Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Penguins STUN the NHL and draft the Ruck twins!

Episode Date: June 29, 2026

The Penguins became the team that stood up and drafted the identical twins in the 2026 NHL Draft! Hunter and Patrick start the show talking about the Penguins’ first two picks in the draft, Liam and Markus Ruck, a set of identical twins who lit up the WHL this past season. They give their thoughts on the picks, the expectations for the pair, and the timeline for them to make it to the big club. Then, they take a look at the other four picks the Penguins made over the weekend. While there weren’t a lot of flashy moves or picks, the Penguins clearly took a bet on talent throughout the draft. Finally, with the free agency looming and a lot of big trades made across the league, are the Penguins in line to make one, or will Dubas remain patient?  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! Decagon Ready to transform your customer support? Go to decagon.ai/LOCKEDONNHL to get a personalized demo and see what Decagon can do for your team.   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 surprised everyone this weekend by taking the Ruck Twins in the 26 NHL draft, and Pat and I are going to discuss that 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 Monday 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 co-host 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 Lockdown underscore Penguins. And of course, thank you all so much for making this your first listen slash watch of the day. We are free and available on our platforms. The Pittsburgh Penguins selected six players in the 2026 NHL draft. We're going to start the show by going over Liam and Marcus Rock for going into the other players. they selected in the second segment.

And then to end the show, we're going to discuss a few comments that Cow Dubus made during his media press conference at the end of the first round on Friday night. And speaking of the first round, Pat, it was looking like for a while that Ryan Lynn was going to fall to 22. The flyers were up at 21. And they started taking their time. And I'm like, hmm, something seems a miss here because they usually would have picked because it was a little over five minutes.

And you then get word that the San Jose Sharks trade into 21. they had already had an amazing draft up until that point. And then I got nervous. I'm like, yeah, they're totally going to snipe Ryan Lynn from the penguins. And they did exactly that. In my opinion,

if they had not taken Ryan Lynn there, I think the penguins would have taken him at 22, but sharks take Ryan Lynn right ahead of them. And that leads the penguins to take Liam Rock with a 22nd overall pick. People may come in the comments and be like, Hunter and Pat, why don't you guys talk about him and his brother a lot?

To be honest, I didn't think the penguins are going to be the team to take both of these twin brothers in the annual draft. I liked them as players. I had them overall on my tierless pat. At the end of tier two below guys again like Tommy Blyle, J.P. Hulbert, Maddox, Dajene, etc. I still thought they were good players.

I just didn't think the penguins are going to be the ones to take the chance on the Ruck Twins. But they did. They took Liam on Friday night, who has one of the best releases you will see in this class. The puck absolutely explodes off his stick. He was amazing for medicine. and had this past season, 45 goals and 104 points in 68 games, was also right around a point

per game in the playoffs. And then first pick on Saturday, Pat, in the second round, they take his brother Marcus, who he is the playmaker to Liam's finishing ability. For example, Marcus Ruckpat, he had 87 assists this past season. He is the setup man. He has great vision. He's a lot of fun to watch in the offensive zone. And honestly, he has a decent release. He scored 21 goals. I actually want to see him use his release more because when he lines it up, it's pretty good. So it was a really cool story seeing the Penguins pick both these twin brothers. They were over the moon about coming here to Pittsburgh. You saw Sidney Crosby called them.

The Penguins put that video on their social media on Saturday. Really cool stuff. And it was confirmed. Both brothers are heading back to the W.HL for next season. And then they will head to college for the following season at the University of North Dakota. and then the season after that, that's probably the earliest pat that you could see them in the NHL.

So if you're looking at a Ben Kindle type situation here, you're not going to get it. I think you'll see these guys probably Pat in about three-ish seasons, maybe more. That's kind of where I am as well. You look at what they have in the immediate future. They're going back to Medicine Hat in the WHL. And then after that,

they're heading to North Dakota. So it'll be a little while. before we see the Ruck Twins as Pittsburgh Penguins or even baby penguins or nailers and or Florida Everblades, whichever ECHL affiliate the Penguins have in the coming years. But I was initially skeptical of this at first because like you, we were texting all night during the first round as Lynn continued to drop down the board. And it looked like the penguins had a very real chance of getting. Ryan Lynn and then obviously the sharks snipe him which go listen to Lockdown Sharks, man.

I think that's the first time on ESPN's draft coverage. I've ever seen someone get an A plus plus for their draft. They crushed it. That team's going to be a problem for a really long time. Ryan Lynn, Keaton Verhoff and Stenberg in the first round. Good luck in the future, everyone else. That team's going to be a hell of a team for a long time. back to the penguins.

I also understand the strategy because the reporting was not, was not shy about the Ruck Twins. They basically, through their agent, told teams at the combine, don't take one if you aren't going to take the other. Right. And that pretty much meant as soon as they made the pick to take Liam in the first round, you knew as soon as the day started on Saturday, their very next pick was going to be Marcus.

So I think overall this is a nice little bet by the Penguins because they are probably aren't going to end up like the Cedine twins. They're not going to make a mockery of the league for a decade plus and be two of the best players in the league. But you look at a lot of their tape, you look at a lot of their stats. They play the game really well. They think the game really well. They have really good offensive instincts. they understand the game both offensively and defensively. But like we have been saying on the show for quite a while now,

with where the penguins are picking, with where the penguins are as a franchise, there are going to be a lot of projects. And the rucks are no exception. They are a project. But to give myself a pat on the back, they're the kind of players that I describe that the penguins need to take bets on. there are a lot of boxes that they check there are a lot of things they're very good at and the things

that need work aren't going to be that hard to work on you can make their skating a little bit better you can make their two-way games a little bit better and you can put them in the gym for the next three to four years and put some weight on them so these are two very talented players who think the game at a very high level so i like the i like the bet i like the idea and I liked their, we're going to talk about it for the rest of the show. I liked a lot of what they did throughout the weekend, considering where they picked, what they did. They made a lot of bets on some players that I think if it pans out the way they want it,

these guys will hopefully turn into NHL contributors. Yeah, we'll get into our letter grades for the full class coming up a bit later on in the show. I am very glad you brought up the issues that Liam and Marcus have, which is, yes, their skating needs some work, especially the power in their skating. I think that especially needs work, but that's why you go back to junior for a year. And that's why especially Pat, you go to one of the better collegiate programs, excuse me, in the country. North Dakota, one of the better ones, as I said, they can square that away there.

And their two-way game also needs some work as well. When it comes to Liam, outside of his wicked release, which he can use all over the ice, I also really like the way he plays in front of the net. well. Marcus, I tweeted this earlier on Saturday morning, way more of a playmaker with good vision. He can still get to the net for some greasy goals. He can play on both special team units, so can Liam, by the way, needs the same out of work with his skating and two-way play as Liam does. But again, I want to see him utilize his release more because I think when he uses it and when he actually puts some deception into it, it can fool some net minors.

So again, the playmaking, we already know it's at an elite level, especially for junior, your hockey for Liam. We know his release is very good. It's now getting their overall games up to par in junior next season before going off to college and working on those even more. Projection wise, Pat, if they really hit, they can potentially be top six players in the future. But again, people, you're not going to be seeing these brothers probably for at least three years. So just make sure everyone knows that. This is not going to be a Ben Kendall situation. That is the exception, not the norm. But speaking of Ben Kindle, there are a lot of similarities between the Ruck twins and Ben Kindle.

They putting aside even the numbers because both of the Ruck twins and Ben Kindle in their most recent, in their draft year seasons in the WHL, they put up big numbers. They were very productive. But the biggest similarity I see between all three of them is they think the game at a very high level. see the game as it develops and they have incredible hockey sense between the three of them. So if the Ruck Twins can develop and they can eventually turn into NHLers, the ceiling for me is I could see one day a second line of Ben Kindle between the Ruck Twins. I'll be fun. And forget coming up with some goofy name.

I'm just calling it the Mentsa line because the three of them together will think the game incredibly well and process the game incredibly well. And it would do all three of them very well to end up on a line together. But again, that is putting the cart so far ahead of the horse. But overall, I mean, we're going to get into it here in the second segment. The thing I've liked a lot, this will kind of preview and transition us into the next segment. Kyle Dubis and West Clark haven't been Galaxy braining it. They have looked at the top line statistics and went, you know what, these guys are produced in the leagues they're in, we might as well give them a shot. Why not?

And again, I know Tommy Blow was still on the board, J.P. Herbert was still on the board, et cetera, but I like the bets that they made on Liam Ruck and Marcus Ruck. I'm excited to see what they can do going forward development-wise. And I'm also excited to see the Met Development Camp, which starts today when you're listening to this. I'll be there throughout the week. If you're going to be there one of those days, come up, say hi. We can BS and just talk.

anything Penguins Hockey and all that good stuff. But that's going to do it for this first segment. Coming up in the second segment, Pat and I are going to discuss the four other players of the Penguins took in the 2026 and until draft this weekend. That's coming up right after this. All right. Before we get to that, though,

we have to tell you all about one of our sponsors, which is Decagon. As companies grow, customer support gets a lot more complicated. More customers means more questions, more channels to manage and higher expectations for fast personalized service. That's usually when businesses start looking. looking at AI, but most solutions either feel too generic or take forever to implement.

That's where Decagon comes in. Decagon helps companies create personalized, conserved style customer experiences with AI agents across chat, email, voice, and SMS. Their agents are available 24-7. They feel natural to talk to and can resolve customer requests on their own, helping businesses scale support without losing that personal touch. The best customer experiences don't happen by accident. Whether it's in business or sports, people remember organizations that respond quickly,

understand context and make every interaction feel personal. Ready to transform your customer support, go to Decagon. com.a slash Lockdown NHL to get a personalized demo and see what Decagon can do for your team. That's Decagon.a.ai slash locked on NHL. All right, we're back here on the Monday edition of the Locked On Penguins podcast.

I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes, joined by my co-Cohs, Patrick Damp. And Pat, let's get to the next player that was selected by the Penguins defenseman, Thomas Galvis, he's an over-Asia defenseman out of the Czech Republic, 20 years old. So if they want him to, they could have him turn pro for next season. But I did listen to West Clark's press conference after everything was done on Saturday. He said that Galvis is going to be staying in Czechia for the 20-26, 2027 season.

And then I assume he'll come over to North America for the 27-28 season. Unless Pat, something changes and they sign him to an ELC and he comes over this year. But I'm just going off what West Clark said and that he's going to be staying in. in Chequia for next season. Immediately, I turned on the tape for him, and then I texted you. I said, please watch this kid because he is a lot of fun. This was his third year of eligibility. This past season, eight goals, 24 points, and 32 games in Chequia.

The playoffs, only one assist in seven games. But at the U-20s for the rural juniors, Pat, he put on a show. Three goals, nine points in seven games. And when you turn on the tape, wow, he can fly. is an excellent skater, really shifty. He can skate a puck in the offensive zone with ease, has some great vision. And I know I saw some tweets, oh, he's undersized. He's undersized. Guys, 510 to 6.1, it's three inches. Come on. We don't need to get weird about this. It really is not a big deal. Do not let the size fool you. He is an excellent skater, has great vision, a lot of fun to

watch. This is a really nice dart throw by Kyle Dubus and West Clark. And again, if they really want him to, they could have him come over for this year. He could work in Wilkesbury with Kirk Cronald, but it looks like right now he's going to stay and check you it for the 26, 2027 season and then come over for 2728. But Pat, your thoughts after watching the tape on him. We'll take it from a short king, Hunter, three inches. That means a lot. That means a lot to some of But in the case of Tomas Galvis, no, it doesn't. I mean, you, I thought this was Hunter at his most excitable because we all know that Hodes loves the draft and I don't blame them.

It's a fun time a year. But the hype matched what Hunter was selling. The vision he has is fantastic. You watch a lot of his tape. He makes some passes that even when you watch the play develop the first. time, you had no idea we're there and he was able to see it. He's got a great set of wheels and he uses it to his advantage. So if you are worried about the size, I would say don't be that concerned because he does have the skating to make up for it. He is not going to get overpowered

because he'll be able to outskate people, which is the best thing you can say for a quote-unquote, undersized defenseman. He has the ability to move. Now, I will say it is a bit of a red flag that this was his third year of draft eligibility. He went two years without getting picked, without getting signed, without finding his way into the National Hockey League or some NHL program. And then this year gets drafted in the second round.

But as much as it is a red flag, our pal Jesse Marshall brought up a really good point. At the age of 20, you can project the players potential a lot better. Now, we just got done saying three inches of height between 510 and 6.1 isn't that big of a deal. Is there really that big of a difference between 18 and 20? Yeah, there really is. I 100% agree with you on that. But just look at the way that he's developed our last couple of years. He's become a better player, even though he wasn't drafted in the previous two drafts.

And I will say I looked at some of the pundits and some people were really surprised that he was not drafted in either of those two drafts. But look at the way he has played since then. He has gotten better as a player, whether it comes to his skating, his vision, his, his goal scoring ability. He lit up the world juniors. I think that's where a lot more teams were like, okay, look at the way he is playing just because he was great for Chequia at the U-20s.

And this is deserved. Like, he deserved to go on that second round. And now he gets to continue to do that for his team next season before coming over to North America. And honestly, I'm not too concerned about the transition to North American ice whenever it happens. And this is the type of type of player. I think, excuse me,

that Kirk McDonnell is going to love to work with, honestly. Yeah, the way he's worked with the likes of Harrison Brunich, he'll do a lot of good with Galvis when he comes over. But you beat me to that point. He has developed really well in the last two years and was very deserving of being drafted this year. Should he continue to develop and pan out, I'm not going to make the one-to-one comparison,

but this very much could be another Harrison Brunich-type situation where we'll all still love the stories and the memes of getting the Ruck twins and everything. But if he develops the way he should, a lot of people are going to give you the elbow nudge and go, oh, man, um, rock twins are cool, but don't forget about Galvis. They got themselves a player in that kid. Yeah, I do hear you on that. Again, I'm excited for him to continue his development here going into next season. We'll have to see if he makes it to the big leagues, of course, because again, late second round,

pick, but I like the upside here. I like the dart throw from Kyle Dubeson, West Clark. Now, going on to one of the best names in the entire draft, Pierce Bowie, I also really like this pick, Pat, in the third round, 86th overall. He played last two seasons for the Owen sound attack in the OHL was the OHL's rookie of the year in 2025, finished that year with 29 goals, 52 points, and 63 games. This year plays even better, 32 goals, 75 points in 68 games. scored one goal in four playoff games. His playoff team got absolutely waxed in the playoffs. And then he's going to Penn State next season.

Obviously, program on the rise. One of the Badger collegiate hockey program. So I'm glad that he is going there. Check out a tape on him, Pat. And let me tell you, and let me tell everyone that's listening and we're watching this. This dude loves to score. His one-timer, I thought Nikita Klepov's one-timer was really good. Pierce Bowie's one-timer might be just as good, just the way that it explodes off his stick.

That thing is a rocket. Also, his playmaking ability, really good. I think it's another nice dart throw slash gamble pick where Clark and Dubus, they're just betting on upside. I'm really excited to track his progress at Penn State. Now, I will say, I got the vibe that he did a lot of the heavy lifting on his team these last couple of years, especially when I was watching some of the playoff tape, just because Patty was really just him against the world in a way.

Now, he's going to Penn State where he really doesn't need to be the best player, and he can work on other aspects of his game that need work, and he can continue his development, excuse me. So overall, I like to pick there too. He's a really fun player to watch. That's another solid bet, I think, by the penguins in this round. And not to burn out to the rest of the picks, but I will say this to build off of something I said in the first segment,

Dubus and Clark the last two years, something I have really liked that they have done is they are just not overthinking it and they're looking at production being production. If you combined all of the players that they took out of Junior, which takes out Galvis and the goaltender that they took, whose name I'm going to botch the Russian goalie, so I'm just going to pass on that.

But if you combine the stats of all the players they took out of junior this year. 110 goals, 336 points. Yeah. That isn't nothing. That is a lot of production out of a lot of junior players. And it's the same thing I said about Ben Kindle. Not comparing any of these guys to Kindle, but almost 100 points by Ben Kindle in his

draft year, no matter which way you cut it is nearly 100 points, which is difficult to do. Back to Bowie, though, the thing that. I really like about him is that you can combine both his one-timer and his playmaking because this isn't a volume shooter. This isn't a guy who just gets to his spot, picks his stick up and says, give me the puck, I'm going to fire away. If the lane closes and he gets a pass, he bumps it to a teammate, and he gets to a better angle after he draws the defender away, this is a smart player who knows when to use that absolute weapon of a shot. I'm glad you brought that up because Jesse highlighted that in one of his videos that he posted on his Twitter

where it looks like Patty's about to tee up the one timer and he's like, nope, the lane's not there. I'm going to reposition myself a little bit, get it back to a teammate. And then when I get the puck back, I'm going to be in a better spot. I'm just going to uncork that sucker and score on you. So again, I like that Jesse was able to highlight that in his video. IQ really off the charts. I really think that shows that when you watch the tape. So really nice pick there. And then real quickly here, the last two picks bat. Another defenseman, Parker von Richter, eight goals, 24 points in 28 games the season with the OHL and the Barry Colts. And then in the

playoffs, two goals, 14 points in 21 games. He's heading to the NCAA as well next year to the University of New Hampshire. More of a two-way defenseman. I kind of describe him as someone who's good in his own zone. He can move the puck up from defense to offense. But overall, he's way more of a defensive defenseman, even though he did score decently well for the very colts this past season. And then finally, the goaltender that they took later on in the draft, Matt Vei Nikonovic, he played in the MHL this past season in Russia, 1.96 goals against average in a 939% percentage. So, Pat, I actually saw this, and this is actually a really cool stat. So you remember when the Penguins took Sergei Murashov. He came from the same league,

the MHL, 22, fourth round pick. During that time, he had a 927 save and a 2.49 GAA with his team when he was selected by the Penguins. Nuganovich, Pat, 1.96 GAA, 939 saves. So he has better stats than Sergey Murashov did when the Penguins drafted Muroshov just a few years ago. I figured I would highlight that on the show. So anytime you have a chance to take another Russian goalie from that league, you know what? Just do it, though he has to play on a new team next year. So I'll have to see how that goes.

Yeah, his team that he played for last season has disbanded, so we'll see where he ends up. But I mean, it's no secret at this point. Russia is a goaltending factory. If you have the ability to take a talented goaltender out of Russia, you should at least take the flyer and see what they do. We know the Penguins organization right now is pretty well flush with goaltending talent. but with where the penguins are and where they want to go, it's the most needed thing across the NHL. So if Sergey Mureshov and Ardor Shilov and Yoel Blumquist and Taylor Godier and Gabriel Degg

all turn out to be great and Nikonovic ends up looking like another one, there's a franchise out there that needs a goalie, we've got plenty. Name your price. we're going to figure this out. But it's a good bet. And for Von Richter, I mean, it's a project. It's a long shot. We'll see what he turns into.

But there's something about, and this isn't me saying this is going to happen, but there's always a few, no matter the team, no matter the franchise, no matter the year. There's always a handful of guys who get taken in the later rounds. They're solid two-way defensemen. You don't think about them for quite a few years. years. And then next thing, you know, they're a top four defensemen that plays a good two-way game on your team. So much like everybody else we've talked about in their draft class from this year, I look at it all. They're all pretty good bets. So let's just get into that. Overall, on the weekend, I'm going to

give the penguins a B-minus. They did, I think, as best they could with where they were picking. they didn't overthink it. They didn't try to galaxy brain themselves into picks. Nobody thought about. They mostly took BPA. They took a chance on the Ruck Twins. And they picked a bunch of players who, wherever they were playing last year,

if they were skaters, they could score. And they took a goalie who played pretty damn well last season. Yeah, I'm going to go B Plus. They're betting on a lot of upside with these picks. They obviously like the offense that a lot of these players provide. of the goalie, of course, and as we all say, you can never have enough goalies in your system. Nikonovic is the only player of the six players selected that's not going to be at development

camp this week. The other five players are going to be there, according to the Penguins. So if you want to come out and see most of this rookie class this week, come on up to Cranberry, it's mostly glorified practice, but you can still watch them, do some drills, and then you can see the little tournament scrimmage that starts at noon on Friday. But again, Pat, B, B plus, they took a chance on the Ruck twins, I'm excited to see how they keep developing. And then with, you know, Bowie, von Richter, Nikonovic, et cetera,

mostly BPA. And hopefully they can keep developing well. And maybe at some point, one or multiple of them will get their chance in the NHL. We just have to see what happens because, again, that's just the way it works. And the initial drafts over me. BP Plus, Pat gives them a B-minus. That's going to do it for the second segment of today's episode.

up to end the show, Kyle Dubas spoke to the Penguins media after the first round on Friday and had a couple interesting things to say. And Pat and I are going to get into that coming up right after this. All right. We're back here on the Monday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes, joined by my host, Patrick Gamp. And Pat, Kyle Dubas was asked a couple of questions about the trade market, what's going to happen moving forward. And he flat out admitted he wanted to make a big trade this past week, but he literally admitted that he did not have the assets. that other teams had. He did not expect the top 10 picks to be moved the way that they were.

He also did say that he's going to continue to look for a really big trade. And if that doesn't work, he's going to look for a series of smaller trades. The full quote was, you know, brick by boring brick. So a similar trade to what you've seen last year plus where, you know, Hendricks LaPierre, Igor Chinakov, but I'm not really going to classify that as a boring trade considering how well he has played and et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, with those types of moves. But honestly, Pat, the vibe that I got from me,

Dubus, he seemed a bit pissed off during that presser. He seemed a bit pissed that he was not able to swing a move this week. He knows that he doesn't have the assets that these other teams have. And he was flat out mad about it. I can't lie. He was mad. Yeah. And at this point, I'm convinced he listens to this show because it is very similar to what

we have been discussing. It's not that he can't or won't make moves. It's just he's not in a great position with this market. They have a lot of B and C tier assets. They have a lot of projects in their minor league system right now, guys who might game out to bottom six, middle six forwards, maybe bottom pair defensemen, maybe, I can't even say middle top pair, because other than Brunick, there isn't a lot there on the defensive side of it.

He's got a couple of good goaltending prospects, but you're not going to move Sergey Mershav. You're probably not going to move Yoel Blumquist. Taylor Godier, a lot of upside there, but probably not getting the sun and the moon for it. And he didn't have a ton of picks this year. So he's at a point right now where it's going to happen, I think, over the next year or so. where we're going to see a big move or a big swing in some capacity just because the reality of the reality of the NHL season is going to play out.

Somebody's going to get desperate. Somebody's going to have a slow start or somebody is going to be well behind where they want to be and they're going to pull the shoot. So you'll have opportunity. The thing now is not to panic because the thing that they're going to have to do is hope that a lot of these projects turn into something, and then you'll be able to move some things. Plus, if some of the players we have discussed over the past year

end up becoming NHL contributors, some of your other prospects, some of your draft picks, become a little bit more expendable, and then you can start to make your move. But unfortunately, with everybody having cap space just about, and a lot of players kind of controlling their own death, destinies now, it's a lot harder to make trades because you've got to have a lot of assets and you've got to have a lot of capital. And the penguins kind of don't right now. So I think the brick by boring brick

part is annoying, but it's the route he's going to have to take. Yeah, unless something really falls into his lap that he really can't pass on. I also do have to say a lot of the veterans that are on the trade market really haven't been traded yet. A lot of those 30 plus players, you know, like Vince Trowtrak, he has a market, he hasn't been traded yet. Darnall Nurse, we've talked about him. He has not been traded yet. I think Blake Coleman, there are the rumors that he's been on the trade market.

He has not been moved yet. So that does help in the Penguins favor. A lot of these teams are looking at some of these younger pieces, like a Zach Wrenski, for example. It looks like he is now on the trade market. We've talked at length about Jason Robertson. He has not been moved yet. We'll have to see if he still gets moved and what happens there with Dallas and him.

But I do think teams are more focused on some of those younger players rather than veterans. So maybe those other teams could circle back to the penguins once those other bigger situations are done with. This is still going to be a pretty big week league-wide. I know free agency is not what it used to be, but there's still going to be action this week. You're going to see trades be made because usually after July 4th, July 5th, every GM likes to go to the cottage for the summer. They like to go on the water, fish, hang out with their family, go on a vacation until mid to late August, and then everyone comes back getting ready for training camp. So, you know, I feel like Pat, this week is really the one to watch.

Of course, anything can happen in any time during the summer. It's just that as a summer goes on, it's less likely just because everyone goes on vacation and stuff. So this is still a big week. We have to see what happens. Dubis was also asked about the free agency market. And he literally said, yeah. Yeah, I try to learn from my mistakes. I guess that's a little hint to the mistakes that he made in 2023 with Ryan Graves and

Tristan Jari said that you can make an expensive mistake pretty quickly on the market. So as Pat and I have been saying, if they make a move or two in free agency, it's going to be a very cheap contract, one, maybe two years for a very low amount of money. If he makes a big move this week, it's going to be via trade. So excited, though, because this week is usually fun. But again, those are the things that I really gathered from what Dubus had to say during his press on Saturday. And I'm sure Friday, I should say. And I'm sure he'll talk again later on this week. I imagine we'll hear from him probably July 2nd or 3rd after free agency kind of really hits its stride.

And I mean, at the end of the day, like we knew that there were going to be ups and downs with this rebuild retool. And this is going to be one of the down times because everybody who has everybody has caps. face, everybody's making moves. Now what Kyle Dubus has to do is remain patient because there will be teams who do not have their season go the way they want it to go. They may make some panic moves or they may just realize it's over. So in one way or another, the moves are going to be there. It's just going to be a matter of staying patient and not overreacting to the rest of the

league going crazy. Right. And also just a PSA for this week. We are every day through Friday. This will be the last week of daily episodes, though. We'll be down to three shows a week starting on July 6th, unless something changes. But this is going to be the last week of Dailies. We'll have Development Week content for all the prospects. Free agency news, depending on if the Penguin sign anyone. And of course, if they make any big trade or just any trade at all, Pat and I will be here to talk about it as well. So, That's going to do it for the Monday 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 Tuesday. By the way, rest of the episodes, they'll be up later on in the afternoon because I'll be up in cranberry all week for development camp. And again, I'll give you all my thoughts on that, free agency and trades if anything happens with those. So again, that's going to do it for this one.

Thank you all so much for tuning in. We'll be back on Tuesday.