Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Penguins look to slow down the Red Wings tonight!

Episode Date: January 1, 2026

The Penguins will take on the Atlantic Division-leading Detroit Red Wings in the first game of a home and home series. Hunter and Patrick begin the New Year’s Day episode of Locked On Penguins taking a look at the first opponent on the schedule for the Penguins: the Detroit Red Wings (1:40). Detroit has overcome a miserable start to the season and has climbed all the way to the top of the Atlantic and their core players have been a big piece of that ascent. Then, they break down a few line changes (12:30) as well as talk about expectations for newcomer Yegor Chinakhov, who is expected to make his debut. Finally, they give some quick thoughts on the Philip Tomasino trade (21:41) as well as their expectations for the Penguins 2026.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.FanDuelToday's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. So before tip-off, check the FanDuel app and see what’s dropping during NBA Happy Hour — every Friday from 6 to 7:30 PM Eastern.A little basketball, a little action, and a whole lot of Friday energy. 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 will look to kick off 2026 on a high note as the Detroit Red Wings come to town tonight, and Pat and I are going to get you all set for that game right after this. Your 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 host, Patrick Damp, you can follow him on all social media platforms at

Sender Furwet. You can also follow the show's Twitter at L.O. underscore Penguins. And you can follow the show's Instagram account at Locked On underscore Penguins. Of course, thank you all so much for making this your first listen slash watch of the day. We are free and available on all platforms. First off, happy new year to everyone that's listening slash watching. we've made it to 2026. Hope you all had a very safe and happy New Year's Eve last night. And with that, Pat, the Penguins will kick off the new year against the top team in the Atlantic Division tonight in the Detroit Red Wings.

They're coming off a two to one win over the Winnipeg Jets on New Year's Eve. So the Penguins, once again, we'll get a team on the second half of a back-to-back with travel. The Penguins are waiting for the Red Wings, just like they were waiting for the Hurricanes and the Chicago Blackhawks. So, Pat, the schedule makers are helping out the Penguins, right now they're going to screw them over later in the season when they have to do something like this multiple times but right now you'll take it when you can but of course you still have to go out there and win the game this is the first of a home and home between the two teams penguins will play tonight in pittsburgh against the red wings and then they'll go to little caesar's arena

in detroit for the next matchup on saturday and that's a matinee game and by the way pat it's funny they beat that winnipeg team last night the red wings that winnipeg team remember when that was a Big test for the Penguins, they're in the basement now of the NHL, how fast things can change. But let's get into the Red Wings. This has been a very big surprise team this year. They're trying to show everyone that their time is now and that the quote-unquote Izer plan has worked out. I mean, he's not got to get to the playoffs, but they're 24, 14, and 3. Lucas Raymond has been fantastic.

I mean, he is so fun with the puck on his stick. Levin goals, 43 points, and 39 games. He is such a great playmaker. has a decent release, but the playmaking ability, the skating ability is top-notch. I love watching him play when I can. Alex De Brinkett, he's been great, 20 goals, 40 points, and 41 games. You can make an argument that he should be on the team USA Olympic team. And then Dylan Larkin, 21 goals, 37 points in 41 games.

Larkin, we all know is going to be on the Olympic team, and rightfully so. I thought he was really good at the Four Nations. I'm excited to see him at the Olympics. And then how about Bo Sider? You and I talked a lot about him already earlier this week. he is having a great year for the Red Wings, seven goals, 31 points in 41 games. He has been great as the number one defenseman, really good at driving play in the offensive zone, going from defense to offense, really good in his own zone as well.

So their high-end talent is really leading the charge for the Red Wings this year. Goaltending-wise, they made that swing for John Gibson over the offseason. He's been all right, 893, so you want to get that same percentage up. a little bit, but it's at least working right now. I mean, they're 24-14-3, first place in the Atlantic. Cam Talbot is the other goalie at 889. They had Gibson play last night, so I think

you're going to see Cam Talbot tonight, but in terms of the Red Wings, Pat, it's all about sowing down a couple of those high-end guys. Dylan Larkin, again, has been great, especially Lucas Raymond with the way that he can set up players on a dime. Those are the two you really got to watch out for, and then, of course, Mo Sider

with the way he's playing in all three zones. Those are the guys I really want to focus on to bring it too but those are the main three yeah this is a really good detroit red wings team and don't let a lot of the overall statistics full you about this team whether you're looking at their analytics whether you're looking at their top line numbers hell you brought up the goalies yeah they're both sub 900 but they had such a nightmare of a start to the season that they're still kind of digging their way out of that statistically of the last month, they have just been on a complete tear. They're seven and three in their last 10.

They've won five of their last six. They are just clicking on all cylinders. It's a really, really good Red Wings team, which is nice to see because this is a team that has not reached the postseason since 2016. Their beautiful new arena, Little Caesar's Arena, is maybe the best in the league. And it's a shame it hasn't seen playoff hockey yet. Great fan base too, really strong fan base. And you brought up all these players. There's another one that you left out. Patrick Cain. Has he been the Patrick Cain of old? Absolutely not. But you look at his numbers, 23 points in 26 games. He's still got the playmaking ability. He's still got the hands, the vision. he may not be prime height of his powers Chicago Blackhawks, Patrick Kane,

but he has bounced back in a way that I don't think anybody saw coming. I think we saw he got the hip resurfacing surgery done and we thought, all right, he might be a bit player. He might kind of teeter out and ride off into the sunset. But it's been quite a good second act for Patrick Kane with the Red Wings. So this is a really good team. that has really started to figure it out. And tonight and Saturday are going to be a big, big challenge for this Penguins team.

They get the advantage tonight because it's the second half of a back-to-back with travel for the Red Wings. But on Saturday, when it's all up to even, I think we're really going to see what the penguins are made of and how they stack up against the team like the Red Wings. Yeah, and I think they're going to see Gibson in that game just because he played against Winnipeg on Wednesday. they're going to give him the night off tonight, play Cam Talbot, most likely, and then they'll play Gibson on Saturday. And Gibson, start out his career, not so good against the Penguins. Lately, though, I think he's been playing a lot better against them. So it's always fun when you see him go up against his hometown team.

It's always a really cool storyline. And you mentioned it when it came to some of the numbers of the Red Wings, because it is odd pat. You know, in terms of five-on-five expected goal share, they rank 20th in the NHL among all teams. And in terms of actual goals, they're 29th at 45. point seven percent only chicago new jersey and st louis are worse in that respect of category however they're still getting really good contributions and they have 24 wins so you know i'll be curious to see if they can keep outperforming a couple of those numbers but right now the vibes are great probably the best vibes they've had in quite some time i know a couple years ago they were

really close to making the playoffs that was probably the best the vibes had been in a while i think right now the vibes are even higher than that i mean they're going to be in the race for the entire season, and, you know, I wouldn't be stunned if they made the playoffs. I still got to see it first just because it's been, you know, pretty crazy over the last decade, but they're in a great position right now. You mentioned Patrick Kane. He's the best American warm player ever. I don't really see that changing anytime soon unless Austin Matthews keeps doing his thing.

But as it right now, it's Patrick Kane. You said it's six goals, 23 points. He's not going to be on the Olympic team. There's just simply better talented players that this country has to offer. But as you said, it is nice seeing him have a bit of a renaissance here. Andrew Kopp has 21 points this year. You know, we've already talked about the big guns. They still have J.T. Comfer, Michael Rasmussen, Mason and Appleton.

You know, Nate Danielson has played in 26 games. I think he's going to be a player at this level once he gets more acclimated. But again, they're big guys to watch Raymond De Brinkett Larkin insider. Slow those guys down. You'll have a really good shot of winning this. And then the Red Wings power play, fourth in the NHL right now, right up there with Pittsburgh. So big tests upcoming for the Penguins PK. I do think the PK has been better since Blake Lazott came back.

Shocker, I know, Blake LaZott makes a really big impact for that unit. Again, a lot of the other penalty killers just feed off his energy. They feed off how much of a puck town he is. They feed off how much he blocked shots. So getting him back was just really crucial. And you're seeing it so far with a penalty kill, but still really big test. tonight. Pat, do you have anything else to add when it comes to this Red Wings team? I just wanted to kind of pick the ball up from what you were saying there about special teams.

While the power play sitting fourth in the league for Detroit, that's the one thing that has been a consistent for them all season long. You have to slow them down or in an ideal world, not give them any opportunities because they're going to make you pay. Meanwhile, on the other side, the penalty kill has followed that through line for the Detroit Red Wings. Started off pretty rough. It has consistently been climbing its way out of the doldrums of the league. So this is going to be a unique challenge for the Penguins tonight because this is a team that's feeling themselves. They're really starting to find their groove.

Obviously, that's easy to say when you're a top of your division and you have won seven of your last 10. and the penguins got to find a way to blunt that momentum and really play spoiler here because let's be honest, the last three games, penguins have started to find themselves a little bit. They have really started to look more like the team that we saw in October and into November, but this is a golden opportunity for them to put together a win streak and beat what has been one of the better teams, if not the best team in the NHL over the last month. Honestly, it's more like the last four games. They got that started in Montreal, excuse me. Yeah, yeah, that bit of a rough game in Toronto, even though I thought the penguins were playing all right. I thought the effort was there. They just didn't play well in their own zone. They were getting the offense, but they were giving a lot of it back defensively. I'm not really going to blame Stuart Skinner a lot for that one. And then these last couple of games, they have been fairly good, especially that game against Carolina, arguably their best game of the season. And they'll try to make it three wins in a row and four wins in their last five tonight. against his Red Wings team.

That's going to do it for this first segment. Coming up in the second segment, Pat and I are going to discuss some lineup changes that you're going to see tonight and a whole lot more. So stick around for that. Coming up right after this. But before we get to that,

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and a whole lot of Friday energy. That's NBA happy hour only on Fandul, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. All right, we're back here on the Thursday edition of the Locked on Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes. That's my co-host, Patrick, It is funny. This game is going to be playing right around the time of the Rose Bowl. I am a Rose Bowl fanatic, man. It is a goal to get out to the Rose Bowl, man. It is such a beautiful stadium, beautiful destination, the parade and all that.

I'm still obviously going to have all my focus on the Penguins game, but on my smaller screen, got to have the Rose Bowl on, man. Like January 1st, it is a tradition to always watch the Rose Bowl and all the college football playoff games. But let's get into some lineup changes for tonight. First off, it will be Archer She-Lovs. starting in net as Dan Mews continues his goaltender rotation. No surprise

there. Sheelovs was very good against Chicago. Made some big saves when Chicago was trying to push and he got the night off against Carolina. He'll play here against Red Wings and then I'm sure Stuart Skinner will go on Saturday. So both goalies get a glimpse of the Red Wings. So no surprise again. And then Igor Chinov is going to make his Penguins debut

tonight. He is on the third line with Ben Kendall and Rucker McGority. So, Pat, I was kind of hinting at that during episodes this week where I was like, I think that's where he's going to go. Sure enough, he is. And it will be Dilly Coyvin coming out of the lineup, which I'm not too surprised by. I like the underlying numbers. I think he has been fine.

But I also think he could use a night or two off to really, you know, gain some of that confidence back just because, again, I thought when he scored that first goal, they were just going to keep coming in waves. Hasn't happened. I still think he's in his head right now just with all phases of his game, even though the underwings are strong. So a night or two off, I think, could do him some good. And Igor Chinochav will slot in on that third line with Ben Kindle and Rucker McGority.

I like the makings of that line. Just see what it looks like with Kindle, the way he is as a playmaker, the vision that he has, the hockey IQ that he has to, setting up Chinakov with the release that he has. I like that quite a bit. And then McGority, we all know what he can do with his. His release, his skating has improved, his two-way play, I think, has improved as well. So, I like the makings of that line.

I know it's not the kid line that we've seen throughout the year, and the underwines are very strong for it. But still, let's see what Chinikov can do on that line, at least for a game. All of the other lines are standard Raquel Crosby Rust, Mantha, Novak, Brazo, Duer Lazal, Achari, and the defensively, same pairs. Watherspoon, Carlson, Kulak, Letang, and Shea in St. Ivy. You and I've talked about that third pairing. are just going to keep rolling with it just because the last couple of games,

I think it's been totally fine. And they also just reassigned Ryan Graves to Wilkesbury after he cleared waivers. We'll get to the trade in just a second because there was that trade yesterday. But Pat, your thoughts on Igor Chinikov making his debut on the third line. I am going to open the arc of the covenant, so to speak, for Penguins Twitter. Indiana Jones reference, nice. Velae Coivinen is becoming this era's Dominic Simone because the, underlyings are great. The process is there, but the production just isn't. I'm with you in the

sense that I like his overall game. You can see the process being there, but at some point, it's got to turn into production. He's eventually got to start putting up points, whether it's assists, whether it's goals. And it's just not there right now. I will continue to say that I wouldn't be shocked if over the next week or so we see him reassigned to Wilkes Bear because I really do think he has kind of lost a little bit of swagger. We saw it early in the season. We saw it obviously last year at the end of the year when he came up for the final eight games. He just seems to be a half step behind on just about everything, whether it's his offensive instincts, whether it's in the defensive zone. And I don't think any of that means that he's a lost cause. And I don't think any of that

means that he's a lost cause or he's a bust or anything like that, this is just the process of a young player acclimating to the national hockey league. It's going to take some time. He's obviously not a blue chip prospect. He's not a top of the lineup guy. He likely ceilings out at middle six forward. So you're going to have these slips and stumbles over the next year or so. But right now, I think this is a great. opportunity for Chinakov to enter the Penguins lineup because you look at what makes him go. He's got the foot speed. He's got the shot.

You put him with two players in Ben Kindle and Rutger Magrorty. Kindle has the vision to find him. Magrorty has the type of tenacity and the type of game to free up space for the both of them. So this could potentially be a really good line. I don't want to get too far ahead because Chinokov has been wildly inconsistent up to this date, but it feels like a good jumping off point for him. As for the goalies, we're in the same spot we kind of were at the start of the year, where Skinner and Shilovs have not been

playing poorly. I don't think. I know that Skinner's start to his penguin's career has been up and down. I think a lot of that is more attributed to the play in front of him rather than his actual play so it's hard to get a read on him he hasn't had a game where you look at the play in front of them and go damn man you got to make a couple saves you know if you make a couple saves here and there they probably get out with a win it's been the opposite where nobody is helping skinner in front of them except for against carolina which everybody helped them out in that game but we're again in that spot where either he or she loves has to have a game or a couple of games like Jari did, but prior to the trade where they grabbed the job

and say, we're going to break the rotation for a little bit and we're going to let this guy run. This is a big opportunity for Shilov's to make his mark because we talked about it in the first segment. This is a Detroit team that is red hot. They are playing extremely well and they have been on a meteoric rise up the standings in the Eastern Conference. So if Shilovs can have himself a big night against the Red Wings, I still think they're going to stick to the rotation into the weekend just because you've got the home at home in the back-to-back. But if he has a big performance,

maybe going into next week, Dan Mews thinks, I can give Shilov a little bit more time. And so one of these goalies decides to really take it up another notch. I think you're just going to keep seeing the same rotation here, as you should. I mean, Tam Euse was doing this when Jolly was here until Jari decided to, you know, take it up another notch. And then he started riding him a little bit in net before the trade.

so we'll see if any of these two now she loves and skinner can do the same thing going back to quentin though for a second i think people need to also understand pat that he's only played 34 games i've seen a lot of takes from people that are extremely extremely down on him i think it's a little premature to fully write him off i i think he hasn't been as consistent as i would have wanted him to be this year but we also have to remember that some of these guys take longer to develop. Yeah, it's cool that Ben Kindle was ready to go a lot earlier than literally any of us expected him to be.

But I think some people on the fan base also have to remember that, you know, development isn't the same for everyone else. He's only played 34 games. Let's see how he keeps developing throughout his NHL career. Could he turn into nothing, maybe a tweener? Sure, that's always a possibility. But he's only played 34 games. I think people need to really chill out a little bit.

You're not the first person I've seen that has made that Dominic Simone. Yeah, and I don't want to, again, I want to reiterate. I'm not saying that I think the guy is a lost cause or a bust. I'm not even really down on them. I just think that if you're the Penguins organization, if you're Dan Muse and Kyle Dubis, you look at them and go, all right, we can see the raw talent. We can see the potential. It might be time to scale it back a little bit.

Let them go dominate in the HAL. him remember why he is the type of prospect and player that he is. And if you do that, there's a good chance, at least in my opinion, that maybe come February March, you bring him back up and he looks a lot more like the guy he did to end last season and to start this year. I just think that this is, like you said, development in the process isn't linear. It's going to have slips and stumbles. And I think we're seeing that with covenant.

and you're going to have highs like you saw at the end of last season. You saw the goal that he scored against Tampa Bay, his first NHL goal. I think he can rediscover that part of his game. Just give him a night or two off. If you have to send him down to the AHL for a little bit again, that's fine too. My main point is don't write someone off after only 30 to 34 games of an NHL sample size. But I think that's going to do it for the second segment coming up to end the show. Yes, Pat and I are going to discuss the Philip Tomasino trade of the Penguins

made on Wednesday, plus discuss some of our expectations for 2026. That's all coming up right after this. All right, we're back here on this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I am one of your host, Hunter Hodes. That's my host, Patrick Damp and Pat. We'll be real quick on this. The Penguins traded forward Philip Tomasino to the Philadelphia flyers for Igor Zamula, a depth defenseman.

reporting to Wilkesbury, and then Tomasino is also reporting to Lehigh Valley, the Flyers HL affiliate. The Penguins kind of did right by Thomasino here, getting him out of, you know, the Farm Club. I think he's going to eventually get called up to the main Flyers squad, but I think the Penguins kind of realized that it just wasn't going to work here. He probably was not going to work his way up to the initial main squad. I know he had been producing well in Wilkesbury playing well there, but I also think in a way they wanted to do. right by him and send him to a new organization for a fresh start again yes he is in lehigh valley but i don't know how long that's going to be for i think he's going to find his way up to the flyers

at some point so we got the very rare flyers penguins trade for at least player wise you don't really see these two teams hook up for many trades you obviously saw the old marks right one yes i know patty he went through tampa bay first but you know what i'm still counting it damn it but you know overall totally fine trade you get a depth defenseman in Zamula, who has been okay at best at the initial level, he's just pure depth. I don't think he's going to get too many minutes unless there's more injuries, but totally fine trade. Yeah, it's, it's just a change of scenery trade for both players involved, uh, looking at the

reports from Charlie O'Connor, who covers the flyers for the all city network. He kind of said the opposite of what you were saying a little bit in that unless there's injuries, which there will be in the NHL. there always is. He doesn't even see a lane for Thomasino to get into the flyers lineup unless there's injuries. But I mean, at the end of the day, I think you're right in the sense that they wanted to do right by a guy who they took a chance on, who had some high moments and some low moments with the organization. But with the emergence of a few players with the acquisition of Yeager Chinikov, it kind of seemed like his lane had closed in Pittsburgh. And you got a

depth defenseman out of it who he isn't terrible his biggest problem he's slow he has no real foot speed at all so that's going to be a real difficult thing for him as a defenseman trying to make his way into the NHL but at the end of the day it was two players who needed new teams and new scenery so they linked up for this one and basically they cost the same amount and that's that right and it's actually kind of funny that charlie said the opposite i thought he would potentially be called up quickly to play in a fourth line role on this team but hey that's why charlie covers the flyers and i'm here on the west side of the state covering the penguin so i guess i'll take a little bit of an l on that maybe later on this season he gets called up i thought it was

potentially going to be sooner rather than later still could but if charlie's saying that i'm going to more so trust his judgment just because he covers the team but that's that on that trade totally fine. Now, expectations for 2026. I still expect this team to compete hard on a nightly basis. I expect this team to honestly stay in the race for the rest of the season. Now, will they make the playoffs? I don't know. I'm still leaning towards no. I pick them not to make the playoffs at the beginning of the season. I'm going to stick with that. I'm not going to change my tune. I still think they're going to stay in the race. So that's one of my expectations. I also expect Kyle Dubus to say the course.

He's not going to, you know, make sacrifices for short-term games. He's going to keep the course on this team for the rebuild on the fly. And, you know, trade deadlines coming up, Anthony Mantha. He obviously, his value is high right now. Justin Brzo, other UFAs like Blake LaZott, Noah Chari, etc. He's going to be taking quite a bit of calls. I don't think all of them will get moved at the deadline. Pat, but I do think you could see a player or two get moved for maybe a decent pick,

a prospect coming back, maybe even a roster player. You're not going to get all three back for any of these guys, but maybe one asset, two at most. I think that's potentially doable there. But those are a couple of my expectations. I also expect Sidney Crosby to have his 21st point per game season. So that's another one right there. I also expect at some point later on this year.

for Sergei Muroshov to make this team on a full-time basis. So there's another expectation I have right there. And so those are just a few that I've had percolating in my head. Pat, what are your expectations for this year? Well, you took my first one, which is, it's what I said in our preseason episode when we laid out our bold takes, predictions, whatever you want to call them. I do think right up until the bitter end, this team's going to be in the race to make the playoffs. Half of it is because the Eastern Conference as a whole has shown that it's deeply mid right now except for two or three teams.

So the penguins are going to be aided by that. They don't have to make a monumental lift to stay in the race because nobody really seems to want to grab hold of this thing. So that's going to help them. I do think for the rest of this season, we see them playing meaningful hockey, which I know that a lot of fans and a lot of analysts have really been on teams. tank and try to get a higher draft pick. But when you look at the amount of prospects that this team has and a lot of them already starting to play rules in the big club's plans, I would rather see them play actual meaningful hockey with some expectation rather than just go out there

and let it all hang out with no expectation. I think that helps in their development quite a bit. My other expectation is I expect this to be a big summer. for Kyle Dubes. Now, I don't want to get anybody overly excited and think that, oh, don't you worry, the rebuild has reached its apex and we're turning a corner. But I mean, you look at how everything is lining up going into this summer. They're going to have over $55 million in cap space to spend. They have more draft picks than I'm pretty sure any other team does going into the next few

drafts you've got the majority if not all of your big names locked up there are going to be a lot of teams this summer who fall very short of expectation and we know how NHL teams operate they don't reach their goal or they have a disappointing season they react emotionally and they will start selling things off that you don't expect them to sell off i don't think they're to go get any top tier marquee names but some good solid younger players who maybe fall out of favor maybe you can talk them into taking a bunch of picks or prospects on i don't think that like you said i don't think dubus is going to stray from the plan i don't expect him to sell off the farm or sell off a bunch of first round picks but first round pick in two or three years

maybe somebody that we like who is a good prospect or maybe even a Ricard Raquel, Brian Rust, Eric Carlson, if they're not traded at the deadline. With the amount of cap space, the amount of draft picks that they have, I do think that this is a summer where Kyle Dubus is going to make a big move. I can see it,

especially via trade. I think that's where he's kind of done a lot of his big business here, especially in Pittsburgh. Free agency, I think you're probably going to, keep seeing the same type of moves that you've seen the last couple of years, where they're, you know, short-term, not a lot of big money for players that can just fill holes like Parker Watherspoon, you know, Justin Broseau, for example, Anthony Manta, another example.

So I think that's what you're probably going to keep seeing in free agency trades. I think that's going to be where that's his bread and butter, where, you know, it's maybe someone going out of Pittsburgh and there's a big hall coming back, or maybe he's going out there to get a really good other young player via trade for, you know, a decent hall going back. It's not going to be a 2026 first or anything like that, especially with how deep this draft is, excuse me, but I think if it's a player that's coming in in terms of a big move, I think it's going to be via trade and someone who can be here for not just the next season, but I think future seasons. And I'm talking like several seasons, someone that could potentially be part

of like the next core or something. But that's way down the line. We have a lot of time to really hone in on who could be available in the summer and, you know, what free agents and on all that. Again, free agency, I still think it's mainly going to be short term. But in terms of trades, you know, who could be available? Maybe could you trade for RFA's rights or something like that. So I think they're going to be fairly busy.

I think Kyle Dubas is going to be involved in, you know. I will say this. And this is maybe less of an expectation and maybe. be more of a bolder prediction than anything. I do think there's going to be at the end of the season a handful of teams that are in the draft lottery that didn't expect to be there and don't want to be there. Like Winnipeg. That's one that I could see where you maybe work out a deal where you do a first round

pick swap, you move up in the draft, you send them a roster. player or something. And instead of your big move being, oh, we went and got a big name, you moved up in the first round of the draft and got maybe a top 10, top five pick. And that is the big move that I could see being made. And part of that could be weaponizing that cap space that you have where you say, hey, you got a player on that roster you're not too keen on anymore who's got a year, maybe two left for a little bit more money than you'd like.

we got room we'll take them take our three buildings teams do i mean they did it with connor clifton and matt dumba over the summer so i could easily see him going right back into that well this summer as well and the last thing i'm with you on sergey murashov you look at their cap situation right now stewart skinner uf a at the end of the year rdie she loves rfa i don't see him in get in line for a real big pay increase right now so road will be open for Sergei Murrishab going into the 26-27 season to make the team out of camp. It's also open for you all, Blumenquist, who's playing well-down, Worksbury, Harrison Brunich, who I do think we'll be on the team in 26-27 and will play a full season,

still TBD on whether he joins the Penguins after the World Juniors or goes back to Cam Loops in the W-HL. World Juniors, we're getting closer to that ending. The quarterfinals are set to start, but Brunick is still there with Team Canada. There's still a lot to look forward to with this team. I know they're in a transitional period and they're rebuilding, but there's still a lot of cool storylines to follow, and we're going to be following them, excuse me, every day here on the Locked-on Penguins podcast.

And with that, that's going to do it for today's episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. Thank you all so much for take the time to listen to slash watch this one. Pat and I will be back on Friday to recap this game against the Red Wings and get you all set for Saturday's game, and give us your takes, give us your questions for Fan Take Friday. So for Patrick Damp, I am Hunser Hodes. Thank you all so much for tuning in.

We will be back on Friday.