Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Penguins prospects BATTLING at development camp!

Episode Date: July 3, 2025

Development camp is here, and Locked On Penguins got a front row seat to the action! Hunter and Patrick begin the show discussing day one of development camp and Hunter’s takeaways from the opening sessions. They talk about how defensive prospects Harrison Brunicke and Finn Harding had a strong start, as well as how the 13 draft picks from the 2025 draft fared on their first day. Then, with most of the big UFAs off the board, this is probably one of the best times for Kyle Dubas to make a move. Who could he trade and where? Finally, with the 4th of July tomorrow, it’s Fan Take Friday, Thursday edition!Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!GametimeToday's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNHL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply.Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNHL at monarchmoney.com/lockedonnhl for 50% off your first year.FanDuelToday's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new FanDuel customers can get $150 in Bonus Bets if your first $5 bet wins!FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hockey in July? Well, kind of. It was the first day of development camp, and we've got some thoughts on the opening 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. Welcome back to another edition of the Locked On Penguins podcast. I'm one of your hosts, Patrick Damp. You can follow me across all social media platforms. forms at synonym for wet. Joined as always by the one and only Hunter Hodes. You can follow him on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. You can give our show's account a follow at L.O. underscore Penguins. You can also follow us on Instagram now at Lockedon underscore Penguins.

And of course, as always, we appreciate you making us part of your daily routine. Don't forget, we are free and available wherever you get podcasts as well as YouTube. If you follow us on YouTube, by the way, make sure you've hit that notification button. That way you can be among the first to know when we drop our daily Monday through Friday episodes before we get into it today. Today's episode is brought to you by GameTime,

download the GameTime app, create an account, and use code locked on NHL for $20 off your first purchase. If you are watching us on YouTube today, you may have noticed that the one and only Hunter Hodes is in a collared shirt right now. And there is a reason for that because our boy was on assignment, on location,

in Cranberry at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex for the first day of development camp. So we are going to lean on what those two eyes of his saw today when these young prospects hit the ice. So let's not waste any more time and get right into it. Hunter, we'll start here. there is one group of prospects that you noticed quite a bit today as they took the ice. And that was the young defensive prospects.

So Hunter, what did you see? Well, I'm going to get into that in a couple of seconds. I do want to say this was my first time at the Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry. It is a state-of-the-art facility. If you have not had the chance to go up there, please by all means do it. Whether it's for this type of practice, training camp, a practice during the regular season, whatever it is. It is really nice.

And I encourage everyone to go up there at some point. But yes, there was definitely a couple of defensemen that really stood out to me. And Pat, these were only 40 minute sessions for each group that were on the ice. The prospects were separated into three groups throughout the morning and the early afternoon hours. But two of the prospects that really caught my eye were Harrison Brunich, of course, and Finn Harding. We'll get to Finn Harding in a second.

Harrison Brunick, this felt like to me, it's, only one session. We saw the talent in camp last year. We saw the talent in preseason. He came literally this close to cracking the Penguins opening night line and potentially getting a nine game tryout before being sent back to juniors. It kind of looked like, you know, a man against boys out there. His skating was on full display in the 40 minute session that I watched. He went bar under on one of the sequences I got on videos, a really nice shot coming in from the point. and I'm really excited to see what he can do for the rest of this camp and going into training camp in a couple of months too.

Again, he was that close to making the team out of camp. And while I still think as of right now, it's more unlikely that he is on the team for the full 82 game season, if he has a good training camp in preseason, I could at least see the team giving him a nine-game tryout to see how he does against NHL competition. Remember people, it's either the NHL this season for, him or it's back to junior because he's not 20 years old yet. He can't play in the minor

leagues yet, but Finn Harding can't because he is 20 years old. But that's really what I saw with Harrison Brunich, kind of a man against boys. He was really fun to watch in that 40-minute session. Now, as for Finn Harding, again, I've heard so many good things about him, you know, 2024, 7th round pick. He's really been known for his defensive prowess throughout his career, but he's really been developing the offensive part of his game as well. You look at this past season, Pat, and the OHL, seven goals, 57 points and 67 games. That is by far the best season of his career to date.

And points aren't everything, but just look at this over the last three seasons. In 22, 23, he only had 10 points. The next season, 23, 24, he had 34 points. Now this year he had 57. He's been really adding more offense to his repertoire over the these last couple of seasons in addition to being really good in his own zone. And I also felt his skating was on display. He had a couple really good plays with the puck at the blue line.

He was walking the blue line fairly well. He was getting a couple of good chances during some drills. This is someone who I don't think he's going to be ready to play in the NHL this year. I think even next year might be pushing it a little bit. But you can see why you read articles in the organization is really happy with him and they're crazy about him. The talent is very much on display with this kid. And the good part is, again, Pat, he is 20 years old. So he is going to play minor league hockey this year.

It just depends. Is it going to be in Wheeling or is it going to be in Wilkesbury? Wilkesbury, they're pretty deep already at defense. He might be starting in Wheeling, but that will already be a step up compared to who he's been playing against in junior. So I'll be curious to see how he does there. But those are two of my big standout so far from development camp. Obviously, there are not a, you can't take.

any big things away from development camp because as we've seen in the past that there are players who will go to three or four different development camps dazzle and then amount to not much. So obviously we're not going to make any grand proclamations. But I will say given history and given what we saw today with or what you saw today, I was not there. So I'm not going to try to steal any of your valor on this one. But with Harrison Brunick, he really strikes me as a kid who is motivated. He got a long look last year, got a real serious taste, as close to a serious as a taste,

I should say, to what it is to be on an NHL roster. And by all accounts, he is motivated to get that again and take it a step further. So I'm very curious to see what he does. as for Finn Harding, obviously I have only seen the tape on him from where he's played prior to being drafted and since he's been drafted. But by all accounts, the organization is enamored with this guy. It feels, they feel like they got an absolute steal and it's really starting to look that way when you see him in these moments. Now, people are obviously going to be asking this. So let's not keep them waiting too much longer for the.

this Hunter. The Penguins had themselves quite a draft just a week ago, making 13 picks in the 2025 NHL draft. Obviously, that's what people went to development camp today to see. So from the draft picks, did anybody stand out? Did anybody catch your eye or anything else with these recently drafted players? I think all three first round picks released out to me, Will Horcough was really good. around the net front. Again, it was only a 40-minute session, but I did like a lot of his plays around the net front with Bill Zonan. I saw his underrated release on display. That's something that I talked about quite a bit over the last week when I dove into more of his tape. He has a sneaky, good release, and he was using it here quite a bit during the 40-minute session. And then Ben

Kindle, I know everyone wants to hear about him as well. You can see the hockey IQ on display, even during these sessions. Very smart player, very fluid. skater. He had a backhand that went top cheese that raised my eyebrows. It was really nice to see. So I would say of like the draft picks that I got to watch, Pat, and again, I was really zeroed in on the first rounders. I thought they all stood out in a really good way too. So you have those three. Again, I thought Finn Harding was also really solid. And Harrison Brunick, Man Against Boys, I'm excited to keep watching them over the weekend. And then we will have the tournament on Monday. And that's also going to be a lot of fun to watch as well.

So those are just some of my day one thoughts from development camp boots on the ground. I'm not going to be there on Friday because it is the 4th of July, but I'll be there Saturday, Sunday, and then Monday for the tournament. Which, like you said, the development camp tournament is always very fun. Yeah. And regardless of who's been in charge, whether it's Dan Mews, Kyle Dubus, even Ron Hextall, Mike Sullivan, they take that little tournament very seriously and they tell those prospects, We are not here to just play some shinny and get some ice time.

We want to see what you guys look like in a competitive setting. So we'll obviously be ready to tell you all about that on either our Monday or Tuesday episode depending on how our schedules match up for that. But as Hunter said, tomorrow is the 4th of July. So we will be taking the day off barring any breaking news. If there's any big moves, we'll obviously do an emergency episode. but also later on in today's show, it might be Thursday, but we are still going to do a little fan take Friday on a Thursday.

And we'll get to that to end the show. But that is going to do it for our opening segment. When we come back, a lot of the big names and free agency are off the board. So Kyle, now is your time to strike. We'll talk about that when we get back right after this. But first, we got to tell you about today's sponsor in that is Game Time. We've all been there logging on early and waiting forever for concert tickets to go on sale, only to lose your spot to a show you have been dying to see.

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I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes, joined by my co-Code. Patry, thank you for hosting the first segment. this is unorthodox usually one of us hosts the entire show but i want to pat to host the first segment get my thoughts on development camp and then i can just host the rest of the show and i think to me we finally got the best free agent to leave the market and that is nikolai elers he was the best free agent on the market as of july third and he has officially gone off the market because he has signed a six-year 51 million dollar deal with the carolina hurricanes and a a v of 8.5 million per season Look at the Hurricanes, Pat, actually spending some money this off season.

You keep seeing all those rumors and reports about how their owner is a bit cheap and all that, but you see some of the contracts they've thrown out this off season. Seems like he's learning a little bit. They've thrown out quite a bit of money. You saw the Keandre Miller contract. This team right now is all in to try and go win a Stanley Cup after losing once again to the Four Panthers in the Eastern Conference final. But to relate this to the Penguins, again, Eelers was the last.

big free agent on the market, the last big free agent forward, especially. Now that he is off and some of these teams missed out on him, I think you're going to start to come calling the Penguins say, hey, what can we give you for a Brian Rust or Ricard Raquel? You saw Josh Yoey's tweet today on Twitter saying that discussions are starting to heat up. I'm sure those are around Brian Rust, Ricard Raquel. I'm sure Eric Carlson is in there too. But I really think this could allow.

trade charter to really heat up now. The rest of the free agent class, not very good. And with the Penguins having some veterans that other teams want, I think it puts Kyle Dubus in a really good position for the rest of this off season because I think, again, we're going to see a lot more trades now that Eler is off the market. I think that was the last domino that needed to fall so that the floodgates open with some trades.

And now we'll see if they do. That really is the biggest thing is that. If you go to the athletic right now and open up their big board and you look at who has signed, who hasn't signed, who's still remaining, the top name right now is Jack Roslavik. And no disrespect to Roslavik, a 20 plus goal season last year, only 39 points. But so many other big names, Eilers, Marner, all of the Florida guys have been taken off the board now. and there are a lot of teams that still have holes to fill. And while, yes, this is going to make a favorable market for Kyle Dubus,

this is also going to make a bit of an interesting market overall because not only could Kyle Dubus benefit from having your Brian Rusts, your Ricard Raquel's, your Eric Carlson's, there's also going to be a lot of other pieces available that teams are going to want to move now, because they have to fill that hole. And I love to say this on the show. I love to say this in writing and in conversations.

This isn't EA NHL 25. You have to give to get in the NHO. Yes, there are always your dumb general managers who will make head scratching moves. But on the whole, to get something you have to give. And there are going to be a lot of teams who are now left out in the cold because they didn't get one of these big free agents.

They weren't able to resign some of these guys because, let's be real here. There was a lot of movement on July 1. Outside of Florida, a lot of teams missed out on guys they were hoping to keep as well. So we could really see a favorable market, not just for Kyle Dubus, but overall, because we've been looking at this from the sense of they've got so much leverage now with Rust, with Raquel, with Eric Carlson to an extent. Now, he's also got the ability to maybe supercharge, maybe not supercharged, but at least push this rebuild a little bit further along because there could probably

be some players available that maybe a week or so ago weren't on his radar. Right. And I still look at some of these other teams outside of Carolina that could potentially BFA that are looking to make big moves. Again, a team like the Utah Mammoth, they've been talked about a lot that, yeah, we want to be really aggressive this all season. And they have, you know, to an extent.

But I still think that they might want to be even more aggressive as they try to make the playoffs next season. I also think a team that, you know, the Washington Capitals, I don't know if the Penguins will trade Raquel or Russ there. I think that would be just honestly gross to think about considering the caps are one of the, biggest rivals of the penguins.

But I'm saying this because the capitals have said repeatedly that they want to get a scoring winger. They were in on Nikolai Eilers. They missed out. I think they were the runner up or potentially the third team in there with Utah. Now that Eilers is with the hurricanes, they're going to pivot as well. And maybe they make a call to Kyle Dubison company. The Metro tax is very much a thing for a player like Raquel or Russ.

but I still wanted to throw them in there just because they have also been looking for a scoring winger. I mentioned Utah. I think Detroit is also looking to do something even bigger this offseason. I think this is a make or break year for Steve Eiserman there. And if the Red Wings don't make the playoffs, I think he's going to get fired. I think this is really it for him. So those are just a few teams that come to mind. Again, the Los Angeles Kings also, but they also just threw a lot of their salary caps

cap space on fire with Cody Cici and Brian Dumlin. and so it's going to have to probably be dollar in dollar aval to create some space and all that. But still, those are just a few of the teams that I'm keeping, I guess, you know, a close eye on for some of the Penguins for us. Obviously, there will be others out there too. Maybe a team like the Colorado Avalanche. They're always sneaky, Pat. Like, they keep saying, we don't want to do too much. We don't want to do too much.

I don't really know if I buy it. And they're always all in with McKinnon, with McCar. they have an aggressive front office. I don't know. I could see them if they really wanted to make it work with their salary cap situation, they could. So I'll also throw them in there too. Yeah.

The other thing I'll say, I remember saying this on our live stream that we did during the first round of the draft when they traded down with the flyers. Here's the thing. I am totally fine with trading in division on a couple of conditions. First and foremost, when you're in a rebuild, anybody that can help you is anybody that can help you. I know it's going to feel gross trading with a division rival and giving them potentially a player that we really like, whether that be Raquel, Russ, even Carlson.

But at the end of the day, those teams, especially the Rangers, especially the capitals, they are in a position where they're not looking to be good for the next 10 to 15 years. they're looking to be good for the next three, five max. So by the time you eventually hit that stride, they're going to be on the decline, so it's probably not going to bite you. The other thing is, I think to build off the first thing I said,

if you really want to execute a good rebuild, you've got to take a little bit of pride out of it. Yes, you're going to get some crap from your fan base if you trade with a Washington, with a New York, with a Philly. But here's the thing. If it's the Rangers, if it's the capitals, like I said, they're in a three to five year window. By the time the penguins are on the up, they're going to be on the down. Fire beware with the flyers because they're on the up.

They're starting to figure it out. They're getting a lot of young talent. And they're going to be coming around the bend here probably about the same time the penguins do. but don't be afraid to make to turn over every stone and try every possibility to make this rebuild work. So interested to see what happens with that. And on the Colorado front, like you said, everybody gives Vegas their flowers for going for a home run and pushing all their chips into the middle, no pun intended.

Colorado's been doing that for a long time. They make a ton of big swings. And if you're Kyle Dubis, give them a call. see what they want and see what you can get out of them. Yeah, they're a sneaky team that I feel like could be in on one of these forwards. And I did like that you brought up the Rangers, you know, the Sullivan Factor, obviously with Raquel or Russ. But I will say Rangers don't even have a million of cap space right now. So they'd have to create some room in other areas to say the least.

I think that's probably when you look at the teams that I mentioned and obviously you through the Rangers in there, that one would be the toughest one to make it work for them just because they don't have the cap space right now they'd have to finagle some things around but i think that'll do it for the second segment coming up to end the show even though it's not friday it's still a fan take thursday slash fight well that's the fourth of july tomorrow people so i guess we're still going to call it fan take friday even though it's thursday so we're going to get to your takes your questions right after this all right we're back here on this episode of the locked on penguins podcast i am one of your host hunter hodys joined by my co-host patrick damp and pat i do want to start with

this one, this comes from Ryan Litz on YouTube. Do you think Crosby will work for the organization after he retires? And if so, in what capacity? I do. I think he is probably going to work for the organization. And I would say maybe a small management role. I don't know if he'll want to do coaching yet. That might be something he wants to do down the line.

But, you know, maybe a special assistant type of role to, you know, the GM or, you know, maybe he works in some development role. but I do think he is going to stick around in some capacity. I don't think it's going to be coaching. I think it's be more towards management. I actually think he would be a pretty good GM once he retires. Yeah, I don't see him being a coach. I've said it on the show before.

While I think he would actually probably be the exception to the rule because he is such a hockey obsessed nerd that he could probably find a way to be a good coach because he, we know for a fact that when he's not playing, playing hockey, he's watching hockey, and he's not just like me or you where you sit down, have a beer and a couple slices of pizza and just yell at the TV. He's actually analyzing it. But what I'm going to say is not an apples to apples comparison. I could see it being very similar to say Chris Drury or Danny Breyer, where he takes a couple

years and kind of goes as an assistant GM that. works with the ECHL club or the AHL club and learns the ropes of management and eventually works his way up to a role with the NHL team. And we know with Sid, when he does something, he doesn't just ask for the sun and the moon. He is going to want to earn it. He's going to want to learn how to become a manager. He's not going to just say, hey, I'm Sidney Crosby, make me the GM. So, yeah, I mean, I think it's a very,

high possibility he works for the organization. But at the same time, it's been 20 some odd years. He might just want to disappear, go fishing, and enjoy his life. But we'll see. Yeah, we'll see. But I do think something in a management capacity or development capacity is probably what he will do after he stops playing. But I could be dead wrong on that.

This comes from someone else on YouTube says, I will be fine with a Jolly Blumquist tandem going into the season. Honestly, with where the team is, I'm fine with it as well. Everyone knows I'm not crazy about Tristan Jari. I don't think anyone in this fan base thinks Jari is good at this rate. But in terms of where they're going with this rebuild, yeah, I think most fans should be okay with it for probably just this one year, if I had to say. Because once they start getting good again, I don't think Jari is going to be the starting netminder. So that's how I see it.

For sure. And listen, again. I think a lot of our listeners are and a lot of fans are coming around to understanding that this is a rebuilding moment. So if they were still trying to win, I would be taking this monitor that has my camera on top of it and throwing it through the window if Jari was still the starting goalie. But now you're going to give Blumquist a chance. And either Jari plays well, ups his trade value and you can get that number off the books, or he stinks. and you get better draft picks next year. So whatever.

Hey, everyone's been doing the tank for McKenna stuff in our comments on social media. So, hey, maybe Tristan Jari does actually turn into the tank commander, unlike what we saw down the stretch pat, where he turned into prime LeBron when the team was fully out of it. So I had to bring that up once again. This one's also really good. To which destinations do you see Eric Carlson waving his no move clause? And can you make a case for Detroit so I can tell a buddy who was on a fan? of the idea that it really is a good one.

So I actually do think he would consider the Red Wings. Steve Iserman has actually gone out to the media and said he would like to go get another top four defensemen for this year. So with the Red Wings, this being a make or break year, I still could see Carlson waving to them because even though the Red Wings haven't made the playoffs for quite a while, I think they're closer to doing it this year than the Penguins are. So I think for Carlson, that would make a bit of sense for me. But, you know, he would help out offensively quite a bit.

We all know what he is defensively. People we don't need to sit here and talk about that. But I can see Detroit, Carolina, if they can make it work, I can definitely see. Those are like the main two that keep popping in my head. It's just like, you know, how many of these teams can really absorb a good chunk of his cap hit? Like that's the thing that really, that's the thing that keeps percolating in my head. So those are just two of the teams that come to mind. Pat, do you have any other teams?

And also, what do you think about him potentially waving to Detroit? Do you think he would wave to the Red Wings? I think he could be convinced. I mean, you look at, I think that's a dark horse fit because you look at their defense. And it would actually be a pretty solid fit because that's pretty much what they need at this point. Their forward group isn't all that bad. They have the talent there to score and be good offensively, but you look at their defense and it's very suspect. You've got Ben Chirot, you've got Eric Gustafson, Justin Hall. And Mo Cider is solid. Lagison isn't half bad.

Johansen isn't bad. But if you can get Carlson on that blue line, it instantly makes it better. They now have John Gibson in net. So they've shorted. up their goal tending. It's a team that is poised to take the next step. I like that roster quite a bit, except for the defense. And while I got to pull up their puckpedia and see what they've got in in cap space, but realistically, I can see that being a place. And you see what they have right now, now that I've puckpedia up.

They've got just over 12 million in cap space. So if Kyle Dubus wants to say, take it down to seven and a half in in hold on to three and a half of Carlson's salary for the next couple years I think that could be a fit and you know they've got picks they've got some prospects there's there's a world where they can make this work and like you said Stevie wise on the hot seat while I don't think he'll get fired I think he'll get the old you're the president of hockey operations now Steve gone upstairs

And the good old Ron Francis would happen exactly. So I think that Detroit is kind of a dark horse if they're trying to move Eric Carlson. Yeah, even I think for one of the forwards too, you know, especially for someone like Brian Rust as well, I could see the Red Wings really being in on that. Again, I just, I think they're going to be even more aggressive. Like, Eisenman kind of talked to the media today and said like, yeah, really didn't get a chance to talk to a lot of the big free agents just because they all signed before we could talk to them. So I think they have something up their sleeves here. And I do think Carlson, he would definitely consider waving to Detroit, considering that they are, again,

they're closer to competing right now than the penguins. And we'll end here with one more. This comes from Evan Elliott. Of our newest signings, which one or a few do you think will make the biggest impact on the 25, 26 Pittsburgh Penguins? I'll start with number one with Anthony Manta. I think he's going to be a textbook,

Bavillier replacement. You can get 15 to 18, maybe even 20 goals out of him, potentially flip him at the deadline for a decent return, maybe even a bit better than what you got back for Beauvillier, which was fairly good. You got a second round pickback for him. I did not see that coming. But I think he's going to make the biggest impact. I also will say Justin Brazzo, you look at the size that he has, you look at his goal scoring ability in the bottom six. I definitely think that someone that's going to be a pain in the butt to play against every night. So I do think he's going to make a fairly decent impact as of right now.

And I honestly, I throw Parker Weatherspoon in there too. I think someone who can be an upgrade on the third pairing this year compared to what they had last year, good skater, good in his own zone, very cheap. I would say those three are the ones that are going to make the biggest impact of the players that they have signed so far, at least in my opinion. I like Brazil a lot. I think that there is a ton of potential there. And I think giving him an elevated role this season will go a long way.

he was pretty darn good when he spent time with the Bruins over the past couple of years. And if he gets a bit of a, like I said, an elevated role, I like that player a lot because, yeah, he is 6-6, but he's not just a big lumbering goof. He can play. And you give him the right opportunity. I can see that being a player who sticks around for a little bit. Yeah, I mean, well, I want to see how he does this season because I still think this is someone who you could also

potentially flip at the deadline teams are always looking to get bigger, tougher, nastier down the stretch. They love those types of big forwards that are physical along the boards. They can chip in offensively when the stars aren't doing it during one of the games in the playoffs. So I still think he is a big flip candidate, but to your point, I also see what you're saying as well. Maybe he stakes past the deadline and then maybe you flip him.

him the year after something like that. But I still think he's going to make a good impact for this team. But I think that will do it for today's episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. Remember people, we are not recording on Friday because it is the 4th of July unless Penguins want to make a big trade. Eric Carlson, Ricard Raquel, Brian Rust, God knows what else. Unless they do that, we're not recording on Friday. We will talk to you all next week for the final week of daily episodes for two months.

So remember people, next week. final week of five episodes, and then for two months after that, all the way up until training camp, we will be three episodes a week on this podcast. So for Patrick Damp, I am Hunter Hodes. Thank you guys so much for tuning in. We both appreciate it unless anything happens on Friday. We will talk to you all on Monday. If you're in the United States, have a really good holiday weekend.