Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Looking at two more first-round players for the Penguins!

Episode Date: June 26, 2025

The Pittsburgh Penguins have been deemed the team to watch at the 2025 NHL Draft, so is a big move on the horizon? Hunter rounds out his 2025 NHL Draft endorsement list for the Penguins and begins the show discussing Arizona State's Cullen Potter. He gives his scouting report on him before Pat chimes in with his thoughts. They then move to Ben Kindel, a very smart player with a lot of offensive upside. Finally, there have been more reports connecting the Penguins to moving up in the draft. Will this happen, or is this just a smokescreen?Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Rugiet150,000 men have made the switch →https://Rugiet.com/LOCKEDONNHLUse code LOCKEDONNHL to get 15% off your order!GametimeToday's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNHL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply.Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNHL at monarchmoney.com/lockedonnhl for 50% off your first year.Wonderful PistachiosGet snackin' and get crackin' with the snack that packs a protein punch. Visit WonderfulPistachios.com to learn more! FanDuelToday's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new FanDuel customers can get $150 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.

We're just one day away from the 2025 NHDraft, and that means it's time to finish up. My endorsement list for picks 11 and 12 if that's where the Penguins pick. 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 back to another episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes. You can follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. joined by my co-st, Patrick Tampa. You can follow him on all social media platforms at Send Them for Wet.

You can follow this show's Twitter at L.O. Understar Penguins, and you can follow the show's Instagram account at Lockdown, underscore Penguins. Of course, thank you all so much for making this, your first list and slash watch of the day. We are free and available on our platforms. Pat, my friend, the 2025 financial draft is just one day away. We've seen some action already. J.J. Patyrka got traded late Wednesday night.

We saw the Trevor Zegers trade. now, everyone's just kind of anxious for everything to go down on Friday. I kind of compare it to what Gandalf said to Pippin and Return of the King for Lord of the Rings when Sauron is about to attack Minas Tirith. It's a deep breath before the plunge. And again, I got my wonderful Sauron tattoo right here. I don't know if everyone has seen it before, but there it is. If you're watching on YouTube, there it is right there.

Had to nerd out a little bit to start all today's episode. But we're finishing up my endorsement list for Picks 11 and 12. And these two players, I talked about them a little bit on the show before, and I'm excited to do even more of a breakdown for them. Let's start, though, with Arizona State's Colin Potter. One of the most fun players that I had the chance of watching throughout this season. First thing that jumps out, Pat, is his speed. The skating is through the roof.

It reminds me so much of Carl Haglund, except I think Colin Potter has a bit more offensive upside than Haglin. I mean, we obviously saw what Hagland did for the Penguins. we saw what he did start his career. When I watch Colin Potter, I see Carl Hagelin's feet. He is flying up and down the ice. It is an absolute treat to watch. He finished this season, 13 goals, 22 points in 35 games.

The first clip I actually ever watched of him for the tape was when he was coming in on an on-man rush, looked like he was going to risk the puck, but he dangles the goal he skates off, roofs a back-in. That was also his first collegiate goal this past season. It was really disgusting. And there's another play that really stouts me during the tape that I watch. Coming down the left side in the offensive zone, defenders all over him. He dances right around him because of that skating ability with a nice little puck move

and fires at chopped cheese past the goaltender. Both of those plays, those were like the two cherries on top for me for him throughout this season. Again, he can fly like the wind, absolutely tremendous skater. I think one of the best skaters that I watched in this year's class. One thing, though, that I think he needs to be better on, playmaking ability. only nine assists this year, though I understand it was his first collegiate season at Arizona State. But I want to see him work more on his playmaking. I want to see him be a bit better as a passer.

I like the shot. I like the skating. But if he can add a bit more to his game as a playmaker and also play a bit better away from the puck, I think he can be a solid contributor in the NHL. He's definitely going to be available to the Penguins at 11 and 12. I have not seen anyone mocking him in the top. 10. I would be very stunned if he went in the top 10. So he's definitely an option if some of their potential targets that are higher on their board are already gone. I like this player a lot.

I am not as excited about Potter as you are. I can't disagree with anything that you said. He is extremely fast. He is one of the best skaters I've watched footage on over the past couple of weeks. And the problem I see with him is that I need there to be more to his game. He's solid defensively. I don't think there's any issues there. I think it's to be a bit better. I think his two-way play could use some improvement. The play away from the puck, I think could be a little bit better. But this will, what you're right, what I'm going to say is going to kind of feed into everything I'm saying is his speed makes up for a lot of deficiencies in his. his game. He doesn't have a ton of dependencies. I'm not going to pretend like a kid who is 18 years old,

just played a year at Arizona State is a completed product. He's far from it. But I need his game to become more complete when I look at this player. The speed makes up for a lot of things. He can beat defensemen to the outside and cut to the middle with the best of them. And that's a great skill to have because if you don't have the skill, if you don't have the IQ, which again, I'm not saying he doesn't, but if you can just blaze past guys, that makes up for a lot. The problem is, I look at him and I have the same concerns you do. The play away from the puck needs to improve. The playmaking ability, excuse me, especially as a center, which is what he is kind of,

He can do both, but he is mainly a center. You have to be a better puck distributor if you're going to be the guy in the middle, whether it's in the defensive zone for the breakout, whether it's making plays through the neutral zone or even setting things up in the offensive zone. The thing is, what makes him a little bit more intriguing, though, to put a positive spin on this is the part that we, the concern that we see with a lot of young players is skating. We worry how is there.

skating going to translate to a professional game. Potter's speed shows us that he just needs to work on some agility. He needs to work on controlling the speed a little bit, excuse me, and he needs to be able to do a little bit more than just be fast. So he's ahead of the game on that. The rest of the stuff I think can be taught. I will say this, though, if that's who they're going to have to get at 11 or 12, it might be a little bit of an issue.

That's fair. I was just using him as another option at 11 or 12, say if some of their other targets are already gone. If I had to make a prediction, I don't think he is going to be the pick, but I wanted to put him towards the late stages of my endorsement list, just because I had a lot of fun watching him. And I do think there's a lot of intrigue with this player, with the speed that he has, the shot that he has. I think he could, again, work on his playmaking ability a little bit. I think he could work on his vision a little bit on the ice. and then again, his defensive play could use a little bit of work too, but I still wanted to include him on the list because, again,

I just had a ton of fun watching him. And I think if he is able to fine tune a couple aspects of his game, I think he could turn into a pretty decent NHL or a little bit down the line. For sure. Like, I don't want that to come off as I think he's bad or not worth a pick. Yeah. I think that if you're in the position where you got to get him, where you get him at 11 or 12, it's a little bit of a reach.

At the end of the day, though, like I said, the biggest concern that we often have with young players coming out of the draft is their skating ability. Are they going to be able to keep up with the pro game? Are they going to be able to skate the way you need to when you get to the professional level? And I look at a player like Potter who already has blazing speed. You watch his tape from the NCAA game. he's the best skater by a mile on the ice, regardless of who he's playing against, regardless of who's on his team. So that does set him apart from a lot of prospects because we talked about it on this show

endlessly with Rutger Magrorty, a guy who we liked a lot of aspects of his game and still do. But he needed that time in the American Hockey League to become a professional level skater, to get his skating up to the ability where he could play at the NHL level. The thing I look about, it's the inverse, as I said for Potter. The skating's there. The speed is there. If he can round out the other parts of his game and develop correctly, this is absolutely a potential useful NHL player,

a good middle six forward if the rest of that part of his game develops. I agree. I think he's probably going to go a bit later in the first round. I'd be a little bit surprised if he was a top 15 pick, but say, you know, maybe the 20-ish range, maybe a bit lower in the first round. That's probably where I think he's going to go if I had to guess. But again, a lot of this is going to be so random come Friday night

just because there's evaluations that are all over the place for the 2025 NHL draft. But that would do it for this first segment. Coming up in the second segment, we have another player to get to that I've really liked throughout this process as well, that I definitely think will also be there. at 11 or 12 that's coming up right after this. Before we get to that, though, we have to tell you all about our first sponsor, and that is Ruggiat.

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Combounded drugs are permitted to be prescribed under federal law but are not FDA approved and do not undergo FDA safety effectiveness or manufacturing review. Please visit the Ruggiat website for full safety information. All right here on this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Andrejones, joined by my co-Cohs, Pat, the last player on my endorsement list, I've talked about him quite a bit already on the show throughout the year. And that is my boy Ben Kendall. Buddy, I love this player as well. He is definitely going to be there at 11 or 12,

though I think kind of like Colin Potter, you're probably going to say the same thing. Might be a little bit of a reach at that rate. But I still think this is a first round talent. And again, just like Potter, if some of their other targets ahead are gone, I would be totally fine with Ben Kindle there. I think he's one of the more underrated prospects in this class. I am higher on him than some others are. Totally fine with that.

If you disagree with me, that's cool. This year, he has speed for days, really good motor, really great release. He's good at winning the one-on-one battles. I saw him do it quite often along the boards this year, especially for someone who is a little bit short. I mean, you look at him, 510, 180 pounds, but he uses it to his advantage. the way that he's able to win one-on-one battles along the boards this season was a lot of fun.

35 goals, 99 points the season for the Calgary Hitman. He does have experience playing with Penguins Prospect Tanner Howe. They had a little bit of chemistry for that team. And I also think he's a really smart player. He's really out of position even when the puck is not on his stick. Good hockey IQ. Like him as a playmaker, I like the release. Just a really fun player to watch throughout this process.

So again, I have them, you know, a little bit lower when I compare it to someone like, you know, Eklund and O'Brien, a Brady Martin. You know, I've even, you know, put Roger McQueen a little bit over him, especially as I've gotten more comfortable with the medicals. But if a lot of these dudes are gone, I would be totally fine with Ben Kindle as a forward being the 11th pick. Though I know for some people might be a little bit of a reach, that's fine. You can disagree with me if you want.

That's just how I see it after watching the tape throughout the year. Well, it's good to see you pre-argue. with me. I'm glad we're at that point now because I do agree that this would be a bit of a reach at 11 or 12. And since you got to nerd out in the first segment, I got to obviously nerd out right here. Calgary hitmen, one of the best names in junior hockey. You know why? Because it's Brett the hitman heart. But here's the thing. I don't want to go full cliche sports talk, hockey talk radio with this one and use a phrase that so many do, but I'm going to anyway. This is one of the most cerebral players I've seen in a while when it comes to prospects.

He, you, you touched on it a little bit. He is an extremely smart hockey player. Yeah. He, again, the size is a concern. Ironic, me saying that that someone size is a concern. That's like five foot four people. Actually, I should say five foot two, but I don't want to be too meat to him on the pod. But the size isn't an issue because, one,

the drive is there. He doesn't play with any fear. He might be 510, 180, but he does not play 510.1. He's not afraid to go to the dirty areas, not afraid to use his body, not afraid to use leverage. But he often doesn't have to because rarely out of position, he gets to the right places. And he's very smart at reading the play. If you watch a lot of his tape from this year, picks off a lot of passes, forces opposing teams into low percentage situations with his positioning. This is a kind of player who the numbers are a lot better, obviously, but it's a lot like who we talked about yesterday in Radim Merca. It's the kind of player where a lot of what he does isn't going to jump off the tape at you.

The stats aren't going to jump off the page of you, though they will this year when you put up 99 points in 65 games. That's a nice bit of work. But you look at his overall game. And it's just simple and smart. In the right position, responsible defensively, makes very good decisions with the puck. And while I don't think this is a good pick at 11 or 12,

I will add this caveat to it. You could do a lot worse. This is a player who, you're going to get an honest effort out of. You're rarely going to worry about. If he develops correctly, it might not be the most productive player in your lineup, which that's a bit of an issue that the penguins are eventually going to need to

address here over the next couple of years because you're not, at least right now, you're obviously not going to have another Sidney Crosby come along, Fgeny Malkin, et cetera, et cetera. So eventually you're going to need a game breaker. But this is a player who, who you're never going to worry about being a liability. He is a player who knows how to play the game,

plays it extremely smart and extremely efficiently. At the end of the day, I have these two players on my endorsement list, and they would be totally fine picks, at least for me, but I still have other players ahead of them who I'm like, okay, these are more slam-dung picks.

I wanted to add Potter and Kindle here, especially because, A, I mean, I loved watching them and I see the skill set that they have, and B, in case something crazy happens and, you know, say a lot of their other top targets are gone, you still have these two players there among a whole bunch of others, where if you take one of them, I'd be like, okay, I at least see the vision, even though they're not as high on my board as

some of the other players I've already talked about, you know, Eklund, O'Brien, Brady Martin, even a Roger McQueen, etc. I think they're going to take a defenseman with one of those picks, Kishon agents, and Jackson Smith, Radhamerka. We've talked about them as well. but these two players, they have unique skill sets that I do think can translate to the NHL if they are also able to fine-tune other aspects of their games. There is another player. I put in my Honorable Winchons category, but I still want to talk about him a little bit. That is Justin Carbino of the QMJHL.

Pat, I'm sure you didn't watch him that much this past season. I know, again, prospects aren't your biggest go-to thing. I love doing this for the Penguin-specific board, especially for the first round. And for those who want to know, I didn't do as much watching for, you know, second round and beyond. I really wanted to focus this year on a lot of the players that will be available to the Penguins in the first round, which is because that's just what I wanted to do this year. But for Carbono, in the QMJHL, 46 goals, 89 points in 62 games, the offensive upside is very much there. I like the shot.

I like the playmaking ability. But I think shot selection could use a little bit of improvement. and I think also his two-way game could improve a little bit as well. I know the Penguins have been linked to him a little bit. I expect him to be a first round pick, but did just want to add him as an honorable mention to and the show. Do you have anything else to add before we get to our last segment? Excuse me.

The thing with Carbono, and I'll just peel the curtain back a little bit for our viewers and listeners here is Hunter does give me a heads up on the players he wants to talk about on his draft board. So I can prepare. So I'm not sitting here unprepared, not having watched film, not having read scouting reports on these players. Carbino is an interesting one to me because you can see the skill. You can see the hands.

He's got silky hands. This kid is a magician with the puck. But the problem to me is, and I feel bad kind of being the turd in the punch bowl with a lot of these draft board guys because this is kind of how we got to talk about it. We got to do the pros and cons. We can't hype every player up as the next one. The thing with Carbono for me at the end of the day is what else can he do? Can you find other parts of his game? Because, again, the thing I always come back to, especially when you talk about,

especially a league like the queue, the queue is the epitome of all gas, no breaks. That's a league where if you are a defenseman in the queue, you're a fifth or sixth forward. So being that that league put such an emphasis on just offense, offense, offense, guys do have a bit of a, I don't want to say skewed, but a bit of a skewed view because someone like this needs to play in the NCAA like right away. Like that's that's a type of league where you need to play against better players who I don't want to say we'll punish you for your mistakes, though they kind of will at the same time. But it'll be much more of a learning experience where he can really work on aspects of his game.

Again, like the shot selection and like his two-way play. Right. And I'll finish it up with this with Carbono is the skill is there. The skating is there. But he does need to become more of a complete player in my estimation to become a useful NHL player. because at the end of the day, who he is in the queue, everybody in the NHL is that player. Everybody's got that skill. I know you'll bring up all the bruisers and fourth line guys, but guess what?

When they were in juniors, when they were in minor hockey, they were the best players on the ice. So it's an intriguing player because, again, skating's there, skill is there. Can he become more of a complete player? And if he can and he can put that all together, I could be. be a diamond in the rough for a team if they get him. Yeah, I expect him to be available at 11 or 12. Still think it's more unlikely that he's the pick right now, but I still expect him to also be a first round pick in some capacity come Friday night.

I'd be a little surprised if he slid out of the first round. But I think that would do it for the second segment. And that'll also do it for my endorsement list for the first round of the 2025 NHL draft for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Let me know what you think down in the comments. You can send us DMs and all that. Are there players on that list that year? higher on than me, are there players on this list that you're lower on than me?

Please let me know. Really excited to hear your guys' thoughts. But that'll do it for this second segment. Coming up to end the show, could the Penguins still make a big splash and trade up in the first round of the 2025 NHL draft for one of Porter Martone or James Hagan's? Pat and I are going to discuss that right after this. Before we get to that, we have to tell you all about our other sponsor,

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I've seen my spending add up quite a bit throughout the years, and it's always good to budget your money whenever you can. But again, one more time, take control your finances with Monarch Money. Use code locked on NHL at Monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. That's Monarchmoney.com code locked on NHL for half off your first year. All right, we're back here on this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes. joined by my coes, Pat Damp, and Pat.

Scott Wheeler put out a pretty big article on the athletic today, discussing what he's hearing, going into the 2025 initial draft that will start on Friday, June 27th. And he discussed the Penguins a lot in how it sounds like they are still being aggressive, trying to trade up in this draft for one of Porter-Martone or James Higgins. There is some conjecture out there that James Higgins could slide out of the top five, which is to me ridiculous. I don't know why teams are potentially going to Galaxy Brainness. I've seen the talk that Anton Frundel could go number two.

I like Frontel quite a bit. I would not take him number two over Mesa. I think the Islanders are going to go with Schaefer at one. I'd be stunned if they didn't. But I don't know why Misa would fall out of the top two. I think he is the second best player at least in the draft. I don't think you need a Galaxy Brainness and take Frontel number two. with Higgins though, he's the real deal.

Him and Martone are completely different players, but they're still both so good that they'll be ready either A, right away, I mean, personally, I think they can be ready right away, or B, they might need all, like one year of seasoning. But when it comes to the trade here, and we've talked about this quite a bit on our show these last couple weeks, we dedicated an entire episode to what a potential trade could look like. Pat, I feel like for the Penguins, what they're thinking is,

is we could trade one of the picks plus other things to move up to draft one of those two guys, if possible, and then keep the other pick to take the next best player available. I don't think they're going to trade both picks to move up to take one player. Like, the more that I thought about it in the last few weeks, the less it makes sense, to be honest, I don't think you should trade. both those picks to move up for one player. Does that one player, if it's Marjorner-Hagans, really help? Yes, but I still want another pick at 12,

which is why I think they would look to dangle one of those picks. But the problem is, Pat, teams in the top 10 are going to be looking for quite a bit to move down, especially because this draft, again, is going to be so random. So are the Penguins going to keep making calls? Oh, 100%. I think Kyle Dubus and company are going to keep trying to be aggressive. But even if they can't move up and say they don't get Hagan's, they don't get more tone.

Just go BPA at 11 and 12, aka best player available. That's where I land. Well, I like that Scott Wheeler listens to the show because here's the thing. Who did he say that they've inquired with? Chicago. And they want to try to get that number three pick,

according to Scott's reporting. And that is what I have said on the show, that there are two teams above the penguins that they should be calling. Chicago and Nashville for two different reasons. One, Chicago, they need to take a step forward. It hasn't been too long yet, but the clock is ticking. They need to start taking advantage of having Connor Bedard.

They've got their goalie now in Spencer Knight, which is often one of the hardest things to get when you're a rebuilding team, is finding that long-term franchise goalie. And while we can't say definitively that that is what's, Spencer Knight is, there's a lot of good opportunity and a lot of potential there for Spencer Knight to be that guy. The other one is Nashville at five because Nashville was not supposed to be picking in the top five, let alone the top half of the draft. With everything Barry Trots tried to do last off season, that is a team that wants to be good and wants to be good now. And if you're

picking fifth overall for no other reason, then that's where you've landed in the lottery after missing the playoffs, that's a GM you can take advantage of. So I, and to your other point, I think that's the right way to look at it is this isn't going to be the penguins packaging both picks in trying to move up for two different reasons. One, they're not enticing enough picks to get you up into the top 10, right, or even the top five. 11 and 12 in this draft are fine. they're going to get you useful, even good prospects. Yes. But it's not a deep enough draft where, say if you're Chicago, say if you're Nashville,

where you go, oh, yeah, that's fine. Like we're, we can live with getting those two picks. The other reason is it's, it's the antithesis of what Kyle Dubus is trying to do right now. He is going for both quantity and quality. He is going to try to take a bet on several. prospects rather than just a handful of them in hoping that they work out. The more prospects you have in the system, the more likely it is that more of them hit and are useful contributors at the NHL level.

And going off that, like, they want the quality to try and potentially trade up. That's why they're being aggressive by potentially dangling one of those two picks to go get, I think, one of the four best prospects in the draft in Porter, Murton, or J. B. Higgins. And then you kind of have the quantity as well where if you do that, if you can swing it, it makes sense. You trade up. You get one of those two guys.

You still have that other pick in the early teens where you can take another player, one of the three defensemen that we've talked about, another four, maybe Victor Eklund slides down there. So you can kind of do both at the same time, but it has to make sense. If the deal doesn't make sense, even though they're trying to be aggressive,

okay, no matter. You can just stay at 11 and 12, pick the two best players available. Bing, Bada, boom. There you go. And here's the thing. You've got a potential Eric Carlson trade if he's willing to go. And I doubt it would be Chicago. It might be Nashville.

You've also got Brian Rust. But that's one of the things where your deal could be this and this for future considerations. And your future consideration is Brian Rust on July 2nd. But then you also have Ricard Raquel, who you've been trying to move. And if here's the. thing. I want there to be a king's ransom for Ricard Raquel, but I also look at it as if you can move into the top three or the top five of the draft and keep one of your 11th or 12th overall picks along with that third or fifth pick, that's a good enough return for me because at three or five,

like you said, you're getting a player who might be ready right away and can be in the Penguins opening night lineup, or it could be very similar to McGroity and Coivin. where they're not going to be ready on opening night, but come December, January, February, they're probably going to have achieved all they can at the AHL level. Time to move them up. So realistically, again, I come back to what I said on the episode when we found out that they were going to get the Rangers pick.

They're in a good position no matter what. If they use both picks, they're going to get two players who are going to be useful. if they move up, even better. You're going to get a player who might be useful even sooner. So regardless of the outcome, the effort needs to be there. He needs to do his due diligence and try to move up. If he can't, like you said, Hunter, BPA. Well, Martone would have to go back to junior or he can hit the NCAA just because

that's the thing now. Jackson Smith's going to Penn State. We have to see if Gavin McKenna is going to commit there. James Higgins, he already goes to Boston College. So he's playing college hockey. So just wanted to throw that out there as well for you. I digress, but 100% agree at the end of the day. If you can't swing it, just take best player available and let the chips fall where they may.

I'm really excited to see what happens going into Friday. And speaking of that, Pat and I might be going live for part of the first round of the 2025 NHL draft here on YouTube. We're considering it. We'd have a little bit of fun for an hour. React to some of the top picks, see what the penguins do, give our instant reactions. We are very much considering it. So if you see that notification, come, have fun with us. a beverage and just vibe.

We're very much considering going live for the start of the 2025 NHL draft. But that will do it for this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. Thank you all so much for take the time to listen to slash watch this one. Pat and I will be back with a fresh episode of you guys on Friday. And then potentially we're going to go live on YouTube Friday night for the 2025 NHL draft. We're still finalizing things there. But hopefully that is going to be the plan.

So again, for Patrick Gamp, I'm Hunter Hodes. Thank you guys so much. for tuning in. We appreciate it. We'll be back on Friday.