Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Penguins rookies McGroarty and Koivunen continue to impress!

Episode Date: April 9, 2025

The Pittsburgh Penguins blew out the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday night and Hunter and Patrick are here to discuss it. They start with Sidney Crosby getting another goal and how he is closing in on 90 points for the season. They then discuss Ville Koivunen's performance and how he continues to have great vision on the ice, especially on the power play goal. After that, they look at the performances of Kris Letang, Tristan Jarry, and Kevin Hayes before diving into a deeper discussion about the kids. Finally, they give their picks for Warrior Helmet Wednesday.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNHL at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year.Wonderful PistachiosGet snackin’ and get crackin’ with the snack that packs a protein punch. Visit WonderfulPistachios.com to learn more! 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. Right now, new FanDuel customers can get TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in Bonus Bets if your first FIVE DOLLAR bet wins! FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Pittsburgh Penguins crushed the Chicago Blackhawks 5-0 on Tuesday night. And on today's episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast, Pat and I are going to recap that game, plus give you our picks for Royal Helmette Wednesday 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 Hunts or Hodes.

Join by my host, Patrick Damby can follow him on all social media platforms at Sending for Wet. And you can follow the show's Twitter at L.O. Onshore Penguins. Of course, thank you all so much for making this your first lesson slash watch of the day. We are free and available on all platforms. So Tuesday was an awesome sports day for me. It all got started in the afternoon hours as Arsenal with Real Madrid in the first leg of the Champions League in North London by a score of 3-0. Declan Rice, you are my hero for those two free kicks.

Absolute banger of goals. And it was just quite a scene. Pat, we know you're not a soccer guy. But it's a pretty big deal when Real Madrid loses like that because they won the Champions League last year. And this team has so much black magic, you would, it's insane. Like even though they're down 3-0 on aggregate going back to Madrid next Wednesday, there's still a chance they could win because they have black magic and because they have some of the best players on the planet. It's going to be crazy with that game next week.

But still, awesome win for Arsenal. And then the Nationals crush the Dodgers. Always a great day when the Dodgers lose, especially when my Nationals beat them. And then the Penguins, Blackhawks in the evening, 5-0, all got started when Sidney Crosby, of all people, of course, gets the opening goal. And it was such a great goal, followed up by kind of a mid-celebration.

The way that he scored was so awesome, but you wouldn't know it based on the way Sid celebrated, Pat. He was kind of like, eh, okay, I scored all of his teammates were like, no, dude, look what you just did. Look what you just did. You got to celebrate. He's just like, eh, I'm going to be on shalon about it. I, at work, I have to go through a lot of Getty images for our website after games. And looking through the post-celebration one, I think you can tell that Sid was surprised that that passed by Raquel got to him and he was able to bury it.

because you see the celebration in real time. Sid just kind of puts his arm up like, yeah, he scored. And then Rustin Raquel just jump them and mob them. And they're like, oh, my God, what a goal. And then when you see the picture of him after that as he's getting ready to go to the bench and give everybody a fist bump, he's got this massive grin on his face. And he kind of realizes, oh, yeah, I just did do something pretty cool, didn't I? 100%. It was such a fun goal, too, got the scoring started.

and then the second goal gets scored a little bit later. What a pass by Vili Covenant, by the way. The fact that he was able to see Eric Carlson there was sensational, by the way. Congrats to Eric Carlson, his 200th career NHL goal. And that was one of the things I wanted to see for this game, Pat. I thought he was really rotten in that Sunday game against Chicago. I thought he was also really rotten in that Saturday game against Dallas. I wanted to see a response.

I got it. And then some I thought he was much better in this game. But that passed by Quarleson. And I even tweeted this after. I think the kids are ready for this. I think they're ready for the show. They have shown that in these few games. Hopefully, Rucker McGority's injury is not too serious.

It was reported by a couple of the Penguin reporters that he was seen leaving the arena with a walking boot. So again, hopefully it's not too serious. Hopefully he can return at least for the Wilkesbury playoffs or if he can play in one of these final three Penguins games before the Penguin season ends before Wilkesbury has their playoffs. but I loved how Coyvinen played. There was a shift also in the second period where the Penguins were just taking the Blackhawks to school in the offensive zone. Coyvind was a big part of it,

was doing a great job cycling. He continues to be such a smart player when he's on the ice. And he also has great vision that was very much on display on that Carlson goal. I continue to be really impressed with this kid. I think he has just got it. Yeah, I have nothing really, Of course, I have something to add.

That would be disingenuous of me to say I have nothing to add because, of course, I do. That's what we do. This is a podcast. We talk. And you're right, though. He has really shown a lot over this last week and a half. And it starts with the vision. You look at the way he's distributing the puck.

This is a kid who sees the game extremely well. He has made multiple elite passes in his time here. I know that sounds silly to talk about passes as elite, but he's setting up scoring chances. He's springing his linemates into positions where they get breakaways, partial breakaways, open looks. And when you're a young guy starting in the NHL, it's really easy to default to safety.

It's really easy to take the high percentage play, whether that's gaining the red line and dumping it deep, or just holding on to it in the offensive zone and pushing it behind the net or taking the high percentage pass to the person closest to you. He is not doing that. He's seeing the ice extremely well. He set up, I believe it was Eric Carlson at one point. I can't remember if it was before or after his goal, but he set Carlson up to the point where

Carlson didn't expect it. and Carlson didn't have a ton of time to shoot but had a wide open net and ended up missing just because a Blackhawks player was able to get a stick on it. But you could see Carlson was impressed that Coivinen was able to feed that pass to him. And you look at the way the kid plays, if nothing else, if he doesn't become a productive top six forward, if he's just a guy on the roster, if nothing else, he will be a valuable asset. on a top power play because he can distribute the puck extremely well, and that is going to lead to a lot of chances.

100%. And you were seeing that on display last night on the power play, too. He just seems like such a seamless fit on that unit. He seems like such a seamless fit with Afghani Malkins line as well. He was getting some top line minutes with Sidney Crosby after Ruck and Rukkahorty got a bit banged up, and he didn't look out of place there either. I continue to be really impressed with the way he plays. Chris Lattang, congratulations to him.

back on the score sheet last night. And then Kevin Hayes, Pat, good for him. He's been struggling a little bit. I think these last few weeks, in my opinion, just hasn't really been seeing the ice that well. I've kind of gone out the coaching staff a little bit at times just for having him on the top power play when it was struggling. But last night against Chicago thought that was one of his better games.

Nice to see him get rewarded with two goals. But one more thing I do want to point out, this Chicago team stinks, man. Like, I don't even think the Penguins played that well last night, but Chicago is just that bad. And I know some people are going to be like, well, the Penguins just lost to them on Sunday. Yeah, I know they did, but the Penguins really didn't show up for a large part of that game.

I even said they kind of maybe played a little bit of a push in the first two periods. And then they took the entire third period off and then Chicago won the game. This game, Chicago looked lifeless throughout. Even the Penguins, it didn't really, again, it didn't look like they were doing that much, but they were still dominating them because Chicago is that bad. And I don't think Connor Bedard. really did that much in this game. He still needs quite a better help. And Tristan Jari could have

played another 100 minutes. I don't think he would have given up a goal. He was barely tested in that game. No, you have to, you do have to give credit to Tristan Jari for, and I know the comments are going to get mad at me for saying this. You're probably going to get mad at me for saying this. So I'll preface it by saying this. I'm not in on Tristan Jari. I don't think he's fixed. I don't think that he's suddenly going to become the starting goalie for the Pittsburgh Penguins in the near or long term. But you have to give him credit for this season as a whole because there were so many moments

where he very easily could have just given up. He could have just accepted his lot in life as a backup goalie who's going to be a castaway and an afterthought. And he's continued to battle. He's continued to pick himself up off the mat. Twice he's been sent to Wilkes Bear. And yeah, there's been struggles when he's come back. I'm not denying that there haven't been bad games and he hasn't not struggled.

And then there have been games since his second recalling from Wilkes Bear where he's played like an absolute liability. But it fits into the broader narrative about this team. this season and it's that they battle and they fight and they keep going until the last minute because Tristan Jari again could have very easily just given up on this year, given up on the penguins and given up on his time as a penguin. And he hasn't done that. He has continued to battle. He's continued to try to give himself a chance and make quality starts.

And yeah, last night, that's a bad Chicago team. The penguins clearly showed us after last night that, they came off an emotional win over a very good Dallas Stars team on Saturday and went into Chicago a little bit drained, a little bit tired, and a little bit disinterested, and that led to the loss. And then last night, the Penguins were like, oh, right, this is a team we can beat. This is a team that we are better than. And they took full advantage of it. So you have to give him credit for the shutout.

You have to give them credit for continuing to battle because there are a lot of goaltenders. a lot of players, honestly, in pro sports that in that situation would pout, would complain, would throw in the towel. And again, it's not me saying he's fixed. It's not me saying he's good again. None of that. It's just I have to give him credit for continuing to push because it would be so, so easy for him to have just quit. Well, I'm not going to give him credit for the season in general.

he's been pretty bad for the majority of this season. If I do say so myself, is it nice that he is playing a bit better down to the stretcher, even though they are eliminated? Sure, it's nice seeing that goalie come out a little bit, but I'm not going to give him credit for the season. I'll disagree with you on that and be, well, as nice as I can about it, because, well, I love you.

But again, like, it's Chicago. He got his second shout-out, and it's funny. Two shout-outs now in the last nine days. it really is all or nothing with Tristanjari. You get either really good starts at this point in his career or you get really bad the starts. I do not think he is the goaltender of the future. I still think you need to find any and every way possible to get him off the team

during the summer because I do not trust him for another full season. I think it would be kind of ridiculous if you continue to be loyal to him even after this stretch. Because again, yeah, it's cool seeing the good play come out, but you're not going to get that type of play for an entire season. And we've seen them reach the breaking point multiple times this season. So I think backtrust has been broken, but I'm not going to sit here and say that this has been a success for him all season. I think that's a little much for me, Pat, if I do say so myself. But I think that's going to do it for this first segment of today's episode.

Coming up in the second segment, we're going to talk about the kids a little bit more and a couple other things regarding this game before ending the show with our picks for Warrior Helmet Wednesday. But before we get to that, we got to tell you all about our first sponsor, and that is wonderful pistachios. Looking for a snack that's both delicious and nutritious, cracked into a good source of protein with wonderful pistachios. Wonderful pistachios is one of the highest protein nuts. Each one out serving has six grams of protein, giving you over 10% of your daily value. Plus, they are packed with fiber and better for your unsaturated fats to help you keep you feeling fuller, longer. Personally, I love the no-shells variety.

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joined by my co-os, Patrick Damp. And Pat, we do have to discuss this a little bit. Before we talk about the kids a little bit more, the Masterton nominees, announced today. And the Penguins nominee for this one is Boko Imam. Congratulations to him. I think this is very well deserved with the way that he has played for the Penguins this year. You can tell how much his teammates love him, not just on the bench, but in the locker room. You can tell how much the star players have appreciated him kind of coming to their defense a little bit. Even though I think part of that

is a bit overrated in today's game, you can tell how much the star players and how much the other really good players on this team. And frankly, honestly, the entire team, I should say, really appreciates that. And, you know, the goal that he scored earlier this year was such an amazing celebration, he didn't even know that he scored. And it was also just a banger of a shot. Remember, this is awarded to the player who best exemplifies qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to hockey. And I think Boca and Mama really strong choice here by the Penguins. Agreed. In the last part of the definition of the award, dedication, to hockey, I think, is probably the reason why that he is the nominee.

He is, I don't want to say the last of a dying breed because we're seeing a change in the way the game is played. I think with, you know, the, the Kachuk brothers and a few other players who have shown that there doesn't need to be a false choice between being a skilled player and being tough. I think we're going to really see a new age of power forward here in the next few years. but you look at the way he plays the game, you look at what he brings to the table,

and he continues to push. He continues to be a player who ingratiates himself into locker rooms and into team cultures. And again, this is a guy who very easily could, you know, go play in Europe and be a dominant player over there because, let's be honest, you know, even though he is a bit of an old school tough guy, you don't make it to the NHL and the HL by, accident. You don't make it there anymore just because you're big and tough. You have to be very

good at the sport. So it would be very easy for him to head out overseas and dominate in a European league because he's a cast off from the NHL's ranks. And he hasn't done that. He's continued to battle. He's continued to work. And I do think as the penguins continue this rebuild, Retool on the fly, he's going to be part of it until they get to the point where they're contending again. He'll be a guy that he's a good locker room presence. He's, he brings a lot of energy. By all accounts, he's a very positive guy, very, very good, for no other way to describe it, very good vibes. And if there's one thing the Penguins need right now, it's vibes. We'll have to see if he makes the team next year, whether that's a 12th forward, 13th forward, 14th forward,

or if he starts in Wilkesbury. But still, at the very least, he deserves a nominee for this. And he's at least been fun to watch. It's a lot of me being a fan of him, it's based on vibes. Like, I love watching him do his thing on the ice. Yeah, his underlying numbers are not pretty pat. I mean, I've looked at them and I have them in my notes here, just not good in terms of expected goals, shot times per 60 scoring chances.

But you know what? He's a ball to watch on the ice. And that's why I'm just been a fan of watching him. That's the biggest thing. Like, we got to approach it from that meant. This isn't a contending team. And mix it with us saying, hey, it's fine if you lose, just don't give up, actually battle and play hard. And then you mix it with, this is a guy who plays hard.

He battles. He works his butt off. And for now, why not? No harm in having them right now. Right. No, 100%. And again, I am very glad that he was the nominee for this award. A couple other things during this time before we get to Warrior Helmet Wednesday to end the show.

Pat, there's a couple injuries that the penguins are doing with right now. Really sucks that Philip Thomasino is out with a concussion. I felt like I wanted to see more from him down the stretch, and it felt like we were maybe getting closer to that until he got concussed. And I hope that's not the end of his season, though there's only three games out at this point, so it very well could be. It just stinks that he was having a little bit of a tough end of the season. He wasn't producing as much as he was earlier on because I wanted to see him

keep getting some chances in the top six, at least on a line with one of the kids, McGority or Covenant. If I had it my way, it would be with Evgeny Malkin and Coivinan. I think that would be a ton of fun. But, you also, you know, one of Brian Rust or Ricardo, Raquel, has to be sent down in that scenario.

So it's a tough call. I get why they were putting Tomasino on the third line, but it would be nice seeing him get more chances in the top six, at least at the season before the concussion. Hopefully, though, he's able to get 100% healthy whenever. And then Blake LaZotte, that's why he was out last night. He's also a bit banged up.

That's why you saw Matt Nietto come back up from Wilkesbury. Hopefully everything is okay with him as well. He can come back for one of these final three games as well. And then for Magority, again, man, just hope that this isn't too serious. I felt like last night was his least effective game, but he was still good, still getting chances, still skating well, still outthinking his opponents on the ice. He continued to have also pretty solid vision. I don't think it was as good as covenants, especially on that pastor Carlson for the goal,

but he was still playing fairly well. well last night. So I hope that also is not a serious injury because I still want to see more of of him at the NHEL level to end the season. But I think I also think the Penguins, they might be a bit cautious with him here and expectantly so because they want him playing in the Wilkespray playoffs kind of as like a final stint in the AHL before coming up to the Penguins full time. You want him to play that meaningful hockey this spring. Yeah. With Wilkes-Bair. So even if it's an 80-20 thing, you're going to take the 20 and let him recover because you're not obviously there's three games left. You're not playing for anything in those three games.

And he like Coivinen has very much proved that he belongs. And let's even talk about how he gets hurt. He's on the penalty kill. He blocks a shot and he shows zero fear to do it. And given his pedigree, given the way this organization feels about him, it would have been very easy for him to not block shot. to think I'm above doing that. And he didn't.

He threw his body in front of it and sacrificed for the team. And that's an admirable thing for a young player to do, especially a young player of his caliber and his status. So I have to give him props for that. So I agree. I think at the end of the day, as much as you would like to see him in these final three games, I think we've seen enough to know that if he has a good offseason,

has a good training camp, he's not going back to Wilkes Bear to start next season. As for Thomasino, it's something I said earlier in the week. I think at this point, they know what they have in him and they like what they have in him. I'm just curious to see what the contract that he gets, RFA this off season, how much is he going to command after this season? I think that's the main thing I'm curious about. I doubt it's going to be a lot just because he's close to his career high in goals,

which is only 10. and if they like what they have in him and like you said, you bring up Coivin and you bring up Magrorty, you really want to see what you have in those two. You want to give them that audition to prove that they belong at the NHL level. And when you feel like you know what you have in Tomasino, you're probably going to put him in less advantageous situations. But it's not them saying, we don't believe in you anymore.

It's them saying, listen, we got plans for, you in the long term. Go out, try to play your best in a role that you're maybe not suited for, but when we get to next season, you're going to have a better defined role. And you mix that with the amount of draft picks they have, some of the prospects that they have, who they hope will be ready either early next year or mid next year. He'll be in a better situation where he's not going to be on a third or fourth line that is just called upon to be a third or fourth line, they might actually get to be a bit of a more effective offensive line

because they'll be better talent around him. So I do think really he was just a victim of a numbers game and that kind of led to some inconsistencies down the stretch. Obviously, he's got to prove me wrong. Yeah. And if he's in a different role next year, he's got to be better. But I think he showed enough from the time when he became a penguin to now that he belongs here and he's going to be.

a good piece moving forward. Yeah, he'll be a top nine forward next year, assuming that they will bring him back. It's funny, they don't have Pat too many free agents after this season. When you look at Puckpedia, of course, I mean, Connor Dewar, of course, we'll have to see if they bring him back. I'm still on the fence a little bit right now, but I think I'm starting to potentially see enough where you could bring him back in a fourth line role for next year. Thomasino, 100% yes, I am bringing him back. Matt Nietto, no thanks. But going to mama, remember, he also is a free agent. So what we do have to see if he comes back. And then Matt Grisly, Connor Timmons, P.O. Joseph, I think Connor Timmons for sure should come back next season.

We'll do more of a deep dive into all the free agents once the season comes to an end next week and in the coming weeks. But I do think, like when you look at the highest priority of players to bring back that are RAs or UFAs, I think Tomasino is number one on that list. Hammond, Timmons, probably one and two on that list. But I would put Tomasino a bit higher up. and I don't really think that contract is going to be that difficult to hammer out. Probably going to be a short-term deal if I had to guess, but I agree with you as a whole. And I think that will do it for this second segment coming up to end the show.

It's Wednesday. It's time for Warrior Home at Wednesday giving out our team MVP award for the last week. And there are some really good candidates for this last week. Cindy Crosby, Ricardo, Raquel, Brian Russ, they've gotten a lot of them. They are very good candidates for this. But the kids, Rutgers and Raleigh and Dillie Coivvin are also some fairly good candidates. as well. And Pat, this is the second-tall-ass warrior helmet Wednesday of the season. This thing flew by. So next week, we'll have to tell you up to see who got the most

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All right, we're back here on this episode of the Lock Tom Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes, join by my co-host, Patrick Damp. And Pat, there are, as I said, a lot of good candidates for this week's Warrior Helmet. But you know what? I'm going to do it. I'm going to split this helmet, give one half to Ville, Lake Goivinen, and one half to Rucker McGority. They have given this team so much energy, so much enthusiasm since coming up about a week

and a half ago. And they have outplayed some fairly good teams. that stretch. The outplayed the senators who clinched their playoff spot last night. Congratulations to Ottawa, by the way. It's been almost a decade since they last made the playoffs. And so it'll be nice seeing them back in this year. They outplay the blues, even though they lost that game. I still felt they were the better team. And then they brutally outplayed the Dallas Stars who are a pretty big meme right now. By the way, they blew a five two lead to the Vancouver Canucks with a minute left. That is crazy. By the way, I didn't even think that was possible until I woke up and saw that

last night, Pat. Hey, Hunter, you remember yesterday when I said that there should be some flashing red lights for Dallas fans and you kind of gave me a weird look? Starting to feel a little vindicated about that right about now. Well, that one was bad. I will give you that. I want to see how the stars respond down the stretch and I want to see how they play in the playoffs.

Probably against Colorado. And speaking of Colorado, Gabe Landisog has just been loaned to their HL team. So I think we're going to get a big comeback here with Landiscag. And that's going to be such an insane scene. It's been almost three years since he played. He's been coming back from too many big injuries. And I am so happy for him, by the way, if he can make it all the way back. But anyways, getting back to the topic at hand.

Half to the Lee Coivinen, half to Rock and Marjorie. McGordy gets his first NH goal against St. Louis Blues. What a goal, by the way, right around the net, to tie it late in the third period. By the way, Ville Coivinen, got the assist on that. And Coivinen, his vision has been really on display. since coming up. And, you know, you look at his numbers, three assists, three points in five games, McGority. You know, he also has, you know, three points in eight games, one goal to assist. But they have shown to me that they are ready for the NHL. They're going to go back to the

AHA for the Wilkesbury playoffs and they're going to try and help this team win a Calder Cup. But as I said earlier on, I think that is going to be the last time you see these two kids in the HL. I think, even though it's been a small sample for both, I think they have shown that they are ready for this league. It's not too big for them, especially, you know, the moment is not too big for them. They both made some outstanding plays. And I think the penguins have something in these two kids. So they get my vote for the warrior helmet this week. Me as well. That's who I'm going with three points each over the last week. And just away from them being able to put up a couple points in a few games over the last week, they have just proven that they belong. We, we,

kind of cautioned everybody after their first appearance that, hey, listen, there's going to be an adrenaline rush for these guys. They're probably going to have a good debut. And for McGority, it's his return. But now we're fully into they have each played in the last five games. And all five games, it has been the same story. And while that, yes, is a smaller sample size, it's a little bit easier to glean some trends in the way they play over a five game sample. They've continued to show the same things each and every game. Covenin, incredible vision. He distributes the puck really well.

Rutger McGrory night and day from when he started, yes, in the, in the NHL at the beginning of the year. At the beginning of the year, there was understandably, although I believe to, it believed it to be a little bit reactionary at the time that, oh, no, did they make the right decision acquiring this kid? Is he going to really become a productive NHLer? But he really stuck with it. And yeah, he struggled in the AHL as well when he started. But as we've discussed on this show, as a lot of experts have said, he was a victim of bad luck in the AHL. He was doing everything right. The puck just weren't going in. Then the puck started going in. You put that on top of Everybody was worried about his skating and rightfully so.

This entire year in the H.O, you can tell the main thing he has been working on his skating. And while he's still got improvements to make, he still needs to get a little bit faster. His first step has to improve. But his skating is night and day better from when we started this season to where we are now. And between all of that and just the energy that they have brought to the team, in these five games has been palatable. And I think at this point, you are not going to see them back in the AHL

after the Calder Cup playoffs. And that's the thing. Like you can tell a lot of the other veteran players on this team, they have fed off of that energy, off of that enthusiasm. They have loved seeing these kids just provide this team a little bit of the spark. And yeah, I know people.

Their season was practically over when they came up, but they have still provided a nice little spark to this team down the stretch. And I know some people are going to ask Pat, you're like, you know, why weren't they up sooner? You know, why didn't they bring these guys up in January, February? But this is how development works. Like, you want to develop these guys properly

so that they are ready for this league when they come up. And I can't give enough credit to the Wilkesbury staff for the way they have developed both of these kids down there throughout the season. They deserve all the credit in the world. But I think that's going to do it for today's episode of the Locked on Penguins podcast. Thank you all so much for taking the time to listen to slash watch this one. Pat and I will be back with another show of you all on Thursday to discuss the latest news surrounding the Penguins. And then Friday we'll preview the final meaning of the season against the New Jersey Devils.

And the next week, people, time's up. The season will be over. We recap that game against Boston. And then we'll get you all set for game 82 against the Washington Capitals. And then after that, it's full off season time. We got season reviews, moves they could make, playoff talk. all that good stuff. We're not going anywhere until probably mid-July until we put the show down to three days a week and all that good stuff. But that's well into the future at this point. But for Patrick Damp, I'm Hunter Hodes.

Thank you all so much for tuning in. We appreciate it. We'll be back on Thursday.