Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Penguins TOP 25 of the 2000s: That guy DID play here!
Episode Date: July 31, 2025We continue the Locked On Penguins Top 25 of the 2000s with an interesting wrinkle: Remembering guys who played here but not for very long! Hunter and Patrick begin the show continuing their Penguins ...Top 25 of the 2000s with some players who didn’t spend a lot of time with the Penguins, but certainly made an impact. They discuss players like Patrick Marleau, Gary Roberts, Douglass Murray, and more! Finally, it’s Fan Take Friday and it’s the Evgeni Malkin edition! They discuss some of their favorite Malkin moments, his place in history, and everything else!Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!GametimeToday's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNHL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply.Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNHL at monarchmoney.com/lockedonnhl for 50% off your first year.FanDuelToday's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new FanDuel customers can get $150 in Bonus Bets if your first $5 bet wins!FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Transcript
Discussion (0)
Even though it's not Friday, Pat and I are continuing our Locked on Penguins top 25 of the last 25 years,
plus getting to your take that's coming up 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 am one of your host, Hunter Hodes.
You can follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, joined by,
my coast, Patrick Dip, you can follow him on all social media platforms at
Sinan Verwet.
You can follow the show's Twitter at LLO underscore Penguins, and you can find the show on
Instagram at Lockedon underscore Penguins.
Of course, thank you all so much for making this your first listen slash watch of the day.
We are free and available on all platforms.
And finally, today's episode is brought to you by GameTime.
It's on the GameTime app, create an account and use code Locked On NHL for $20 off your
first purchase, Pat.
We had a lot of fun going through the honorable mentions of the Locked on Penguins top 25 of the last 25 years.
But now we're really going to get into some more fun today.
These five players that we're going to get into, this is the fun category of, oh yeah, these guys did play here.
And starting us off at number five, we're going to go from five to one over these next couple of seconds before getting to your takes to end the show.
Starting things off at number five, Miroslav Chatan, one of my,
favorite underrated dudes during the Sydney Crosby,
Evgeny Malk, and Christensenang era,
played for the Pittsburgh Penguins during the 2008-2009 season,
had 17 goals, 36 points, and 65 games,
and he opened the scoring against the Carolina Hurricanes
in game one of the 2009 Eastern Conference final.
Joe Banati's call will always be stuck in my head.
The start of it, Chattain's got a step on the D.
And then he just absolutely works Cam Ward.
with that move. Again, one of my favorite underrated goals of that run.
And whenever you think of a random player that played for the Penguins, he is one of them
that comes to mind right away.
He really is. And a couple things before I wax poetic about Miro Chatan.
One, this list is so born of our draft live stream where we're just going to remember some
dudes for the next couple of weeks while we wait for training camp.
And the other thing is Hunter said we're starting at five.
There is no order for this.
It's just we have a Google Doc.
His name is sitting at five.
There's your behind the scenes look.
There's no specific ranking for this.
It's just like we said when we did the honorable mentions episode,
we're not just going to do one to 25 where it's like,
here's the top number one guy of the last 25 years and here's the 25th best.
We're putting it in random categories.
And obviously today's category is.
oh yeah, he played here.
The biggest thing that I remember about Chatan was during that 0809 run,
he got sent to the AHL near the end of the season.
Right.
And Ray Shiro talked about this.
I can't remember where it was if it was an interview or in a book about the 09 final.
But I remember reading it.
And he basically said, like, he had to sit down with him and say,
listen, this is for salary cap purposes.
It is for roster size purposes.
When the playoffs get here, you're coming back.
So I need you to go down and be a leader for a couple of weeks with the baby penguins,
show these guys how to be a pro.
And the minute the playoffs start, you're going to be back in the NHL.
And that's pretty much what happened.
But he wasn't in every game player in that postseason.
but when he was called upon,
he was pretty darn good for them.
And it was near the end of his career.
So they were getting him a championship.
They were making sure he had a role.
And he deserves a lot of credit for being a leader for a lot of the younger players,
as well as the black aces that year,
because he spent a lot of time with them and basically taught them,
hey, this is how it works in the NHL.
This is what you got to do to get.
get to the NHL. This is what you got to do to stay in the NHL. So not only did he have that awesome
moment in the Eastern Conference final, put up some good numbers with the team in the season,
but he was a really critical leader for that 2009 Stanley Cup. I agree. And he finished that run,
one goal, six points, and 17 games. He ended his career at the Bruins the next year. He's actually
even better in the playoffs for that, five goals, 10 points, and 13 games. That was his last season.
in the NHL.
But I agree with you.
Just a really, again, a fun,
underrated player to watch during that run.
And you also said it,
a good leader in that locker room as well
for some of the younger players on that team.
Coming up next,
we kind of have a little bit of a tie here for this next spot.
Though, Pat also said it's not really, you know,
one through five,
but I still kind of see it as a little bit of a tie.
Brendan Morrow and Christian Earhoff.
Remember people,
Christian Earhoff was signed right when Jim Rutherford
really took the reins during the 2014 offseason.
He was brought in, played that season with the Penguins,
and then he moved on to play for the Kings and the Blackhawks
during the 15-16 season.
But 49 games were the Penguins, three goals, 14 points in 49 games.
And then Brendan Morrow, of course, he was acquired during the 2013 trade deadline,
along with Douglas Murray and Jerome Gimlam,
more on Douglas Murray coming up in a little bit, by the way.
But Brendan Morrow, again, at the end of the end,
of his career pat still fun to see at least that he got to be a penguin for a little bit had a top
nine role a bit and then for airoff was unfortunate that it didn't work out but he still played
almost 50 games for the penguins during the 14 15 season it's funny that was the all season before
that season when rutherford went out signed him member steve downy he brought him in blake combo
who i will never say a bad word about that sign i thought he was actually a really good depth player for
the penguins during that season, even though that season was just not very good to say the least.
But that was the offseason when Rutherford made those short-term signings.
Yeah.
And the thing, Brendan Morrow, like you said, that was cool to see near the end of his career,
always a solid kind of middle six top nine guy who brought all the stuff you needed to be a good
team in the postseason, did a lot of the dirty work.
And he really did a lot of that.
as a penguin in his short tenure,
when you look back at that 13 run,
as cursed as it was at the end,
Maro was a very steady soldier for that team.
And if you want to put the loss on anybody,
it certainly doesn't go on him.
He played his role and played it almost to perfection.
I feel so bad for Christian Air Hoffman,
because there was so much talent and so much potential there.
He just had such issues with concussions and other injuries.
and he was never able to get it back on track.
Because I remember when Rutherford signed him,
I was like,
this is kind of high risk but high reward,
because if he finds that form that he's capable of
as well as shows he's recovered from the concussions,
you're really going to have a talented player on a very good deal.
And it just, unfortunately, that high risk, quote unquote, happened.
wasn't able to refine his form.
And I felt bad just because it seemed like a guy that really fit in with what the penguins
were trying to do then, but it just didn't work out.
And then to your overall point, I remember having a conversation with former Penns blog
editor Rich Miller about a guy like Blake Como, because this was around the time when
analytics and everything were really starting to take shape.
and everybody was falling in love with Blake Como,
like, oh, you can't lose this guy, you got to hold on to him.
And Rich and I were kind of saying, no, this is the exact guy you don't want to fall in love with.
And it's not because he's bad.
It's not because we don't think he's good.
It's because you've got to find the next one.
You got to find the next depth guy on a deal who's going to overperform it rather than,
oh, he goes off for one year.
And then you give him five years.
And for the next five years, he's not meeting that.
contract. So that's what I always remember about a guy like Como. Yeah, I mean,
Como, again, he was good that season. 16 goals, 31 points in 61 games. Though it's so funny,
I was just looking up some of the stats from that 2014-15 team. Steve Downey was actually next
on the production list. 14 goals, 28 points in 72 games. Do you want to guess how many penalty minutes he
had that season? It was, was it triple digits or it was at least close, wasn't it?
It was triple digits. I'll see if you can.
can get it. I'm going to say
114. Oh, it's way more than that, my friend.
238 penalty minutes for Steve Downey.
During that season, he was in the box a lot.
He had some interesting hits, but he at least produced.
He was seventh on the team in scoring that season.
He was basically for that time period, a diet Matt Cook, where it wasn't crossed the line
more than he should have, but you were willing.
to excuse it a little bit because you looked at his production and went,
I mean, he's still kind of scoring too.
Right.
Even though you really shouldn't defend anything that he was doing.
Also, I did not realize that Brandon and Sutter had 21 goals that season.
That's interesting.
sucks that he didn't pan out the way we all wanted him to,
but I totally forgot that he had a 20 plus goal season that year.
But hey, that'll do it for this first segment.
Coming up any second segment,
we're going to continue with the list of,
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All right, we're back here on this episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast.
I'm one of your host, On Trojones, joined by my co-s, Patrick Namb and Pat.
Let's get into the next player on our list, aka the Cranchaft.
Douglas Murray, also acquired at the 2013 trade deadline for, you know the meme,
Murray for two second round picks?
What's going on?
But, hey, he scored, even though they lost.
to the Bruins. He scored one of my favorite goals of the Penguins run to the final when he just
roofed it past of getting Nabokov in game three of that series against the Islanders.
You're thinking he's coming down. Oh, he's not really going to shoot this. Oh, no, he shot it.
He just absolutely blew it past Nabokov. Still one of my favorite goals. And even though he wasn't that
good, it was still fun to see him, you know, throw some hits, get that nice goal, played for
them for a little bit. I mean, at the end of the day, you have to take some enjoyment out of hockey,
especially when it comes to the ridiculousness of it. It was Douglas Murray a good defenseman?
Probably not. Even though 2013 was a little bit before we were really moving into an era that was
based a lot more on foot speed and skating, you could still get away a little bit with being
a defenseman that threw massive hits and kind of that's all you did.
And the other thing about that was that Penguins team in 13 was so deep that you could have,
and the Penguins did as much, you could bury him as your sixth defenseman.
You didn't have to play them 22 minutes a night.
You could play them 14 minutes a night when you needed a little bit of a spark and you
needed somebody to go out and get put into the third row.
Hey, Doug, go out there and absolutely blast someone.
and he would do it.
And that team, like I said, was so deep.
And some, like I said, sometimes you just have to put the analysis to the side and just go,
this dude's big.
He throws hits.
Who cares?
Let's enjoy it.
Looking back, probably would not have traded the two seconds at the time for him.
But hey, he was fun watching him be physical, had that cool goal against the Islanders in game
three at the Coliseum.
you know how old was i at the time i was 2013 i was about i was going to turn 16 later that year
late 15 year old hunter was loving it so i mean i was a 22 year old goofy college student
and between that between the ginnler trade it was just it was such a fun time it was so much
fun and yeah the memory at the end is terrible but that run with all the trades how good
they were in that lockout short and season.
It was just a fun time.
The thing I'm still most mad about is that after they got swept,
and I've told this story before on the pod,
I'll tell it again, though, if anyone maybe missed it.
After they got swept, my mom came downstairs and she showed me her phone.
And she was like, almost in tears like, yeah, we had tickets to take you up to Pittsburgh
for Game 5.
And I'm like, really?
Yeah, really had to tell me this now.
Because I kept asking since I was out of school the night of Game 4.
Yes, that was my last day of school, was the night of game four.
And Game 5 was going to be later that weekend if they were to win that game.
And I kept asking, like, hey, it's a weekend game.
Like, let's go.
Let's do it.
And my mom was not really, she was kind of playing back and forth about it.
But then she eventually apparently bought me the tickets.
And then she was obviously sad.
And then I was sad too.
So there's that story again for everyone that maybe did not know about that.
But moving on to the final two players on this list,
Pat, let's wax a little poetic about Gary Roberts,
acquired during the 2006-2007 season,
played with the Penguins in 2007, 2008,
and then ended his career at the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2008, 2009.
Another player who was at the end of his career.
But for a depth piece, still at least fine.
Like, he wasn't as good as it used to be.
but still fine.
I mean, you look at the numbers for the Penguins during the 08 season,
he had three goals, 15 points in 38 games,
during the 06, 7 season after he got traded the Penguins.
He actually had seven goals, 13 points, and 19 games.
So fairly fine stuff, I would say.
Yeah, this is, everybody stay with me.
This is going to be a little silly, but stay with me.
Gary Roberts walked so Patrick Hornquist could run.
Because the young penguins, when Gary Roberts came around,
they were this young group of superstars,
Crosby, Malkin, Stahl, Latang to a certain extent,
Mark Andre Fleury.
They were these young, green, inexperienced,
heavy expectation guys.
And there weren't a ton yet,
or there weren't at least good enough yet veterans
to show these guys, no, this is a man's game.
This is a big boy league.
And Gary Roberts came in and was like,
you guys want to be champions?
I'm going to show you how to be champions.
I'm going to show you what it takes to get to that next level.
Because to this day, players still talk about training with Gary Roberts in 2025.
And not like, oh, I trained with Gary Roberts 10 years.
ago. No, I trained with him two weeks ago and he kicked my ass.
Right. This guy was a legend as a penguin and I will never ever forget in 2007 when he
wanted to fight or 2008. I'm sorry. He wanted to fight the entire Ottawa roster. That's right.
He was in the he was in the runway throwing his gloves off doing the come and get it. Come get some.
He was doing the John Sina.
If you want some, come get some.
And everybody was like, this dude's out of his mind.
But it rubbed off on him.
It showed them how serious this is and what you need to do to become a champion.
100%.
I love that you brought that up because honestly, I almost forgot until you brought that back to me.
So love that memory too.
But we got to end this list with the most random penguin we've.
feel like out there that oh yeah he played here and that has done other pat then patrick marlowe
played with the penguins during the covid season 2019 20 only played a little bit though
eight games during the regular season one goal two points in those other games remember
he was acquired from the san jose sharks before he ended his career with the sharks
in 2020 21 when he only played in 56 games so what a
more can you say other than that? Like he only played a little bit, spent most of his career with
the sharks. But hey, it was fun for a little bit just to say like, hey, Patrick Marlow played for
the Penguins at some point. Yeah, that was cool. Because I remember kind of like, and this is obviously
the trade happened like right before everything shut down. Right. Pandemic. And I remember saying to
people like listen, I get it. Like you want to hold on to some of these futures.
Even back then in 2020, I was, you know, we were still starting to have the conversations of,
hey, the end is a lot closer than the beginning for Crosby, Malkin, and Latang. So you've got to
keep striking while the iron's hot. And while I would love to have the futures and the young guys and
all that, it was like, man, Patrick Marlowe today is likely better.
then whatever these guys will be tomorrow.
And I will say this.
If it wasn't for the pandemic,
that team was starting to find a stride.
They were starting to look like a team that could make some noise.
And Marlowe fit in pretty well.
The numbers don't back it up all that much, obviously.
But if you were watching the games right before everything shut down,
he was starting to find chemistry and starting to find a role on the rock.
And it looked like, okay, like, if he can get rolling a little bit with the playoffs on the horizon and you go into the playoffs with him, you might have something here.
And then just pandemic happens.
Everything shuts down.
The bubble playoffs were a mess.
The Penguins were one of the teams where it was a pretty open secret.
They did not want to be there.
So they were just happy to play a few games and get a little mini COVID vacation and go back.
to the drudgeries of the pandemic.
So it sucked, but it was cool for about a month-ish to say that Patrick Marlowe was a
penguin.
Hey, it's like a nice trivia question, right?
When did Patrick Marlowe play for the Pittsburgh Penguins?
What season was it?
So again, we had to top off the list with Marlowe, but stay tuned for next week, people,
because we have another really good top five here coming up.
Dudes, we just like, you're not going to want to miss that.
We also have the top five moments.
guys, the top five of the Stanley Cup wins, and the top five of the last 25 years.
You are not going to want to miss this series coming at you every Friday throughout the month
of August and potentially into the first week of early September.
But that will do it for the second segment.
Coming up to end the show, we're going to get to your takes for Fan Take Friday,
even though it's not Thursday, but we're not recording on Friday.
So that's coming up right after this.
All right.
we're back here on this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast.
I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes, joined by my co-host, Pash Dam and Pat.
We can kind of coin this segment, the Evgeny Malkin,
because happy 39th birthday to Evgeny Malkin.
July 31st is, of course, his birthday.
Again, we are getting very old.
Time flies when you're having fun.
It is crazy that he is already 39.
Gino, hope you're having a tremendous birthday.
And we start this one off with a comment.
from Theodore Belmont.
Happy birthday, Gino, got to ask your favorite Gino moments.
I personally think Malkin is on the post-salary cap, NHL Mount Rushmore, with Crosby,
Ovechkin, and McDavid.
I would put him over Patrick Cain.
I think I would agree with that.
I will see this.
I think Patrick Cain is the best American born player ever.
I think Austin Matthews has a chance to overtake him in that category, especially if he
keeps scoring at the pace that he is when healthy and also if he wins a Stanley Cup or two with
Toronto, but right now that is Patrick Kane. But I think I would agree with Theodore, but
Kane is also like right there. Like if you were to put Kane on there over Gino, I would at least
get it. But I lean towards Malkin, top 20 to top 25 player of all time. To me, he's a second best
Russian player to ever play in the NHL. Some people want to say third and maybe Pukutrov over him.
I get it, even though I disagree. But some of my favorite Gino moments, of course,
you know, the spinoramble goal against Carolina,
the slap shot goal against Marty Barron,
the biggest FU goal out there,
just the way he was hit behind the net.
He's cherry picking at the blue line.
He's calling for the puck,
and he just takes his frustration out on that puck in 2008.
The time Pat, when he literally walked through everyone
on the Tampa Bay Lightning,
we keep going.
Again, those are just some of my favorite goals
throughout of Guinea-Malkins time.
But, Pat, we kind of,
to do this every year for his birthday. So what say you and also what say you about Theodore's
take about the Mount Rushmore for his comment? I think that's a real like that one snap reaction
because it's his birthday and we're Penguins fans. I'm just going to say yes. But I would really want to
dig into that and look at some of the post lockout numbers because I say this a lot. I think
despite all the BS and all the other dumb stuff surrounding the league, the sport.
and all that. This is the best hockey's ever been. There is so much talent. I agree.
everywhere. Like I, like, this is a bit of a tangent and I'll get back to Malk and I promise is
people kind of get a little annoyed now or a little worried about expansion because it's happening.
People dread it, run from it. Destiny arrives all the same, as Thanos once said. It's going to
happen. But the game is being taught and trained in such a great way now that there is so much
talent that I'm not worried about the product being diluted. There is going to be a lot of really
good teams and a lot of really good players over the next decade. But yeah, so snap reaction,
I would say, yeah, because I'm a Penguins fan and I love Gino more than most players I've ever
loved to wear a Penguins uniform. I'm going to go off the board. And I know I've brought it up on
the show before. If you've never read the story, you can find it. Sam Kassan, who used to write for
the penguins website. He now, I believe, is still with the devils. He might be somewhere else now.
I'm not entirely sure. And there's other countless retellings of it. But Malkin's journey to
becoming a penguin. It's like a spy novel, man. He essentially is going somewhere with the Russian team
for a training camp for the international program.
Somebody diverts him away from his team.
He goes on to another flight.
It takes him to, I believe, Toronto,
and then that flight takes him to Los Angeles.
He hides out in Los Angeles for a few days,
eventually comes to Pittsburgh,
signs his rookie deal, becomes a penguin.
And this was as much of a cliche Russian story
as you've ever heard because when he got drafted,
his team in Magnita Gorsk basically mobbed him into signing an extension.
They were all excited and congratulatory.
Hey, you made it to the NHL.
Congratulations, of Gennie.
This is so great for you.
But you have to sign an extension with us.
And if you don't, you're going to be responsible for the collapse of your hometown team.
And it's all going to be on your shoulders.
And representatives from the team refuse.
to leave his home until he signed the deal.
So for me, thinking back on all the great stuff,
because we've gone over it's countless times
that Hvgeny Malkin has done as a penguin,
the story of him becoming a penguin is unbelievable.
Oh, 100%.
I love every time you bring this up because it really is a crazy story.
If you guys want to go check it out,
meet about it, please do it really is a crazy story.
next up though another one about gino this comes from michael hot take gino is going to make some people
feel silly for saying he is washed up this year hey man if he was fully healthy last year and had better
line mates i think he has a 60 point season in my opinion and i think he will have that ability this
year at least right now he will have better linemates he's going into the season fully healthy
now will he stay healthy the whole year to be determined you can't predict when someone is
going to get hurt you can't tell the future but as of right now
He will have better line mates.
We still have to see what happens with Brian, Rust and Ricard Raquel.
We're not going to mention anything about that until something concrete happens
because I don't want to keep spitballing about stupid rumors.
But I agree with Michael on that.
I think he's going to be on at least a little bit of a mission this year to show that he is not,
quote unquote, wash like some fans like to think he is.
I will nitpick a little bit.
I don't, at least not from what I've seen, at least locally.
maybe this is happening nationally,
but I don't see a lot of people calling him washed up.
I think people have correctly pointed out that it now 39,
he has slowed down.
Right.
But on the whole, we've been saying it on the show.
I stand by it.
If he has more consistent linemates and has a little cleaner bill of health,
he'll be fine.
He'll still be a very viable 2C for the penguins and just in general.
So I think those are two big factors is he's got to be healthy and the linemates have to actually be worth a damn for him to do better.
Because again, to mold it all together, he's not 28 anymore.
He can't carry a line on his own.
He's not going to take over games as consistently, if ever, like he used to.
But you put those two factors together and you're going to see a solid second line center.
But that's the challenge now is finding those consistent.
linemates who can help him elevate.
Yeah, but again, right now, there's still plenty of options.
Rust and Raquel are still there, at least for now.
Tommy Novak, we talked about him, Dillac-Koifunin,
Rucker McGrathie, Philip Tomasino, et cetera, et cetera.
So at least for top nine purposes, he will have options going into camp.
Right now, finally, we're going to end with this comment from Penn 68.
If Jari is not traded before the season,
I think he will split starts 50-50 with Archer Silovs and not be the workhorse
during the season. That's only if he doesn't get traded before the season starts or during the season
at some point. I think there is a way to that happening, but I do think Jari would have to struggle
a bit, which, I mean, I kind of expect at this rate, just because he's been very inconsistent
throughout his career. But I can definitely see a lot of ways that Shilov takes some starts away
from Jard. You saw what he did for the Baby Kinex this year in the Calder Cup playoffs. There was a lot of
potential there. We've seen what he was able to do a couple of seasons ago for the,
you know, the NHL conducts against the Oilers in that second round series. A lot of potential
there. It's also just fine-tuning some parts of his game to fit more for the National
Hockey League. But he's dealt, he's the favorite to be the backup right now. And if he has a
good camp, he will win that job. And especially if Jari starts struggling during the season,
he will take starts from him. For sure. And that's kind of the drum I've been beating for
a long time about Tristan Jari is I know I'm in the minority of this.
I still think there's a serviceable NHL goalie in there, but we have seen that when his
workload increases, his game decreases.
So if Shilovs can actually be a viable 1B in take a few starts here and there,
I don't think Jari is going to return to All Star form.
Let's not get carried away here.
But being a serviceable NHL
goalie, I think, is not out of the realm of possibility.
I'm still doubtful about Jari given the past couple of seasons.
But again, the penguins have needed, even, and I'm not even saying this from a they,
they're trying to win standpoint, just from a usage of talent standpoint.
If you have someone behind Jari who can take the reins for a little bit, it will help
him. The problem is they haven't had that goalie in a really long time. In time, we'll also tell
if she loves is that or not, because we've seen with him, a lot of inconsistencies there.
There's times where he looks like he could be a future Vesna winner. There's times where he looks
like he should have his ceiling be the AHL. So this is one of the more curious things for me
going into this season is how much or what happens with the goaltending, because
there's about a million outcomes right now.
Right.
And we still have to see what happens with Y'L Blumquist during camp.
Is he able to really push Shilob's for that backup role?
Who starts in Wilkesbury?
Who backs up that goalie?
Who starts in Wheeling?
There's still, again, a little bit of a log jam right now.
But, hey, it's going to sort itself out at some point.
And we're still about a month and a half away from Cheney Camp getting underway in Cranbury.
but that will do it for today's episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast.
Thank you guys so much for taking the time to listen to slash watch this one.
Pat and I will be back with a fresh show for you guys next week to kick off the month of August.
We're going to take Friday off, send you all into the weekend, and then we'll be back on Monday.
So for Patrick Damp, I am Hunter Hodes.
Thank you guys so much for tuning in, and we will be back on Monday.
