Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Have the Penguins already found three CORE pieces of the future?

Episode Date: November 12, 2025

As the Penguins operate with an eye toward the future, the emergence of Ben Kindel, Sergei Murashov, and Harrison Brunicke, the future might be here sooner than expected. Patrick and Hunter are joined once again by a good friend of the show, Kelsey Surmacz of The Hockey News, to discuss the future of the Pittsburgh Penguins. While the team is transitioning to the next era of hockey, the sudden emergence of Ben Kindel, Sergei Murashov, and, to an extent, Harrison Brunicke, that next era might be here sooner rather than later. They begin with what's going on with Brunicke, should he stay, can he go down to Wilkes-Barre, and what is best for the next phase of his development. (0:00) Then, Sergei Murashov made his NHL debut this past week. What exactly is his ceiling? Will he remain in Pittsburgh or head back to the AHL? They give their takes on that, as well as how much of a surprise Kindel has been this early in his career. (15:42) Finally, just because Kelsey is here, doesn't mean we're skipping Warrior Helmet Wednesday! They give their picks for MVP of the week! (30:16)Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!DripDropRight now, DripDrop is offering podcast listeners 20% off your first order.Go to https://dripdrop.com and use promo code LOCKEDONNHL. IndeedNow, you can speed up your hiring process with a $75 Sponsored Job Credit. Just go to https://indeed.com/lockedonright now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Terms and conditions apply.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.MonarchTake control of your finances with Monarch. Use code LOCKEDONNHL at https://monarch.com/lockedonnhl for 50% off your first year.FanDuelDownload the FanDuel app now by visiting FanDuel.com and win $300 in bonus bets if your first $5 bet wins.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

They say the future can never come fast enough, and for the Pittsburgh Penguins, the future might already be here. The hockey news is Kelsey Sermats is back on the show, and we've got quite the discussion coming right after this. Your Locked-on Penguins, your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins, part of the Locked-on podcast network, your team every day. 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. And joining us today, one of the best friends of the show, the one and only Kelsey Sirmats of the hockey news. You can follow her work just about everywhere. you can find it on the penguins internet. And of course, as always, we appreciate you being here, Kelsey, and we appreciate you the listeners and watchers on making this 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 not following us on YouTube, you should be when you follow us on YouTube. Go ahead and hit that notification button. That way you can be among the first to know when we drop our daily Monday through Friday. episodes. Before we jump into it, this episode is brought to you by Fandul. Download the Fandual app now by going to Fandual.com and you could win $300 in bonus bets if your first $5 bet wins. People, we have brought one of our best friends, Kelsey Sermats, back to the show, because as she is so apt to do, she just drops banger after banger after banger on the hockey news. And she had won this week that

I'll give you guys a little bit of a look behind the curtain here on the process for locked on penguins. I was doing my show prep, reading everything I need to read. And I said to Hunter, Kelsey had this really good piece on the hockey news. It'd be a great penguins are kind of on vacation day episode discussion. And rather than having us just steal it, we decided to bring her on. And the piece is the penguins may now have three pieces of their future core. And that's a big deal. So, Kelsey, let's just give you the floor.

I'm with you. I think they have it. But as you write in the lead, there is such a thing as getting too far ahead of yourself. Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, that's the whole cautionary tale about young players and prospects. You don't really know how they're going to pan out until they start to pan out. And right now, I mean, I don't think anybody could have predicted the start that Ben Kindle has had to this season.

he's been an absolute revelation for the penguins already starting to look like a lottery pick and they got him at 11th overall in this past draft and then you have harrison brunick who is even though it's been up and down for him to start his NHL career and they still have a decision to make you know he's shown some flashes and he has a track record and then you got siriam roshad who's just recalled made his NHL debut on sunday against los angeles kings three two loss wasn't really on he made an unbelievable save in the second period and what post to post on clinton byfield so uh we're seeing you know possibly the beginning stages of the penguins already having three pieces of their future core and that's a center a defenseman a goaltender

um and you know if this is something that pans out for the penguins these are three higher ceiling guys um this could really really really make a difference um in terms of their rebuild and just how they you know start to build out the rest of of this score and the rest of this team. So they have some for three pieces, too. You know, you've got Ruck and McRourty, who's still on the shelf. Biele Quivenen, his kind of, you know, hasn't really gotten going this year, but he's really close.

Hunter and I talked about this the other day on Pucks and that, but it's a matter of time, man. He's getting so unlucky right now. So they have some other pieces. They obviously still need to keep up with the process and keep adding as much talent as possible. We've seen what some of their other prospects are doing in the minors in the NCAA juniors this season.

So the future looks bright for the penguins, and it starts with those three. Yeah, when it comes to those three, you know, if Murashaw really hits, like that really speeds up your rebuild even quicker just because our franchise goalie can do wonders. If he turns out to be a franchise goalie, he's dominated every level he's played at so far.

But obviously the NHL is going to be his biggest and toughest test yet. So the jury is still very much out on that. It's only been one start. I thought it was a pretty solid debut. Pat, I know I talked about it early. this week where I was a bit nitpicky on one of the goals, but he still made an insane save in the second period. And the other two goals weren't really his fault. So totally good debut, solid for the most part. And I'm excited to see him get more starts before Jari comes back.

I think he's going to get one of the games this weekend in Sweden. I at least that's what I would do if I were damn news. And then for Brunich, you know, I liked his start to the year, but he faded off a little bit quickly. And Kelsey and I were talking about this on Poxnet and that I just don't know. I just don't think they know what they want to do with him right now. Kelsey, actually, we haven't talked about this on the show yet, so I wanted to give this back to you. There's a little bit of a loophole that the penguins could look to take advantage of here when it comes to potentially sending him on an AHL conditioning assignment if he gets two more scratches. So I'll just give that to you.

Yeah, so essentially there is, you know, as far as hockey fans who might not be aware, 19-year-olds, 18-year-olds aren't eligible to play in the AHL because of a CHL-A-L-HL agreement that's ancient and nobody really likes the rule, but it is what it is. And next season, you know, they're looking to change it so that one 19-year-old player per organization can play in the NHL or AHL per season. So hopefully this is something that will change next season,

but unfortunately for Harrison Brunich, it's not happening this year. But basically, there is a small loophole that the penguins may be able to take advantage of. Brunick has hit that nine game mark as in case you're not aware. And then basically, if he sits for five straight games as a healthy scratch at the NHL level, he is eligible to be sent to the AHL on a conditioning stint that has a maximum of 14 days or five games. So the penguins could exercise that option because if you look at the schedule,

if he sits both games in Sweden here, that'll be five straight healthy scratch. for Brunich. So we'll see what they decide to do with him, but I agree with you, Hunter. You know, and speaking with people in the organization, I really don't think the plan was ever to send him back this season.

And I think, you know, that they want to keep him around. But he has, you know, shown his tendency to struggle in reading up to NHL speed at this point, especially in the defensive zone. So there are, you know, some things that they want him to work on.

He's made some mistakes that have led directly to goals against and have hurt. them potentially cost them hockey games so they're kind of out of crossroads and that's a little loophole that they can exercise should they choose and then after that you know kind of buys them some time they'll be able to kind of buy some time make a decision further on down the road and then world juniors is basically right after that stint would be up and they can lend him to team canada for world juniors without affecting you know his his contract status at all so a couple options here but I think sooner or later, we need to stand in some game action, wherever that is.

So I want to keep the focus of our opening segment here on Harrison Brunich. We'll get to Ben Kindle and Sergey Murshov in the middle segment because we've already heaped so much praise on both of them. And listen, it's been a dark couple years relatively here in the land of the Pittsburgh Penguins. So we need that little bit of light from those two. But let's keep it, as I said, with Brunich. Hunter's right. We have not brought up that loophole in the NHL-CHL agreement that is in front of Harrison Brunick right now. And basically what I want to get the opinions on from both of you is if that is the right decision for the penguins in Harrison Brunick, because I'm in the camp of I think this would actually be the best way to treat him right now. Obviously, I am on record on this show as of saying his development is now. best served in an NHL level rather than going back to junior and just being the biggest

fish in a smaller pond as opposed to being here in the NHL where he's going to get that NHL caliber training at NHL caliber facilities and he gets to learn from some living legends. But I do think if you send him to Wilkes Bear for a conditioning stint, it's almost a soft reset for him because it is a little bit of a lower level. It's still professional. He is going to go down there and likely be on their top pair, get some big minutes, and be able to kind of reset himself in the American hockey league. And then as you said, Kelsey, World juniors are right around the corner.

They loan him to Canada. He gets even more experience in good hockey. So I think if I'm Dan Mews and Kyle Dubas, I sit him down and go listen. We're not upset. We're not disappointed. we're not thinking you're suddenly a bust. We just want to take this route developmentally. So in the long term, you can be a key piece of our defense.

Yeah, I totally agree with you. And the other thing, too, and the thing that people have to keep in mind, Brick's 19, I think that sometimes, you know, gets lost in this conversation because, yes, it's been bumpy, but this is what development looks like. This is what's going to be for a lot of these young players that are transitioning and see that NHL. Not everybody is going to be Ben Kindle and just be unbelievable right off the bat. I mean, and nobody, again, nobody really expected that from Kindle either.

So, you know, it's one of those things, and especially with defensemen, it's one, it's arguably, Mike Solomon used to say it's the hardest position to play in the sport, because there are just so many things you have to learn kind of on the fly as a defenseman at the NHL level, at NHL speed. And the kind of things that Brunick's struggling with right now aren't things that I think that he's going to be able to address in any kind of meaningful way in junior hockey because it all comes down to reading things at NHL speed.

We've seen how he is in transition. We've seen, you know, that offensive ability and that ceiling and what he can do with the puck and how he skates with the puck is really impressive. But he just kind of needs to take some time to reset, take some time to get his confidence back because I'm sure it's not. you know, a great feeling for him that he's been a healthy scratch in seven

the last 10 games. So, you know, I think there's a course developmentally here that makes sense for the penguins, that makes sense for Brunich, that allows him to kind of, you know, get those games in, get professional experience, get some of that confidence back, and then come back. And last thing I want to add here to a couple things. So Kirk McDonald, you know, over the summer during development camp, said something that really stood out to me, and Director of Philipsy.

player development, Tom Costopoulos, said a similar thing. They both kind of said how Brunich struggled at the beginning of his AHAL stint last season. There was 10 games in the regular season, two games in the playoffs. And by the end of it, I mean, he was basically masterful. They said that he learns quickly, you know, he picks things up really quickly. He's very coachable. And those are all things to keep in mind, too.

You know, it might only be five games. It might only be 14 days. But there's kind of a learning. curve that seems to be pretty quick for him from their perspective. And I was also talking to a Western Hockey League scout earlier in the summer. And he kind of mentioned something that kind of sticks out to me about Brunich. And he said, you know, some of his development is going to be a little bit frustrating. You're going to see him make mistakes.

He's going to have a lot of stick infractions. But just literally, like, within his skating and just his puck skills and the way that he plays the game with the puck on his stick, once he settles in, you're going to, to start to see why he has such a high ceiling. So I think that's all stuff to keep in mind and stuff that he can really hone at the HAL level that he might not necessarily have the space to right now in the NHL. It's also a legit professional experience, too. Like you're going up against those down there.

Yeah, I know. It's not the NHL. But, you know, as you said, he started out a little, struggled a little bit. He had a couple welcome to the pros moments in the HL. But by the end of it, especially in the playoffs, even though it was only a two-game sample in the playoffs, you know, he's a. He was one of their best players in that little mini-series. And I remember that Kirk McDonald quote,

you sent it to me over the summer. He was, his eyes lit up when you asked about Harrison Brunick. So I do think that would be a good idea if they were to scratch him for two more games because you don't want to keep having him just kind of rot up here and not playing and just sitting in the press box. You got to get him some games. And then after that stint, if they decide to do that,

excuse me, they can figure out what else they want to do, send him to rule juniors and then go from there. Yeah, that's the biggest thing. is you don't want him to sit dormant. You do want him to get game action. As good as the training and practices will be at the NHL level.

Eventually, he does have to play and get that experience. And the AHL could be the perfect place for that. But that is going to do it for a jam-packed first segment. When we come back, the discussion on the potential pieces of the Penguin's Future Core continues with two guys who have impressed in Benjamin Kindle and Sergey Murashov. So stick with us. get more into that right after this but before we do that we've got to tell you about today's first sponsor in that is drip drop when i'm hydrated everything just works better my focus my energy my mood

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beer league. So I need that hydration and drip drop has been exactly that for me. And right now drip drop is offering our listeners 20% off their first order. Go to drip drop.com and use promo code locked on NHL. That's dripdrop.com promo code locked on NHL for 20% off. And you can do that right now to stock up as the winter approaches before the heat kicks back in and keep your mind and body performing at their best with drip drop back here on the Wednesday edition of Locked on Penguins I'm Patrick Damp joined by two of my good friends here on the show my partner in crime hunter hodies and arguably the best friend of locked on penguins the one and only Kelsey Sermats of the hockey news.

And we talked about Harrison Brunick in what to do with him in the opening segment. Now, let's kind of keep that going a little bit, but with the goaltender, Sergey Murashov, because again, to quote Kelsey's great piece in the hockey news, which you should go read, we don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves. It's been but one start in the NHL. And it was on the second half of a back-to-back with travel. So the team in front of him, they didn't have a lot of gas left in the tank. So not exactly the most ideal of situations, but he played pretty darn well against the L.A. Kings, as Kelsey said, can't put that loss on his shoulders.

He did a pretty fine job in that one. But Kelsey, I did want to get your take on this because you've been keeping an eye on a lot of these young players. The thing I noticed, and I said it on our show about Murshov, it was one of my first. few nitpicks with his first NHL game was that he is a very typical Russian goaltender in that he is trained in move the puck, move the puck, move the puck. There were multiple occasions where he either gloved it, put it down to his stick and put it back into play, or he went down, put it back into play. And while it didn't burn him in that game, it is one area I look at with a teensy bit of concern because you might be able to do that in the

like, hey, the HL or the ECHL, but at the NHL, you got a lot of forwards bearing down on you coming to the front of the net. Yeah, and I mean, that's something too. I think that'll, it's almost like, it's almost like you're waiting for him to get burned one time so that it kind of like shows him like, hey, kid, you can't do this at this level. That's not going to fly here. But yeah, I did notice that as well. He does love to play the puck.

And, you know, that's a good quality and a goaltender. I know Tristan Jari loves to play the puck, too. But we've seen that burn Trishon Jari on several occasions throughout his penguin's tenure. So, yeah, that's something to keep an eye on for sure. And maybe that's something that rounds out, you know, as he gets more experience, as he gets up to NHL speed. But, you know, aside from that, I can't say enough about how impressed with this guy's been. And I think it says something that even throughout training camp, you know, there was this goaltending battle. you had she loves coming and trying to prove something you had tris and jari trying to prove

something after his season last year and sergey murdishov stood above all of them in training camp he was the best goaltender uh pain was assigned the best for his development to start at the a hl level um this season and guess what he knocks it out of the park um he has seven appearances 931 save percentage 173 goals against average um and that kind of even dipped in the last game or two you know it was higher than that before that so it's just it goes to show this guy has dominated at every professional level that he's been at um and i told said this the other day um on poxanette with hunter you know maybe this is a stretch to say for some people but i don't think it's a stretch to say i think this is the most hyped goaltending prospect the penguins have had since

mark andre flurry um and there's even some shades of flurry too you know and the quickness and the athleticism and the confidence. And I think that's something that kind of separates him. He's 21 years old. And you're even just talking to him in the locker and conversing with him and just seeing his process, he is so calm, he's so composed and he's just so casually confident. And that's not something you see every day from a young goal tender, literally just coming up to play his first NHL game.

So I think this is someone, again, you don't want to get too far ahead of yourself here, but this is someone Penguins fan should be legitimately excited for. There's going to be some bumps in the road. There always are with young players. But I'll tell you what, I just watching him in training camp even from this year or last year to this year and then seeing him, you know, in this short sample so far, there's even miles of improvement from last season, especially in the rebound control. So we'll see how that kind of develops, but I'm very excited to see how his next sample starts here ago.

Yeah, I agree with you on that. And, you know, the cool calm and the collectiveness really just translates to the ice as well, especially during camp where I don't think it was close. He was by far the best goalie at training camp. He got to the end of camp in preseason for a reason. Just wasn't room for him on the roster at the time. But it's not going to be long until I think he is here full time, especially if he does keep it up. Because we assume he's probably going to go down to Wilkes-year, one star he comes back. And if he keeps dominating down there, I think there is a real chance that he could be the number one net minor, at least on the team.

team full time to start next season. Maybe not number one just yet, but there'll be a chance, but definitely at least on that team. And even during the first few minutes of that game against the Kings, you know, I didn't really see him have the yips or anything like that. He didn't really look nervous. He looked confident.

He made several saves in a row. Again, first goal that gives up just a bad bounce. I blame Bob Grove on the podcast because, um, I'm Jopatra, I never scored against the Penguins at PPG. So it's like, you know what? Shame on you for that one, Bob. But bad bounce off Parker, Walterspoon.

Corey Perry blisters a shot through him. Not much he can do there, block her side. And then, you know, the third goal, I would want to see him up a bit more, play a little bit bigger in the net. But again, that's my only nitpick. But again, he's still young. He's going to keep learning. And I'm excited about it.

As for Ben Kindle, I think if we were to do a redraft of this year's draft, I think he'd probably go, what, top five, something like that at this rate. He's carrying his own line in the league. I mean, you see the 91, 93. 3.95 expected goal share. Doesn't matter who his linemates are, but he has had good chemistry with Tommy Novak. Billy Coyvin and him have had good chemistry at times. Kelsey, I don't know if I've said this to you yet, to you yet, excuse me, but I'd love to see Rucker McGority with him at some point. Once McGority is able to get healthy, I think those two would potentially have some good

chemistry together. I think they put them on Cid a little bit for the injuries, but also to try and jumpstart that line a little bit, especially in their own zone, because the Crosby line has not been good defensively to start the year. So, having a defensively responsible player, even though he's only 18 on that line, could help in that department. So I think that's another reason why you're seeing that. But, you know, he keeps this up.

You know, we could be talking about him being a, you know, not just a top six option, but maybe even a way down the road, a franchise guy, which I can't believe I'm saying because usually when you pick a player at 12, you're not really thinking, oh, this is going to be a franchise type player. But he keeps developing like this.

We could see it well down the road. But again, it's still very early, so I don't want to say that he's a franchise guy and it just blows up in my face. So it's only been a handful of games here. Right. We're obviously operating under the let's have fun with this banner and not totally 100% serious. We're not ready to put our stamp on it and say, forget about the big three. Get them out of here. We got our, we got our guys now.

It's all done. He needs to hit his peak, people. Exactly. Long way away. But I said this on. social media and I stand by it. The potential is there. You're seeing it as he can be a long-term top six guy. The potential is there. He just has to find a way to continue to develop and to continue to get better. And I'll say this much for Kindle and Murashav together, because we

already kind of talked about it in the first segment with Brunich. You want to see what happens with these guys when they hit some turbulence, whether it's as a team as a whole, because let's be real here with Murrishov, it's kind of been all sunshine and roses in Wheeling and in Wilkes Bear. They've been good. They've won. They haven't hit any real rough patches. But for Brunich, you see it now where struggles a little bit, has some issues, finds himself out of the lineup.

How does he react to this? How does he get better out of this? For Ben Kindle, what's going to happen when, say, he has two or three bad games or he makes some mistakes. And same for Murshov. If he has a rough start or Wilkes-Ber or even Pittsburgh, if he's still around for it, goes through a three-four game losing stretch and he's struggling a little bit. How do they bounce back? Because for those two, it has been nothing but roses so far with how good they've performed. So we still have that question mark. The last thing that I want to discuss with you two about Ben Kindle is this. Hunter, you touched on it a little bit.

he's up with Cid right now because of injury and just to kind of jumpstart that line. The question I have is how long would you want to stick with Crosby and Kindle together? Because here I genuinely don't have an answer myself because he has shown both you put him on the third line, quote unquote, as the center and he drives the line. You put him with Cid, the chemistry is there. So I really don't know exactly what you do once this team gets back to health because he has shown he can perform in both places. You want him to develop as a center because he's shown he can. But I haven't seen a young player come up and have this kind of chemistry with 87 since Jake Gensel. So what do you do?

I think for me, you send him back down to center. That third line was cooking when he was there. I think this is more just a circumstance of, A, getting them to be a bit better defensively and hopefully get that nipped in the butt a little bit and B, just because of their injury situation. You know, once Raquel comes back, I think he's going to be back up on that top line.

We all know how much Sid loves playing with him. And then when Brazo comes back, he's going to be back up with Evgeny Malkin. So I would move Kendall back down to center. He's been dominating in that position to start the season. He's had good chemistry. That line has been living in the offensive zone. That's what I would do.

I wouldn't think twice about it. I'm kind of, I'm inclined to be in the same boat, but it's also hard to say at this point because, you know, like, I think when you're thinking about the logic of it all, you know, you've seen how the penguin center depth has kind of suffered without him as that third line center. And that's not a knock on Kevin Hayes. It's not a knock on Blake LaZott. It's just that there's a big difference between having Ben Kindle be that third line center

than it is for, you know, Hayes or Danton Heinen or any of the guys that are slotted in there. but I mean I think a lot of it will ride on how good he looks with Crosby because it's one of those things you know Jake I don't think the plan when Jake Gensel first came up to the NHL level was to keep him stapled to 87 but he did so well alongside 87 that it kind of got to a point where you couldn't take him off of there and I'm in agreeance that you need to develop him as a center I mean he needs to get some experience there and maybe you know when you're

going in the next season, and if Malkin comes back next season, maybe it's a situation where you start to experiment with him at that second line center role and kind of develop him that way. But I think a lot of it's going to ride on how him and Sidd look in these next couple of weeks without Raquel. Because, you know, that is kind of, this was a, you know, a circumstance because of the circumstances. I don't think he would have gotten this opportunity

had Raquel not got down, had Hollander know it went down, You know, there was a couple different things here. And I think right now, maybe the penguins might want to consider calling up someone like Tristan Brose or somebody else who can hold down that third line center position and, you know, have a little bit more of a ceiling offensively while their injury situation still is what it is. But I'm kind of with Hunter, though, you know, unless he shows an absolute, you know, you can't take this him off of SIDS line because they're unbelievable together kind of thing. I think third line setter is the best place for him to be on this team.

Once the penguins get healthy, that'll bump some guys down that should help him, you know, in the scoring department and just in the production department, you should be able to play with, you know, more capable players once they get healthy. So I'm inclined to kind of bump him back down there, but I'm also just open to seeing what happens here because it's not every day you see someone with that much chemistry with 87 so quickly. Of course, there's always the power play where, you can just send out the super weapon and put them together because they look really good on that as well.

So I don't know if I'm totally convinced by both the arguments, but they are great arguments. But it's also a really good problem to have for the penguin, something that we haven't had in quite some time, which is really nice. But that is going to do it for this middle segment. And just because Kelsey's here doesn't mean we're skipping what we do on Wednesdays, folks. it's Warrior Helmet Wednesday and with Kelsey on board she's going to be a guest picker for our MVP of the week in Warrior Helmet Wednesday so stay with us we are going to do that when we get back right after this but we've got one more sponsor to tell you about and that is Fandle the NBA is back and there is no better place to get in on the action than Fandle

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Back here on the Wednesday edition of Locked-on Penguins, I'm Patrick Damp, running right alongside my pals, Hunter, Hodies, and Kelsey Sirmats of the hockey news. And if you are new to the show, which we have been getting a pretty nice new audience here, but doesn't mean we don't love you. who have been hanging with us for a long time. But for our newbies, it's Wednesday, and each Wednesday we pay homage to the 2016 Stanley Cup winning penguins with our MVP of the week, the Warrior Helmet, Wednesday, where just like the Penguins did in 2016, we take a funny little warrior helmet, and we give it to could be anybody, could be players, could be coaches, could be fans, could be units. So, Kelsey, since you are our guest, let's toss it over to you. Who is your Penguins MVP this week?

My Penguins MVP this week is Eric Carlson. And, you know, I think this probably extends beyond this week. But he did have three points in five games this week, despite the Penguins losing four out of five. It felt like he could have had a lot more, though. I mean, aside from a couple of mistakes, he did make that mistake on the last King's goal. they're removed by Kevin Fiala but you know he kind of just walked Carlson it happens occasionally but I think the version of Carlson we're seeing this season even the one from this past week when the things haven't really gone the Penguins way the process is so much different this season

that it's been you know for his entire Penguins tenure up to this point he's doing a lot to help the Penguins win hockey games he's doing a lot to drive offense third in an unexpected goal share on the team behind only of Ganymalkin and actually via like Coyvon. And so, you know, he's really driving the bus on the back end for the penguins this season. It's making a big, big difference for them. And he's giving them pretty much a chance in every single game. He's generating a lot. He's looked great on the power play.

I think he's just been a bus driver. He's been a difference maker. And if he can continue to play at this level for the penguins, they might just get a good result at the end of the season. here. So we'll see, but Eric Carlson's my player of the week here. I wrote about Eric Carlson this morning for the hockey news. If you want to go check that out, just wrote about how Penguins hot start has his fingerprints all over it and went into some of the numbers. And yeah, I mean, he's been phenomenal. Love that pick. For me, the entire

power play plus Todd Nelson. Shout out Todd Nelson for the work that he has done this year on that unit. But the power play, even compared to last year, is so much better, which is saying something because last year's power play was six in the entire inning. HL. Right now, the Penguins are the best power play in the entire league. I could watch the move of the puck on this unit for days. It's beautiful to watch. Speaking of Carlson, he's been a really good quarterback on that unit, which has been a problem at times throughout his career.

Usually he's just been great at five on five, but this year, I think he's also been really sound on the power play. Evgeny Malkin has been great. Sidney Crosby has been great, whether it's on the half wall, in front of the net, below the goal line, wherever. Brian Rust, I feel like, has been better on the power play than he has been at five on five, in my opinion, at least process-wise, even though, you know, the actual results are there for both, but I think the process has been more there for him on the power play. At least that's my personal opinion. Ben Kindle has been fitting in beautifully, but they're keeping all the opposing penalty killers off balance. That's been the biggest thing. The movement is very quick. They're getting the puck to the net very fast. There's a strong net front presence. And penalty, killers just don't even know what to do when the penguins get into the offensive zone. The zone entries are also miles better compared to what you saw even last year,

the year before. Todd Nelson is doing everything right with this unit right now. They got the three power play goals against Washington. They got one against the Kings, even though I know the Penguins lost that game. But power play, even, you know, you go back to that game in Toronto, it was also red hot. The Devils didn't really have too many opportunities. Hint, I was like Garrett Rank officiated game, by the way. So there's my Garrett Rank reference for the show. so overall though this last week power play was phenomenal shout out to that entire unit and especially

Todd Nelson both really good picks and my pick is going to show that Hunter and I have been doing this show together for far too long because while he's taking the power play I am taking the penalty kill huge week for them this past week they go seven for eight in those three games they have risen all the way to sixth best in the NHL. A couple teams ahead of them are tied. So when you put that all together, they sit there in sixth at 84.3% on the season. Really shook off some struggles that they had a couple of weeks ago. And if you're checking us out here on YouTube, you can see the graphic on your screen of our picks.

So with that in mind, let's also take a look at our picks so far this season. still sitting in the top spot with two warrior helmets, Justin Brzeau and Ben Kindle. And then you've got Captain Sidney Crosby, general manager Kyle Dubus, Eric Carlson, Kelsey's pick, who has been absolutely phenomenal this season of Gennie Malkin, Sergey Murshov, and now you can add on the penalty kill and the power play. So, I mean, I know that this week wasn't great wins and loss wise, but as we have been saying on this show, this season really is a process-based season. Yeah, we as fans want to see them win.

We don't like losing, but you're seeing a lot of really good progress in a lot of areas with this team that I think this is a good way to sum up today's episode that, yes, they have been off to a hot start. They're hitting a little bit of a low right now, but there are so many things under the hood so far this season that are making you feel pretty encouraged for the rest of this rebuild. But before we close it out, Kelsey, let everybody know where they can find you, what you're working on, and what they should be checking out once you're done working on it. Yeah, so you can find me on the hockey news.

Me and Hunter tag team on the Pittsburgh Penguins website. So check out our work there. We got a lot of, you know, backburner stuff coming with the team in Sweden. There's some stuff that I've been working on, especially doing with the Olympics, so keep an eye out for that. You can find me on social at Kelsey underscore Sarmats 4 on X. And same thing, without the underscore on Blue Sky. You can follow me by name, usually with the four tiles on all other social media platforms. And also just follow myself on the hockey news.

We'll be putting out a lot of good stuff this week. Kelsey, we always appreciate you taking the time to come on the show, especially since you got to deal with Hunter way more than I do, which may God bless your heart for that one, but that is going to do it for our Wednesday edition. Hunter and I will be back on Thursday. We are currently talking to our friends at Locked on Predators. Hopefully we can get times coordinated to get you a preview for the global series in Sweden as the Penguins and Preds will play too. But either way, we will be back with a preview episode for you on Thursday. Then make sure you're keeping. and an eye on your feed because we will be

not live, but close to live right after the penguins and Preds play their first game to get you a recap as well as get you set for early morning hockey on Sunday. But for now, for Hunter Hodes, as well as Kelsey Sermats, thank you as always for

tuning in and we'll be back with a fresh episode for you on Thursday.