Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Penguins prospects put on a show in Buffalo!

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Pittsburgh Penguins prospects capped off yet another impressive weekend in winning a back-to-back prospect challenge tournament. And we're going to talk about that and more on this edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. Your Locked-on Penguins, your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguin, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello and welcome back to another edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I am your host today, Patrick Damp. He's still on vacation, assuming the penguins don't break any big news today. We're going to keep him on the beach so he can enjoy his vacation. You can follow me on Twitter at synonym for wet.

Starting point is 00:00:46 You can give our show's account a follow at LO underscore penguins. And thanks as always for making this part of your daily routine. And don't forget that we are free and available wherever you get your podcast as well as YouTube. And before we get started today, today's episode is brought to you by Fandul. Now through September 22nd, all Fandul customers can bet $5 and get a three-week free trial of NFL Sunday ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV. Just visit Fandul.com to get started. So the Pittsburgh Penguins, their organization, they are certainly no strangers to back-to-back championships. They have done it twice in their history, 1991, 1992, 2016, 2017, and now you can add 2023 and 2024.

Starting point is 00:01:34 to the mix. No, of course, I'm not talking about Stanley Cups this time, but I am talking about the Prospects Challenge in Buffalo. The Penguins had a very exciting, very massive win on Monday evening against the Buffalo Sabres prospects, capping off a three and a record to win their second straight prospects challenge with an eight to five victory over said Sabres. And it was a doozy of a game. And there was a lot to like, and I mean a lot to like from the Penguins prospects in Buffalo. Now, as always, we have to keep this in perspective. I've been saying it quite a bit on this show in the lead up to the Prospects challenge as well as through its progression over the weekend.

Starting point is 00:02:25 Do remember this is Prospect versus Prospect. These guys are supposed to look good there, but we have to remember it's not quite NHL competition just yet. But overall, a lot of the players this past weekend that you wanted to see make a difference really made a big difference. And the totality of the players that we had on our list for this show that we wanted to keep an eye on all cleared the bar, did an incredible job this weekend, put on some great showings that includes Rutger McGroarty, Tristan Bros., Sergey Murrishol.

Starting point is 00:03:03 And there was a little bit of a surprise name that I want to start with on today's episode, who had a huge game and a huge tournament. And that is Avery Hayes. That's a name you may not know that well. It's a name that you may not be that familiar with. But I would say he was absolutely the breakout star for the Penguins Prospect Tournament this past weekend. Excuse me. had a hatrick in the first two periods against Buffalo on Monday.

Starting point is 00:03:37 And he had been one of the best players for the penguins in that tournament. He signed with the Wilkesbury Scranton Penguins in the 2023-24 season. It was a two-year HL deal. He had five goals and multiple assists to cap off that tournament. and he just exploded. And this was a guy who went undrafted, but did really well in juniors, signs an HL deal,

Starting point is 00:04:09 had his first year of professional hockey, pretty much derailed by injury. So really couldn't get into the swing of things last year. But a really great moment for him to come into this tournament and really play well. and a four-point night capping off the tournament for him against the Buffalo Sabres. And to his credit, he just looked like a player who was hungry and had something to prove. And I would say that he absolutely did that.

Starting point is 00:04:44 So a very encouraging sign for him as well. And again, it was another great night for Sergey Murshov. Did not play the full game. Came in and relief. Did a split duty again in this game. as this game continued to go back and forth between the penguins and the Sabres prospects, he was there to make a ton of saves, keep this team in the hunt, whether it's protecting their lead or not letting Buffalo get back into the mix.

Starting point is 00:05:15 A really great showing for him. And again, like I said yesterday, really shows that this team in this organization has a lot of hope for him. and they really want to see what he's capable of, and they're very excited to have him in the system. With that in mind, one other thing I want to bring up about the Prospects Challenge this week was, of course, as always, great reporting on the ground from Buffalo,

Starting point is 00:05:45 from our friend Taylor Haas at DK Pittsburgh Sports. She has a ton of stuff up on their website, which you are able to read for free, and she does a bang up job of this. But she observed something that I was hoping to get some reporting on from her or anybody else who was up there. And of course, Taylor meets the moment, gets it out there for us. I really, we know that we have been discussing on this show and in general that the penguins are really trying to have a little bit of a youth movement over the next couple of years. They want to get younger prospects.

Starting point is 00:06:22 They want to get their draft picks developed. and they want to give these guys a shot at the NHL level. But with that comes the obvious caveat of evaluation. And you have to see what these guys are made of. You have to see how they develop and play at the younger level. But at this tournament, it wasn't just the Wilkesbury Scranton staff. It wasn't just the Wheeling staff that was looking on at this tournament. If you read Taylor's reporting, there were a lot of Penguins front.

Starting point is 00:06:54 office members and I'm just going to rattle off this list from Taylor's report. Jason Spetsa, Amanda Kessel, Mapofu, Doug Wilson, West Clark, Andy Sossier, Tom Kostopoulos, Chris Butler, Mike Sullivan, Mike Volucci and David Quinn, all in attendance from the Penguin staff in Buffalo. So they really want to get a look at a lot of these younger players as training camp sets to open on Wednesday. So you figure going into camp, and I'm going to talk about this in our final segment today, that these guys are going to get a legitimate shot in training camp. This isn't just a, hey, we're coming to check out how the prospects are doing in Buffalo during this prospect challenge.

Starting point is 00:07:41 We're going to see if there's maybe some diamonds in the rough for guys that we might have some interest in. No, they want to see how these guys are playing. And when you send pretty much the entire Calvary out to this Prospects challenge, it tells me that they are giving them a serious look and a serious chance. And let's also keep this moving here a little bit before we head to our second segment. A couple other quick thoughts here on the Penguins Prospect Challenge up in Buffalo. They go three and O second straight year. They win this prospect challenge.

Starting point is 00:08:18 A lot of good show. showings from some of the defensive players as well. We put a lot of focus on the forwards, obviously, because we know that we want to see guys like Rucker McGority, Tristan Brose, and a couple others maybe get their shot this season and through training camp. But really good showing from a trio of defensemen, in my opinion, and watching some of the film. And that's Owen Pickering, Harrison Brunachie, and Isaac Belvo.

Starting point is 00:08:47 All three of them were, rock solid throughout this tournament, whether it was making really good first decisions and first passes with the puck. We know that in the modern day NHL, it's all about the transition game and good puck movement into the breakout for defensemen. So that's something you really want to see with that. Owen Pickering is a guy who has said on the record publicly to reporters in the lead up to training camp that he wants to take the jump this year.

Starting point is 00:09:19 He believes he's getting to the point of being NHL ready. And while I think he is still going to be a victim of the numbers game, we know that there's pretty much three or four guys fighting for one spot on the defense with five spots pretty much already locked up between Chris LaTang, Eric Carlson, Marcus Pedersen, Ryan Graves, and then whoever gets that sixth spot, whether it's Jack St. Ivany, Ryan Shea, Sebastian Aho, whomever else might be vying for that. There's really only one open spot.

Starting point is 00:09:55 But back to Owen Pickering, he really showed why a lot of people who evaluate prospects and draft picks have still considered him among the penguin's best prospect, even over a guy like Rutger McGrorty, where he did not look out of place running a power play, being defenseman number one for this prospects team in Buffalo. And it was just something that while he needs to improve in his own end, you want to see that top flight skill work out. You want to see him be a guy who can come in and assert himself as one of the more talented defensemen.

Starting point is 00:10:40 We know from reporting that he really got into it in the gym this off season. he put on a lot more muscle and a lot more weight. So we know that he knows that he is going to have to be a little bit more, I don't want to say rough and tumble because that's not his game, but he knows it's going to be a harder game at the NHL level. It's not going to be as easy as juniors or even as the HL. So a really good showing from him, but overall really, really encouraged with what I saw from him,

Starting point is 00:11:14 what I saw from all the players that we were keeping our eyes on for this prospect challenge. I think they've got a serious number one goaltender prospect in Sergei Murashov. Rucker McGrady, one of the best players on the ice, multiple goals, multiple points throughout this, really looking like somebody who belongs on an NHL roster and not so much in a prospect tournament, a great diamond in the rough find potentially for the penguins with Avery Hayes. So overall, 3 and O record for the Penguins prospects in Buffalo, a second straight prospect challenge victory for the organization. And now we turn the page to training camp, which opens on Wednesday. But before we talk about that, I want to give a few thoughts on Sidney Crosby, the contract extension,

Starting point is 00:12:03 and what this means and what it could mean for the organization moving forward. But before we do that, we have to tell you about our first sponsor in that. is Fandul. You've heard us talk about Fandul America's number one sports book. Well, we have something a little different for you now through September 22nd. All Fandle customers can bet $5 and get a three-week free trial of NFL Sunday ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV. Then with a YouTube TV base plan, you'll be able to watch every regular season Sunday afternoon out-of-market game. All you need is a Google account and a current form of payment and you can cancel any time. I am a subscriber to YouTube TV Sunday ticket and I got to tell you guys that quad box on Sunday afternoons, absolutely beautiful.

Starting point is 00:12:48 Makes my football watching so much better. Highly recommend it. So just visit fandul.com to download America's number one sports book. Welcome back to the Tuesday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm your host Patrick Damp, fly in solo today as Hunter Hodes enjoys his final summer vacation before we jump into the grind of NHL hockey. So I said before we threw it to break there that I wanted to do basically one last discussion on everything, Sidney Crosby, now that the two-year $8.7 million contract is

Starting point is 00:13:26 in place. He will be here for at the very least the next three seasons. And the way I look at this, it's very, it's very funny to me that aside from, the memes of it of, oh my God, he's signed $8.7 million once again, you know, ha, ha, ha. But it's interesting to me that with this contract extension, we are essentially at what one could call a choose-your-own adventure game. This could go so many different ways for Sidney Crosby, for the Pittsburgh Penguins, for Kyle Dubus, and for hockey in general. Obviously, Sid not been shy to say he wants to remain in Pittsburgh for the totality of his career.

Starting point is 00:14:14 He wants to finish what he started. He wants to play for the same team for his entire career. He wants to be a penguin for life, so to speak, if I can put a fine point on that. But with a two-year extension that is essentially all signing bonus and not a lot of actual salary, and only counts for 8.7 million against the salary cap. This puts him and the penguins in a really solid and interesting position. Because one, the most obvious. They saved a ton of money.

Starting point is 00:14:52 Sidney Crosby very easily could have commanded $10 million on this contract extension, 94 points last year, one of the best centers in the game still. So taking 8.7 million continues the trend of him being woefully underpaid. Dom Lecision kind of ran his model yesterday after the contract signing news. And Sidney Crosby, by his model, has left something around almost $50 million on the table and salary. Now that said, Sidney Crosby not exactly hurting when it comes to non-related hockey money, whether it's endorsements, whether it's sponsorship deals with certain equipment companies, you name it.

Starting point is 00:15:39 The guy is going to be a spokesperson or a face for multiple companies in the United States and Canada pretty much for the rest of his life just because of everything he's done and who he is. But you think about it from the penguin's perspective. You save somewhere around $1.25 million off of, what could have been a $10 million deal. In reality, it probably could have been somewhere between 12 and 14 for two years. So realistically, you're saving $3 to $4 million. So now the Penguins will have a ton of cap space going into the next few years.

Starting point is 00:16:21 Obviously, right now with this year, they don't have a ton of projected cap space. They have under a million right now. But if you go to Puckpedia and you look at their salary cap projections, they're going to have 19.2 million going into 25, 26. They're going to have more than 42 million in 26, 27, according to the Puckpedia projections. So the penguins, like I have been saying, I said it to Hunter yesterday when he dropped in for the emergency show that I look at, 25, 26, and maybe even 26, 27 a little bit as the last true go for it years because of all the cap space. They've got all the big names locked up and they just have to build around them and they will have a ton of cap space. They're going to keep doing this little retool rebuild on

Starting point is 00:17:19 the fly where they're going to accumulate a lot of prospects, a lot of draft picks, add that with a ton of draft capital and they'll really be able to make some moves if they need to and say, okay, this is it. This is the one last time we go for it. Then there's also, speaking of that rebuild, retool on the fly, something that Kyle Dubus has kind of hinted at multiple times, whether it was right when he got hired through last season and even into this summer, where he kind of said he wants to get younger. He wants to bring in younger talent and have them learn. from Sidney Crosby, Evgeny Malkin, Chris Latang, now Eric Carlson, four of some of the best players of this modern era of NHL hockey.

Starting point is 00:18:06 And you can kind of see that starting to take shape with players like Rutger McGrorty, Tristan Brose, and a few others who you suspect will be ready to take on bigger roles over the next three to four years. And now that you have Sidney Crosby for the next three years, you could look at this as maybe they're going to usher in the next group of penguins. Are they going to be on the same level of this golden era of penguins hockey? No, they're not. It's not going to be a bunch of generational stars who come in to Pittsburgh and make that big of a difference.

Starting point is 00:18:44 But you can see it being players who are good talents and can have the foundation of a winning franchise in place. and learning from some of the best players to ever do it. And then there's the obvious, the little bit of a nightmare scenario that I know a lot of people, especially up in Canada, they have been all about this, about talking about how maybe Sidney Crosby shouldn't be here anymore. This, I had to take sort of like this yesterday. It ended up on the cutting room floor because of the Sydney Crosby extension news dropping.

Starting point is 00:19:22 so I had to cut it out of yesterday's episode, but I did put it on my social media pages. This is a deal that is extremely movable. This is a deal that if you're a contending team up against a salary cap or you're an up-and-coming team that might not have as much money to spend as you would like, you're only going to have to pay him six figures. It's not going to be $8.7 million because both years of this extension, are signing bonus laden. So his actual salary is not all that much.

Starting point is 00:19:58 And if it gets to the point where this team is in the basement and they really do have to start up a rebuild, it will not be difficult for Kyle Dubus to move this deal. And it will not be a trade that he can really lose. He would have to honestly try very hard to lose this trade if it were to come to that point. Now, I don't think it's going to come to that point. I don't think he's ever going to demand out.

Starting point is 00:20:25 I don't think he actually wants to go anywhere. But what I had said yesterday before I scrapped that episode was to me, it's not so much a, I want to go chase rings. I don't like it here anymore. Any of that, I think it would be a loyalty proposition for Sidney Crosby, where he would say, you guys need to rebuild. I'm Sidney Crosby. I'm still one of the best players around.

Starting point is 00:20:54 And for you to do this rebuild, for you to get it right, if you send me off to this contender or this up-and-coming team, you're going to get a great prospect or two. You're going to get a boatload of draft picks. And that could be a catalyst to really have you kick off the rebuild that you feel you need to do. So with this extension, though, like I said, This is obviously Sidney Crosby deserves all the props in the world for being unselfish and taking what is essentially anywhere between a $2 million and $5 million discount to help out his front office to stay with the team that he has achieved so much with.

Starting point is 00:21:37 But at the same time, Kyle Dubus and the management do deserve some credit for getting him on a deal like that that really gives them an endless. amount of options because realistically, 8.7 AAV for a guy like Sidney Crosby is not just an underpay. It has a lot of value both internally and externally for whichever direction you feel like you want to go, whether it's to chase one more championship, to help the young guys learn and eventually give them their payday, or again, the nightmare scenario where if you have to move him if you feel like he needs to go elsewhere and you need to do this rebuild, that's not going to be a difficult contract for you to move. But now with the prospect challenge in the past, the Sydney Crosby extension in place,

Starting point is 00:22:29 now we turn the page to Penguins Training Camp, which opens tomorrow at the UPM Cilum Sports Complex. We're going to talk a little bit about a few storylines and things I'd like to see from the Penguins this training camp. And we will do that right after this. All right, welcome back to the final segment of the Tuesday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I am your host, Patrick Damp, waiting for Hunter Hodes to return from the beach from his much-deserved vacation before the grind of the NHL season begins. but what does begin on Wednesday tomorrow, September 18th, is the Penguins training camp. They are there today.

Starting point is 00:23:16 It's Media Day at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex. They're getting all their videos and promos and social media content, done it in the can so these guys can focus on hockey once they start up tomorrow on Wednesday and get on the ice. That, as I have said before, and we have said on the show this year, any non-game day at the Penguins training camp, excuse me, is open and free to the public. You're able to go to the Lemieux Complex and Cranberry, check out the practices, check out the scrimmages. And those do begin tomorrow. They will have their first team practice of the day starting at 9 a.m.

Starting point is 00:23:56 Then they will have a scrimmage at 10 a.m. And then they will have two more practices and conditioning sessions from 1130. to 130. Then that pretty much same exact schedule happens for the next two days, Thursday and Friday, September 19th and 20th, respectively. And then they kick off the preseason on September 21st this Saturday. They'll have an 1130 a.m. morning skate at the UPM CLEMU Sports Complex and then a 7 o'clock game in Buffalo against the Sabres. But that is the first week. schedule for the penguins training camp. Now, I want to talk real quickly before we get out of here today about a couple things that I want to see from the penguins in training camp. Now,

Starting point is 00:24:47 one thing I think we know at this point is that a lot of the veterans on the penguins, the leaders, Sidney Crosby, Fgeny, McGinn, Chris LaTang, Eric Carlson, and the whole lot of them. These guys are hockey nuts. This is what they do. They have impeccas. work ethics. They are addicted to what they do and telling that you're going to have to force them off of the ice before they go off voluntarily. But something I said in the first segment about the Prospects challenge, you had pretty much the entire hockey operations staff, at least the big names in Buffalo this week to watch the challenge. So I want to see these guys get a shot. We know what Sidney Crosby can do.

Starting point is 00:25:35 We know what if Gennie Malkin can do and so on and so forth. Yes, we want to get them some reps. We want to see how they gel with some of the newcomers, especially the NHL newcomers who they signed and or traded for this offseason. You want them to get a few reps together. You obviously want to see if some of these younger guys like Rutger McGroarty, Tristan Brose and so on, have any sort of chemistry with the NHL regulars to see if they're at already.

Starting point is 00:26:04 But I want to see those young guys get their shot. I want to see them playing in the majority of the preseason games. Obviously, I think the one where you're going to see the closest thing to an NHL roster will be Sunday, September 29th when they play the Kraft Hockeyville Canada game against the Ottawa Senators in Sudbury, Ontario. I think that one just for pure marketing and pure fan service, you've got to play the big guns in that game. You pretty much have to play Ottawa's A squad versus Pittsburgh's A squad. But this is a preseason where they've got seven games to play. They've got seven games.

Starting point is 00:26:43 And I think at this point, you've got to give a lot of these young guys a look. You really have to give them extended chances to prove themselves to see what they can do. Because if this youth movement that Kyle Duvus is set upon is real, if it's something they want to happen. You have to give these guys looks. Does it mean you've got to give them extended looks into the regular season? Certainly not. I think once this season gets going, the penguin's goal is to get back to the playoffs. And if these young guys aren't serving that goal, you can't play them just because they're young. But throughout training camp, I want to see them playing the lion's share of preseason games. I want to see them taking the lion's share of rushes. I want to see them really getting

Starting point is 00:27:30 the screws turned on them just because if nothing else, you have to see if they're ready for the grind of an NHL season because they can have all the talent and potential in the world. But if they can't handle the grind of an NHL training camp and an NHL season, all that talent and potential really doesn't mean anything. The next thing I want to see similar take to the young guys is we know who the NHL goaltending tandem is going to be. It's going to be Tristan Jari and Alexander Nadelcovic. That's pretty much set in stone.

Starting point is 00:28:03 I want to see Joel Blumquist, Taylor Godier, and Sergey Murshov getting a lot of playing time in the cage. I want them to have to face some NHL shooters, some potential NHL shooters, and I want them to have an open battle for what they're going to do this year in the system. who is going to start in Wheeling, who's going to start in Wilkes-Barre? Will it be a tandem in Wilkes-Ber? Or will Joel Blumquist take the job again? Will Taylor Godier take the next step and move up after having a tremendous season in Wheeling? Will this push Sergei Murashav down to the ECHL? So those are a couple of things I want to see them do.

Starting point is 00:28:46 Lastly and not leastly, obviously this is something that is more abstract than anything. It's just my last quick take here on training camp. I want to see some creativity out of Mike Sullivan. We know pretty much, like we've said, there's only a handful of open spots going into this training camp. Top six is mostly set. Hell, the top nine is mostly set at forward. Five of six positions are set on defense with four to five guys battling for essentially one spot on the defense. And we know who the goalies are going to be at the NHL level. So I want to see him mixing up some lines, putting some things in a blender. It doesn't always have to be Crosby Malkin, Kevin Hayes, Lars Eller, Blake Lazott, Cody Glass, up and down the lineup.

Starting point is 00:29:38 Throw some of these young guys in, maybe put some of these young guys on a first line roll for a few days. Maybe put some of these older veterans down in a bottom six roll and see how they work. because while they may not have a tremendous amount of depth going into this season, they at the very least have a lot of options, especially for the bottom six. So really play with the toys here, Mike Sullivan, really see where some of these guys could fit because we have seen it happen throughout the history of not just this franchise, but hockey overall. You have a full expectation.

Starting point is 00:30:16 Think Phil Kessel getting traded to this team in 2050. We all figured, hey, how you doing? That's going to be Sidney Crosby's winger. Didn't really work out. Well, let's see how he does with Hvgeny Malkin. It first didn't work out, but then it turned into a thing later on in the 16-17 season. And all of a sudden, you have this line of Haglin Benino Kessel. Sounds like three guys who shouldn't work together,

Starting point is 00:30:40 but then they became one of the best lines in the Stanley Cup playoffs and route to a championship. So with plenty of options at your disposal, this training camp, especially for guys who theoretically could be on an NHL roster, want to see a lot of creativity out of Mike Sullivan and his coaching staff when it comes to roster management in line set up this year, especially before we get into the regular season, the first week of October. But that is going to do it for the Tuesday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast.

Starting point is 00:31:13 I will be back with a brand new episode for you tomorrow and some thoughts on training camp. first day, some of the reporting we see out of there, and a few other things we will have on Wednesday's episode. But for now, for the vacationing Hunter Hodes, I am Patrick Damp. Thank you, as always, for tuning in, and we will talk to you on Wednesday.

Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Penguins prospects put on a show in Buffalo!

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