Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Penguins drop weekend back-to-back as trade deadline looms

Episode Date: March 3, 2025

The Penguins only got one of a possible four points in a weekend back-to-back against the Boston Bruins and the Toronto Maple Leafs. Patrick and Hunter begin the show talking about the team's decision to reassign goaltender Joel Blomqvist to the AHL while recalling Tristan Jarry to the big club. They discuss how, while it may be a bit of a puzzling move on the surface, it's the best for the medium-to-long-term development of Blomqvist. Then, they break down the Penguins' losses to the Bruins and Maple Leafs. Despite the two losses, the Penguins showed a lot of fight and that is also encouraging for the long-term. Finally, with the trade deadline set for Friday, they discuss their expectations for Kyle Dubas this week. Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!IndeedNow, you can speed up your hiring process with a $75 Sponsored Job Credit. Just go to Indeed.com/LOCKEDON right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Terms and conditions apply.Trade CoffeeGet 40% off your first order with Trade at drinktrade.com/lockedonnhl. 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 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in Bonus Bets if your first FIVE DOLLAR 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.

Today on Locked-on Penguins, Tristan Jari, the tank commander, has returned. Yoel Blumquist is back in the American Hockey League, and the penguins only get one of a possible four points in a weekend back-to-back. Hunter and I are going to break down all of that and more right after this. You're Locked-on Penguins, your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. And welcome back to another edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Patrick Damp. You can follow me across all social media platforms at Synonym 4Wet. Joined as always by my partner in crime, the one and only Hunter Hodes.

You can follow him on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. You can give our show's Twitter account a follow at L0 underscore Penguins. And of course, we appreciate you making us part of your daily routine. don't forget that we are free and available wherever you get your podcast as well as the Roku channel and YouTube. Plus, if you follow us on YouTube, don't forget to hit that notification button. It is trade deadline week. So you know you'll be the first to know when we drop our Monday through Friday episodes or any breaking trade news episodes. You want to make sure you're ready to get all of those as soon as they come out.

So first of all, Hunter, allow me to give a little bit of an apology. to our listeners today. I was at a wedding this past weekend, so my voice is still recovering a little bit. I'm not at 100%, but nobody is at this time of year in the NHL season. But let's get right into it before we started recording today. The Penguins made the announcement that they have recalled goaltender Tristanjari from the Wilkesbury Scranton Penguins and reassigned goaltender, Gilwell Blumquist to the American Hockey League. And what I'm about, out to say, I know is going to sound like I'm in conflict with my own arguments about how this team shouldn't tank and any of that stuff, or at least not intentionally tank, but hear me out on

this. I don't hate this move because you have to think long term with Yoel Blumquist. He's 23 years old. He's got a ton of potential. He's done very well in the American hockey league. You can see that there is a good goaltender in there. But between his struggles the past couple weeks at the NHL level, combined with the fact that this is an absolutely putrid defensive team, if you want Yoel Blumquist to be part of your organization for the next five, seven, ten, however many years, as one of your maybe starting goaltenders, or even if Sergei Murashov eclipses him in a few years, your 1B and you have a really good tandem. You can't risk his development with the way this season has gone at the NHL level for him.

The numbers for Yoel Blumquist are not that great at the NHL level. 49 and one record, 3.81 goals against average in an 885 save percentage and has allowed three or more goals in 10 of his 12 NHL starts. So I look at this more as they're not promoting Jari because he suddenly found his game in the NHL. Spoiler alert, he did not. He has not been very good down there either. But more of they want Yoel Blumquist to one, get some confidence back in two, this Wilkes-Ber team is very good. They are about to embark on what is hopefully a long Calder Cup playoff run.

So you want him to get that experience. you want him to get his swagger back and play for a better team. So overall, I know on the surface, this is probably an infuriating move to a lot of fans. But when you think about the big picture, I think this is the correct move. Well, Pat, for me, I'm going to take an L because I didn't think Tristan Jolly would ever play another game for the Penguins. It looks like, well, he is going to get some starts here down the stretch on the team. That's not going to make the playoffs.

So I will gladly take the L on that people. But realistically, the Penguins had two options. A, they could keep Blumquist up, give him a lion's share of the starts, kind of have him work through this and kind of put Nadelcovich on the bench for a little bit. Or B, they could give him a lot more starts in the HL and work out the kinks in his game that way. They chose for option B. I don't like the way Mike Sullivan kind of handled the situation at the NHL level. I understand that, again, that Alex Nadelcovich went on a little bit of the heater before the Four Nations face off,

but you had to know that wasn't going to last. Like I still felt like you could have split those charts up a bit more evenly. I think Sullivan kind of low-key screwed him by not playing Blumquist as often in the NHL. I do think that's part of it. However, he was horrendous against Toronto on Sunday. Those last three goals. I know you were in the car for most of the game, but those last three goals were awful. Like an NHL goalie should not be allowing those three goals, especially the one at

the end of the third period, me, oh, no, the end of the second period, excuse me. That came from Pluto from Matthew Nyes. You have to make a save there. The Willie Nealander won, unscreened, Locker's Side. And if you look at those last three goals, Pat, Blocker Side, Blocker Side, and Blocker Side. That has to be worked out. Like, again, you had two options. You either work this out here or you send him down to the A.

Either one, I'm fine with. They opted for, again, the latter. so you're going to bring Jari back up. He's probably not going to play that well, people. Do not have high expectations with the season that he has had. I would assume they'll probably keep giving Ndilkevich the lion's share of the starts. But they're trying to help Blumquist develop in what they hope is potentially there's future starting netminder. Obviously, they have Muroshov down in Wheeling, who, in my opinion, I think he's better than Blumquist, but that's just me.

But they're trying to help him because they know right now. now he's not playing very well. And by putting him with a, I know it's an HL team, but you put him in front of a team that is playing really structured defense, a team that is going for a Calder Cup run. I do think that can really help his game and they can fine-tune some of the things with him. I also, again, will say, it is beyond time to bring in some fresh new voices

for the goaltending coaching position during this off-season because we're going on five years of this where it's just like the Penguins can't even get consistent average goal-tending. And this is, again, this is not some journeyman goalie. This is a 23-year-old young netminder who you potentially think could be part of the long-term future here, potentially, again, you have to get this right. And yeah, I know that's a very long-winded answer, but at the end of the day, you've got to get this right.

They're hoping that this move helps that. And, hey, if the penguins keep losing games, you know, it gets them more likely to get a top five pick. Though, if Jari does play well, hey, maybe he can recoup some of that trade value,

Pat, because again, I don't think he's going to finish this contract here. I'm with you on that. I will push back on you a little bit. I don't think you should say you're taking the L on this, because this was a possibility.

This was something that could have happened. And we briefly touched upon it when all of this went down initially when they sent Jari back to the H.L. Was that there was a very real world where Blumquist comes in, in. And I don't want to overstate this and say that he was a disaster, but he was not good. He wasn't so horrific that he was unplayable, I don't think. He was a 23-year-old goalie who was getting

his first real looks at being an NHL goalie. At the start of the year, and this will kind of beat into what happened with the Rangers and the Maple Leafs. At the start of the year, you didn't have a lot of film on if you were an NHL team. You didn't, shooters weren't able to really get a read on, okay, where's his weakness, where should we target? What should we do? So there was a lot of things that were good saves, but also they were teams trying to figure out, okay, where is this goalie's weakness?

Yeah. And they didn't have that yet. So some of the stuff from the start of the season, I don't want to say it was smoke and mirrors, but he was more of an unknown to the NHL. when he gets back up, you saw it against the Rangers, and you definitely saw it against the Maple Leafs. A lot of blocker side. There was a lot of blocker side goals.

And that was teams with very good shooters realizing when you get a chance against Yo-O Blumquist, target the blocker side. He's got to work on that in the HAL now. He's got to strengthen his blocker side. And it was something that we talked about with Jesse Marshall a long time ago about Yoel Blumquist, as he said, that is kind of his weakness, is that he has got to work on his blocker side play. So to wrap this all up, I don't think you need to take the L on it because there was a bunch of possibilities. One was, like we saw happen, Alex Nadelcovic went on his

yearly heater, and then it eventually faded. That could have been an opportunity for Yoel Blumquist to step in and take the reins. And he struggled. But again, because he's a 23rd, three-year-old goalie, very limited NHL experience, going to go back and play with a good HL team with a better defensive core and a better defensive structure. That is going to help his overall development. And

with where this franchise is, you have to be playing the medium to long-term game right now. And this move is playing the medium to long-term. I agreed with you. I didn't want to see Tristan Jari play another game for the Penguins. However,

if you want Yo-O Blumquist, to eventually be your goalie in the next two to three years, you can't spoil them by having this much of a struggle at the NHL level mixed with a team that we know plays horrific defense. You can't ask him to bail you out every night. I will say this. I know the team is not good defensively, but you should still expect better goaltending than what you saw in that game against Toronto.

Like, again, people, we all know. Penguins give up way too many chances in their own zone, especially way too many high danger chances. I've given the numbers a few times throughout this season. They're among one of the lead leaders in terms of high danger chances allowed, especially at five on five. But that goal tending you saw on Sunday, you cannot win with that. Like that's unacceptable.

Like a lot of those goals that went in, like, sure, part of it was bad team devens. You know, but Eric Carlson passed, by the way. We'll get to that in the second segment. That was horrendous that led to the Matthew Nye's goal. That was really bad. You can't make that mistake. But I need a save. there. Like, that's bottom line for me.

Like you, you need more timely saves. They just haven't gotten that throughout the season. Heck, honestly, they haven't got a lot of timely saves these last five years, if I'm being completely honest. Goaltending has been an absolute nightmare for the penguins. And you're right. Eventually something on this needs to change. But that is going to do it for our opening segment.

When we come back, we're going to recap the two games over the weekend, the loss to the Boston Bruins and the loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs. We will do that when we come back. So stick with us. But first, we've got to tell you about today's first sponsor, and that is Wonderful Pistachios. If you're looking for a snack that's both delicious and nutritious, crack into a good source of protein with wonderful pistachios.

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possible four points for the Penguins this weekend. They drop a three-two decision on Saturday to the Boston Bruins and then a wildly fun and exciting game, six to five in overtime against the Toronto Maple Leafs. And we have to to first address the elephant in the room, and that is the same problem that has been plaguing this team all season long, cropped up in both games, immediately giving up the first goal, not starting on time. I don't know if the penguins need to update their iOS settings and get a new alarm clock, or if they just need to find a bunch of energy drinks and start drinking them before they take the ice because they continue to not start games on time.

Some of it, yes, is goal tending, but I will say a lot of it is. For some reason, this team, like an old push lawnmower, needs some time to prime the pump and prime the engine and get themselves started. 13. That's the number for today's episode, Pat. 13 times the penguins have given up a goal on the first shot of the game this season. that's about 21% of their games so far. Is that bad?

Sources are saying that's really, really, really bad. You can't win like that. I know, breaking news. Podcast hosts are saying you can't win like that. Literally, though. And you're right. Not all of it is on goaltaining. That Posternak won.

That's just one heck of a move. He's one of the best goals scorers in the league. You leave him wide open like that in front of the net. He comes in on a breakaway. He's going to finish that more times than he doesn't. That's more, I would say, on the team defense. compared to Ned, but you just have to laugh at this point every time an opposing team scores on their first shot of the game because it virtually happens every week of this season.

It's just, again, a season of hell from hell, excuse me, and a few ways for the penguins this year. But, you know, the penguins, they give up two goals in the first seven minutes of the first period. To their credit, they do battle back at least a little bit in the third period. Anthony Bavillier makes it to one really nice feed, by the way, from Kevin Hay. to get that to Bavillia. I think Hayes continues to have a really nice year of the Penguins. Bovillier keep bumping up that trade value, my man.

Thirteen goals. I still expect him to be moved at some point this week. We'll have to see what Cala Dubus does. But, hey, continue bumping that value when you can. And they had a chance at the end on the 6th on 5. Bruins the empty netter. Raquel makes it 3-2 in garbage time. The 21 seconds left penguins aren't able to win that game.

Though a Saturday 1 compared to the Sunday 1 was so boring. boring to watch. I got a soccer term for everyone here. The Bruins did what I like to call park the bus. They sat back, they clogged everything up, and they played a brand of despicable hockey. I can't stand it. I think it is a garbage way to play the sport. But you know what? It worked. They're without Brad Marshand. That's what they're going to do in that situation. They don't have a lot of forward depth. They have a couple guys up front. Obviously, Posternock is really good. Coils having a decent season. Morgan Gigi's playing well. They still don't have Maccaboy on the back end.

When you're that banged up in that situation, you're going to kind of dumb the game down. And the Penguins, they struggled against that at times during the Mike Sullivan era. You know, you've seen the series against New York Islanders before. I wouldn't say the most recent one, but the one before that, the Penguins were really struggling against Barry Trots and the way he was running the system because the Islanders played a really similar style. You saw that on display on Saturday against the Bruins. Again, it's despicable hockey.

I hate it, but it worked. So, you know, the whatever, the Penguins lost that game. You then go into this game against Toronto, my friend, who bad goal tending on both sides. Blancquist was horrible. And Joseph Wool was also not very good. That Crosby goal that he allowed was horrendous. I don't know how that puck goes in, but hey, he gave it right back. But even though they lost that game, and I know they lost the game against the Bruins,

this team may not be very good, but they fight. They fight to the end. They're just not, again, they're just bad. Like they're not intentionally throwing games. They're not intentionally tanking anything like that. They fight their tails off in a lot of these games. They don't have the horses, I think is what I'm trying to say here. So again, I like the effort.

I like the fight that they showed. But you lose two games. Again, at least it helps the draft position, but not surprised that they lost both of the games this weekend. Would have been nice to see them beat the Bruins because that ruins team is not very good at all. But that Maple Leafs game was at least really, and I mean really fun to watch. Great seeing a lot of players contribute to in that game.

I know they lost it, but it was still great seeing Ricardo Raquel do his thing. Cindy Crosby, congratulations. 10th all-time NHL assist. Also, Pat, and Goals passes Bobby Hole on the all-time goals list. So congratulations to Sid with that. 3.9 against the Maple Leafs. He was great. But Eric Carlson this weekend.

I know I defend him a lot more than others do because I think some of the criticism that he gets from some fans, is a bit rubbish. That said he was bad this weekend. He was horrible against the Bruins, making way too many dumb decisions with the puck, was really bad against the Maple Leafs. That pass that led to the goal from Matthew Nyes,

again, you want to save there from Blumquist, but Eric, buddy, dump that puck in. There is absolutely no need whatsoever to force that pass there. There's seconds left on the clock. You have to, and I mean you have to dump. it in and kill off the rest of that period. Just way too risk in the situation. But he wasn't executing his tape to tape passes, wasn't playing well in his own zone, just

two really ugly games from him after how well he played against the Flyers on Thursday. Another long-winded answer for me about these two games this weekend, but I'm going to hand it over to you now, sir. Yeah, I mean, again, I said it at the top of the show. You guys can hear it in my voice. I'm still recovering from a wedding weekend. So I really only caught the first period against the Bruins and then the back half of the third period and overtime against the Maple Leafs. I did watch the condensed recaps this morning.

So I do have a little bit of a grasp on what happened. There is one thing I want to say about the Bruins game. And our listeners know this. I think it's one of the laziest analysis of hockey. And I hate using as a crutch, but I have to in the Bruins. game. I think one of the biggest differences in that game was officiating. The, the Evgeny Malkin penalty on Lurai, where he got called for hooking in the first period that leads to a power play goal for the Bruins, that should have been a holding call on Lora, on Lurai,

because if you watch the replay, because it happened in the corner. So the above the net on the glass camera catches it. And one, you can say I'm being bitter. as a Penguins fan because I absolutely am because it was a savvy move by Lurai, but it is something that shouldn't be called. As soon as he feels Malkin's stick on his side, he wraps it around his arm, under his arm, and draws the hooking call. That should be a holding the stick penalty, not a hooking penalty on Malkin. Now, did Malkin do something that usually gets called as a hook?

Yeah, he got his stick up into the midsection of an opposing player. And we know the NHL, even though they have not called it as much. as they used to. Anytime your stick goes up like that, they're probably going to call it. But I didn't like that call. It leads to a power play goal. The penguins lose by one goal. And that kind of makes the difference. But it doesn't excuse a lot of the other things that the penguins did poorly in that game. As for Sunday, I mean, they said it on the TNT broadcast in the third period. It was basically a next goal wins kind of game. And overall, I'm with you on the way this team played over the weekend. I look at this team and we have said it. We don't care if

where this team is right now with retolling rebuilding on the fly, we don't care if you lose games. You just got a fight. Don't go out and get embarrassed. Don't go out in no show. Don't go out and lay down. And they didn't do that this weekend. They battled their asses off against the Bruins and especially against a Toronto team who is very, very good. That is one of the best teams in the league and let's be honest we said it on Friday don't get into a track meet with the maple leafs you'll lose sure they lost but they lost in overtime they went punch for punch with the maple leafs and i was surprised as anybody that they did some of it was the fact that joseph wall decided to take a day off some of it was joel blumquist led in a few softies but they gave

yoel blumquist the run support they gave him the goals that he needed he just didn't make the saves they needed. And that's part of the reason he is back down in Wokes Bear and Tristan Jari is back up in the NHL. But end of the day, I'm definitely upset as a fan that they're not winning because even though as an analyst, we've been saying, guys, listen, this year's cooked, this year's over. They're looking for a good draft pick. They're looking to unload a bunch of contracts and start this youth movement as early as next year. Doesn't mean I don't want them to win. I still want them to win games. But at the end of the day, we saw boring hockey against the Bruins because that's just how they're playing right now, because they're in a fight for their playoff

lives. And then we saw a game where two teams said, you know what, Sunday afternoon on national TV in the states, let's give these people a show. And they gave us a show. Sucks that they lost, but I'll take the fight all game long. 100%. I mean, I love the way Crawlsie was playing throughout this game. He had a couple of nasty passes. to set up a couple of goals. He gets one goal himself. I know, softy from Joseph Wall, but he was on one during this game.

I thought of getting Malkin also had a really good game against Toronto. He had a really good weekend in general. He continues to really have his legs right now. I thought Chris LaTang was playing at least fine, but I still continue to be dumbfounded, Pat, at why Koyochanuk is still not playing? Like, why did you claim him in the first place if you're not going to play.

I mean, and I said this last week as well. Like, okay, you're coming off the break, get him a couple practices. I get it. Like, you want to get him acclimated with the team. But it's been a bit now, right? How about we start putting him in the lineup and at least seeing what you have?

I don't think you're going to all of a sudden suddenly have a top parian defenseman, but I mean, I'd rather see him in lineup than Ryan Shea on the top pair. Ryan Shea at least was okay against Toronto. You know, he looked like he had the goal made it to 1 before it was credited to Cody Glass. I thought Cody Glass also had a really good game, as did Philip Thomasino. He almost had a wrap around goal in the game against Toronto.

But still, man, I think you can mix in Koyah Chonuk at least a little bit this week. I just, why did you claim him if you're not going to play him? I think is my thing. Yeah, it's continuing to be baffling. I stick by my thought process of I think that's going to be a post-trade deadline player once we get some people moved. Plus, there's also going to probably be some injuries. So I think that's when he'll finally slot into the lineup.

But speaking of the trade deadline, it's coming up, folks. Friday at 3 o'clock is the NHL trade deadline. And we expect there to be some moves by Kyle Dubus and the Penguins. Hunter and I are going to talk about that and the week ahead to close out the show. We will do that right after this. So stick with us. All right. It's the Monday edition of Locked-on Penguins.

I'm Patrick Damp, alongside Hunter Hodes. And as I said before break, Friday, 3 p.m., NHL trade deadline. We expect to see some moves from the penguins in the lead up to that. If not, day of, we'll obviously break that all down as best we can. The closer we get to it. But I want to start here, Hunter. Very interesting piece yesterday in the athletic from Rob, Rossi. He spoke with Eric Carlson, who is somebody that we have spoken quite a bit about

and whether or not he'll finish his time as a penguin in this contract or if he'll be moved sometime soon. I don't see him getting moved at the deadline. He also confirmed to Rob that he has not been approached by Kyle Dubus and management to be asked to move his no trade clause. He has full control over it. So the penguins can't send him anywhere without him saying yes. And he pretty much also said that he likes it here. He likes this group. He likes playing with this group and acknowledged that they have not reached the expectation that they've had. But I still maintain that Eric Carlson will probably get moved this summer or next because we see how high the salary cap is going. We see where the penguins as an organization are going.

and it's hard to have him in those future plans. I do think maybe if someone like, say, Owen Pickering, we talked about this with Kelsey Surmats a couple weeks ago. If Owen Pickering develops into the defenseman, we think he can be, maybe that can be his running partner with a higher salary cap, and he can look a little bit more like the Eric Carlson we want to see. But end of the day, I don't see him finishing this contract in Pittsburgh. I don't either, and I also do not think he gets moved by Friday unless a team gets really creative with some cap space.

I think this is a move that will ultimately be saved for the summer. I know some people will be like, well, Hunter, like, look what happened with Seth Jones. Like, he just got dealt. Yes, he did. But Chicago is also retaining $2.5 million on that contract for the next five years. So it's a little bit different. The Penguins only have one retention spot available right now, and they might want to save that for, something else. They also get two retention spots again that open up this summer. So if they want

to consider retaining on Carlson, it'll be more likely this summer. And again, I just don't, like, when I look around the league for suitors for Carlson, not a lot are coming to my head. Like, I know people have mentioned the Dallas Stars. Sure, that makes sense, but you look at their salary cap situation, they'd have to fin angle some things around. Other than that, like Florida just made their move to get Seth Jones. There's really not too many teams that are popping in my head. Like, some people say Vegas. I mean, I know Vegas has their annual salary cap shenanigans as well, but I don't even

think they could pull something like this off, at least to me. But again, I think this is something that will be done in the summer. I do not think he finishes his career as a penguin. I think he'll ultimately get moved for a contender. It just won't be this week. As for Ricardo, Raquel, once again, I only do it if you get a King's Ransom in return. I'm sure teams are going to come calling. But for me, starts with a first round pick.

Like if you can get something else with it, I would very much like that. There was a piece on ESPN today, I think with Emily Kaplan, Greg Waczynski, and they were doing a mock trade of Ricardo Raquel to Utah for a first round pick in this year's draft, a second round pick in next year's draft, and then Matthias McKellie.

And I'm like, I love Ricard Raquel, but I would do that right away. I mean, you get two picks and a young player. Absolutely. If Utah came to the Penguins and offered that, Yeah, 100%. And a couple other things about the deadline was listening to 302 thoughts this morning, Pat. Elliot Friedman kind of discussed how the Penguins continue to talk to Buffalo about some of the younger players.

He specifically mentioned J.J. Peturca, I got a question on Twitter from someone asking if you would move the first rounder from the Rangers if it was in this year's draft. And I said, absolutely, if the first rounder is in this year's draft and it doesn't go to next year and you offer that for Peturka, Yes, I would one million percent do that for Buffalo. I don't think people realize just how good JJ Peturka is. He's only 23 years old on a bad Buffalo team this year. He has 17 goals, 45 points in 56 games. Last year he had a 28 goal season, 50 points in 82 games. Really good underlying numbers.

You can play him on the wing almost every night. This is someone who can play in your top six with either Sidney Crosby or Evgeny Malkin. This is the exact type of young player that you should be going after. I would 1 million percent be all over that if Buffalo came to you and like, okay, would you want to send us the first round pick plus a roster player or something like that because I think they're going to want immediate help in return as well because Kevin Adams is really desperate to try and turn this thing around in Buffalo. So would 100% do that?

You know, Bowen Byron makes a lot of sense there to, but they do have some other players in the HL that are getting pretty close to being NH already. So as Elliot mentioned, I could see the Penguins going down that road as well. So look for something potentially for that this week too. You also did mention Pat, Noachari. He can see being moved in. Hey, if I'm Kyle Dubas and the team calls on Noachari, I'm taking that call. 24-7-365 because if you can get anything for him, I think that's a win.

I do think Achari, if you ask me, fits a bit better on a contending team that knows like what role he'll play. I just don't think he serves a role on where the Penguins are right now, they're rebuilding on the fly. He's kind of blocking a spot for a couple younger players who are ready to come up from Wilkesbury. They're playing well. And granted people,

I know Wilkesbury is potentially on a big run here to a long Calder Cup playoff run. But, like, Achari is just kind of blocking, like, some other players in the system in general. So I think if you can get out of that contract, you know, makes all the sense in the world. Take whatever for him at this point. Yeah. I'll add a couple things here before we wrap up. One, for Eric Carlson, I think it will actually be a little bit easier to move him over the next two summers or two seasons.

However, you want to structure it, especially if he agrees to it, because he only has a base salary of $4 million next year and then $1.5 million the year after. So in actual dollars, you're not paying him a ton of money. Yeah, the $10 million cap hit hurts, but if you're, say, Ottawa or another team I'll throw out there that I think might be interested in his services because they're in very much a mode where they need to get better quick, Detroit, where if you're one of those teams where you're trying to take that next step, you've got a bunch of young players, you need a good veteran in there and you're not paying him a ton of actual dollars. Carlson could be an attractive option for a year or two as you try to make that next step. As for that Utah trade, yeah, give me that Ricard Raquel trade all day if they actually approach you with that. And lastly, I think people need to accept, and I'm not saying this like, oh, people aren't accepting it.

It's just the way I think it's going to work is if that Rangers pick goes to next year, they're keeping it because I don't think the Rangers are as good as people make them out to be. and I think there's a very real world next year where they're worse than they are this year. And that could get you a nice little second pick in the first round. But if it goes to this year, I think that is on the table for Kyle Dubus because not as deep of a draft. There's going to be a ton of teams who want to move some things out this year with a rising salary cap. And you could really use that as a sweetener in a trade for this summer.

So we'll see what happens with that. One last quick thing. Before we go, we do have to mention this. Penguins just recently announced this. They have signed defenseman Finn Harding to a three-year entry-level contract. He was a seventh round pick last summer, and he, as a 20-year-old, is having a hell of a season in the OHL right now. 55.7 goals, 48 assists in 59 games with the Brampton Steelheads, where he's an alternate captain. So this is another player that Kyle Dubus and the Penguins really like and are really hoping turns out to be a late round gem. Yeah, they think they found a steal in this player. And you can see why with the stats, Pat. Like he's been very good in the OHL this year.

And I can see him potentially getting some time in Wilkesbury once his OHL season is over. You know, you always look for that, right? Pat, like who does Wilkesbury bring in for reinforcements from some of these other teams to try and help their run to go get a call? Cup. I think Finn Harding, we really could see him get his first taste of the HL at the end of this season here once his OHL season is over. But he's playing really well. I know some people are like, well, he has these really good offensive stats. How is he in his own zone? He's very good in his own zone. This is a very solid two-way defenseman brings the offense, brings the defense. He skates really well. His decision making is really good. His gap control is really sound. I like him.

Again, I don't have all these high expectations or anything for him just because, again, seventh round pick. We just have to see what happens. But he's at the very least a very intriguing option in this organization going forward. Just have to hope he keeps developing as a steal here. But really nice deal today. And I'm excited to see how he can keep growing in the system. Yeah. If you can turn a seventh round pick into a serviceable NHL defenseman, you've done well.

So we'll keep an eye on him. Hopefully we can see him going a long run in the OHL and be a key contributor to that. If not, we'd love to see him get his feet wet a little bit at the AHL level. We'll obviously keep an eye on that. But that is going to do it for the Monday edition of Locked-on Penguins. Hunter and I will be back tomorrow to get you set for the Penguins game in Colorado when they take on Nathan McKinnon, Sidney Crosby's good friend and the Colorado Avalanche, as well as break down anything that might happen between now and then. But for now, for Hunter Hodes, I'm Patrick Dam. Thank you as always

for tuning in. We will be back on Tuesday.