Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Penguins training camp is just around the corner!

Episode Date: September 12, 2024

The Penguins made it official today - training camp opens next week! In this episode, Patrick and Hunter give you the rundown of all the dates and preseason games you need to know as the Penguins are set to begin training camp next week. Before camp opens, however, we've got the prospect challenge this weekend in Buffalo. They talk about the teams the Penguins will face, who they're keeping an eye on, and more. Finally, they put a bow on their summer catchup series with some expectations for new forward Cody Glass.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!eBay MotorsFor parts that fit, head to eBay Motors and look for the green check. Stay in the game with eBay Guaranteed Fit at eBayMotors.com. Let’s ride. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNHL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.FanDuelNow through September 22nd, ALL FanDuel customers can bet FIVE DOLLARS and get a THREE WEEK free trial of NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV. Visit FANDUEL.COM to get started. IndeedStill searching for a great candidate for your company? Don’t search, just match–with Indeed.Claim your SEVENTY-FIVE DOLLAR CREDIT now at Indeed.com/LOCKEDON. Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire? You need Indeed. 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.

We are less than a week away from the penguins returning for training camp, and we've got actual hockey to be played this weekend. Hunter and I are going to talk about that and more on this edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. Your Locked-on Penguins, your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins, part of the Locked-on podcast network, your team every day. And welcome back to another edition of the Locked-on podcast. Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Patrick Damp. You can follow me on Twitter at Synonym for Wet, joined as always by the one and only Hunter Hodes. You can follow him on Twitter at

Hunter Hodes. You can give our show's account a follow at LO underscore Penguins. And we thank you for making this part of your daily routine because we're your team every day. And before we get started, today's episode is brought to you by GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create an account, and use code locked on NHL for $20 off your first purchase. What time is it? It's game time. So, Hunter, we are just about to be done with the dog days of summer. We got that all too exciting email, tweet, Facebook post, article, whatever you want to call it this morning,

where the penguins have officially announced their training camp dates. Unfortunately, we do not have a roster yet. And that's probably because we've got the prospects chat. this weekend. And we will talk about the Prospects challenge later on in the show. But let's talk a little bit about training camp, which starts up next week. The first day on the ice for the Penguins will be Wednesday, September 18th in Cranberry at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex. It is going to be three straight days of practices, scrimmages, conditioning, workouts. And one of the biggest things, I think that's cool this year is that in years prior, you would kind of get this silly schedule that was like, on this day, you can come watch practice. On this day, you're probably not going to be able to get in. This year, if you're looking to head to Cranberry and watch some training camp practices,

so long as it's not a preseason game day, it's open to the public. You can come watch every practice, all the scrimmages, anything you want to see is open to the public. So this is this is the sign, man. We are just about done with these dog days of summer and the boys are about to be officially back in town. Well, if you haven't taken a day off work yet, I advise you to do that probably right now considering training camp starts in less than a week at this point. The penguins always divide their players into separate teams, Pat, you know, team one, team two, team three. They've been doing these teams for the last several years of point this year, no different. I assume the roster is going to be announced, if I had to guess,

probably this weekend or early next week, either before the Prospects Challenge or right after the Prospects Challenge concludes. You know, there's a whole swath of players that get invited, not just the regulars, but a lot of the players, they're going to be in Wilkesbury, players they're going to be in Wheeling, some of the prospects, excuse me, that are going to play overseas. It's going to be a lot of fun this year. And I'm just really stoked about this camp in general this year. I feel like Compared to recent years, there just hasn't really been too many spots up for grabs. This year, it's different, man, because you look up and down this roster. I would say most of the top six, again, is full, but you have that one spot on Cindy Crosby's wing.

That's up for grabs. The bottom six, I would say you have two or three guys who are pretty stapled in, but the rest, you know, potential two, three spots in the bottom six. Those are all up for grabs. and then defensively, most of that is kind of full as well, but that number six job wide open as well, Jack St. Ivany, Sebastian, Ajo, et cetera. And then goaltending-wise, you know the two goalies that are going to be on the team.

But after that, it's wide open for the rest of the goalies in the system, Pat. I mean, Joel Blumquist, Larson, Taylor Godier, you have Marischov, obviously being here as well. Those jobs, I feel like, especially in Wheeling, that's wide open. And even in Wilkesbury, I mean, you feel like Blumquist is going to get a good chunk of starts there. But, you know, his backup job is wide open. Heck, maybe even a 50-50.

That's wide open this year. Camp is way more intriguing this year than I feel like it has been in the last few years. And that has me really excited to see, you know, who stands out during practices, who stands out during games. Obviously, games count more than practices. And, I mean, let's face it, some of these preseason games are not the best games to watch, obviously. but it's still hockey and it's really at least fun to see some of these guys battling for roster spots seeing how they do in those games. So I'm a lot more again fascinated for camp this year than I have been in the last several

years. There is a lot to follow going into camp this year and next week we'll start getting into, well, I will because Hunter, as you know, he's taking his new flow and heading off to the beach one last time before we get into the crazy days of the NHL season. but I'll have more in-depth kind of looks at training camp and everything. But to your point, while, yeah, the top six, that's mostly set. Defense mostly set. But then you kind of look under the surface here, and it's not like,

this isn't a wide open camp where there are just spots everywhere to be had, but it's more so you have limited spots, but a lot of people competing for them. Like you said, pretty much five of the six defensemen slots, they're taken. But you've got four or five guys, maybe even six or seven, battling for one, maybe two jobs. Goaltending. We know it's going to be Jari and Adelkevich at the NHL level, but a lot of spots up for grabs within the system.

Then it forward. Who knows who can come into this bottom six and make a difference because we know there are young guys pushing for spots. there are newcomers pushing for spots, and that's only six slots, maybe seven, depending on what they decide to carry with the salary cap going into this season.

But then the other thing that's intriguing about training camp this year is this is a bit of an extended preseason for the Penguins. There are seven games to be played in this preseason. They start on the 21st, which is a Saturday. They go to Buffalo to play the Sabres. then they're against the Sabres again that Tuesday at home on the 24th. Then this is going to be one of the more intriguing parts to me for this upcoming training camp. They are going to play the Detroit Red Wings in Detroit on the 28th,

and then they go to Sudbury the next day to play the Ottawa Senators in the Kraft Hockeyville Canada game. And that, to me, is one of the more intriguing parts, because again, we know that a lot of the long-time NHL players on this roster, they understand the grind of an NHL season. They know that there's going to be back-to-backs, there's going to be travel, but you've got a lot of young guys, you've got some new prospects, and this is a little bit of a welcome to the NHL moment on the travel side of it, because, yeah, you're going to evaluate their game and their play,

but you want to see how these guys adapt to, hey, on Saturday night, we're in Detroit, and then on Sunday night, we're in Sudbury. So I'm curious to see what they do with the lineups on this one to see how these guys adapt. I feel you on that. At least for the travel for the preseason, it's not as bad as it could be. Obviously, you're not playing some of these teams on the West Coast or, you know, Alberta or anything like that. But I feel like for that back-to-back specifically, you're going to have some of the guys

obviously play first game. And then I feel like that game in Sudbury, I feel like you're going to see quite a few regulars play that game. If I had to guess right now, the first. first game, you're going to see some of the minor leaguers play, some of the players who are definitely fighting for roster spots. The next game up in Sudbury, I think that's kind of be a quote unquote dress rehearsal a little bit, just having some of the main guys play. Because I feel like with only seven preseason games, you got to have one of those games be like the quote

unquote dress rehearsal. And I could see that one being it maybe a bit later on in the preseason. For example, you could have that game be against, you know, I don't know, Columbus, something like that they play Columbus twice to end the preseason once on October 3rd. That's on the road. And then the fourth, that games at home before, basically camp is, I feel like over at that point. So maybe you play some regulars at the very end as all. But I feel like that dress rehearsal is coming in that game on Sudbury. But I'm curious as well to see how they react to that travel.

Again, I don't think it's going to be that bad considering I feel like a lot of the players that play in the first game won't play in the second game. But I'm so curious to see how it goes overall. Same here. And just to wrap up the little quick training camp and preseason dates here, as Hunter alluded to, they close out the preseason in the first week of October. October 1st, they've got the Detroit Red Wings at PPG Paints Arena, and then a back-to-back on the third and fourth at Columbus on the third, and then Columbus and Pittsburgh on the fourth, and then real hockey starts on Wednesday, October 9th, when the penguins open the regular season at PPG paints arena against their. arrival the New York Rangers. So we will have plenty more coming up next week and in the weeks ahead as training camp progresses, as Hunter has told you guys before.

Next week, we're right back at it five days a week. We will have Monday through Friday episodes. We'll be following everything that happens in training camp. But before training camp happens, we've got the prospects challenge this weekend in Buffalo. Hunter and I are going to talk more about that in our second segment, and we will do that right after we tell you about our first sponsor, and that is Indeed. We're driven by the search for better,

but when it comes to hiring, the best way to search for a candidate isn't to search at all. Don't search, match with Indeed. If you need to hire, you need Indeed. Indeed is your matching and hiring platform with over 350 million global monthly visitors, according to Indeed data and a matching engine that helps you find quality candidates fast.

Ditch the busy work, use Indeed for scheduling, screening, and messaging so you can connect with candidates faster. And Indeed doesn't just help you hire faster. 93% of employers agree Indeed delivers the highest quality matches compared to other job sites according to a recent Indeed survey. You guys have heard me talk about this before. While I have not been someone looking to hire people, I have been someone on the job hunt, and I was able to get my current job as well as a bunch of other interviews.

use thanks to Indeed, and it's absolutely fantastic. Leveraging over 140 million qualifications and preferences every day. Indeed's matching engine is constantly learning from your preferences, so the more you use Indeed, the better it gets. Join more than 3.5 million businesses worldwide that use Indeed to hire great talent fast. And listeners of this show will get a $75-sponsored job credit to get your job's more visibility at Indeed.com slash locked on. Just go to Indeed.com slash locked on right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast.

Indeed.com slash locked on terms and conditions apply. Need to hire you need indeed. All right. Welcome back to the Thursday edition of the Locked on Penguins podcast. I'm Patrick Damp. That's Hunter Hodes. And while we can see the oasis on the horizon of training camp now that we've got the dates, which we talked about in the last segment,

we've got quite another fun thing coming up just this very weekend. And it actually starts tomorrow at noon when the Penguins prospects head up to Buffalo for the annual prospects challenge. They will play three games this weekend, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. As I said, tomorrow at noon,

they play the Boston Bruins prospects. Then Saturday at noon, they will play the Ottawa Senators prospects. And then it all wraps up on, Sunday against the host Buffalo Sabres at 5 p.m. While I do not have this confirmed, I do believe they have streamed this on their social media pages and websites. So if you're looking to watch it, it will likely not be on Sportsnet, Pittsburgh. It'll likely be on the Penguin's social media channels and websites. You can check it out there. So Hunter, I took it upon myself today to do a little

bit of research on their opponents because you and I have talked to death about who we're watching in this prospect tournament. And I want to start with their first opponent, Boston Bruins. While Corey Promin on the Athletic, he is one of the best people to follow for prospect rankings and just prospect coverage in general. Similar to the penguins, he's got them very down near the bottom. Their 29th in his pipeline rankings, because similar to the penguins, last decade or so, they've been in go-for-it mode. They're not drafting high. They're not holding on to prospects.

They're going for the Stanley Cup. However, there is something I noticed in looking at the players on the Boston Bruins roster. This could be a unique challenge for the Penguins prospects tomorrow because they have a lot of guys on their roster who have spent time with the Providence Bruins in the HL and time in the ECHL. So right out of the jump, these guys are going to go up again. a prospect team that has a lot of pro experience. So I'm looking to see how these guys respond to that because while it may not be Blue Chip A plus prospects, it's guys who have turned pro and guys who've got some good experience

at the professional level. That is a good point considering how some of the Penguins prospects have not fully turned pro yet or are turning pro this year, but still haven't had a lot of experience playing pro hockey. So I do like that you brought that up. Again, we kind of did a little bit of a mini preview for this earlier. in the week. But I continue to be really intrigued about some of the more underrated prospects in the system, you know, seeing how Tristan Brose does at this competition. I mean, last year at the

University of Denver, again, 16 goals, 40 points in 43 games. He's turning pro this year. Hasn't played any professional hockey, at least down in Wilkesboro yet. But I'm curious to see how he goes up against some of these players who have had professional experience. You know, Atley Calvert of the WHL as well, 47 goals, 95 points last year for Moose Shaw. I'm curious to see how He does another one. Cooper Foster played in the OHL last season, 21 goals, 52 points in 59 games. Remember, he was a six-round pick in the 2023 NHL draft. I'm curious about Avery Hayes. He has some experience with Wilkesbury, six goals, nine points, and 29 games last year. I don't think he's going to be on the Penguins to start the year, but he is at least good depth to have in Wilkesbury.

And then, you know, Ponomerov, Kov, Kovinen, super excited to see them as well. We all know Ponamara is going to be trying to push for a spot at training camp this year. Same with Coyven. I still think that it's more likely that they're going to start the season in Wilkesbury, but I'm still excited to see how they do. And then, you know, Sergei Muroshov was at another one of those informal skates today. I mean, this will be, you know, his first true big test of professional hockey, Pat, you know, going up again in this prospect's challenge, at least in North America.

Sorry, I have to clarify that. First true test of professional hockey in North America, you know, going against top prospects for other teams. how does he adjust his game to North America a little bit? He was seeing in the locker room today, joke around with him getting him all in a little bit, got to meet Gino if you read Taylor Haas's stuff on DK. Pittsburgh Sports. I found that hilarious, but super intrigued about him as well. But yeah, just, you know, seeing how some of these players adjust to, you know, life in the pros, playing at a higher level,

going to be really fascinated to see throughout this weekend. And I'll be tracking it as much as I can. Sure, I'll probably be having a couple of drinks on the beach out of the country here. I'm still going to be following it, people. Don't worry. Yeah, it's going to be a bit of a rough follow for me as well because this is my birthday weekend. So I'll be out having a little bit of fun.

But one other fun little quirk here I found about their first matchup tomorrow when they play the Bruins, they're going up. They could likely be going up against a goalie that they have some familiarity with. And that's Evan Veerling, who spent time with both the Wheeling Nailers and the Wilkesbury Scranton Penguins. So a couple of the guys who were on the roster for the penguins who spent time in the minors, they might know this guy that could give them an edge. And then quickly here with the other two opponents that the penguins will have at the tournament,

it will be an interesting mix to me overall because like I said, with the Bruins, a lot of guys who already have professional experience, spent time, HL, ECHL. Then you've got the senators on Saturday. And this will be interesting because, again, this is one of the teams, Pranman has in the top five of his prospect rankings for their pipeline. The thing, though, with the senators is most of the people in their prospect pipeline have already played in the NHL. They are guys who need to make that second and third year jump, and they are not going to

be a part of this. But then you look at some of the players on that team, defenseman, Joran Donovan. He was a 136th overall pick in 22. He was a crucial part of Saginaw's win in the Memorial Cup. You have goaltender Levi Merrill Leinen, excuse me, similar situation as Taylor Godier with the Penguins. A lot of time in the A and the E. So that's going to be a unique challenge for those guys.

And there's one big name that is coming with the senators, and that's defenseman Carter Yakmachuk. And he is a big six-foot three defenseman. one of the best defensemen in the Western Hockey League. So they'll get to go up against some elite talent there. And then finally, on Sunday, like I said, they close it out with the Sabres. They've got Consta Heleninus. He was the 14th overall pick in 2024.

He has pro time in Finland. And this game will be a big test for them overall because they have a ton of good forwards in their system. And that's when we're going to see depending upon which goaltender gets that game. because they are taking three, which kind of tells me all three goalies will get a game. A team with a lot of good forwards and offensive upside. So the defensive prospects and the goaltending prospects will have a lot on their plate when they play the Sabres on Sunday. Yeah, I think that's the game where you go Marischoff, you know, with the amount of talented forwards they have coming into that prospects challenge. I think you've got to throw Marishov to the wolves there and be like, okay, you're going to go up against some pretty talented forwards because the

Sabres have one of the better prospect pools of all the teams in the league. They have more young players on the way. You would potentially think that the Sabres will take a next step this year, considering how they've just been stuck in purgatory for the last decade at this point. I mean, it feels like they're getting close with how much young talent that they have coming through the system. But still, going back to my original point, I still feel like that's the game you give to Murashav to be like, okay, you know, Boston, their prospects aren't that good.

They have pro experience. We're going to give this to someone else. same with Ottawa. They have a very good prospect pool overall, as we know. But I still feel like the Sunday game makes the most sense for Marischov, who again, he's one of my three players that I am most intrigued about heading into this challenge. Yeah, same here. And I would agree with that.

I think putting him in net on that Sunday game is probably just the best overall for both his development and for evaluation to see where he's at. And then I think when you play Boston tomorrow, putting Taylor Godier in net would make sense since he's got that similar minor league experience against the team like the Bruins who have the same. But one last time before we throw it a break here, just so everybody remembers, you got the Bruins on Friday at noon, the senators on Saturday at noon, and then the Sabres on Sunday at 5 o'clock. So that kicks off tomorrow. We'll obviously try to follow it as best we can, despite both of us probably having ourselves a little bit of fun this weekend. So I'll have some more.

Happy birthday in the comments or send him a DM and such people. It's 34. Who really cares. But anyway. So I will have more on that on Monday when we return with a new episode. So that'll do it here for our second segment. When we come back, we're going to finish up the show with our little summer catch-up series. We're going to talk about forward Cody Glass and what the expectations for him could be this upcoming season. And before we do that, we're going to tell you about our next sponsor. And that is, Game time. You guys know my story and why I love game time because all those years ago tried to get that ticket from a scalper at the old Mellon Arena and I was in a section and a seat that did not exist inside Mellon Arena. And Game Time has a new feature called GameTime Picks that

makes getting tickets for your favorite live events even easier. Game Time Picks filters out the fluff to show you only incredible deals on great seats so you don't have to waste time searching through thousands of tickets. You can pick any live event through the app going through game time picks. You can get super deals, including you also have features such as customize your spot. Curated deals will make it even easier

to find the best prices on great seats. And all in pricing, when you toggle that feature on, you get the total upfront so you're not hit with any of those annoying surprise fees at checkout. Seat views, get a panoramic view from your seat in the app before you buy so you know exactly what you're going to be looking at when you get inside the venue. And then there is the GameTime lowest price guarantee.

If you find a better offer, GameTime will credit you 110% of the difference of your ticket in the app. And GameTime coverage covers your purchase with the most flexible customer service policy in the ticketing industry. So take the guesswork out of buying tickets with GameTime, download the GameTime app, create an account, and use code locked on NHL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, create an account and redeem code L-O-C-O-C-O-S-E. and NHL for $20 off. Download game time today.

What time is it? It's game time. All right, welcome back to the Thursday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast, the episode that we do before we send Hunter off on his final off-season vacation before the craziness of the NHL season kicks off. And to finish up today's show, we are going to talk about one of the off-season acquisitions to kind of put a button on our off-season catch-up series here, and that is forward Cody Glass.

Acquired via trade, not all that long ago. This Hunter fits into kind of the mold of just about everybody that the Penguins have brought in this off-season. It is a low-risk, high-reward reclamation project. Cody Glass, the most fun fact I can say about him is that he was drafted in 2017 sixth overall by the Vegas Golden Knights, making him the first ever draft pick in the history of the Vegas Golden Knights. But since then, hasn't been the most productive career for him so far.

187 games played, 29 goals, 71 points, with his best season coming in 22, 23 with the Nashville Predators, where he scored 14 goals and 21 assists. last year took a step back with the Predators, only six goals, 13 points. However, 41 games missed some time. So I look at this, you look at a guy like him, 25 years old. He has a lot of upside, has a very good pedigree from his pre-NHL days. I think this is a guy they're looking at as he's a younger guy, has plenty of upside,

and it fits the mold of the kind of player they're trying to bring into the system. So I look at him as a player that if you get something great out of them, fantastic, it worked out. If you don't, no big deal, not a lot committed to him. And you can just move on. Right. You know, he's only 25. So I am glad that you're taking a chance on, you know, a younger player for a reclamation project as opposed to, you know, maybe bringing in someone who was a bit older. Now, granted, I know they kind of did the same thing with Kevin Hayes.

So I might sound like a little bit of a hypocrite there. But I do think Kevin Hayes also has more to give considering how he played last year in St. I just felt like that fit wasn't there for him. But, you know, taking a chance on somebody like Cody Glass, who did have a really good season in 22, 23, I think that is some smart business from Kyle Dubas. You know, he may not be as good as he was that year for the Penguins this year, but I also don't think he's going to be as bad as he was last year for National.

You know, 41 games, six goals, 13 points. I see him as, you know, a decent bottom six depth option, you know, someone who can play third, fourth line minutes to, you know, whatever line you want to put him on down there. I don't think he's going to be playing in the top six unless some injuries arise. You go back to his really good season in Nashville, you know, during the 22, 23 season, 72 games. When he was on the ice, the Predators had 34 goals for, 21 goals against.

Also about a 50.5% expected goal share rate, 50% swore rate, 50% swan chances for a rate, almost 53% high danger chances for a rate and only 10 high danger goals against when he was on the ice, 17 high danger goals for. So, again, by far his best year, counting stats-wise. And underlying numbers wise, if you can get that type of year from him, that would be great for death purposes, considering how woeful the bottom six has been the last two years. Do I think he's going to give them that type of impact? I want to see it before I believe it.

Though, again, I don't think he's going to be as down bad as he was. Last year for Nashville where he just really wasn't fitting in overall. I do think, you know, a fresh start for him in a different system, which I do think rewards, excuse me, more offense. will benefit Cody Glass, but he also has to win one of these jobs out of camp. So I'm curious to see how he does throughout the next month and change heading into the regular season. But, you know, in terms of what I expect, you know, somewhere, you know, best case, you know,

maybe 10, 12 goals, potentially even more. But that would be nice for the Penguins this year if they're able to get that out of glass. Yeah, that's kind of the same expectation that I have for him somewhere in that range of eight to 12 goals, 25, 30 points. if you get that out of the bottom six forward, that you essentially acquired for a prospect that really didn't have much of a future in your system.

That trade was Jordan Frasca. They sent him to Nashville and they got Cody Glass as well as a 2025 third round pick and a 2026, sixth round pick. And he's only signed through this year at 2.5 million. So again, if it doesn't work out, you don't have a ton of money owed to him. And it's not like he's here. here for three or four more years.

He's here through this year. If he does well, commands a big raise, you can let him go. If it's good enough that it helped out, you can probably bring him back. So overall, this really isn't that bad of an acquisition by Kyle Dubus. And I look at it this way. When he started to really, I don't want to say come into his own, but become more of a consistent NHLer, he really was a victim of a numbers game because yeah, the first year of the Vegas Golden Knights, he was not there.

So it was kind of moot. And when you had the golden misfits, but then he starts coming into his own with Vegas in 2019, 2020, and then 2020, 21. And that's when we realized who the Vegas Golden Knights were. They were going to get every single shiny toy they could possibly get. And whether or not he was great, which obviously he was not, There were so many other big ticket items on Vegas's roster that he was going to get bumped out, most likely. So you bring him into a roster like this one with the Penguins where you have a handful of open jobs.

He's on it. He's on an affordable deal. He's younger. I think there's a lot more opportunity here for him in Pittsburgh than there was Vegas or Nashville. No, I agree. And he'll have plenty of chances to potentially iron out a roster spot on this team. I think I'll be curious to see who might. Mike Sullivan puts him with, you know, during training camp and preseason games to give him

that opportunity to make this team out of camp. I do think deployment with him will be a key for me. You don't want him, you know, deployed, in my opinion, in, you know, too many defensive zone situations. I know Mike Sullivan has been doing that a lot with his bottom six, especially these last couple of years. Kind of wanting to get him away from just doing that in general just because I want more potential offensive opportunities from the bottom six. this year, they should have more just because I think the bottom six this year is a bit better compared to last year.

But we all know how Sullivan is with his deployment, especially, you know, late in games when, you know, they're trying to defend leads and he'll put the bottom six out there and all that stuff. So I do think deployment for last is going to be key. If he does make this team out of camp and then, you know, gets the minutes during the regular season and such.

But, you know, I'm, I guess, cautiously optimistic. I'm not expecting the world out of him. I don't really think I'm going to sit here and expect, you know, 15, 20 goals from him. But again, if he can, you know, give this team, you know, 10 to 12 goals this year in a depth role, I will gladly take that. Yeah, absolutely. And I think that's the best way to say it and the best place to leave it with Cody Glass is cautiously optimistic. I think there's a solid ceiling there for him. But if he

doesn't reach it, not a huge deal. But that will do it for this edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. Everybody wish Hunter a happy vacation and a safe flight and we will see him very soon. But I will be back with you next week as training camp opens up and the prospect challenge is behind us. But for now, for Hunter Hodes, I am Patrick Damp. Thank you as always for tuning in and we will talk to you next week.