heartbeat. Yeah, I mean, I do think I expected him to do at least a little bit more this year.

And I think he's going to do that this upcoming season for the Penguins. But granted, if they also put him again with the right partner and have him play with Marcus Pedersen throughout the entire season, those two were absolutely dynamite together throughout the 20, 23, 2024 season. And I really want that to continue for the 2024, 2025 season. And also, you've mentioned this a little bit, getting to work with David Quinn, who he had a great season under when he was the coach of the sharks, getting to see how he can do with Quinn running the power play,

how he can do with Quinn running the defense a little bit. I also think that's going to help Carlson quite a bit as well. So I know some people were a bit underwhelmed by Carlson's play this past year. I know some people were feeling a bit underwhelmed by the trade right now as well, just because they didn't make the playoffs. But I'm going to go on record and say, I think your opinion is going to change at least a little bit this upcoming season. when you see how Carlson plays after having at least a full year under his belt with

the penguin system, especially with the way he ended last season. I really do think we are in store for a really good season from Carlson. Yeah, feel free to clip us and dunk on us if you want to. It'll be totally deserved too. But at this point, I agree. I think he is going to have a better year two than he did year one. Now, let's keep it in perspective because he's going to be a year older. this isn't a young Eric Carlson coming of age and getting into his prime.

But I do think you look at the way he did this year. And I think at this point, you can say he's probably going to put up 65, 70 points this year, because it's going to be a more comfortable, more advantageous environment for him than it was last year. So overall, still very happy with the trade. And something we talked about recently, we've gotten to watch an embarrassment of Richie is in Pittsburgh. Just enjoy the fact that we have another one wearing a penguin's jersey. There's no earthly reason that Eric Carlson should be a Pittsburgh penguin, but Eric Carlson's

a Pittsburgh penguin. So just enjoy it. And just to add on a little bit for that before we go to our final commercial break, I would much rather watch Eric Carlson play hockey on this team, even though they may not be that good this year compared to Jan Ruda, Casey DeSmith, and Jeff Beatry. Sorry, that's how I feel. I would much rather watch Eric Frick and Carlson play hockey rather than those three players play hockey combined. I'm not trying to diss those three players.

They made it to the NHL in their own right. But this is one of the best defensemen of our generation playing right now. So, yeah, I would much rather watch him play with the big three compared to those other three players. But that'll do it for this second segment. Coming up to end the show, Sergey Miroshov had an interview recently where he kind of hinted what his role would be with the Penguins organization for this upcoming season. Pat and I are going to give our thoughts on that to end the show. But before we get to that, we have to tell you all about our last sponsor, and that is game time. It's an authorized ticket marketplace of Major League Baseball, which makes getting tickets faster and easier.

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create an account and redeem code Locked-on NHL for $20 off. Download game time today. Last minute ticket's lowest price guaranteed. All right, we're back here in this episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes, joined by my host, Patrick Dam.

So Penguins' goaltending prospect, Sergei Muroshov recently did an interview with responsible gambling for those that remember, Evgeny Malkin also had an interview with this website about a week ago, well, about a week and a half ago. I would say at this point where he made his comments about Sidney Crosby, the rest of his career, and all that. But now it's Murshov's time to speak to this website.

And he may have hinted at where he could be playing in the Penguins organization this year. And one of the quotes here, Pat, I'll read to you. He says, I can say right now that I'm ready to spend an entire season in the HL. However, it's only the beginning of August. We will see how it goes. It is a new challenge for me. The Penguins coaches have told me about the specific aspects of playing in the AHL.

So that's interesting. So if he plays in the AHL and Joel Bunnquist is also there, is this a 50-50 split of games? And also, what does this mean for Wheeling? Because I don't think Philip Larson came overseas to play in Wheeling as well. I mean, I'll say this. I don't think any of the goys that the Penguin signed from overseas, whether that's Murshovres, ELC, or Larson also came over to play in Wheeling.

They want to get minutes in Wilkes-Ring. and will bring them potentially get up to the big club at some point. But just because of, you know, the pecking order and so many goalies in the organization, someone or I think two of the goalies are going to have to start in wheeling. But this situation, it's interesting that Murashav said this because are they planning to move on from someone like a Taylor Godier? You know, what happens to Lorison? Does he start the season in Wheeling?

And does Godier start there as well, even though he really doesn't have anything else to learn? could Joel Blumquist be potentially getting moved out somewhere for immediate help, or could he be starting the season in Pittsburgh and someone else is getting moved out? There's just so many questions, I think, to go off of when it comes to that quote. So, Pat, I'm going to hand this over to you. If Murashav starts the season in the H.L, what's going on here with this situation? See, the thing that I'm struggling with here is that I don't know if this is Marishav saying that he's going to play in the AHL by command, I guess, of the penguins.

I think this kind of sounds like a guy who's confident in himself, who's talking like, oh, I'm going to spend a full year in the HL, and I'll show you guys, just because I don't think he's earned it yet. And I don't mean that as a shot at him. I think he's a very good goaltending prospect. By all accounts, he is very good at what he does and has a ton of potential. But I think they're going to make him start in Wheeling, see how he does. down there and then see what happens because you look at like you said the the number of players

that they have or goalies at least that they have on their on their salary cap right now I mean the one thing I also think we could see here possibly is Larson is a third in the NHL where he's just there to be a safety blanket and if he's going to be down in the HL he's there for injury same thing in the NHL but again I don't know if he would want to do that You're at least giving Blumquist games in the AHL, which that's the biggest thing. Like if you're going to keep Blumquist, which obviously I think they will, you've got to be giving him games on nightly basis. I think having him be the third goalie on the Penguins really doesn't do anything for him for his development. Yeah.

And I also look at it this way. It's it gets into something I've talked about before with the HL and the ECHL, more so the ECHL, but still very much a thing in the AHA. is there is no true blue starter in the minor leagues because you are playing the majority of your games on Friday, Saturday, Sunday. And not so much in the AHL. It does not happen in the HL, but it does happen in the ECHL, excuse me. There is a world where in the ECHO you play Friday, Saturday, Sunday.

And that doesn't happen in the A, but there is a lot of Friday, Saturday, Sunday. there's a lot of Wednesday games, but at the same time, if you are a minor league goalie, you're not going to be playing five, six, seven games in a row. You might play one or two, and if it's really a stretch like you play Wednesday,

Friday, Sunday, you might play three, but you're going to need more than one goalie at the American Hockey League level and at the ECHL level. So again, I think they're looking at this as they're going to platoon a lot of goalies in the minor leagues and Murrishov's going to be among them. Right. And I think overall, they just have to make sure that they get these guys ample playing time. So with Blumquist, if he's in the age to start the season,

which I think he will, you got to get him the playing time. And also with Miroshov, whether it's with Wilkeshire or Wheeling, he's got to be getting playing time because you have to see how he adjust to North America, which is why I still think as of this time that he is going to start and wheeling. He may not want that. I mean, I definitely don't think he wants that just because I think he wants to come over and play in the HAL, especially with what he just said. But he may not have a choice considering how many goalies are in the penguin system.

And then, you know, what that means for Tiller-Godee, what that means for Philip Larson will have to see. One or two of these goalies is going to get shafted a little bit. It's going to be unfortunate, but that's the situation that the penguins have themselves in right now when you have all these goleys in your system vying for playing time. And it gets back into something else you and I have discussed before, is that goaltending prospects can net you a good return in a trade. So if this team finds itself in the thick of it, they've got options to move to bolster their NHL rosters. So maybe one of these guys gets moved and you bring in something that can help the NHL roster. And then it all shakes out and these guys get the playing time they need and they can develop in the way they need to develop.

Right. Yeah. I can see that, especially if they do get out to a really good start. And heck, say maybe they're in a playoff spot by some divide miracle at the trade deadline and they want to go out there and buy a little bit. Yeah, you could move one of those goaltending prospects, probably not Blumquist or Brashov, I would say, but probably one of the other two, if I had to guess, could be available if the Penguins, again, are in a playoff spot at the deadline.

But I think that I'll do it for today's episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. Thank you all so much for taking the time to listen to slash watch this one. Pat and I will be back with another episode, if you all on, to talk things all Pittsburgh Penguins. So for Patrick Damp, I'm Hunts or Hodes. Thank you all so much for tuning in. We really appreciate it. And we'll be back on Friday.