Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Penguins crushed in preseason opener, but who stood out?

Episode Date: September 23, 2024

The Pittsburgh Penguins got their butts whooped on Saturday night, losing 7-3 to the Buffalo Sabres, but there were some positives when it came to individual player performances. Hunter and Patrick discuss the game and how individual player performances matter a lot more than the result. With that in mind, they discussed who stood out and how Jesse Puljujarvi increased his stock in just one game. They also detail how great Harrison Brunicke was before moving on to a busy week ahead for this team with two preseason games and a lot of practices. They take a look at some lines, what needs to happen this week, and what to expect with the lineups for the games this week. They then close the show with some even more Jager talk, who is now an Emmy winner!Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNHL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.PrizePicksDownload the PrizePicks app today and use code LOCKEDONNHL and get $50 instantly when you play $5. PrizePicks. Run Your Game. FanDuelPlace your first FIVE DOLLAR bet and you’ll get started with TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in BONUS BETS - guaranteed !Visit FANDUEL.COM to get started. IndeedStill searching for a great candidate for your company? Don’t search, just match–with Indeed.Claim your SEVENTY-FIVE DOLLAR CREDIT now at Indeed.com/LOCKEDON. Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire? You need Indeed. 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.

The Penguins got whooped by the Sabres during Saturday's opening preseason game, but who were some players that stood out? Pat and I are going to discuss that right after this. You're Locked-on Penguins, your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguin, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello, welcome back to another episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I am one of your host, Hunter Hodes. You can follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes.

Join my host, Patrick Damping, and follow him on Twitter. at Center for Wet, and you can follow the show's Twitter at L.O. Underscore Penguins, of course, thank you all so much for making this your first lesson slash watch of the day. We are free and available on all platforms. And finally, today's episode is brought to you by Fandul. Place your first $5 bet, and you'll get started with $200 in bonus bets. Guaranteed visit fandul.com to get started. Yes, everyone, I am officially back from my trip to Aruba. It was nice getting to see my family, celebrate my uncle's 50th birthday, and just getting away for one last time during the summer before coming back and being full steam ahead for the

upcoming 24-25 season. The next time I take a full-on vacation won't be until next summer at this rate. But I am fully locked in for the season. Pat is fully locked in as well. I'm just glad to back home after a week away. And speaking of that, I, along with Pat, we were able to watch the Penguins opening pre-season loss against the Buffalo Sabers. The Penguins got off to a good start, but then got blitzed by the Sabrebers in the last 40 minutes. And then they lost 7 to 3. I will say this, though, about preseason hockey in general. I care way more about individual player performances than the actual results. And this, I think you can take to other sports as well, NFL, NBA, MLB with spring training, etc.

The individual player performances are always so much more important than results. If you want to be a little annoyed at the result, you go right ahead. I never really get too annoyed at preseason results just because the games don't mean anything. The games actually have meaning once October rolls around. So just wanted to put that out there. And speaking of that, the player that I really want to focus on to start today's show is yes, he pull Yardv. He gets the hatchet, three really nice souls for the Penguins during that game. He gets things started with a power play goal, a really nice deflection to make it won nothing.

And I like that power play a lot. Isn't it funny, Pat, where you have a power play, there's a lot of movement, a net front presence, and there's no one playing patty cake at the point with the puck. It's almost like I've been waiting to see that for a while. Yes, I know it's preseason, but I still wanted to point it out. But that was still a really nice goal from Poole-RV with the deflection. The second goal, kind of a little bit of a mini breakaway goes forehand, backhand, really nice goal.

And then the third one, I think that was his best of the night. Just what a release from Poole-R-R-V. And as someone who, you know, I think we both have been kind of on the fence about him potentially making this team just because of the logjam it forward. he's giving the coaching staff quite a bit to think about right now because again, games always have more weight than practice and I think he definitely sent a message to the coaching staff saying, hey, I'm still here and I'm making a run to make this team

and be in the top 12 one opening night against New York Rangers. He definitely helped his case in this one. For me, he was one of the two best players on the ice for the Penguins overall. What do you make from Paul Yarvey's game? Obviously, you always, are happy with a hat trick because three goals are three goals no matter which way you cut it. And like you were saying, all three goals were different. The third goal or the first goal, excuse me, is a power play goal, a tip in at the side of the

net. You love to see that. You love to see that net front presence with the man advantage. The second goal, the partial breakaway. He said as much after the game that last year in his recovery from that double hip surgery, he didn't really have that kind of speed and power because he was still recovering from a very difficult surgery. So being able to get to that speed and make that move shows that he is progressing a lot more now that he's kind of out of that recovery mode. And then like you said, the third goal, incredible release on that shot, an absolute laser by him.

But away from the three goals, I noticed him all night. He was one of the best players on the ice. he was very physical. He was not afraid to get to throw hits. He was not afraid to be involved in puck retrievals in the offensive zone. He was active in the defensive zone. I liked his game in all three zones on Saturday night. And obviously, this is anecdotal, and I haven't done the research on it,

but I can't think of a player that has had stock rise this quickly in a training camp because I said it while you were on vacation. I agree with our friend Kelsey Sirmats, who wrote this as well, that I really thought he was in a bad spot. I thought, oh, this guy's not going to make the team. This guy is going to start the season in the HL. And then within a matter of 24 hours, he goes from that to maybe pencil his name in for opening night. Obviously, this can all change because still got a few weeks of training camp to go.

but Saturday night, man, his stock shot way up, and I loved his game top to bottom. Right. I don't think I want to pencil him in as a lock just yet, but he's certainly getting to that territory, especially if he's able to build on that performance and have some other really good preseason games. I imagine he's going to be in the lineup for at least one of the preseason games this week, if not both of them, we'll touch on that a little bit in the second segment. but if he keeps building on that performance and has some more good ones during these preseason games, I think he'll definitely have a great shot at making this team out of camp. And then, you know, that allows for some tough roster decisions with some of the other players fighting for spots.

You know, someone may have to go to the HL, but you maybe didn't expect. Maybe someone gets traded that you didn't expect to be dealt. So this is only a good thing for the Penguins. And just in that game, he looked more. healthy. You know, obviously last year was really tough for him coming off that double hip surgery. He really didn't have that full offseason to train. You fast forward this year, he gets that full off season. And you can tell already, at least through one preseason game, excuse me, that it's made a difference. And he was a forechecking menace all night. I mean, he's always been

a pretty solid forechecker for his career. I liked his forechecking last year. But he took that up 100 degrees it felt like in this preseason game. He was always forechecking his tail off when he was out there on the ice. Really fun performance from him. My other standout Pat, Penguins prospect Harrison Roonick. He was a menace on the ice as well. And just watching him with the puck on his stick, it's honestly like poetry in motion, to be honest. He's also so smooth as a skater. The way that he was able to quarterback the power play in the first period, it felt like he'd been doing it for so long. And again, people, I'm not trying to overreact. He's not going to make the team out of camp. He's going to go back.

to his junior team, but this is still a player that I think within two or three years could be a really solid defenseman at the NH level. You're seeing the already really good talent that he has this young. That was a really nice performance from the Payman's prospect. It was. And I agree with you. He's going to probably head back to juniors at some point during this training camp, but it was a very solid performance for him. And the reason we say, that is you didn't really touch on this in you know because I'm with you on the don't worry about the outcome of games during the preseason you want to focus on some individuals or groups of players and how they play this was a mostly minor league team lineup for the penguins on

saturday night while as on the other side that's very close to what buffalo is going to look like on opening night with some exceptions here and there so you kind of expected this outcome on Saturday night when you saw the lineups that this was basically a handful of NHLers and mostly minor league and junior players for the Penguins against what's essentially an NHL team in Buffalo. But you see the way he played against mostly NHL competition. And that's very encouraging. So I like what I saw from him.

Overall, though, both individually and as a group, I was not very happy with the Penguins defense on Saturday night. I thought their defensive play was extremely sloppy. in the defensive zone. Joel Blumquist had no hope at all, had a very great first period, 16 saves on 17 shots, but he was not getting,

excuse me, any help all night long. So that was more of a mercy poll than anything. And I'll say this. I said it during the game, speaking of the defense, everyone was angry that Ryan Graves was out for a goal against,

but it was Mack Hollowell who made a very bad play to lead to that goal and kind of put him out on an island. And while Graves wasn't great on Saturday night, if you're talking about the way we've talked about him where you have to build him back up and put him in a bottom pairing role, I didn't notice him a lot on Saturday night. And if that's where we're going with the progression for Ryan Graves, that's what you want, that's what you want to not see. You don't want to notice him. You want him to just play a somewhat solid game.

don't see him stand out. And the other thing is he was out for the first goal against on the penalty kill, but he bounced back after that. He was able to balance his game. And that's where this has to go because you look at the way he played last year and he would make a mistake or there would be a goal against and he would spiral. It would just get worse throughout the evening. That didn't happen on Saturday.

He was able to find his level and play okay. and if we're going to build him back up to where he has to perform to for what his contract is, this was a solid first step. Basically, what Pat is saying is that these are baby steps for Ryan Graves at this point. And I wasn't surprised that he was in the lineup here, considering how bad he was last year,

you know, again, I don't feel like he's really owed anything at this point. You want to get back to your level. Okay, you're going to go out here, play with a bunch of kids, and see what you can do against the Buffalo Sabres, kind of their, what, A-minus B-plus team?

It's somewhere in that category, I think is who the Sabers were playing overall with their players. So throw him to the Wolves against that Sabres, A-minus, or B-plus team, and then also have him play with a bunch of kids. I was totally fine with it, considering how bad he was last year. You got to build up that value somehow. Again, you're right. He was on the ice for the goal against.

Really wasn't his fault. He was okay during the game. That's really all I can say about. Graves at this point. Other than that, I thought Tristan Bros. I thought he played a really solid game for the Penguins. I thought Ponomerov continued to look really strong. He was great in Prospect Camp, had a really good preseason debut here. He's also, you know, continuing to potentially make a push for the opening night roster as well. But other than that, I really don't have too much else to say individual player performance wise from this game. Do you have anything else before we had to break?

You touched on it briefly. I'll say this real quick. Again, it's preseason. Again, this was mostly a minor league and junior style roster for the penguins. But the first goal from Jesse Poyarvey on the power play, if this is the kind of system we're going to see this team run, especially when the big guns start getting some playing time, I think we're going to see a big improvement because we saw what we didn't see a lot of through 82 games last season, which was they moved the puck,

they moved bodies, they got somebody in front, and they managed to take advantage of mismatch. matches two on ones, three on twos, where they had the full advantage and it leads to a goal. So if they're able to put this in place with the big names, I think this power play is going to have a big bounce back year. Well, let's hope so, man, because this unit needs to be, again, at least average this year with the amount of talent that's coming back overall for this team.

But that will do it for this first segment. Coming up in the second segment, we're going to look at the week ahead for the penguins with their preseason schedule and also look at some lines during training camp. practice on Monday and how the penguins are starting to fill in some pieces in their forward lineup and their defensive hearings as well. But before we get to that, we have to tell you all about our first sponsor, and that is Indeed. We're driven by the search for better, but when it comes to hiring, the best way to search for a candidate is not to search at all. Don't search match with Indeed. If you need to hire, you need Indeed. Indeed is you're matching a hiring platform

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be at Indeed.com slash locked on. Just go to Indeed.com slash locked on right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Indeed.com slash locked on terms and conditions apply. If you need to hire, you need Indeed. And we're not done. We still have to tell you about our next sponsor, which is prize picks. Prize picks is America's number one daily fantasy sports app with over five million active members. Prize picks is the easiest and most exciting way to play daily fantasy sports.

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Dam. So Pat, training camp continues this week with a bunch of practices and of course a couple of preseason games as well. The Penguins will be back in action on Tuesday against the Buffalo Sabres. I almost said the Red Wings by accident. That is the Saturday game. Almost had a brainfire on this Monday. Well, when you play like the same four teams every preseason, it's easy to get them a little mixed up because it seems like every preseason, it's the Sabres, the Senators, the Blue Jackets, the Red Wings, and maybe one other. I had it written on my notes, but I was like, wait, did I just almost mess that up for a second? But no, the Penguins will play the Sabres. This time at PBG Paints Arena on Tuesday in a rematch from Saturday's game.

They'll then play the Red Wings in Detroit on Saturday before playing the game. against the senators on Sunday. If I had to imagine, I'm guessing you're going to see a lot of young players in the game on Tuesday and on Saturday before I think you see the first dress rehearsal of the season on Sunday. Those final two to three preseason games, you'll be seeing more of the regulars in that lineup. The Penguins usually only do one to two dress rehearsal games, if that during the preseason anyway.

You'll see some teams do the dress rehearsal a bit earlier, like Buffalo just did against the Penguins. But the Penguins really don't do it. that often. They always want to kind of, again, protect Cindy Crosby, protect Evgeny Malc, protect Crystal Tane. You see the same thing with the Steelers in football. Heck, T.J. Watt didn't even play it in the preseason

this year. So you always want to protect your big guns as much as possible. So I think you'll see a lineup mostly of kids these next two and then the game against Ottawa, which is obviously, you know, that big one, Pat. I think you'll see the big guns playing that one and then a bit later on as well. And then there will also be continuing to practice

this week as well. Right now, there are some practice lines. Anthony Bavilliers. with Cine Crosby and Brian Rust. No surprise there, since Bavillia is on team one with Crosby, and then you have Michael Bunting with Hennie Malk and Ricardo Rakel. Also, no surprise there, because that's probably going to be the second line during the season. And then defensive pairings, that's kind of a hint of, I think, what we're going to see during the regular season, even though we're still very much during camp.

They have Matt Grizzlick with Crystal Tang. Again, I think that's going to be the top pairing. You have Marcus Pedersen, Sebastian Aho. Aho, kind of being the placeholder for Eric Carlson, once he returns from. this little injury. And then you have Jack St. Ivony with Ryan Graves, excuse me, maybe a hint of what could be the bottom pairing when the regular season starts. And then you also have the power play. They're starting to actually do some power play work today, Pat. And it's the big guns out there right now, Evgeny Malkin, Chris LaTang, Brian Rust, and Ricard Raquel, and then,

of course, Cindy Crosby. And then the second unit, Lars Eller, Michael Bunting, Anthony Bavillier, Kevin Hayes and Matt Griswick. And then there's also a third unit out there with Brewston, Pooley, RV, Benstrom, Huntington, and Crawl. So really, no surprise with at least the first two powerplay units. Once Carlson comes back, I assume he's going to take the place of someone on that top property unit, whether it's Latang, whether it's Raquel. But overall, what do you make of the lines to start practice on Monday?

And what do you make of the preseason schedule this week? Well, I'll say this much. This is something I said while you were on vacation. looking at training camp this year is I want to see some creativity from Mike Sullivan and we're kind of seeing that. He's putting different players in different positions to see what works because this is a very unique training camp where you have some competition. You know, this isn't a young team with only a couple of guys who are regulars and you're trying to figure everything out, but you have pretty much your main contributors locked in and you know where they're going to go.

So for that bottom six, do a bunch of shuffling. For the bottom pair, do a bunch of shuffling. And obviously let these younger goalies get some extended looks because you know Jari and the Delkovic are going to be there. So this is encouraging to me because maybe you find a line for the third or fourth line that all of a sudden, oh, maybe it's one of the younger guys and one of these veterans that seem to work well together. And it achieves that goal that they have of wanting to get some younger players into the lineup. So I'm a big fan of this. And I agree with you as well.

I think over the next two games, we're not going to see anything close to what could be an opening night roster. Because again, you want to see what some of these new guys, some of these younger players have, especially because Buffalo, I didn't realize this until I looked into the schedule. But their preseason is a little bit accelerated because they're going over to Europe to start the season as part of that international series. So their training camp in preseason is a little bit condensed because they're going to start the year early. So they have to figure out who is going to be on their roster. They don't have time to toy around, so to speak, like the penguins do. So you're going to see a lot of regulars against Buffalo because they're going to have to start their season early. So that's why we saw that Saturday.

That's why we're probably going to see that again tomorrow. So this is to my point. I like what we're seeing so far. I want to see this creativity. I want to see this line juggling in guys going on to different teams and going on to different lines being put in different situations because you really need to figure out who is going to go where outside of the regulars. And we know what we're going to get from Sidney Crosby, Fgeny, Gennie Malkin, Ryan Rust, Eric Carlson, Chris LaTang, so on and so forth.

They don't need a three to four week runway to get up to speed. These guys are elite players. We know what they're going to bring. We know how they play. Let some of these guys who are your unknowns. Give them extended looks. Give them elevated roles and see how they do. So so far, I'm happy with what I'm seeing out of training camp.

Yeah, no, I agree. And I do think at least when it comes to the power play, I think you're going to see bunting in some capacity up on the top unit during the season, considering how good of a net front presidency is on this team. I know he's on the second unit right now. But again, still very early in camp, I assume he's going to get some reps with the top unit. A couple other lines that at least piqued my interest.

Kevin Hayes with Lars Eller and Cody Glass. Eller actually centering those two, not Hayes, which I found a bit interesting because, you know, Hayes, he was brought in as a center, but, you know, he does have a history of at least playing wing a little bit, but still, at least peaked my interest a little bit there. And then also Valtrei Pustin with Avery Hayes on the line. I don't like that Pustin is a bit lower down there.

I feel like overall again right now, when I look at this lineup, I think he is one of their 12 best forwards, in my opinion. He should be getting those types of reps. Yeah, he wasn't horrible on Saturday night, but I would like to see more from him. So I think at this point, very similar to Pollyarvy, he has to, regardless of where you put him in the lineup, he has to assert himself, and I didn't really see that on Saturday night. So while I may not like where he is right now, he eventually has to put it upon himself.

to prove that he belongs in the top 12 on opening night. I agree. And I think you'll see him do that throughout the preseason here because he's going to play in, I feel like quite a few more preseason games, at least in my opinion, compared to some of the other big guns who aren't going to be playing in those games. So definitely have an opportunity, in my opinion. And also you have McGority with Ponomaritan Paul Yarvey on a line, and then O'Connor with Laza and Achari.

That latter one, O'Connor with Lazot and Achari, you know, playing with two centers. That's at least interesting for camp purposes. but I don't see him playing with Lizal and Achari during the season, at least in my opinion, he's going to be one of the middle six-wingers. I think with Lizat and Achari, they're both going to be on the fourth line for me to start this season. You know, two-thirds of that line, I feel like could be the fourth line this year, at least to me. I do want to see what that line does in game action should they use it, just because at the

very least, I'm interested in it. Like, I mostly agree with you, but that kind of gives me. me a vibe of maybe this could work. And especially if you can find somebody to supplant the first line and place a DOC, I think if you were to put him in that role on that line, you might have something there of a line that just plays fast, causes chaos, and does a good job with the forecheck and the defensive zone as well. So while I kind of agree with you that I don't think that's going to be line moving forward. I think there's a world where they could work well together, and that might be a nice little toll to have in the toolbox if you need it. The good thing is that they have Achari on

wing to start training campaign because I feel like that's where he is best suited at this point in his career, in my opinion, I think he is better as a winger compared to a center because Lazot, let's face it. He's better penalty killer, better in the defensive zone, at least to me. He brings a little bit more offense. I would rather have him meet the center compared to Oshari, who, you know, he doesn't have to do the face-off duties, but if he has step in, he definitely can't consider me. He has history at center, but I still feel like Achari is better at wing compared to C, at least to me. But I think that I'll do it for the second segment. Coming up to end the show, we're going to have some fun.

Yarmier-Yager, obviously, Pittsburgh Penguins and NHL legend. He is now an Emmy winner. We're going to discuss that to end the show and a couple of other things as well. But before we get to that, we have to tell you about our final sponsor, and that is Fandle. Hey NFL fans, you can start the season with a big return on Fandall, America's number one sportsbook. So when you get a hunch in the middle of the game, you can check out the latest stats, view live play-by-play, and so much more on the same page where you place your bets. You'll get started with $200 in bonus bets, guarantee when you place your first $5 bet. That's fandle.com.

All right, we're back here with this episode of the Lockdodd-Pegwoods podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodeys. joined by my host Patrick Dibb. So Pat, what can't Yager do at this point? He is now won an Emmy thanks to the Yager retirement ceremony for Celebrate 68. He won the Emmy for producer, writer of it.

Also, Kevin Acklin was an executive producer. For it, you also had Paul Stagerbaud win an Emmy as a writer. So congratulations to the whole Penguins team on getting an Emmy for that. And of course, Yager, but again, what can't he do at this point, buddy? I mean, at this point, do we have to put Yarmir Yager on Egot watch? Is he going to get the Emmy Grammy Oscar and Tony Award?

I don't think it's out of the question. But honestly, though, also related to the Emmys before I get into the Yager part of it, congratulations to a bunch of my coworkers as well at KDKATV. They also brought home quite a few Emmys on Saturday night. So love to see that for some of my favorite people. in the world. But yeah, this is really cool. And it's very well deserved. I will say it's a little bit bittersweet because in the room was one of the things that won as well. And unfortunately, Leo McAfority and that team are no longer with the Penguins. And in the room has concluded,

so to speak, with the Penguins, which is sad because I loved in the room. It really capitalized on that momentum that came from HBO's 24-7. when the Penguins were on that with the Capitals before the 2011 Winter Classic, which is just such a classic piece of film. Overall, though, this is really cool. It's well deserved because that entire ceremony top to bottom was pitch perfect. But Hunter, you were on a plane back to Pittsburgh when the news of Yarmour Yager officially, well, officially he hasn't really like said, hey, I'm retiring,

but all signs point to it. his agent said it. I did a whole first segment on Yarmory Yager's retirement, and it would be unfair to our listeners if you didn't have the chance to wax poetic as well about Double J and how it seems like the superhero who never was going to die is finally going to hang up the skates. So I got to give you the floor on that one. It stinks, but it's also, I know, a long time coming, considering how long he's been playing

for. And I'm going to echo something that I know you said during the episode. They need to make a special rule for him that he can go into the Hockey Hall of Fame right away. I don't care about the rules right now. This is Yarmir freaking Jager, a top 10 player to ever play this game. There should be a special rule for him to get into the Hockey Hall of Fame right away. He should not have to wait. And the best part is he keeps scoring.

I know you almost mentioned that during your Friday episode. I saw some YouTube comments kind of just poking fun at you a little bit. of course. We love having fun down there. But he's still scoring. He scored last week for his team. He will not stop scoring throughout this season. He continues to play really well despite being very old. And even though this is going to be his last season, I'm excited to see what's next for him because I do think a job with the Penguins front office could be coming for him.

Maybe he does some scouting work for the Penguins. Maybe he gets some sort of other front office role where he helps with maybe potentially building the team with Kyle Dubas and Jason Spetson, the rest of the of this front office, but I do see the penguins offering him something as a role in the organization once he's officially done playing. Yeah, I mean, that's kind of what I've said it on the show multiple times now. I think if nothing else, if you don't want to give him a traditional hockey operations job where he's a scout, player development, some sort of roster building and roster construction job, he would be a great ambassador for the team.

And we know that even in 2024, how vast the planet is, you're not going to be able to scout every corner of the planet. You're not going to be able to get to every country and see every league and every minor team and junior team. And if you have him as someone who's your European ambassador, where he's going to these junior leagues, these semi-pro leagues in Europe, and you see Yarmir Yager show up and say, hey, we like a lot of what you're doing in this league. And you know what's a great organization to play for? The Pittsburgh Penguins, I spent 11 years there. They retired my number. And it's a great city

with a great organization. You know, you're on our radar, kid. That could be a huge thing for the organization because we have seen it throughout the history of the National Hockey League. Teams that are really good at scouting and putting themselves in Europe, find players in the second, third, fourth, and fifth rounds that nobody else sees. And then all of a sudden, these players have 10, 12, 15 year careers and become some of the best players in the organization. So I think just having the aura of Yarmir Yager as an ambassador for your franchise only increases the value. Yeah. And I do think there's a chance that he could be coming to put some games this season. just it was so awesome seeing him at plenty of games last season.

Even after the Jersey retirement, he was still just coming to games and extending his stay in Pittsburgh because of how much fun he was having. I could see something similar to that this year where he's not coming in for the Jersey retirement because that already happened. But I can see him coming in for maybe a few days to a week where the Penguins are having a small homestine, and maybe him getting that royal treatment that he got like he did last year and just getting to attend some games. Maybe the Penguins will win one of those for him, considering that they just kept losing when he was in the building last season as well. But I think that would do it for today's episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast.

Thank you all so much for taking the time to listen to slash watch this episode. Pat and I will be back with another episode of you all on Tuesday to preview the Penguin second preseason game. And then on Wednesday, we'll recap that game for you. Go over our favorite individual player performances. versus the players that really didn't stand out overall. But again, for Patrick Damp, I'm Hunzer Hodes. Thank you so much for tuning in.

We really appreciate it. We'll be back on Tuesday.