Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Projecting the Penguins opening night roster!

Episode Date: October 2, 2025

The young guys are playing well, the cuts are coming, but the question is: who will make the Penguins’ 23-man roster? Hunter and Patrick begin the show discussing another preseason victory for the Penguins, and how it was powered by the prospects and young players. Once again, first-round pick Ben Kindel showed that he might make a push to make the team (2:55), and offseason acquisition Matt Dumba turned in another strong performance. Then, they give their predictions for the opening night roster (13:26) and discuss which veterans will make it and which young guys might not. Finally, Hunter shares his observations from practice (30:45), and Patrick makes a wild comparison for Kindel.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNHL at monarchmoney.com/lockedonnhl for 50% off your first year.FanDuelDownload the FanDuel app now by visiting FanDuel.com and win $300 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.

The regular season is just around the corner for the Pittsburgh Penguins, but before we get around that corner, we have to answer the question, how real is the youth movement inside the Pittsburgh Penguins? You're locked on penguins, your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome in to another edition of the Locked On Penguins, podcast. I'm one of your hosts, Patrick Damp. You can follow me across all social media platforms at Synonym 4Wet. Joined as always by the one and only Hunter Hodes, our man on the ground at

UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex. You can follow him on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. You can give our show's Twitter account a follow at L.O underscore Penguins. You can also find us on Instagram at Lockedon underscore penguins. And of course, we appreciate you making us part of your daily routine. Don't forget that we are free and available wherever you get your podcasts as well as YouTube. Plus, if you follow us on YouTube, be sure to hit the notification button. That way you can be among the first to know when we drop our daily Monday through Friday episodes. Before we get into the Thursday episode, today's episode is brought to you by Fandle. Download the Fandual app now by visit.

visiting fandul.com and you could win $300 in bonus bets if your first $5 bet wins Hunter. We have got a jam-packed episode today because there is plenty to talk about. The Penguins got another big preseason win this time in Buffalo. They made a bunch of moves and put a few players on waivers. We've also got to get into what we think the 23-man roster is going to look like. We're going to do all of that, but we got to start at the beginning. Last night in Buffalo, the penguins get a five to three victory over the sabers. And while we often say you don't need to worry about the result, you don't need to worry about

the scores, you've got to check out the process. But for this instance, both matter in this case because it was another victory for the penguins. It was largely thanks to a lot of their young. young players and prospects. And once again, it was against a roster that while not quite the Sabres set NHL roster, there were still plenty of very good talents and NHL regulars involved on the Buffalo side. So let's start with a guy who we have been raving about for the past couple of weeks. And that is first round pick Benjamin Kindle. Once again, he was one of the best players on the ice. And again, this was not in a prospects challenge.

This was not against Buffalo's prospects and HL players. This was against a roster that had a lot of NHL quality talent. And Kindle once again was one of the best players on the ice. This kid at 18 years old is so much further ahead of schedule than any of us could have predicted. Oh, 100%. I mean, he did everything in the offensive zone to set up Dumba for an absolute Clapper. Can we get more of that from Matt Dumba, by the way, this year? Because that was an absolute rocket of a slap shot. But Kendall set that whole thing up. He was electric in the offensive zone during that, got the primary assist. He was great the rest of the game as well. And it's no surprise that he was practicing with the main NHL group today in Cranberry. You had group one, which was a lot of the guys that are going down to the HL, some of the guys that got waived. But Kendall and Harrison Brunick, were with the main NHL squad, which got underway at noon.

That's by design, man. They are giving both of these guys, especially Kindle. I think a serious look at at least a couple of games, maybe even a few games to start the season. Pat, you and I had a great conversation on Tuesday about, you know, the nine game trial staying beyond that where, you know, you took the side of you think he should get a few games than going back to junior. I said, I think he should go back to junior as a whole.

I will say I still stand by that, but the more that he keeps playing like this, coupled with Brian Russ injury where he's out for a minimum of two weeks, the more we actually may see him get a few games in the NHL before going back to junior. Pat, I know you agree with this too. It's not wise for him to be here for a full 82 game season. I don't want to burn a year of his ELC. But the first thing I thought of once I saw that Russ got hurt was, that, okay, I actually think he might get a few games at the start of the season, just because

Russ isn't going to be healthy for the first at least four to five games of the year. This is going into right in the California trip. So that's the first thing I thought of. Honestly, the roster hasn't been announced yet for Friday's game. It's probably going to be announced any minute now. I'd be kind of surprised if he wasn't playing with the varsity squad for that game, because that's the dresser or also game. Considering that he and Brunich were both practicing with the main NHH.

show guys, I'd be surprised if he didn't play. And that would be a sixth preseason game. Like that's another opportunity to get a serious look at him before you have the final cuts coming, which is probably at the end of this weekend going into Monday. And Dan Mews kind of said this after the game on Wednesday night that he's looking at Friday as kind of the dress rehearsal. He pretty much confirmed that saying that it would be a lot of the veterans who haven't gotten a lot of preseason time and seen a lot of action. in these games. So that kind of tells you where Ben Kindle stands, at least in the eyes of head coach

Dan Mews and maybe even Kyle Dubus. The thing that you brought up, because I did some back of the napkin math this afternoon when, hilariously, because of the barrage of news and the preseason game, I missed that Brian Rust had been hurt. I was looking at the training camp updated roster and saw his name under injured, did a little digging and saw, oh, okay, so yesterday, they said that he's going to miss a minimum of two weeks. So if I do that back of the napkin math and you look at the penguin schedule and you do, if you do two weeks to the day, to today, October 2nd, Thursday, you're only about five games

into the season. Right. So if that's, if we're going to operate in a perfect world where he does miss just two weeks, you can give Kindle four to five games. And if Rust is ready to come back or if you feel like, okay, we've seen enough from him, given him enough of a taste,

you can send him back and then call someone up in his place. Because we do know that a lot of the players we've had our eyes on aren't going to have to deal with waivers. So you'll be in a good spot where you can get some of these guys back up. But realistically, And I think this is a good spot for us to kind of wrap up the segment. You hinted at it. I know that you probably still have a similar take.

But I think at this point, given the injuries, given who still remains at camp, it's difficult to say that he has not been one of the Penguins 12 best forwards in this preseason. So if nothing else, he's earned that look, even if it is only for a few games. we just have to see if they want to give it to him because, you know, Harrison Brunick, you can make an argument that he deserved a look last year. They said, hey, you got to the end. We're going to send you back to junior. We're not going to give you a look yet.

And look how that played out. I could still see a world where even with this Russ injury path, they're like, hey, we like everything you did. You got to the end. We're going to send you back right now and not give you a look yet. But we want you to use this in your junior season to come back even stronger next year where you can really compete for a roster. spot. And I do think his timeline hopefully has moved up.

We really could be talking about him pushing for a full-time spot next season. Like, again, if you want to argue, especially now with Rust has heard that he deserves a few games, not going to argue against that. I just don't think he's ready for the grind. That is an 82 game regular season at age 18 years old. It is extremely rare when you see someone picked where he was in the draft going from the CHL to the NHL right away. So I'm just pointing that out.

And I'm talking about like a full 82 game season. Heck, even just a few games, I feel like it's rare as well. So that's all I'll say on that. I'm obviously ecstatic about him. I'm over the moon about how he's playing, not disappointed or anything like that. I'm just saying, you know, I hope people cool their jets a little bit because going

from the CHL to the NHL, like for a full season, that's a jump that I just don't think right now he is ready for. But as we talked about, you know, maybe that gets him a couple of games. I'm so of the opinion that I would just send him back to Jr. right away. That's not going to be popular. I get that. But maybe he will get a couple of games. We'll just have to see. I will add this to kind of back you up a little bit because I've seen this comparison made a couple

times on social media as well as I'm pretty sure someone in our comment section made it. If you did, please let us know it was you. I want to make sure you get the due credit. There were comparisons made to Jordan Stahl from way back in 2006. Here's the big difference to me. One, when Jordan Stahl was drafted, he was already north of six feet tall. He was already well north of at least 170 pounds. He was a big, big player. The other thing is Jordan Stahl's game has been a two-way forward since he came into the NHL. He wasn't a highly touted offensive prospect.

Yeah, he had a huge run with short-handed goals, but that was born from his ability to kill penalties and being a massive guy. The thing for Ben Kindle is he is an offensive forward. He is nowhere near a liability defensively, and he has shown that in this preseason. He is very good in his own end. Obviously, there's room for improvement, but the difference here is, and I know that it's a different league now,

that you don't have to be a gargantuan to survive, but he still does have to mature physically. And with time, just the general human growth cycle, he's going to get bigger, playing more hockey, working out, all of that. I do think, though, like you said, Not ready for a grind of 82, but if you give them four to five in the absence of rust, like I said, you give them that taste, you give them that motivation.

It's going to push them even harder to get here next year. But obviously we've still got one preseason game to go. A couple more days here in the preseason. We will see how it shakes out. But so far, so very good for the penguin's first round pick. When we come back, we're going to keep the roster talk going and kind of give our thoughts on what an emerging 23-man roster might look like once the penguins get done with the preseason and get ready for the Rangers on opening night. We will do that when we get back. So stick with us right after this.

Before we do that, though, we've got to tell you about today's first sponsor. And that is Fandall. The NFL season is here and Fandall has an offer you don't want to miss. Right now new customers can bet just $5 and get $300 in bonus bets if it wins. That's right, pick a bet, put down $5. And if it hits, you'll unlock $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. Fandual makes watching football even more exciting, especially when you've got a little something riding on the action.

Whether you're a casual fan or love diving into the stats, Fandul makes game day so much better. So what are you waiting for? Visit Fandul.com. to download the FanDuel app today and get started. Back here on the Thursday edition of Locked-on Penguins, I'm Patrick Damp running right alongside the one and only Hunter Hodes. And we talked about Ben Kindle.

It's been so much fun to finally be in this spot again, where we can talk about an exciting young player who looks like they might actually become an NHL contributor rather than us wishing they would become an NHL contributor. but I digress. Let's dive into this, though, Hunter. What we think is going to be the 23-man roster, let's begin with the very obvious. The goalies are going to be Tristan Jari and Artur she loves.

Whether you like it, you love it, you hate it, you don't want it, you got to learn to live with it, that's where that's going to go. Then things get interesting because we obviously know that it's a 23-man roster. can carry a couple of people. Let's start with the defense. And let's start with Harrison Brunich. I think he's going to make the roster out of camp. Because as you've said, he continues to practice with the varsity squad.

He's continued to look like a legitimate NHL defenseman. And if this youth movement in Pittsburgh is real, he has been in the top six best defensemen in camp. And if you're not going to put up those roadblocks, I think it's his time. Hey, that's fair. I mean, I did a mock 23-man roster earlier this week just for, you know, fun. I had 14 forward seven defensemen, two goleys. I can't wait to see how wrong this is. By the way, Pat, I sent you this earlier today. I had the two goleys. I know you did as well. I didn't have Brunick on my roster at the time just because of all, you know, the veterans, especially on the third parading that could be there. But hey, maybe they decided to keep eight defensemen, for example, because I had seven. on mine. Maybe they decided to keep eight defensemen and Brunwick is there as an extra and maybe he gets a little of that trial run.

We'll have to see. But they're at least giving it some serious consideration. It's funny, you know, I think also might make this roster defensively that I didn't have online. Caleb Jones, he's been getting a lot of practice time with Crystal Tang on the second pairing. He was on his pairing today.

He was on during the scrimmages, especially on last Sunday. He was on during the end of training camp. It's a little bit of a trend, which to me is a little concerning, well, concerning a little bit, but also weird, because I just haven't seen enough out of him during the camp in the preseason for him to get top four minutes going into the season. I just really haven't seen it. So not sure what the coaching staff in the front office is seeing there, but he might actually make this roster, which I'm going to be surprised by because I didn't really have him on my radar as much going into camp.

I'm like, obviously I knew they signed him during the offseason, but I figured he was going to be someone that would start with the Wilkesbury's Grattan Penguins. I didn't think he would be still be getting five days before the start of the penguin season, Pat, top four minutes with Chris LaTang. I don't know how long that will last, but I don't know. Just I don't think he is deserving of that right now, considering the camp in the preseason he's had, but I mean, we were pretty dismissive of him when they signed him.

We kind of just barely mentioned it and said, yeah, it's a, it's a brother of one of these, Seth Jones brother, he spent time in the HL, been up and down. And I agree with you in the sense that it's been a, I don't want to say unimpressive because it's, that kind of connotates that he's been bad, which he hasn't been.

But I've noticed them. And I think he's had some positive moments, but he hasn't exactly blown me away. But maybe- I'd rather play Owen Pickering there. But honestly, I don't even know if Pickering is going to make the team at this point. I have him on my mock roster.

I think he should be there, but he was also practicing with group one today, Pat, which had some players that went on waivers and were cut. For example, Dan Hinen was placed on waivers. We'll get to that in a second. Ada McDonough was sent down today. Copan was placed on waivers. Voltaire Puston was placed on waivers. Philip Kemp.

So Sebastian Aho. So I don't know. He may not even be making the team, which in my opinion, I think that is a mistake. I think he has had a better. camp in preseason than so only Caleb Jones has. Coaching staff may not see it that way, but that's how I see it. Obviously, it's not official yet where he has or has made the team, but you can read the tea leaves a little bit. So just wanted to say that. But again, Caleb Jones, just odd to me. And I think because you had seven defensemen, I had eight. Yeah. So I look at it

this way. Matt Dumba obviously going to have a spot. I also think he's had a, pretty strong preseason. Now, we'll see how it works out when we start playing for real. But I do think there has been, I don't want to say unfair criticism because he did struggle pretty heavily last year. He did not have a good year. But I think you can tell he feels a little bit motivated. He probably feels a little bit slighted that people are already writing him off as washed up already done. And he very well could be. This could be just a hot start and he trails off.

We have seen that numerous times throughout the NHL. But it's been a strong camp for him. The goal he had in Buffalo last night, I mean, I don't want to call it a goal scorer's goal, but he got every single piece of that shot. And it wasn't just a great shot. He was in a really good position to be in a place to score. which is always a positive.

Obviously, you're going to have your regulars in Latang and Carlson. I think Ryan Graves is going to make it out of camp, but as I alluded to yesterday, the leash is not long. The coaching staff in the management are saying the right things about wanting him to get better and get the opportunity to get better. But again, as I said yesterday, if you read the subtext of what they're saying, it's basically like put up or shut up,

Ryan, or you're going to get put on waivers. And I think he gets that shot out of the gate. I also have Brunich and Pickering. I'm with you. I think it would be a mistake to send Pickering down. But, but I do think in a similar way to Graves, but with less negative, obviously much less negativity, I think it's an opportunity for him to prove that he belongs long term.

If he stays, plays well, they'll keep him up. If he struggles for a few games, they can send him back. I think the thing with Pickering for me is what does he have left to learn in the HL? Not really much of anything, in my opinion. I think he is ready for a role in the NHL. You don't need to play him top four right away. Like maybe down the line, you could have him play

with Chris Letang, even though I don't want him playing with Caleb Jones either, but that's a different story. You can have them start on the bottom pair and work his way up. Like, I think he's good enough for that. And he showed that during his stint last season. I just don't think he has anything left to learn in the H.L. At this rate, in my opinion. I agree with that sentiment, but I also think that there is, if you look at who is likely to make the team, he's not going to be on a top pairing role.

No. You send him to the AHL. He's going to be a top parent guy. And he is still of an age and in a point in his development where he would benefit more from getting those heavier minutes than he would in the NHL. But not for long. It shouldn't be for an extended period of time. It should really be looked at as a Band-Aid as, hey, we're going to send you down there for a couple of weeks. Get yourself recentered. Get your game back. And then you're coming back. That's fair. I can understand that. Like for my seven defensemen, I had Latang, Carlson, Weatherspoon, Pickering, and if that doesn't happen, I think Brunick might be there. I didn't have them, though, but I think that might happen at this rate. Ryan Graves, Connor Clifton, Matt Dumbach. Graves, I don't expect him to be waived before the start of the season. I think it will give him, as you said, Pat, a little bit of a leash.

And then if he continues to stink up the joint, I think Kyle Dubus would be like, hey, like Tristan Jory last year, got to put you on waivers, man. you're not doing enough, even though the contract situation is really bad with him, I think they would put him on waivers potentially during the season. I don't think it's going to be during training camp, though. Forwards. I have Sydney Crosby of Gunny Malkin, Brian Rust. Well, he'll be on the roster once he's back from injury people.

He'll start the season on IR. Brian Rust, Ricard Raquel, Ville, E. Covenant. I have him as a lock. I've seen some takes out there that, oh, I wouldn't be surprised if he starts in Wilkesbury. I would. That's ridiculous to me, but okay, I know there's a lot of veterans. on this team, but he's a lock. Tommy Novak, Justin Brazzo, Anthony Mantha,

Philip Tomasino, Connor Dewar, Philip Hollander, Blake Lazot, Avery Hayes, and Noachari. People are going to be upset about Nollachari potentially making this team. I have him on my roster, but he is a popular guy in that locker room. They like that he kills penalties. He'll block a lot of shots. I think he'll at least start the season with the team. I don't think he's going to finish

the season with the team, though, especially with the trade deadline coming up and all that. I'd be a little surprised if he was cut. But Pat, I was not surprised that Dan Hinen was placed on waivers today. Of the veterans that you could waive the veteran forwards, that is, he was the easiest and the most obvious one to waive, especially after he did not play well in that game against Buffalo. It felt like he was kind of going through the motions a little bit.

And some of these younger players, they took advantage of this game. And yeah, a lot of these younger guys are going to play hard because they're playing for jobs. Some of the veterans are not really trying to get hurt. but I still wanted to see a little bit more from Dayton Hinen because younger players are going for his spot. So I didn't have them on my mock roster because I actually had him getting waves. So I'll get that one at least a little bit right.

We'll see if someone claims him. But that opens up also a spot for a younger player. And I have Avery Hayes making this team. It was between him and Tristan Bros. It's really close. I'm giving the edge to Hayes. I can't wait to see how many of these I get wrong though so I can clown myself next week. You and me both, because I do not envy Dan Mews, the coaching staff, and Kyle Dubus right now,

because the hardest decision is going to be these young players because a whole bunch of them have shown that they belong. You can disagree with their developmental timeline and all of that, and I would hear you out on it. We already had the discussion about Kindle. But a lot of these young players, more than anything, have not looked out of place whatsoever. And it has happened not just with Kindle, but with plenty of them, that they have looked good in every situation. They have looked good against the visiting team who is bringing their B squad on the road. They have gone on the road and played against the almost a squad and looked really good, which is a really positive sign for the organization.

The hardest decision that I see it forward right now is what you brought up. and it's three names. Philip Hollander, Avery Hayes, and Tristan Bros. All three of them have made serious cases to spend time in the NHL this year, but they're going to run out of spots because you went over the locks. You've obviously got Raquel, Crosby, Mantha, Malkin, Coyvinen, Lazot, Tomasino, Novak, in Achari. And here's the thing I'll say about Achari.

He is going to have value. if he plays the way he's supposed to. He's coming off a surgery. He is hopefully going to have something of a rebound. But being a hardworking, penalty killing bottom six forward, we know that general managers fall in love with that kind of player. And Kyle Dubas is no exception. He is multiple times,

not just with the penguins, brought in Noel Achari. So he is one of those general managers, but it links back to something I say. said a while ago. The youth movement might get a little stalled to start the year and even into maybe November, December, because to get the youth movement going, you're going to have to move out some of these veterans. And in order to move them out, they're going to have to play.

And that includes Achari. So, I mean, I am really excited to see where this all goes because we didn't have sky high expectations for a lot of these young players, but we wanted to see them make a point. And they have more than made that point in this camp, which is a really, really exciting thing for the organization. But I'll end the segment with this. We're getting all excited.

We're all happy about this, but just tap the brakes ever so slightly. This doesn't mean that this team is going to be good. it doesn't mean that these guys are going to be stars. They still have a lot to prove. They still have to play. But at the very least, we can see the potential. We can see the growth.

And hopefully it continues. But that is going to do it for our middle segment. When we come back, set it at the top. Hunters are man on the ground. And the penguins did practice today. So we're going to get some of his thoughts from training camp today when we come back. So stick with us. We'll get into that right after.

this. Back here on the Thursday episode of Locked-on Penguins, I'm Patrick Damp. That's Hunter Hodes. And now that we got all the predictions that you're going to be able to clown on us when they are obviously incorrect in a few days, let's at least talk about what happened right in front of, well, Hunter's face, because I was not there today. He was. Big day in practice today. Obviously, we went over all of the roster moves. The guys placed on waivers, you name it. But Hunter, what were you watching today? at the Lemieux complex. First off,

that before anyone tries to crown on us for our little mock rosters that we know we're going to get made fun of right after the show. I have Rukkin McGrody and Kevin Haye starting this season

on I R. I did not forget about those guys, people. Let's be real here. Ruck and McGority is going to be on this team. I think once he comes back from IR,

might have to do a conditioning sin with Wilkesbury, but I think he will be on this roster and they'll have to open up a spot for him. And I think at some point they will have to open up a spot for Kevin Hay,

so he can play at least a little bit before some teams may become calling. Because again, Pat, he is also a free agent at the end of the season. And I don't expect him to stay on the team for the full year. Crazier things have happened. I mean, I said the same thing about Matt Gwislich. And he stayed on the team for a full year. So you never truly know, but I'm just giving my opinion on what I think will happen. So we'll have to make a little bit of room at least for Rucker and then probably for Kevin Hayes.

Yeah, I think I'm glad you brought that up because I did. kind of figure that would go a little unspoken is that yes we didn't forget about those guys they're currently hurt they still remain on the injured list for training camp so you kind of i don't want to say out of sight out of mind but the fact of the matter is the 23-man roster is going to be doing a couple of days and they haven't been there so we'll see what happens with them but i'm with you i think ruckger mcgrorty has a spot either right away or after a conditioning stint in the minors Exactly, I agree. But going on to what I saw today for the Newton practice, that is. So I sadly wasn't able to make it for the first practice at 1030. But again, I saw all the players that were there, Pat.

And a lot of these guys are either A being waived or are being sent down to Wilkesbury's training camp. For example, Aidan McDonough, who I actually thought had a very underrated camp. He was cut today. He's going down to Wilkesbury. Look out for him this year, by the way. He was a point per game player last year in the AHL. this is someone who went healthy is talented. So I'm curious to see how he does for a full year. You also had Dan Hinen placed on waivers. We talked about that a little bit in the second segment.

No surprise there out of the veterans that you could waive. He was the easiest. And I do think he will have a shot at getting claimed on waivers. I think maybe a team that needs a little bit of depth scoring could potentially claim him. But I also won't be surprised at the same time if he doesn't get claimed. You had Bell with Terry Prustin who was placed on waivers. No surprise there. You had Yona Coppinen who was placed on waivers, which also should not be a surprise.

Philip Kemp was placed on waivers. You had Sebastian Ajo was placed on waivers. And then Chase Patella, he was cut today. So again, Taylor Godier was cut today. Scooter Brickie, excuse me, was cut. So they were making a whole bunch of roster moves, not just going on to Wilkesbury, but in terms of waivers as well. And Pat, again, the full list for anyone that wants to know,

So Spaschenaho, Danton, Philip Kemp, Yonukopin, Philip Larson, and Valetari Pustin. Also, no surprise on Philip Larson. He's going to try to get the bulk of the starts in Wilkesbury this year, even though I think that should go to Sergei Mirosha. But in terms of lines at practice today, so there was a lot of very fascinating things today. You had Tommy Novak with Ben Kindle and Philip Tomasino. Philip Hollander was also rotating on that third line, which I found pretty fascinating. I think you might see something like that during the final preseason game against the Sabres.

You had Evgeny Malkin with Anthony Mantha and Justin Brazzo. Avery Hayes was also rotating in on that line. So you could see him get some reps there during that game. If he is in the lineup, which again, as of 6.30 p.m. Eastern time, they have not released the roster. I am sure it's coming later on this evening or potentially tomorrow morning. And then you had Ville Khoevenin with Sidney Crosby and Ricardo Rube. You also had Blake Lozot with Nola Chari and Connor. doer. So you can't read a lot into it, but you can read a little bit of the tea leaves where it's like,

hmm, these are looking like some of the NHL lines to start this season. You had Parker Weatherstone with Eric Carlson once again. I would very much expect that to be the top pairing. And then, of course, you had Caleb Jones with Crystal Tang. I've already given my thoughts on that. And then you had the third pair is rotating a little bit, Pat. You had Harrison Brunick with Ryan Shea, Harrison Brunick, a lot of times with Connor Clifton today. You had McDumbah rotating in down there. So it was a big rotation. They're working on some power play. They were doing a lot of five on five drills as a hard 90-minute practice,

very competitive, very intense. It was a lot of fun to watch. So those were at least a few of the things I saw. You know, Cindy Crosby talked to everyone after practice today about Ben Kindle. And even just listening to it, his, you can feel his eyes really lighting up when he was talking about him. He's been really impressed watching Kindle in a lot of these games so far. And hey, maybe he'll get the chance. to play with him again for a second game on Friday, TBD on that.

So those were most of the things I saw today. But Pat, I don't really get your thought on this that much. I'll get it now. No wheel surprise on A, the cuts or B, the players that were placed on waivers. No. Like you said, Heinen was the most waivable, especially early on. And it could provide, even though they don't need it, it could provide a little bit of cap relief because he makes, I think it's 2.25 million against the cap.

And that's both a really affordable contract. And as we've said, it might not work right now because of the penguins wanting to get some of the young guys into the lineup. But he is still a useful NHL forward. It's not like he's bad. And I agreed with your take in the second segment about I've wanted to see more from him in this preseason, especially as these young guys make their push. but realistically, we know when the lights come on and we're playing actual hockey, Heinen has value, and I wouldn't be shocked, or at least it wouldn't be shocking if he gets

claimed between now and Friday, but we'll see what happens with that. I did want to spare a thought real quick about the Caleb Jones thing to kind of run that back a little bit. I do think there might be something we're not totally seeing because we're not privy to it. It does feel like he has developed some chemistry with Chris LaTang. And given what they want to do with Chris LaTang this year, you know we kind of want to see his minutes diminish just because he's not the player he once was. And if you put him with a Caleb Jones, Jones still has some potential.

I don't think he's going to be a mainstay in the NHL. I don't think they found some diamond in the rough. but if he can elevate a little bit with Chris LaTang, you can manage their minutes, you can put them in more advantageous situations, and maybe that's what they're thinking with that. Last thing I want to say, because why not end the show and reward the people

who are still hanging out this late into the episode with what could be considered a hot take? When you saw Sidney Crosby's eyes light up about Benjamin Kindle, you know whose game Ben Kindle has really? really reminded me of. The fella who used to wear number 59, Jake Gensel. He's not that big,

but he's got some wheels, and he has got really good hockey IQ. And Sid has been watching that game and watching practice and thinking, I might have my new running mate. Hey, I didn't see Sid during the interview just because my wonderful co-worker Kelsey sent me the audio because she was one of the people who asked said a question. I could just feel like he, his eyes lit up a little bit.

I could feel it just when listening to the answer. But I digress about that. When it comes to a good comp, I like that one. I think Brayden Point is a little bit better of a comp, but that's if he hits that potential because maybe Point is one of the best players in the league. Let's be real here. Right. We're not saying right off the hop, he is there. But when you see the fundamentals of his game and the way he has played in this preseason,

similarities are striking, but he has got to earn that. Yes, 100%. Again, I get Brayden Point vibes when I watch him, but the jury is very much on. And if he will, you know, ever be as good as Braden Point. Don't think I'm going to go that far considering how great Braden Point is. But if Ben Kendall can be a very good top six. player for a long time. I will gladly take that. But Pat, do you have anything else to add? No, I think that's going to do it for a jam-packed Thursday edition of the Locked-on Penguins

podcast. Thank you so much for hanging with us on this one and be impatient because we know how Pittsburgh traffic is. We told you at the top of the week. This is going to be a little bit of a weird one, but we appreciate it all the same. Hunter and I are going to be back on Friday with a new episode to get you ready for the final preseason matchup against the Buffalo Sabres. Talk about whatever happens between now and then. And because it's Friday, we're going to want to hear from you. Keep an eye on our social media channels. We will put the call out for fan take Friday.

We'll answer your questions, react to your hot takes and anything else. But for now, for Hunter Hodes, I am Patrick Damp. Thank you, as always for tuning in. And we will be back on Friday.