Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - It's time for Penguins training camp!

Episode Date: September 20, 2023

It feels like Christmas, doesn't it?! Hunter and Pat are back with another episode of Locked On Penguins and this one is the training camp preview! They get everyone ready to go detailing some of the schedule and discussing some of the biggest storylines heading into camp. They also look at some other under-the-radar things to look for at camp before moving on to more broadcaster news. They discuss who the Penguins' color commentators for television will be for this season and how it'll be a rotating cast of names. They analyze whether that's a good move for the team, plus congratulate Dan Potash on getting a promotion to studio host. Some fans may be upset, but it is a promotion. Finally, they end the show with a prospects challenge recap and who stood out to them as we head into training camp.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!BirddogsGo to birddogs.com/LOCKEDONNHL or enter promo code LOCKEDONNHL for a free water bottle with any order. You won’t want to take your birddogs off we promise you.AG1If a comprehensive solution is what you need from your supplement routine, then try AG1 and get a FREE 1-year supply of Vitamin D AND 5 free AG1 Travel Packs with your first purchase. Go to drinkAG1.com/NHLNETWORK.Jase MedicalSave more than $360 by getting these lifesaving antibiotics with Jase Medical plus an additional $20 off by using code LOCKEDON at checkout on jasemedical.com.FanDuelMake Every Moment More. Right now, NEW customers can bet FIVE DOLLARS and get TWO HUNDRED in BONUS BETS - GUARANTEED. Visit FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON to get started.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as non-withdrawable free bets that expire 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) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Penguins are officially back in Cranberry with training camp set to open on Thursday. Pat and I are here to preview training camp for you right after this. You're Locked-on Penguins. Your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network. Your team every day. Hello, welcome to this Wednesday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I am one of your hosts, Hunter Hodes.

To my right is Patrick Damningman. follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. You can follow Pat on Twitter at Send Them for Wet, and you can follow these shows, Twitter, at L-O-U-U-S-Painments, of course. Thank you all so much for making this your first listen slash watch of the day. Today's episode is brought to you by Jace Medical. Empower yourself when you purchase a Jace case providing you with a personal supply of five antibiotics that treat 50-plus infections. Get yours today at jacemmedical.com. That's j-a-s-s-s-medical.com. Now, Pat, I just have one simple question for you and just probably for all the listeners out there. Can you feel it coming in the air tonight?

It's like I said on Monday, man. It's here. And to keep it on the train of song references, I got to go with Busta Rhymes in Lincoln Park because together we made it. That's perfect too. We're here, man. It's finally here in offseason that, was a lot more jam-packed than usual. I didn't want to say then expected because the way last season ended,

we kind of expected this was likely going to be an off-season of change, but we got through all the changes. We had our hype for Kyle Dubus. We got ourselves excited and had an Eric Carlson week after the trade, and we made our slog through the off-season of coming up with content to talk about. And now we're one day away from actual hockey talk. And man, I'm so excited. I'm so psyched.

I've been ready for them to get back on the ice. Honestly, ever since Eric Carlson became a member of the Penguins about a month and a half ago. I'm like, okay, can we just start the season at that point? But train camp opens on Thursday. The first practice will be at 9 o'clock. Team 1 will practice at the FedEx rink in Cranberry. Team 2 will also practice at a different rank. I'll just call it rank 2 there.

and then there'll be a team 1 versus team 2 scrimmage that day. There'll be some conditioning, media availability, team 3 will practice, and then there'll be a media availability there. Then they'll have a couple other practices on Friday and Saturday. And then we get the split squad game on Sunday. You have one game at 1 o'clock. That one takes place versus the blue jackets at PP2 Paints Arena. And then the other one against the jackets takes place at 7 o'clock at nationwide arena.

You can watch both games as kind of like an appetizer to the Pittsburgh Steelers game on Sunday Night Football as they will be in Las Vegas to take on the Raiders. So you get hockey and you get some football that day. But I'm so amped, 58 total players invited to training camp. Really no surprises, Pat. I mean, when you look at this roster here, 33 forwards, 18 defense and seven goaltenders, you get some of the PTO guys like Austin Wagner, Colin White, Libor Hayek, Mark Pissick, obviously the big guns with Eric Carlson, Afghani Malkin, Cindy Crosby,

Crystal Tang, all those guys, and then you have some of the prospects to, like Braden Yeager, Owen Pickering, Sam Poulin, Valtery Pustin, all these other guys. Just really excited to see all these players practice, whether it's Team 1, Team 2, or Team 3. Yeah, I mean, like you said, not a lot of surprises on the camp invite. We kind of knew all this was coming. Obviously, the big acquisition in there, Carlson, he was going to show up. The big dogs are back as expected. and we talked to death about the bottom six acquisitions, the PTOs.

So now this is where the rubber really hits the road. All the pontificating, all of the game theory that we've offered up on this podcast is going to come to fruition. We're going to see who is going to make a case to make the team because as it has been for the last 15 or so years, we know what the top of this roster. is going to look like. We know who's going to be in the top six. We know who's going to fill out the top two pairings. What we don't know now is who's going to be in the bottom six consistently, who's going to be the backup goalie, and who is going to fill out that sixth and seventh defenseman position. And I keep talking about it. We've talked about it on the show. I'm going to write about it on Friday as a little teaser for you guys for Penguin's perspectives.

I know that a lot of the narrative going into this camp is that, okay, we know what this team is. We know what team is going to take the ice when they welcome in Connor Bedard and the Blackhawks for the home opener and the season opener. However, there is chance for surprise in the bottom six, and there is chance for surprise for that sixth and seventh offenseman spot. While I do think Nadelcovic is probably the odds-on favorite to get the backup job, you never know. And this is when we find out, as one of my high school coaches always said, who spent the summer working out and who spent the summer playing video games and eating cake. So we're going to find out here in just a couple weeks. And listen, I know we joked about it earlier in a week about the prospect challenge kind of being fake hockey. And yeah, sure, the preseason is a little bit that too.

But we're going to have actual hockey to talk about here in just a few days. Absolutely. And the storylines that you touched on, I think, are the biggest ones heading into training camp. We've definitely beat them to death on this show quite a bit. But, you know, when you're talking about a camp preview, you still got to bring it up every time. Who was going to play with P.O. Joseph on that bottom parent. I still think the favorite is Chabar Wiedel, but could someone like Ty Smith finally show what he's made of for the penguins? I think it's time for the penguins to see what they have in this player. He, I don't think he's going to play as good as he did during his rookie season, New Jersey, but I don't think he's as bad as what he showed during that second season, New Jersey, which got him traded to Pittsburgh. Can he have a really good camp and push Rweedle or Mark Friedman for that spot? The bottom sets. So many options there.

Is Andreas Johnson going to make the team out of camp? Is Vinnie Hennastroza going to get a spot on the every-night lineup? What's going to happen with Drew O'Connor, Alex Neelander? You have the backup goalie position with Hellberg versus Nadelka. I still think Ndilkevich is the favorite, but what if Helberg goes out there and has one heck of a preseason? It might make the decision a bit more difficult for Mike Sullivan. Those are the three things I have my eye on, I think, heading into camp. Another thing I do have my eye on as well.

I want to see if the penalty kill made any adjustments from last year to this year. I want to see if Mike Volucci gets a little more aggressive with his deployment of his forwards and defensemen. They kind of were a bit more passive this past year and weren't really pressuring the puck carriers as much. And I understand they want to, I guess, collapse and prevent the more dangerous shots from getting through, but I still want to see them be a bit more aggressive there. That's something I'm going to be keen on. Hopefully, if I can make it over to camp on Thursday, I'm going to try to before my work shift starts for my full-time job or maybe next week, something like that. But that's another thing I have my eye on for camp as well is maybe some adjustments

made to the PK. And of course, the power play with Tarrier and how that's going to be too. Yeah, I definitely also have my eye on the penalty kill. And I will, I'll say this too, is you look at the pieces available for the bottom six, your guys who are likely going to be your penalty killers. Occasionally, you trot out a top six guy just to have that potential shorthanded scoring threat. But this year, I think with the pieces available, they can play that kind of aggressive penalty kill they became known for the last few years because they have guys who are

of playing a more aggressive style, both in the defensive zone and the neutral zone, because if you watch what the penguins do, and for the couple of years I coached, you know, granted it was only Bantam hockey, but I am a huge believer in what the penguins do in the neutral zone with their penalty kill, which is the one-to-one. It's kind of sort of a neutral zone trap, so to speak, for the penalty kill where they, force a puck carrier to the wall and then they immediately meet pressure. A lot of the guys that they have available now that they've signed or that they've brought in on PTOs up front do possess the ability to play that system in the neutral zone,

which can really disrupt a team's power play breakout. So I do want to see that this training camp and into the season, do they get more aggressive on the penalty kill? because they should. Because it mixed that with some of the talent you have on the roster. If you wear out a PP1, you can throw a guy over the boards like a Sydney Crosby, a Jake Gensel, or Riley Smith. And those guys can be a threat to score on the back half of the penalty because you've

tired out a power play. And that's just going to give you an extra threat. And it's going to keep an opposing power play on their heels. I've always wanted their PK to be similar to Bostens with how aggressive that unit is. And yes, I understand. All the Penguins have someone like Brad Marsham that can come out there and be probably the best penalty killer in the league because Marshan is crazy good at it. And then you obviously have Bergeron that would go out there too. But I've always looked at how their PK is aligned with how aggressive they are.

Yes, they collapse to the net and they prevent the high danger chances from getting through. But they're also super aggressive with how they press. for the puck carriers at the point, and it leads to quite a few short-handed chances going the other way. So I've always wanted the unit to be like that. Maybe we'll see if Mike Bluji wants to do like a mini-hybrid of that or something like that. The last thing for camp, I just want to see how these young players perform in it.

Again, I don't expect a player like Owen Pickering or Braden Yeager to make the team, but if they can go out there, ball out during some camp practices, look decently during some preseason games, I'll be pretty happy about that before they go back to their junior teams. And we'll have more on Yeager and some of the other prospects a little later on in the show. But that's also what I'm looking for from camp from some of the younger guys who are not ready yet, but I still want to see how they perform. The young guys don't have to make the team, but what they have to do is make an impact. Yes. They have to make an impression. They have to catch the attention of management and the coaching staff. And we talked about it with the

locked on flyers cast the other day. A couple of these guys are a little bit better than what we think. Now, does it mean their NHL ready? Absolutely not. They are not quite there in their development yet. But I think they're a little bit further ahead than what most people would think. So if these guys go out over the next two weeks before they get sent either to Wilkes-Barre or back to their junior teams and they make an impression on the coaching staff and the

management, that puts not only the team in the NHL in a better spot, it puts. the organization in a better spot because when it comes to that over the next couple of years, you don't have to take the big swing in free agency or at the trade deadline. You have guys waiting in the wings and as much as we love saying, oh, this team just needs to contend and we don't need to worry about prospects. We don't know about that. With where this franchise is right now, if they have a couple guys in the stable, they can come up and make a difference on affordable deals, then you can only make this team better as we head into the twilight years of Crosby, Malkin and the tank.

And they'll be ready, I think, within probably a few years. I think Yeager at this point, I mean, I've said it so many times on the show. I think he's probably three years away. Pickering's kind of the same. Hopefully he's healed from his injury because I know he wasn't able to play at the Prospect Challenge. Actually, in the last two years, he hasn't been able to play at the Prospects challenge. But hopefully he's fully healed from his injuries.

And I want to see how he does at Camp too. But that wraps up this first segment. Coming up in the second segment, more broadcasting news for the Penguins. they've announced their rotation of color commentators for this season with Josh Getsoff. We're going to discuss that right after this break. But before we get to that, everyone should be empowered to care for themselves and their loved ones during the unexpected. That's why Jace Medical offers the Jays case. The Jays case provides five life-saving antibiotics for emergency use and gives you a peace of mind

so that you are not just hoping to you have access to medication in an emergency. Chase Medical makes sure you have the medication in hand. they are very simple. They handle everything from the online evaluation to license pharmacy, medication, delivery, and ongoing consultation and care. Do not get caught on prepared. Save more than $360 by getting these lifesaving antibiotics with Jace Medical, plus an additional $20 off by using code locked on at checkout on jacemedical.com. That's j-a-s-s-e-medical.com with the promo code locked on. All right, we're back in this episode of the Locked on Penguins podcast. I am Hunter Hodes.

To my right is Patrick Dam. So I had a nice email come through my inbox today when I got this from the Sportsnet Pittsburgh PR team, excuse me. And they officially announced the game and studio analysts for the 2020, 24 season. Colby Armstrong is one of the in-game color analyst, and he'll also be a studio analyst with Dan Potash, who will be the host. Phil Bork will also be an analyst on the TV broadcasts, also be doing radio. Jake Cawfield will be a studio analyst, so he comes back, and then Mike Rupp will be an in-game color analyst and studio analysts.

So I'm going to pat myself on the back, because I kind of predicted that it was going to be something like this, where it's not just going to be one guy calling every game with Josh Getsoff. It's going to be a rotation. And Colby Armstrong really enjoy him. I'm excited to see him there for multiple. broadcast. Mike Rupp, I think he's really good when he's on TV. He does have some kind of boomer opinions about the game considering he played about what. He was a penguin about a decade ago at this point. He's not really that big into analytics and stuff like that, but he's still

decent on TV. I'm looking forward to his calls for the Penguins. And then of course, Phil Bork, who's awesome on the radio. I'm wondering if they're maybe going to do something like a a simulcast where he's doing the radio and TV at the same time or maybe what they could do as well when Bork is doing some of the TV games someone else whether it's Armstrong or it's Rupp comes in with Steve Mears to call the games on the radio something like that but overall what are your thoughts on these moves yeah give yourself some credit you called Mike Rupp I mean even though that he has made his appearances on Penguins broadcast it kind of felt like he was gearing himself towards more of a national NHL network role rather than being on just one team's broadcast.

So, you know, that's a good call. I think you're right. I think this kind of feels like the guys in the play-by-play chair are set. It gets off in Mears. And then the commentator chair is going to rotate. It's going to be different. There's going to be a different cast of characters on any given night. And overall, I mean, this rotation is strong.

Like I said it on this show before. When this team needs a kick in the butt and they don't need to be patted on the head, no bork's right there, man. You hear what he has to say when this team's struggling. And it's not there is no sugarcoat. And he's giving you all the salt. And he's making you eat your vegetables, so to speak. So I love that.

I think, you know, regardless of my thoughts on. spit and chicklets. Colby Armstrong is brilliant. He is a great personality. And I always say this about, I said this about Bob Airy when the news first broke. And the same kind of applies to Colby Armstrong in where that he's not quite a journeyman to where he's scratch. He wasn't scratching and clawing to make every roster.

But he also wasn't a superstar. So that's a very unique perspective when you're definitely a contributor to the team you're on, but you're not quite in the top six, but you're also not a guy that is working on one-year deals and PTOs and league minimums. So that's a really good perspective because that makes up most of the national hockey league. So this guy has a really good perspective. And I mean, Mike Rupp is just genuinely one of the funniest people. I remember when he was on the Penguins, it was during HBO's 24-7. And he was an unexpected star of that.

He was every time he was featured, miced up, whether it was following him at home or on the road or during games, genuinely one of the most entertaining parts. So bring his perspective from his playing days and just his personality together. It's going to make these broadcasts, both television and race, radio a lot more enjoyable. I agree. And especially just going back to Colby for a second, I think he just has such a great feel for the game. He's done some calls for the Penguins before. And he was so fluid in between the benches. It was like he'd been doing this for 20 years. And I'm excited to see more of that, whether it's 30 games, 35, 40, even a little less than that.

I'm excited to see what he can bring to the broadcast. I've said this a couple of couple of times. I felt the Penguins broadcast the last couple of years was a little bit stale, and that's, no, I'm not trying to be rude to Steve Mears and Bob Berry. I just wanted to see a little bit of change there with the broadcast. And we're obviously getting that here with a new play-by-play comment, but new play-by-play announcer, excuse me, and then a few color commentators. And I'm excited to see how this is compared to the last one and then the one before that, too. I'm just, I'm genuinely excited to see the perspective that all of them bring. And then, of course, with Jay Caulfield, Jay's telestration, I know people don't like it.

Hit that man a remote already. He's the best. His telestrations, whether it's the first period, second period, whatever, they're great. He breaks the play down so well. I learn something every time I watch that. Yeah. I will say this, as much as I do enjoy Jay's Telestration, and as much as I love the, go ahead and pause it right here, guys, go ahead and pause it right here.

As much as that's become a meme, I do, one thing I do have a lot of hope for and that I do want to see this season, listen, I get it. It's easy to play it safe. And after the period, you're just going to go back and talk about a key moment or two from that period. I want to see a little more creativity because, you know, here's the thing. We just watched that period. We saw it. It was there. We understand it. Now, if there's a big, big changing moment or an incredible highlight real play,

absolutely, break out the tell us straighter, tell us how it happened. But I want to see more just discussion. I want, I'm fine with the, hey, we're going to go talk to Marcus Pedersen and have Haley say like, hey, what happened that period? That's, that's all well and good. But we don't need to talk about the period we just watched. Talk to me about news around the league, news around the team. Have a fun feature. And that leads into the other thing I want to say is when you have a guy like Colby Armstrong and now a guy like Dan Potash in the studio, that gives you a lot more opportunity because the one thing those two guys have in common, they're very skilled at getting the players to open up to them and show a little bit of personality. So you saw, you saw,

all the all the videos that were tweeted and put on Instagram and Facebook from when Sid went up to Media Day in Vegas. A lot of the guy, a lot of the person who was doing a lot of the features away from just Sid was Colby. And he was having fun with these guys. So I want to see more of that in the broadcast at intermission and pregame and post game. We watch the game. That's why we have it on.

And I enjoyed Jay's tellestration. I hope it doesn't go anywhere. but I think we need to see it just a little less and put a little bit more creativity into that broadcast rather than just, okay, the first period's over. I'm going to tell us, we're going to interview player A or coach B, and then we're going to do a telestration, and then we're going to go back to the game. And then second period ends, we're going to go over it. Here's delistration.

Here's an interview back to the game. Like maybe between the second and third you have, I don't know, Colby's Corner and it's him talking about whatever. But I think there's an opportunity with this mix of personality to do a little bit more with the broadcast between periods. And I think you'll definitely get that with Potash. You know, I don't think Rob King is coming back to the broadcast. Just based off this announcement, Pat, he'd been doing it for a long time anyway. But I think you'll see Potash in this new role now do what you just suggested.

I don't know if you saw the pictures that came on social media today of him and Gino during one of their photo shoots. just goofing off. Sitting on the lap, taking a selfie. I loved it. Yes. And it's stuff like that and plenty of other, you know, pranks and jokes and all this stuff that I think he may try to incorporate into the broadcast.

Of course, you don't want to overkill it during it. You want to be at least a little serious. But I think he can incorporate stuff like that into the broadcast, which of course will make people laugh. And, you know, you can, I guess, relate to the players a little bit more. And I'm excited to see how he does as the host.

I saw people get mad that he's not going to be doing those interviews between the benches anymore. I understand that, but this is a step up for Potash. This is basically a promotion for him. And he's going to do a really good job as a studio host with Jay Caulfield. Other rotations there with Mike Ruppet times, Phil Bork, all that good stuff. I'm stoked, to be honest. Right. And like you said, this isn't any sort of demotion or anything for Petach.

it's him getting his due. He has been a staple of Penguins broadcast since Sidney Crosby got here, if not before that, because, I mean, it's been so long that I almost kind of forget what it was like pre-Sid, but you're right. And I think it gives him more of an opportunity to go out and do more in-depth features rather than just, I'm going to be a goofball between periods with these guys to where on an off day, he can go around PPG paints arena

or the Lemieux Complex and put together actual features rather than just, here's me in a Halloween costume being silly with Mike Sullivan. Right. I mean, and again, that stuff is funny. It puts smiles on everyone's faces, but he's going to be doing other things now that he's probably maybe even wanted to do

while even being between the benches that he never got the chance to do. Now he's going to be doing that in the studio, and I can't wait to see how it is. It's a brand new broadcast for this year. Can you feel a brand new day? I hope the listeners enjoyed that, by the way. I hope they did too because channeling my high school musical days.

I haven't watched one of those movies and God knows how. Oh, no, buddy. I was in the musical. I wasn't in high school musical. I was a nerd. Oh, okay. Pat's a big time here with that one, everyone. Oh, yeah, Penn Hills High School stage.

I was a superstar. he's too good he's too good but that would do it for this segment coming up to end the show pat and i are going to recap the penguins prospects challenge and there are three nothing win just a couple of nights ago and how braden yager really stole the show i kind of hinted at it during our episode with locked on flyers on tuesday but we're really going to dive into it for this next segment but snap into action this nfl season with fanduel america's number one sportsbook Right now, new customers get $200 in bonus bets, guarantee when you place a $5 bet. That's $200 in bonus bets, win or lose.

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That is Patrick Damp. So Pat the Penguins and the Prospects Challenge on a pretty high note, a 3-0 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Monday. Joel Blumquist gets the shutout really strong prospects challenge for him. He was dynamite for the Penguins. But I want to start, as I teased before the segment that they kind of teased on Tuesday's episode with Braden Yeager. that goal that he scored was absolutely brilliant. Steels the puck goes down the right side of the boards, blows past the defender,

forehand, backhand on the goalie. Nice little celebration there. Just a glimpse of what he can do with the puck on his stick. You don't even see his brilliant wrist shot there. You see his brilliant backhand release on that. And it was a gorgeous goal. I thought overall, when you look at these three games, he was the best player on the ice

and it wasn't just in the offensive zone. I thought he played really well in the defensive zone. I thought he was breaking up some plays with his stick. I thought he was forechecking aggressively. I really liked his game and I can't wait to see what he does in training camp in the preseason. But when I went back to watch that game on Monday, when I just moved the stream back a little bit, I should say. I just couldn't help but be so impressed with him.

Yeah, I want to give a show. shout out to Scott Wheeler for listening to this show and then dropping a big feature today on Yeager. It's a fantastic read. You should check it out. And I'm sitting here like Bart Simpson in the intro to the Simpsons and like writing on a chalkboard, don't get too excited over the prospect challenge. Don't get too excited over the prospect challenge.

Because again, it's not the best of hockey. It's such a high and low. It's guys who are all. NHL ready are very close to NHL ready and guys who were never going to see an NHL roster. So it's really hard to ascertain fully what these guys are like when it comes to their standing in their set organizations. But to the point you made, we set it on this show and I stand by it. The biggest thing for Blumquist, did I say that right? Blumquist.

Joe Blumquist, yeah. Blumquist, okay. Yeager and Pouling. was to be standouts and all three of them were. They were standouts. That was all we needed to see from them. We just needed them to show up and say, listen, we are advanced prospects in this organization.

We kind of want to look like where we're the cream of the crop right now at this tournament. And as we saw, the penguins were kind of the unofficial champions of that prospect challenge with how well they played. And then back to Yeager, if you read that piece in the athletic by Wheeler, which you absolutely should if you have not yet, the thing that I took away from this was that this kid is never satisfied. He has that attitude of, sure, I may have just put on a show at the prospect challenge, but this is not the end goal. The end goal is to keep getting better, to eventually make the penguin's roster. And the thing is, I don't think he's going to this year. I think he's put himself in a position to have a strong camp and look like somebody who might be a standout.

What I'm seeing right now in my estimation, if his development continues the way it has this past year, I think next year we're talking about him as a possible candidate to make the team out of camp. That's okay. I like that. I mean, it's a little bold for me right now just based off what. I've watched, but heck, you're right. If he does go out there, ball out during his junior year, has

a great next summer with his workout routine and all that continues to just do his thing. Hey, maybe he can make the team out of camp next year. But was super... The reason that I said that is there was one part of that Wheeler piece that really stood out to me. And it was like I

said, where he talks about how he just isn't satisfied. And he basically says like my entire focus with Moose Jaw and with the Penguins has been putting on more weight, playing a more complete game, and building on what I'm already good at. Because when you talk about prospects, it's really easy for a prospect, like a guy like Brendan Yeager, to say, ah, you know, I got this great release and this great shot and I can score goals. So now I'm going to focus on being a 200-foot player.

and then that release and that scoring touch suffer because you're not focusing on it anymore. The way this guy talks, he wants to improve on all of it. He's not just going to have that hockey player focus of like, oh, I score goals, but you know, I got to be great defensively. Like he's like, no, I want to be a guy you can count on the in the D zone. And then I want to be a guy that you can count on to put the puck in the net when I need to. Absolutely. And I think for the first time in quite a long time,

Penguins might finally have a player or potentially two here that could make the Team Canada World Junior team. Right. And Yeager, that was one of his big goals I actually took out of that piece was that he wants to make that team. And heck, we could also see Owen Pickering on that team too. When was the last time we've seen two Penguins prospects on the Team Canada World Junior team? Can you even remember?

I can't. No. Legitimately, I can't. I know the comment section will get on us for that, but I legitimately cannot remember last time, even just in general, whether it was Canada or just any of the other teams that show up to the U-18 or is it U-20. Either way, whoever shows up to the World Juniors, it's been a long time since the broadcasts goes, oh, and that's Penguins prospect, so-and-so with a big play.

Right. You know, I 100% agree. I was just making that comment because, again, like, two Penguins on the team Canada World Junior team in this economy, just that just doesn't happen in this. era, but I think there's a good chance that that could happen. Evan Verling, I thought also had a pretty good prospect challenge. He's going to be, I think, decent for Wilkesbury this year. My favorite name out there, Jagger Joshua, that's going to be. Jagger Joshua.

Because the name is awesome. And I think he could have a potential decent season with Wilkesbury as well. Blumquist showing why I think right now he's the top goalie in the Penguins prospect system. He was tremendous in the games that he played. Again, even in that game that he played last Friday, gave up a couple early goals, but really settled in after that in the game against the Sabres, looked big in the net for someone who's a bit smaller of a goalie, and he played his tail off. I'm excited to see what he can do at Camp here and then know for his team later on this year, too.

I mean, low-key. You know how everybody talks about how the Pittsburgh Steelers are a wide receiver factory? In this era, the patents of low-key kind of been a goalie factory. Not wrong. I mean, obviously, like, you had Mark Andre Fleury for a long time, and he was never going to be truly dethroned as the number one. But right when we got close to the expansion draft, you had Matt Murray knocking on the door,

and then right behind him was Tristan Jari. And I understand that there's questions around Jari and Murray fell off of a cliff pretty quickly. But by all accounts, it seems like every time this team has a goalie in the system, especially in Lokes Bear, it's a guy that you've, look at and go, you know, he theoretically be up here in the next couple of years. Absolutely. And it's just fun being exciting, or I guess not exciting, excited, excuse me, about prospects again, just because this team never really has that many good ones.

But they have at least two or three right now who could make the NHL probably not this year, but sooner rather than later, that's the hope at least. But I think that will do it for this episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. Thank you all so much for listening slash watching this one. Pat and I will be back with another episode on Thursday.

We'll recap day one of training camp and then Friday. The one, the only Josh Yoie of the athletic will come on for a special edition of the show and he'll discuss what he's seen at camp plus so many other things regarding the penguins. But again, that would do it for this one. Thank you all so much for tuning in.

We'll be back with another one on Thursday.