Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Looking at the Penguins goaltending TANDEM for the 2026-27 season!
Episode Date: July 10, 2026The Penguins will have two young goalies when the 2026-27 season begins, so what are the expectations for both of them? Patrick and Hunter begin the Friday edition of Locked On Penguins by taking a lo...ok at both Arturs Silovs and Sergei Murashov, both of whom are expected to be on the NHL roster when the season begins in September. What are the expectations for both of them, who will take the starting job, and does another young goalie in Joel Blomqvist factor into any of this? (0:00) Then, one of the Penguins' 2026 draft picks, Tomas Galvis, signed his entry-level deal. While he's expected to return to Czechia next season, the Penguins are hoping this is another young, second-round defenseman who can blossom into an NHL contributor. They also take a look at the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton schedule for the 2026-27 season, which has a few interesting wrinkles in it! (15:30) Finally, it's Fan Take Friday once again, and they're reacting to your answers to the question of, "What are some under-the-radar moves the Penguins and Kyle Dubas can make this offseason?" (24:30) Everydayer ClubIf you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. Click here to learn more and join your team’s community: https://lockedonpodcasts.com/everydayerclub Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! IndeedNow, you can speed up your hiring process with a $75 Sponsored Job Credit. Just go to https://indeed.com/podcastright now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Odoo Great organizations win because operations matter. And that’s why you should get Odoo. Try for free today at https://Odoo.com/lockedon. FanDuel Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. From the opening whistle to the final kick, Let There Be Goals on FanDuel. Visit https://FANDUEL.COM to get started now. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Transcript
Discussion (0)
It's mid-July. We're hockey starved. So you know what? Let's look ahead to the 26-27 season
and talk about everybody's favorite subject. Goleys. What will the penguins tandem look like
this upcoming season and what are the way too early expectations for them? We'll discuss on
the Friday episode of the locked on penguins podcast.
You're locked on penguins. Your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins. Part of the
Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day.
Hello and welcome to the Friday edition of the Locked on Penguins podcast.
I'm one of your hosts, Patrick Damp.
You can find me on most social media platforms at Synonym 4Wet.
Joined as always by my good pal, the one and only Hunter Hodes.
You can find him on Twitter at Hunter Hodes.
Before we begin today's episode, this episode is,
is brought to you by O-Doo.
Great organizations win because operations matter,
and that is why you should get O-D-O-D-O-D-O-com slash locked-on.
That's O-D-O-O-O-O-com slash locked on.
More on them later on in the show.
But on today's show, another draft pick of the Pittsburgh Penguins has signed his entry-level deal.
we go through some absolutely awesome responses to fan take Friday and some pretty creative ideas as well.
But first, we got to talk about something, right?
It's July.
Free agency is open.
The draft is behind us.
And for now, it's slowing down a little bit.
So we got to find something to talk because we're all hockey starved.
So we might as well talk about the Penguins goaltending situation.
After resigning two goalies earlier in this offseason, we have got a pretty good idea
who will be in the Penguins net when they open the season in September,
Arter Shilovs, and Sergey Murashav.
Both have potential.
Both are on the young side.
But is that necessarily the best thing for a team like the Penguins talking about these two
goalies, Sergey Murashav had himself a year?
with the baby penguins in 38 starts in the regular season for Wilkes Bear.
He had a 919 save percentage, a 2.2 goals against average, followed it up with an unbelievable run
in the Calder Cup playoffs.
15 starts, 931 save percentage and a 2.1-GAA.
As for Archer She-Lovs played 39 games this season for the Penguins,
0.07 GA 888 save percentage.
Followed it up with a solid couple of games for the Penguins against the Flyers in the
first round with two wins, 1.52 GAA and a 939 save percentage. Hunter, this is where
I'll start with this.
I do know and understand that they are looking at Sergey Mureshov as the goaltender of
the future.
They're hoping he will blossom into the franchise goaltender.
for the next, for the foreseeable future, I should say.
But I think to start the year, should this go the way we expect it to,
Arder Shilov should be the penguin starting goalie when the season begins.
Yeah, I mean, at the very least, he's probably going to be the 1A for next season.
I mean, last year, Pat, he started in 38 games, played in 39.
I think it's going to be a little bit more if they stick to just two goalies at the
NH level and they don't bring in like a,
a veteran that can start every few starts.
Like you've seen teams have a three goalie rotation at times these past couple of seasons
where they have that goalie, you know, play every few starts to kind of just give some of those
young goalies a break.
I don't really know if they're going to go down that route heading into the season right now.
I still think this is going to be she loves and Mirosha.
But with Sheelavs appeared in 39 last season, I think you could see him appear in maybe
44, 45 games as upcoming season.
I know that probably scares at least some fans because his regular season numbers were a bit up and down last season before he really showed out in the playoffs.
But as of right now, I think that's probably the most likely scenario is that he plays 44 to 45 games.
And then Murshov, you know, he gets most of the rest.
But, you know, maybe Blumquist comes up for a few stars, potentially Pat, if he earns his way up to the NH level.
I just think overall they're going very young in goal next year.
you look at the contracts, both goalies are not really making that much money.
Even if you go down to you, I Blumenquist, he's not making much money either.
It just feels like that's the direction they want to go.
There's also not too many other veteran options available in free agency.
I mean, there's a few, but again, there are few in far between.
It's very much like a boom or bust situation here for the Penguins Net Minders.
With Artie, you see the skill at times, especially in the playoffs, but you want him to be a bit more consistent.
with Mershov, yeah, he has passed every test so far.
This is going to be the hardest one yet, making the jump from the A to the big squad
and seeing if you can really stay in the NHL because teams are going to scout you now.
They're going to look to try to pick holes in you, see where you're vulnerable.
They did that to Blumquist.
Remember Pat a couple years ago when there were times we played well,
but towards the later stages, they found that he needed to be a lot better with his blocker
He went down at the HL.
He's obviously even better,
but teams are really going to be scouting
Muroshov looking for weaknesses.
And it's the hardest stump you can have to make as a player
where you go from the A to the big show.
So I am really fascinated to see how he does next season,
assuming he does make the team.
I think he will.
But, you know, that's a really big storyline, I think.
How do both of these goalies do that specifically,
Mursha?
because if he's able to play really well out of the gate,
I think it's going to get a lot more fans excited for his long-term future.
So I don't want to put any, you know, unrealistic expectations out there for him.
He's only played a few games.
You've seen this skill at times.
You've also seen, though, that he's been vulnerable in a couple of those starts.
That's what you're going to get with a young goalie.
So I just want to see when he gets his starts, how does he perform?
Because he's probably about ready.
But how does he do when you're going up against N.S.
shell shooters every single night when you do get starts.
So yeah.
One of the things that that I found kind of interesting and I got to give a hat tip to my
pals over at Pensburg for this, they did a little feature on the goal tending situation
this morning.
And one thing they snuffed out that is pretty interesting to me is that according to
poppedia, the two-year deal that Blumquist got, it's a two-way deal in the first
year. So this upcoming season, he'll get $850,000 at the NHL level, but just $225,000 at the
HL level. But then next season, he gets a $900,000 deal. And it's a one-way deal. So regardless of
if he plays in the A or the NHL, he'll make that much money. And he will also, not this upcoming
season, but the following season no longer be waivers exempt. So he would have to pass through
waivers to get back to the H.L. So I do think to kind of wrap that all together,
this is going to be another prove it year for Artie Shilov because if he gets eclipsed by
Murashav or if he just doesn't play very well, they've got Blomquist right there in waiting
to be the backup to Murrishav if he does take the net.
And Blumquist, despite getting eclipsed by Murashav in the H.L.
Last year, it wasn't by much.
It wasn't as if Blumquist became a backup goalie.
Blumquist pushed Sergey Murashov to continue his run of good play.
He was really good.
He had a really strong tandem.
It wasn't by accident that Marishov just took over in the playoffs.
that was, I think, their plan from the start.
They wanted to see how he would handle that workload.
And I think for the most part, he was very good.
And unless something unforeseen happens, I see him making the NHL team.
But Blancos was really good as a 1B behind Murrishab last year.
Yeah, 26 games.
And he had a 16, 5, and 4 record with a 913 save percentage and a 2.4 goals against average.
So this wasn't as if the team has fallen out of love with Yoel Blumquist.
he's been pretty darn good for them as well.
And as you hinted at, he did get a cup of coffee two seasons ago in the NHL.
And while he definitely wasn't ready to become a full-time NHL goalie at that point,
you saw the skill and you saw the potential.
So the thing we keep saying on this show is that the biggest organizational depth the penguins have right now is in net.
They have got quite a few prospects.
And the way I want to wrap this up is I think this is a good thing for the organization at the risk of sounding painfully obvious.
But you have more than enough options.
If the obvious biggest hope you have is that Sergey Murshov continues his assent and becomes the goaltender of the future becomes the guy.
but if he doesn't,
Archer Shilov continues to get better,
it seems, with each passing year.
He's obviously got that big game gene.
We saw it here in the playoffs.
We have seen it with Abbotsford in the A,
or not Abbotsford in the HL when he went to the Calder Cup.
Yes, you got that correct.
I did get that right.
I was just tripping over it.
But anyway, became the Calder Cup playoff MVP.
He's been great with Latvia.
And then behind that, you've still got Yoel Blumquist,
you've got Gabriel Deg, you've got Taylor Codye.
So it's not as if they're putting all of their eggs in Sergey Mureshov's basket and saying,
it's got to be him or we're screwed.
No, I don't think so.
I think obviously they want it to be him.
But again, we just have to see how he does.
Like, again, I don't want to put on fair expectations on him.
I just want to see how he does and will likely be his first full NHL season.
And then we'll go from there.
You said something about she loves a couple minutes ago.
as well, Pat, how this is another proof of a year for him.
It 100% is. You and I talked about that
earlier this way. We broke down all the contracts.
They only signed him to a one-year contract.
2.8 million. He's also
going to be an RFA next season.
I think they want to see, okay,
you played really well in the second half
of that series against the Flyers.
You showed some really nice flashes during the regular
season. Can you build off both of those
and can you get more consistent
with your overall game?
If the answer to all of that is yes,
then okay, we'll give you.
you a bit of a longer term contract with a little bit of a bigger payday.
Now, I don't think it's going to be, you know, a six times six extension or anything like
that, but I could see them giving him another short-term contract, not just for one year,
but maybe two to three years, something like that.
So I do think this is a really, and I mean a really huge year for him after, again,
had some good stretches, also had some stretches where it was like, okay, not really sure
what we're doing here, then plays well in the playoffs.
Just want him to get rid of those really mess,
touches still relatively young netminder i think this is a big offseason for him as he tries to
really nail down that starting job and i'm assuming he will i think as of right now he's going to get
44 45 this starts next season maybe a few more and then the rest you can kind of divvy up to
sergey murashov if you bring in a third veteran goaltender maybe someone like that gets some starts or
even you know blumquist comes up at times for a few starts so
I think they're really going to manage everyone's workload,
goaltender-wise, really well next season, no matter why it is.
And the thing I will finish the segment off with is this.
You know teams are always, always, always looking for goaltending,
and they are looking for cost-controlled contracts,
even with this exploding salary cap.
So regardless, if we get the perfect world,
where Sergei Murashov starts to look like he's going to be
the guy and Arter Sheelovs has a good season right along with them.
Might be some teams out there that need to improve their situation in the crease,
and they've all got Kyle Dubus's number.
But that is going to do it for the opening segment.
When we come back, one of the Penguins' draft picks is officially under contract,
and the baby penguins, unlike the senior penguins,
they know when they're playing.
And there are some interesting wrinkles in that schedule.
get into that when we come back right after this.
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We're back here on the Friday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. Patrick Damp and Hunter Hodes here with you.
And just a reminder, people, it is the off season. There isn't, for
now a whole lot going on. So we are down to three episodes per week. The plan tentatively is to be
in your podcast feeds on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. But that is all depending upon things like
guest availability, breaking news, our own schedules, because we don't do a lot. The two of us,
we kind of just nerd out about hockey, but we do sprinkle in some other stuff in our lives. So we may
have to change up that schedule.
But make sure you're subscribed and following us on social media so you know when
these episode drops.
And before we get to one of our favorite segments, fan take Friday, it's one of the best.
We do have some small business.
We have got to take care of first and foremost.
One of the Penguins' 2026 draft picks has officially signed with the club.
Defenseman Tomas Galvis, a defenseman, as I said, from Chekia.
he was selected in the second round.
The 20-year-old had 24 points in 32 games with his team in the Czech professional league
and then went on one hell of a run in the world juniors scoring nine points in seven games
and was named a tournament All-Star during Cheki's run to the silver medal.
This Hunter is a player the penguins clearly like, we clearly like,
and there does look like there is a lot of upside.
Oh, 100%.
I think fans should be really excited about Tommy Galvis,
really fluid skater for a defenseman,
breaks the puck into the offensive zone with control,
really nice, has great vision.
He was great in Chequia for his team last season.
He lit up the world juniors,
was over point per game.
And he is expected to go back to Chequette for one more season.
I know I saw some conjecture out there after he signed his ELC
that he was coming to North America right away.
wins, they said after he was drafted, where Jason Spetsa did at least, that he was going back
to Chequio for one more year, and then he's going to come over to North America. Now, if his
season ends early in Chequia, I could see him just coming over right then and helping
Wilkesbury out as they potentially try to go deep in the Calder Cup playoffs again, but right now,
unless something changes, the plan is for him to go back to his team for one more season and
then coming over to North America full time. But really excited for him overall.
This was a really solid pick when I turned on the tape.
I just was really, really impressed.
I'm excited, man.
So they get that business out of the way.
And then next up, Pat, Wilkesbury also announced their schedule for the 26, 27 season this week.
72 games.
Everyone is excited.
They have a whole bunch of games starting in October.
Pat, their first game against the Springfield Thunderbirds on October 3rd.
That is also their home opener.
That is going to be a lot of fun.
Those teams just met in the playoffs. Wilkesbury obviously blitz them in game five.
It's probably going to be a little bit of bad blood carrying over to the 26, 27 season.
Sign me up.
So we did get a little bit of news with Wilkesbury for this week.
And you also have a cool scheduling quirk that you want to dive into.
For sure.
And I will say just to add on to what you said, I do love the opening night, quote unquote,
rivalry game, whether it's a playoff opponent, a finals rematch, or just a game
against a team that you had a circus of a game against the year previous, that is always a hat
tip from me to the schedule makers. But I've said this on the show before, speaking of that
scheduling wrinkle, I should say, when it comes to the minors, it is, and most of our listeners
know, but just in case you don't, it's not like the NHL where you've got a charter jet and
you're flying everywhere, or if it's, you know, Philly to New York, you're taking the train
or stuff like that, it is 99 times out of 100.
You are taking a bus trip.
And I probably should say 90 out of 100 because there are some West Coast and Canadian trips that teams do take.
But it's not like the pros where you're jumping on a plane to get to every single game.
You're taking the bus.
And this year, they will take on three Western Conference teams.
As the minor league system does, you will often.
and see kind of like how the NFL does it, where you'll play a certain conferences division
throughout the season and that's your that's your inner conference matchup.
But this year, they're taking on the Chicago Wolves, the Milwaukee Admirals,
and the Rockford Ice Hogs of the Western Conference.
They have not played Milwaukee or Rockford since the 2018, 2019 season.
That's really cool.
And here's the even crazier one.
They have not seen the Chicago Wolves
since the 2008 Calder Cup final.
That's insane.
So this is the first time in 18 years
that they are going to play the Chicago Wolves.
That's awesome.
And it's really cool that they're doing some of these cool new
scheduling quirks, Pat.
They also know which team they play the most next season?
You can probably guess if I just give it to you.
Toronto.
No, Hershey.
12 times.
Next season.
So, yeah, and especially they just played in the playoffs as well.
So again, sign me up for that.
I'm really excited about it.
Yeah.
And I wanted to make sure I went through the schedule just to make sure 12 times
for Hershey the most against any team for next season.
And that is a really under the radar, AHL.
I don't want to go so far as to say rivalry because obviously we know Hershey is the
Capitals affiliate, the Baby Penguins.
That's pretty self-explanatory.
But it's not the hottest of rivalries, but they always play really, really good games.
So getting to see the two of those play one another that many times,
it's good for the fans out in Wilkes.
It's good for the fans in Hershey.
And if you've got that subscription,
it's good news for you too
because you will get to watch it as well.
But we are going to-
I should say they also play them 12 times.
So it's a tie.
Lehigh Valley and Hershey.
That one is a rivalry.
Yes.
24 games in total between those two.
So that is going to be a big treat
for our fans of the baby penguins.
but we're going to keep this segment nice and short
because we want to dedicate as much time as we can
to what I keep saying is our favorite segment.
It's Fan Take Friday,
and because we're all bored,
and we all love play and be a GM mode,
that's exactly what we're doing in Fan Take Friday.
So stick with us.
We'll jump into that when we come back right after this.
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We're closing out the Friday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast,
Patrick Damp, Hunter Hodes, and as we do every Friday, even in the off season, we open the show up to you as part of Fan Take Friday.
And here was today's prompt, which you could find on our YouTube page.
We all know that Kyle Dubus flies under the radar.
What's a move other than Robertson or Pedersen?
You think he could make this summer.
And I want to start with one that I know, Hunter.
is going to have a great, great reaction to because it's one I've talked to him about,
and he ain't about that life.
This one comes from Chaplin, 92, 33.
Logan Stanley would be a huge get, especially because he is still a free agent if Dubus
signs Stanley.
I think that boosts the defense and clears us a path that we don't have to play
Gerard because Gerard has been bad since coming to Pittsburgh and in the playoffs.
he was Ryan Graves level unplayable.
I don't hate the idea of Logan Stanley,
but he hits me as the kind of player that this needs to be the last guy
jumping on a chair in musical chairs when there's two left
because you can't go after him now and pay him a bunch of money.
But if he takes a small deal,
you give him a cup of coffee,
you try to work with him for a year or two,
I don't hate the idea, but overall, they brought up Ryan Graves.
You give him term, that's going to hurt you.
Logan Stanley, to me, is just not very good.
Not good in his own zone, not good offensively, not good in transition.
He's physical.
He'll help you along the boards.
Other than that, I just really don't see a big need for him.
The good part would be is that he's below 30, so you can try to get more out of them.
But overall, you look at his metrics, you watch and play.
I mean, I didn't really like that Buffalo acquired him at the trade deadline.
I am personally not a big fan of him, in my opinion.
I understand the Gerard hate.
He was not very good.
I wouldn't say he was Ryan Graves on Playbable Bad.
Like, that is a level that not many have gotten to in a while.
But he was not very good.
I will agree with you on that.
And he needs to be a lot better for next season.
but Logan Stanley for me, I'm just not a really big fan of overall.
Jonathan Campbell says bring back Jake Gensel, but for real, hey, we always love Jake here.
Not going to happen.
He's obviously very happy in Tampa Bay.
A couple of people, Stereo Penguin and Michael also talked about, you know,
Niketian and Kokanymi from Carolina.
I have this to say about Alexander Nikitian.
I think he has some tools.
I think he's a really solid player.
but if a team like Carolina is threatening to get rid of him,
that kind of scares me.
Eric Tolski is one of the five best GMs in the league, in my opinion.
And that is one GM that I think Kyle Dubus will not win a trade against when it comes to
Nikitian.
I think they also want a player back along with some picks.
If a team like that is looking to get rid of Nikitian, I'd kind of wonder,
hmm, what are they seeing that I'm not seeing?
Don't give it wrong.
I think he would help the penguins, but I also think he would get too much money than I'd be comfortable giving him.
And at this point, he may not be as good as some people projected.
I'd just be, I'd be cautious going after a player that Carolina has known very well for a long time.
And they're the ones exploring the market on him.
Why?
That's what I want to know, Pat.
Why?
I'm with you and a lot of other people who are very much on the train of if Carolina
is willing to move on from a younger player,
you should probably ask yourself why
rather than just pounce on it.
But he does strike me at the same time
as the kind of player that the penguins do need to go after
at this juncture,
because he's probably not going to rise any higher
in Carolina's system or in their lineup.
And that's different than say a guy who has spent
two or three years in the age,
in Carolina's system.
That's the one that would worry me more than anything with Tulski and the hurricanes is here's a
guy who we liked them, we drafted them, we developed them, but he hasn't made the jump yet.
That's when I would be really scared.
For Nickashin, I look at him and go, that's a guy who could rise up your lineup.
That's a guy you take a chance on.
But what he wants and what Carolina doesn't want to pay him does give me pause because I do think
he wants medium term three to four years.
And right now, I don't know if that's what the penguins should go after,
even though they have all of the cap space they could ever want.
But at the same time, I'm 50, 50 on that one, not to be noncommittal.
But again, he strikes me as the kind of player that they're in the market for.
So if the price isn't crazy, I'm not against it.
But here's one that I really enjoyed.
and we won't spend a lot of time on it because it's not that real of one,
but it's from Colin Veltry.
What would you guys think about dubus trading for Olimata?
I know he's 31, but I think he can play really well for us,
and he's got a history playing with Letang.
One, I can't believe he's only 31.
He has felt like he has been in the league for 40 years,
so it's nuts that he's only 31.
But that strikes me more,
And I don't think they're going to do it just because he's already signed somewhere.
He's already been traded somewhere.
I think that's where he's sticking.
It just feels like a move that if he was a free agent or if he was on a PTO,
it's a player that you could feature for a while and then move for assets.
I don't think you want to move assets to bring him in.
That's the only problem because I do agree.
he still is a very steady two-way defenseman,
even after all of the experience he's had in the NHL,
but I don't want to give up assets to get him.
I mean, he was just acquired by Bill Gowler,
by Bill Garon, excuse me, in Minnesota.
They're not moving him.
And he was just acquired literally eight days ago
with the Blake Coleman trade.
So I don't think that's really going to happen.
I think he's also just a little older at this rate.
I mean, he's a fine enough player,
but I just don't think Minnesota is going to have really any interest
doing it just because they just got him from Calgary in that trade with Blake Coleman.
So I understand why Colin is asking about that, but I just don't really see that happening.
I'm trying to look at any others here that seem interesting.
He needs to trade Raquel and Russ for or Russ, excuse me, for a good return.
First round picks, very good prospects.
I mean, they're going to still look at those throughout the summer.
I don't think the doors close at all on a trade for one of those two potentially going out.
And yeah, I'm sure if they could, Pat, they would want to get a first back in a prospect
or maybe a roster player.
I just think so far the last couple of off seasons, they haven't gotten an offer that they
have really wanted to pounce on yet for either of those two players.
But is the door closed on a trade for one of those two?
No, I don't think so.
I think.
Brkele is still the most likely to go of the two.
I think I have rusted a bit below him.
But is the door closed on like that type of trade for a mugup?
Top line winger? No, I don't think so.
No, not at all. And I mean, I don't, I say this not to insult anyone or any of the commenters,
but yeah, of course I got to trade both of them for good return. That's the ideal world.
You don't want to give them up for nothing. But that's going to take patience. That's going to take
time. There are two quick ones that I want to get to first from Harrison Baldwin. Kevin
Kourchinsky, he's blocked in Chicago. Penguins have plenty of forwards you could flip,
someone like Coyvenin and a third for Cochinski.
I don't hate that move.
He has been okay in the NHL.
He has played a few or plenty of games with Chicago
throughout the last three years.
He had a solid year in 23, 24, 15 points in 76 games,
has only played 29 since in the NHL,
but been quite good with the ice hogs in Rockford.
the last two years, 27 points, 26 points.
He's 22, left-handed defensemen.
I wouldn't hate taking a chance on a player like him.
We know they need left defensemen pretty badly,
especially on the young side.
And even if he doesn't play immediately,
it's another option and you know that you need them.
And then the other one, Penn 68, after my own heart.
I think a move they could make this summer that really fits
the mold of the player they're looking for is center Shane Wright from the Seattle Cracken.
He's 22, a lot of upside, and he's the type of player, I believe, needs a change of scenery.
Also doesn't hurt that the GM who drafted him was in Seattle is now in Pittsburgh.
And of course, that is Ronnie franchise Ron Francis.
If they can get Shane Wright out of Seattle and it's not astronomical, this is a player who
I am not against putting a big-ish package together to get because he's 22.
We know he's got the skill.
We know he's got the potential.
And I'm going to use some real old school hockey man, hockey and sports observer cliche here.
You aren't going to get any hits if you refuse to take swings.
I wouldn't say big enough.
I think if the package is right, I'd consider it.
no pun intended but i also kind of wonder if they're looking at packaging chain right for a
bigger impact forward that they can get because they're really trying to go big game hunting you've
seen it i think that's kind of what they're holding out hope for right now not sure if they want
to do a futures deal just yet but i think if the price is right i'd at least look into it though
i don't think the penguins are going to be at the top of the list just because they have so many
forwards right now but i at least understand the idea in terms of you know
Porchinsky. Yeah, I mean, he's played over 100 games, six goals, 19 points during that time.
Still 22 years old. He kind of fits that brick by boring brick that Caldubis described about a
week or two ago when he's making these small trades to try and improve the team.
I'd be forward, especially if someone like that can maybe crack the roster, Obing Knight,
and they still need help on the left side. So I understand that one as well.
Victor was talking about how you could help out the Anaheim Ducks a little bit, maybe taking on
Alex Callorn and getting some sweeteners.
And I've seen other people float that out there as well, Pat, maybe because the Ducks,
they still have to sign Gochier, and maybe you can help them out taking one of Coulorne,
Vitrano, Cryder, just because they make big money and try to ask for like a sweetener
or two, maybe like a second round pick, for example.
I've seen that out there.
I'd be fascinated to see if Kyle Dubas has called the Ducks about that because, you know,
he's done that these last couple of off seasons where he's helped teams out that are in a bit
of a cap crunch, even if it's acquiring a veteran player.
I think it will be objectively hilarious if that player is Chris Ryder,
considering that he has been a Penguins killer throughout his career.
I just think that would be funny.
And it would piss off a lot of Rangers fans.
But, you know, the comment that Victor had,
I've seen other people float that idea as well,
where maybe he calls Pat Verbeak and say,
hey, I know you want to sign Cutter-Goti,
if you can give us a sweetener, maybe we'll take on one of those players
and maybe we'll send a forward back that's not as much money,
even though they still want a shed cap.
But again, just something to think about as well.
I will take that Detroit Red Wings, 2027 second round pick off of Anaheim's hands.
For sure.
If they want to send us a little bit of cap back, I would be all for that because
why not?
Like a lot of people, I ain't got much faith in Detroit Red Wings going into next year.
So give me that second round pick.
But another fantastic round of fantastic.
Friday. Appreciate all of you guys. Send it in your hot takes, sending in your questions.
It's the best time of the week. We love being a part of it. And thank you once again for
helping us out with that. But that is going to do it for the Friday edition of the Locked-on
Penguins podcast. Hunter and I, barring any breaking news, will be back with a brand new episode
for you on Monday. So for now, for Hunter Hodes, I am Patrick Damp. Have yourself a great
weekend and we will talk to you once again on Monday.
