Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Penguins SIGN Nick Robertson AND hire a new front office member!

Episode Date: July 14, 2026

The Penguins have made some moves to start this week, including settling on a contract with an RFA and adding to their front office. Hunter and Patrick begin the show by discussing the two-year deal the Penguins have signed forward Nick Robertson to, whether it’s a solid deal, and what it means for his place in the organization moving forward. (1:30) Then, they dive into where they think Robertson will fit in the Penguins’ lineup and how, with this new contract, it’s time for him to start moving up the lineup and developing into a consistent offensive contributor. (10:03) Finally, they’re beginning a countdown of the top 10 prospects in the Penguins’ system with some honorable mentions. (17:30) They also briefly touch upon the breaking news that the Penguins have hired Brandon Pridham after he left the Toronto Maple Leafs. (25:15)  Everydayer ClubIf you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. Click here to learn more and join your team’s community: https://lockedonpodcasts.com/everydayerclub Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! FanDuel Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. From the opening whistle to the final kick, Let There Be Goals on FanDuel. Visit https://FANDUEL.COM to get started now. 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 settled with Nick Robertson on Tuesday, and Pat and I are going to discuss that, plus where he fits in the Penguins lineup coming up right after this. You're locked on penguins, your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins, part of the Locked-on podcast network, your team every day. Hello and welcome to the Tuesday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes. You can follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, joined by my coach. post, Patrick Damp, you can follow him on all social media platforms at Send Unfor-Wet. You can also follow this show's Twitter at L.O. underscore Penguins. And you can find us on Instagram at Locked-on underscore Penguins. Of course, thank you all so much for making this

your first lesson slash watch today. We are free and available on all platforms. And finally, today's episode is brought to you by Fandall. The biggest stage in world soccer is here. The World Cup semi-finals. Let better be goals on Fandle. Visit fendul.com. to get started now. Well, we were going to record on Monday, but then I had to go down to Virginia to get my new car. So that changed some plans. We're recording today, Wednesday, and then on Friday, a bit later on in the show, we're going to do some honorable mentions for the top prospects in the penguin system before going from 10 to 6 on Wednesday and then 5 to 1 on Friday. But, Pat, let's start off with the news of the day. The Penguins have avoided arbitration with forward Nick

Robertson, a two-year contract, 3.25 million per year. Got to say, when I first saw that, I was taking aback a little bit. I thought it was going to be 2 million per year, 2.5 million. I didn't think he was going to be getting over three, but you know, you saw what he did last year, 16 goals, 32 points with Toronto. They see him potentially as a 20 plus goal player, excuse me, and if he can do that this year, contract looks pretty solid. So I'm fine with it, Pat.

I just didn't think he would get over $3 million per year. That's all. I didn't either, but I'm also not mad about it. Because really, one, what we have said a bunch of times on this show and everybody knows, the penguins have more salary cap space than they know what to do with at this point. And this is something I kind of expected to see maybe still could see by the penguins this summer where you maybe overpay a guy or two, but for sure. term deals, one, two, maybe even three-year deals, where you kick a guy a little bit more money

than he's probably worth just because you can between a rising salary cap, the amount of space the penguins have, and if it's not a long-term commitment, not a big deal. I also think that Kyle Dubus believes in Robertson. He believes that Nick Robertson can become a top six forward in the NHL, and he's making that bet. I still need to see it, but I look at the way he plays the game. I look at his offensive instincts. He's gotten a little bit better with each passing year. And for all the faults that the Toronto Maple Leafs have in everything that they're going through right now, you look at their roster, he's probably not breaking into their top six in Toronto.

That's probably not happening. Right now, you look at the Penguins lineup and we'll talk about that in a little bit. He might not be breaking into the penguins top six right now at this moment on July 14th. But if he has a big year, there's a good chance he could break into that top six. So I'm good with this contract. It's short. It's not quite a prove it deal, but it's got a toe on the line of a prove it deal a little bit. Yeah, I wouldn't call it a prove it deal. I think it's them saying, we believe in you and you have a spot in this lineup come the end of September when the season starts. Like, if they were to give him, you know, even lower than $2 million, for example, I think

it would have to really fight for your spot. But I think with them giving him this much money, and again, you know, he's still at the end of the day going to have to go out there and earn everything, excuse me. I still think they envision him in the top nine when you're giving someone that type of money excuse me again it's got to go out there and do it at camp and preseason but i think they're pretty confident in him after acquiring him on july first and then signing him to this deal uh the start of the day that penguins posted that awesome picture on their social media his dog just there hanging out loving his owner signing the contract thought that picture was obviously great penguins now have

one restricted free agent left that is villi coivan i'm sure they'll deal with that whenever they choose to not going to really be a tough negotiation prior to the penguin settling with Robertson Pat he was expected to have his salary arbitration on July 28th I know everyone wants to know about his brothers that is July 25th it's probably going to get done before then so if anything is going to happen here with getting Nick's brother Jason to Pittsburgh pat I think it's going to happen in the next 11ish days I think it has to and the the drum that I'll keep beating I'm still not totally convinced that the penguins are going to be able to get him. I know.

I'm the skunk at the garden party. Everybody's. I'm with you, by the way. But the part of it that I continue to say works in the penguin's favor is that the longer this stalemate between him and Dallas continues, the less leverage Dallas will have. Now, obviously with him filing for arbitration, having an arbitration date. set that is going to get this to a resolution one way or the other. So Dallas does have that leverage of, hey, we can go to arbitration and give them a one year deal for a boatload of money

and then we can figure this out later on. But at the end of the day, the longer this stalemate goes on between the two parties, Robertson gets more leverage, Dallas gets less leverage, because eventually it's either you're going to settle with him or you're going to go to arbitration and you're going to have a resolution. And we all know from listening to agents, listening to players, whether it's in articles or on podcasts, arbitration is nasty business because the... That's why you see a lot of these players and teams settle before then because they don't want to deal with it. I mean, we've already seen four of the 15 players, Pat, that final.

for arbitration settled before the hearing date. And you're going to see more over the next week and to 10 days. Because obviously it's just business and it's part of the CBA. But for all intents and purposes, when you go to arbitration, it's the team coming in and not quite telling you that you suck because they're not going that far. But they're poking holes in every argument you make about why you're worth a certain amount of money and a certain amount of commitment. And human nature, you look back.

at that hearing and you go, do these guys even like me? So if it gets to that point with Robertson, I don't think the stars are going to be nasty about it, but they're going to work every angle they can to pay him as little as little as they can in that hearing. So if it gets to that point, it could get ugly for him. It's a team's way to low ball a player because you always see that when a player does get to arbitration. Here's the team ask.

Here's the player ask. And it's like, wow, just a huge swing of directions where the team is trying to not pay you as much and trying to lowball the player. And the player's like, no, I want more than what I've bargained for. And it's why you're right. Like, it can get ugly. And it's why a lot of these don't usually get there just because both sides don't want to deal with it. So I do think over the next week and a half, we're going to have some sort of resolution. I am sure the stars do not want to just have him get a one-year deal via arbitration because that would just walk him to free agency where they would potentially lose him for nothing.

So I'm sure both sides want to work this thing out. But if they can't, Caldubis' number is in Jim Nill's phone. So Tom will tell how this plays out on the next week and a half if Caldubis can get Nick's brother, Jason, here for the Pittsburgh Penguins. But that's going to do it for this first segment. Coming up in the second segment,

now that Robertson is signed, where does he fit into the Penguins lineup? Pat and I are going to discuss that coming up right after this. But before we do that, we have to tell you all about our first sponsor, which is Fandul on the, biggest stage in the world. Fandall is changing the game because sometimes your player gets subbed off and your bet goes with them. Not anymore though. With Fandall Super Sub, if your player is subbed out,

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Let there be goals this summer on Fandle. Visit fandle.com slash locked on. That is fandle.com slash locked on to get started right now. All right, we're back here on the Tuesday edition of the Locked on Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunters, hoodies, joined by my. Coast, Patrick Damp. And Pat, I hinted at this in the first segment. I think Robertson is going to be on the third line to start next season. He's getting $3.25 million per. I think this organization believes in him. They saw the year that he just had, even though he requested a trade out of Toronto, had a career year, got almost to 20 goals. I think there's a chance that he could eclipse

20 this year as a member of the Penguins. And I see him playing with Ben Kindle to open the season at the end of September. And I think that was, that could be a decent partnership for the Penguins with the way Ben Kindle thinks the game on the ice, the way that he's so responsible, the way that he's a really good setup man at times has great vision in the offensive zone. Again, he's also just so freaking smart. I think that would pair really well with someone like Robertson, who he's been filling the back of the net more and more in each of the last three seasons. Yeah, that's, that's where I have him slot it in to start. He's going to be third line right wing with Ben Kindle and one of Kuzmenko or whomever else emerges this offseason. And I think you hit the nail on the

head with putting him with Ben Kindle is a good starting point because Kindle is just a good 200 foot player. He can make a good first pass. He's defensively accountable and he can distribute the puck pretty well. And if you have Kindle between Kuzmanko and Robertson, you could have a pretty effective third line that can do some goal scoring because Kuzmanko, when he finds it and he's on, he's a solid goal score. Yeah, he's a black hole defensively and he's not exactly known for his speed. But when you pair him with someone like Ben Kindle and even Jason Robertson, who isn't going to be a Selkie candidate in anybody's mind, but he's certainly not terrible defensively. You can live with that. So I like having him there,

but to the point I was making in the first segment about this is not a prove it deal for Robertson, but it walks right up to the line of prove it deal. This feels like when you get a new job and they tell you, hey, there's growth opportunity here. If you do well, you can move up. So if Robertson plays well, I mean, I don't see him eclipsing of Gennie Malkin. I don't see him eclipsing Brian Rust. But remember what we always say with Brian Rust. He is a Swiss Army knife.

Yes, he's Sidney Crosby's preferred winger. But if Robertson comes flying out of the gate and you want to move him up to that top line, Brian Rust ain't going to complain about playing on the third line, nor is he going to be out of place. So this is not me saying Brian Russ needs to be moved down in place of Jason, in the place of Nick Robertson, excuse me. You should definitely be moved down if we get Jason Robinson. But that's if he's not included in the trade going back.

Exactly. But it's to the point where if he has a good start, if he has a solid year, you can see him moving up. But for now, slotting him on the third line feels like the natural place to put him. Yeah, it just makes the most sense. And then you can also have Kuzmenko there who has been a proven goal score, at least to start his career. You have both of those players who can fill the net,

at least a bit on the third line with someone like Kendall, who, yeah, his release is really solid. But again, there are so many other elements of his game that are so fantastic, and I think would fit both of those players. And if injuries arise in the top six, okay sure you can put robertson up there for a spell on crosbie's line on malkins line you know robertsin's not going to clip solom like egor shinikov or anyone like that just because he has great chemistry with abginy malkin but say someone gets a bit banged up in the top six has to miss a week

or two you can move robertson up he can play in flashes up there fill the net you can see the same for andre kuzmanko honestly too he's also someone that i think could fill a top six role too so i think also with Robertson, you can put on the second power play outside of the third line at five on five. He's someone that I think is going to be an option for Dan Muse on PP2. Injuries arise, and I think a lot of injuries would have to arise for him to go up to powerplay one. So kind of leaving it at that, more so power play two for Robertson. But overall, I think it was a bit higher than I expected, but I don't mind it. It's only for a couple of years.

and if you play as well during that time, that's another career high and goals and maybe points, they'll have the opportunity to keep him for even longer once that deal expires. Well, and here's the other thing that I will say that's kind of a negative when it comes to Robertson. It's breakout time for him. It doesn't, this isn't, I don't want it to be unrealistic. I'm not saying he's got to be a 30 or 40 goal score,

but 20 to 25, it is time for him to take that next step. because you look at his time in the NHL with the Maple Leafs. He's an effective player. There is skill there. There is talent there. There is, dare I say the word, potential there. But it is time for him to reach it. And this is part of what the penguins are going through.

It is the Kyle Dubis brick by boring brick strategy. It's a guy who probably wasn't going to raise very much higher in Toronto's system. he's able to get to a team like the penguins who are a team in transition. And this is your moment to hopefully grab and hold a larger role in the organization. So if he doesn't do it but he plays well, that's not a disappointment. But it is getting to be that time with him being 24 years old. He's got pretty solid and significant NHL experience. I don't have any misgivings about him suddenly becoming a superstar,

but it should be on a level, in my estimation, to someone like Chinikov, where you take that next step now that you're here. You become a consistent presence for the penguins offensively. You are able to put up 20 to 25 goals. You're a reliable offensive piece on the roster. So this isn't me saying that he stinks. This isn't me saying that he's not worth. gamble he absolutely is but now the ball is in his court to take that next step yeah and he'll have a

chance to prove it this upcoming season and then the season after so those are our main thoughts on the nick robertson signing and again time will tell if his brother gets to join the penguins for this season and in future seasons but with that that's going to do it for our second segment coming up to end the show we're going to start our top 10 penguins prospects both some of the honorable mentions that didn't make the cut. That's coming up right after this. All right, we're back here on the Tuesday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunters, Hodes, joined by my coast, Patrick Damp. And Pat, you're seeing a lot of these type of lists come out during this time. I know some of the writers are doing top 20. We didn't want to go that far. We're just going to

go with our top 10, but have our honorable mentions to start today. We also should say, Ben Kindle is not on this list. He is an NHL player now, a damn good one already. He has the chance to grow even more as he continues his career. He'd obviously be number one on the list if he did not make the NHL last year. But he made it and was one of the Penguins best players. He's not on this list. So right. He played 77 games.

The discussion around Ben Kindle now is what is his ceiling as an NHL player? You can't put them in the prospect ranks anymore because you play nearly an entire NHL season in your first year, we're counting you as an NHL player and you're no longer a prospect. Yes, I 100% agree with you on that. But let's get to the honorable mentions. There is a little bit of breaking news. We'll get to a bit later on the show pad. You don't even know about it, but I just saw it scroll by on Twitter. We'll get there in a second because this is a little bit of news. We can discuss more about this on Wednesday. Honorable mentions, though, I have Owen picturing here. There was a time when I really had him in the top 10, but Pat, he's really slipped.

I know he played a bit better down the stretch for Wilkesbury and into the playoffs, but considering the way that they have added the prospect pool, considering some of the way these players have played that are ahead of him, I kind of have him on the outside looking in. It's really put up our shut up time with him at this point. So he's an honorable mention for me. That's, I think, the best place to put him. I think at this point, Pickering has to almost, I don't want to go verbatim what I just said about Robertson in the last segment, but it is time for him to take the next step in a lesser way. It is time for him to show that he can be a viable option on the blue line for the penguins.

Do I think he's going to suddenly be a top or second pairing guy? No, but can you be a reliable depth option? Can you be that young-ish player who steps in and gives you reliable minutes? Because he hasn't really been able to do that in Pittsburgh yet. I thought he had a really solid year last year with the baby penguins. It was, by all accounts, a step forward for him in the HL. And as always, with defensemen, it can take a while. It can take a few years.

but he is getting dangerously close to are you an NHL player or are you an HL player? So the quad-a-player reference makes a return. I wasn't going to say it this time, but it is to the point where maybe it doesn't work here, but can you at the very least show that you are a viable option for an NHL team? Right. And I mean, he's going to have an opportunity to come into camp, preseason, really, show I'll try to take a spot on the left side because that side is still at least a bit wide open.

I mean, they have really overhauled half the defense. The left side is still not close to done. He goes in there and somehow blows everyone away. Who knows that? Maybe he could make the team out of camp. I still got to see it to believe it. But at least he's going to have the opportunity.

I have someone like Avery Hayes still on the outside looking in. I'm a big fan of him. He's going to have a chance to make this roster as well. I just like some of the other plays. players ahead of him. That's a big. Yeah, that's all really. Nothing against him at all. No, that that's the, the biggest thing with him is that he is going to be, should he continue to develop a really fun bottom six player. He is a ball of energy. He's fearless. He's a rat. He plays hard. But there are players who are more talented and have more potential than him. There's nothing

wrong with his game. There's nothing wrong with him as a prospect. But when you're putting putting out who has higher ceilings, who has more potential. Avery Hayes is lower on the list, but what he brings to the table, especially should this team in the next five to six years find themselves back in the contender category, a player like him in the bottom six has a lot of value. He just needs to keep developing that way and making himself a valuable member of the bottom six. I'm hoping we can say the same for Tristan Bros. as well, obviously.

hardly any of an NHL sample. He's been decent in the AHL so far, but I'm still hoping that he can develop and maybe carve out a role at some point on the Penguins roster. It's tough right now just because he's really far down the depth chart, even with players like, you know, Rucker ahead of them,

Ville, Kauvin, and the players they brought in via free agency, et cetera. I still hope that he can carve out a role here and be a solid contributor in the bottom six that can score. some point he's still one of the honorable mentions on the outside looking in for me he's a player i like but his stock has slipped a little bit over the past year uh i i thought i thought a little bit higher of him but again he's like so many other of the prospects in the penguin system right now

where it's hard for me to get a real read on them simply because we know where the penguins are right now they are going to take on a lot of projects they're going to take on a lot of raw players where you're going to have to do a lot of work with them to get them ready. I still like him, but in the last year or so, his stock to me has slipped a little bit. Eventually, and this is more of a overall discussion for the organization, they do eventually have to get some better, more higher end prospects into the system. Yeah, that's the goal. But at the end of the day, I look at Bros as a player who,

with a couple of guys hopefully graduating to the NHL this year, he can take on a larger role with the baby penguins and fill it well, which would help him in the longer term. Yeah, and going off that, the two players that want to round this out before we get to a little bit of news, Pat, Tanner How and Finn Harding, I want to see Tanner Howe in a full season with Wilkesbury. I do think the time is coming when he is going to be a member of the NHL team,

has a lot of ratty elements that I like scores a lot around the net, total pest to play against. I'm a big fan of him. And once he came back to this past year, was really fun to watch. And then Finn Harding, you've seen him grown a little bit, Pat, over the last year or two.

Does he take that next step in the minors next year? That's something that I'm going to be really watching as well. Excuse me. For sure. I think with those two, it's another, it's another instance of they're just going to need more time. they for this honorable mention list,

if we were also taking it as like a grading system of like this, the guys in the top five, they get A's or Bs, the guys six through 10, they get B's and Cs. They're incomplete. I need to see more from them. I need to see them play more,

whether it's with the nailers, whether it's with the baby penguins or the Everblade, depending upon what happened with that. But at the end of the day, they're in a category of, I like the potential, I like the thought, I just got to see them play more professionally

than I can get a better read on them. Right, I'm with you on both of those. And Pat, just to close out the show, we'll dive into more of this tomorrow. But man, we sure called this one, didn't we? I think most of the fan base called this one. But according to Elliott Freeman, former Toronto Maple Leaf's assistant GM at Brandon Pridham

is officially joining the Pittsburgh Penguins as a hockey operations consultant. Per Freeman, he will handle the contract. cap management in planning responsibilities, formerly held by Vuki Mopofu, who of course recently departed for the National Predators to be under Predators GM Chris McFarland. He will also mentor junior members on the management staff. Wow, Pat, we talked about that last week. Felt like it was only a matter of time before this was going to happen. Prindam and Dubus worked a lot in Toronto, so no surprise here. We'll discuss more about this tomorrow, but just want to give you a couple quick thoughts

when we get out of here. It's a great hire. I mean, I'll just echo the things I've said before. The guy got hired out, hired out of the NHL's front office, not Toronto. Toronto plucked him from the league where he helped develop the salary cap. So even through all the challenges or in changes that have come over the past decade or so

with the NHL salary cap, the CBA and everything surrounding it, he still played a major. role in implementing it and developing it. So having that guy in your front office, and according to Friedman's report, he is handling contract and cap management for the Penguins. So that is the exact role that you want this guy in in your organization. So even though we all figured it was coming, this makes a lot of sense. Right. And I'm glad that the new ownership is good with that role being filled and they're not having to squeeze anything in the front office or anything.

like that. But yeah, no surprise here. We'll discuss more about this on our Wednesday edition and continue our top 10 Penguins prospects in the system. Well, we'll start going from 10 to 6. And then later on this week, we'll go from 5 to 1 and wrap up this week. But that's going to do it for the Tuesday edition 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 a fresh episode for you all on Wednesday. and then as I said, we'll be back on Friday to close out the week. So for Patrick Damp, I am Hunser-Hodys. Thank you all so much for tuning in.

We both appreciate it. We'll be back on Wednesday.