Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - The Baby Penguins making their march towards the playoffs!

Episode Date: January 2, 2025

With the Pittsburgh Penguins still off, it's time to check out what's going on down on the farm! Hunter and Patrick give you an update on the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins and how their season is unfolding in the American Hockey League. A lot of the team's prospects are either performing very well or rounding into form. Then, keeping a theme on the future, they take a look at the performances of the Penguins' prospects at the 2025 World Junior Championships. Finally, Jesse Puljujarvi cleared waivers but he said he's itching to play which begs the question - should they play him, demote him, or trade him? All that, plus much more is on this episode of the Locked On Penguins podcast.Link to Matt's story: https://www.post-gazette.com/sports/penguins/2025/01/01/jesse-puljujarvi-waivers-penguins-mike-sullivan-kyle-dubas/stories/202412230118Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!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.FanDuelYou can start the season with a big return on FanDuel. New customers can place a FIVE DOLLAR bet and you’ll get started with TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS - if you win your first FIVE DOLLAR BET ! Visit FANDUEL.COM to get started. 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.

With the penguins off yet again on Thursday, it's time to take a look across the state to see how the baby penguins are doing in Wilkesbury Scranton. Pat and I are going to give you an update on them right after this. You're locked on penguins, your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello and welcome 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 co-host Patrick Damping and follow him on all social media platforms at Sinan for Wet. And you can follow these shows, Twitter, at L.O. Understore Penguins, of course, thank you all so much for making this your first lesson slash watch of the day. We are free and available on all platforms. So Pat, it's pretty rare when the Penguins have not one, but two days off during a week.

They don't play again, of course, until Friday, and then they'll play again this Sunday as well. They have that daunting stretch against both Florida and Carolina. but we figured this would be a great time to update everyone on how the Wilkesbury Scrant Penguins are doing. We've gotten a couple of questions about them and some YouTube comments recently. People have been wondering, oh, how are some of the players doing down there? Well, we're going to provide an update on some of our analysis on how some of these kids are doing. And so far, I'm really liking what I'm seeing from some of the guys that are really close to being NH already, especially Billy Coiffinen, you know, 27 games this year.

He has six goals, 22 points in 27 games. He was part of the Jake Gensel trade. he's adjusting really well to this team. You also have Tristan Brose. He is tied for the team lead in goals this year. 12 goals, 19 points and 27 games. I can see him being a call-up probably after the trade deadline if they move a forward or two off this team.

I think next season, there's definitely a shot that he can be on this team full-time. His development has been really fun to watch over the last year, especially his playing college now, his first full professional season. he's crushing it so far so I'm really happy with him and then obviously the big name Rucker McGrady a bit of a slow start in Wilkesbury when he first got sent down but I think these last few weeks I think that's been his best hockey in Wilkesbury in my opinion you know three goals 12 points and 25 games so he's not at a point per game but you can see the development coming game after game after game and I do think he is going to get the call at some point this

season again, probably after the trade deadline. And I do think he'll be on this team full time next year. But it was never a bad move to send him down for the majority of this season, potentially the full season to get him some seasoning, have him develop. Because, you know, those first few games in the NHL, he was fine, but he didn't fully stick out. So that's why, again, I was totally fine with him going down to Wilkesbury, developing for a while. And then once he's able to fine-tune some parts of his game, he can come back up. So I know some people were a bit down on that trade right now, but I assure you people, relax. I think he is going to be a very good NHLer. And then, you know, we already saw Nathan Clemering come up. I want to see more from him at some point, Pat, that first

game, very, and I mean very small sample, but I liked what I saw. But your thoughts on some of the players from Wilkesbury and how they're performing this year and just the team in general. Well, let's start with the team because this is a good hockey team in the American League right now. They've only played, I believe it's 27 games, which is the least amount in the Atlantic division right now. And yet, there's still just five points out of first place in their division, despite having that few games played because you look at their division, there are teams that have played 32, 33 games, well, way more than Wilkeshire has.

And then when you look at the entire American hockey league, the Wilkes-Barre's Scranton penguins have the fifth best points percentage in the entire league. So this is a team that's doing fairly well. And I think it speaks to the plan that Kyle Dubus has in place. Now, we're not going to sit here and call it a complete success because the success is measured in how do the Pittsburgh penguins do, not how do the Wilkesbury Scranton penguins do. But you can see that there is now a wealth of young talent in the system that is leading to more meaningful hockey being played in the American League. One thing I also want to get into that you didn't really mention, goaltending.

There is a battle going on in Wokes Bear Scranton right now. Larson and Blumquist are just pacing one another. Both of these guys are playing phenomenally. Larson has three shutouts. He's got a 925 save percentage. Blumquist, a little bit different for him because if you remember, he had to spend some time in the NHL to start the year due to injuries as well as Tristan Jari's struggles. So he kind of is a little bit behind, but still, 903 save percentage and a shutout.

So you got four shutouts and two goaltenders above 900. And then everything else you said about a lot of these players stepping up in scoring points and playing well, This is the mixture of a very good AHL team. And funny enough, if you remember from this offseason, we had a clip of this show go a little bit viral when we learned that the penguins were bringing back Emil Bemströmström on a contract. Well, guess who leads the Wilkesbury Scranton Penguins in points? Emil Bemstrom, point per game player, 10 goals, 15 assists, 25 points in 25 games.

he's playing extremely well. So if nothing else, you look at the way Wilkes-Barre is set up. You look at some of the players on there, and there is help on the way. So last thing I'll say about them, you're right about McGrady. I know a lot of people are down on it. I know a lot of people see him in the American League and think, oh, this kid's not working out. It's a bust. It's a bad trade.

Well, two things on that. One, Brayton Yeager's playing at the World Juniors right now. He's not playing for the Winnipeg Jets, so relax. That's fine. And Rutger McGrady started slow, acclimated to a different league. Because if you remember, they asked him about what it's like in the NHL, and he was talking about how surprised he was that he was going on planes and getting all these chartered meals or all these catered meals and all this stuff taking care of him. Guys, I worked in the American Hockey League.

It is nothing like the NHL. You're taking buses everywhere, some crappy little local restaurant that sponsors the team is probably getting you your meals. You are not exactly living a life of luxury. The Wilkes-Bare facility, I've been there a couple of times. It's fine. It's not really state of the art. And he is starting to figure it out. You look at his points right now.

he may only have 12 points and 25 games, but six of those points came in December. So he's starting to find a stride. He is starting to develop. So a little bit of patience. We're going to see this guy coming around soon. Yeah. Sometimes it takes a little while to get fully acclimated, you know, with a new team, new environment, you know, the competition is a bit harder.

And, you know, you saw him really develop even more in December. Again, I do feel like the call up for him. is coming fairly soon, probably after the deadline, but I'm still really not concerned with him at this point. And another thing about, you know, Wilkesbury this year, it's been nice seeing them, you know, keeping everyone there because the Penguins, you know, the main team, they really haven't, knock on wood, at least,

they have not run into a lot of injuries this year. So we really haven't had to see them call up four to five to six guys. You know, we've seen some guys get called up, you know, Sam Poolean got called up for a little bit, you know, Nathan Clerman, obviously. But it's been good seeing a lot. of these guys, you know, stay in one situation where the penguins, you know, they can be fully healthy for most of the season, hopefully, while, you know, the Wilkesbury Scrant Penguins,

you know, they can get more chemistry with one another. And these players are not just, you know, busing back and forth between Wilkesbury, Scrant and Pittsburgh basically every other week because usually this team is pretty cursed at the NHL level. But I do feel like, again, that's probably going to change at least a little bit after the deadline once Kyle Dubus moves out some players, you know, defense moving forwards, etc. just to continue his plan, so to speak. But this is a good team.

They should make the playoffs. And they're a lot of fun to watch. If you are in that area or you want to be more interested in Wilkes-Strae Scranton, please turn on the game. You know, Nick Hart is an awesome play-by-play announcer. He should be doing work in the NHL, if I'm being honest, bad. He's that good. So if you are potentially not an area, but you want to watch less listen to the games,

you're going to love Nick Hart once you turn them on. Yeah, he's fantastic. He does a really good job. One last thing about this team. It is fun to see sometimes how the American League team and the NHL team mirror each other. Big month coming up for the baby penguins. They've got the Charlotte Checkers, the Toronto Marleys, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, and the Hershey Bears all on the docket this month. And those are all teams that they are either chasing, they are in a race with,

or some of the best teams in the American League right now. So just like the penguins have the senior penguins have this month a ton of challenges coming up with a long road trip, a lot of contenders. Both of these penguins teams over the next month, we're really going to find out exactly what they're made of. Agreed. But again, you know, I do think Wilkesbury is going to do enough to get in. they have the big games in hand advantage right now.

So if they can win those games in hand, they will be, again, totally fine down the stretch here for the HL season. And also, if you guys do not see Jesse Marshall's tweet about Sergey Muroshov, please go look at it because he is lighting up the ECHL this year. And I think it's going to be fairly soon when we see him in Wilkesbury full-time, especially with the way Blumclos is playing, especially with how he played in the NHL earlier this season. I think he's ready.

I think he's going to get his time fairly soon, full time at this level. And once that happens, I think you'll see Marashov graduate to the HL where I think it's going to be him and Larson really splitting the reps. And that'll be a really fun competition to watch because Marashav has been awesome for willing this year. And that's what I wanted to see for him going in. I expected him to start the season in Wheeling. I wanted to see how he would do with his first North American season.

And he's crushing it so far again. Go look at the highlight real that Jesse. posted, it's out of this role. He is a really good prospect, people. But that will do it for this first segment. Coming up in the second segment, it's time to do a little bit of talk about the world juniors and how this tournament again continues to be so much fun to watch. But before we get to that, we got to tell you all about our first sponsor, and that is game time. I love going to live events, whether it's sports, music, theater, or comedy. One of my favorite memories was attending a concert last year. Steel Panther actually sitting up on the balcony, the energy and the excitement,

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What time is it? it's game time. All right, we're back here in this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes, join by my co-host, Patrick Dam. So, Pat, I love when the World Junior's come around, man. Seeing these teams go at it this time of year is always the last year. You saw last year, Team USA, they won gold. They were by far the best team in that tournament.

And with the way Team USA is going right now, they may very well repeat. I still feel like when I look at the quarterfinal field, right now heading into the semifinals. I think Team USA is by far the best. I could watch Cole Hudson play every single day, just like his brother, by the way. He's basically a carbon copy of them with the way he plays. And I'm excited to see what he can do once he eventually gets to the NHL.

That USA roster is so freaking stacked. But in terms of the penguins that are there, it's been fun seeing Tanner Howell. I love how he's such a pest to play against. It's all over his film, whether it's this tournament or before that, you know, heading into the draft. He is so fun to watch. And then Emil Pianemi for Team Finland, Pat, he's been great, you know, getting a few points. His skating has been very noticeable.

His play in the offensive zone has been very noticeable. He's also been really defending well in these games, too. It's been nice seeing his development, especially in this tournament and over the last year. But what are your overall thoughts about the World Juniors so far and some of the Penguins that are in it? If you want, and before I get to the Penguins, this is just a general thought. If you want to know where the sport of hockey is going in general, as a hockey fan, watch the world juniors this time of year, because that will give you a really good idea of where the sport is going,

because these are guys who are either already drafted into the NHL or are about to declare for the NHL draft. So these are the, this is the next class, so to speak, of players. And if you look at the top teams in the world right now, USA, 22 goals for 10 against. So what does that tell you? They can score and they have good goaltending. Sweden, same deal. 24 goals for 10 against. They can score and they can get saves.

This is where the sports going. So if you are a fan of skilled fast hockey with good goal tending, this is where the sports headed. As for the Penguins, like you said, I love Tanner Howe's game. You're going to look at the stats in a tournament like this and think he's not really doing a whole lot. But he just never seems to be out of place. Every game I've seen with him, he's right where he needs to be. He's making the smart play. And in a tournament like this, yeah, you're going to want more production.

just as a natural reaction because it's such a short amount of time. It's not an 82 game season. But you look at the things he does, the fundamentals, the way he plays. And it's all going to translate to a professional level game because they are things that just work. Like I said, in the right position, make smart decisions with the puck. the kind of player that you appreciate over an 82 game season, but in a four, five, six game tournament doesn't really stand out. Pian, Nemi, man, if you, if you haven't watched his goal, go watch that goal.

Yes. Patience with the puck. He's able to corral a pass that doesn't get to him cleanly and then absolutely snipes one. Now, I don't want to get too carried away because it happened against Germany and they're likely to get relegated after this tournament because them in Kazakhstan are both in the in the tournament this year and they have pretty much gotten boat rate got boat raced in every game so but still you like to see that kind of play from him under a little bit of pressure corrals a not so clean pass and then great shot by him overall really love this tournament and guess what man the new year's eve tradition

of USA versus Canada, always nice to see a real hockey country, like the US of a getting a W at the world juniors. Oh, you're going to piss off all the Canadian Penns fans and our YouTube comments for that. I just know it right now, but hey, get good nerds, get good. Yeah, good. Is the US, the main hockey world now? Here's my call on, but now I'm just messing around. I know, but speaking of that game, rather than being a troll about it. We know how good Canada is. But Canada is probably the better team. They have to stay out of the box and find some discipline.

Because if you look at that New Year's Eve game, USA wins 4 to 1. All but they're empty net goal were power play goals. Yeah. They went three for seven on the power play. So if Canada can find because then you look at all the other stats of the game, Canada was probably the better team. at five on five. Unfortunately, game was barely played at five on five. If Canada finds that discipline and these two teams meet again, the USA cannot lean on their power play. Yeah, and they're going to have to play a bit better at five on five. But it was nice seeing the U.S. just rip Canada apart and that

game. And hey, we can see a rematch again in the gold medal game pretty soon. I will say just to close up this segment, it was awesome seeing Latvia in this tournament. They were so fun to watch. I believe it's Eric Mateko is how you pronounce his name, or Eric's Mateko. I apologize if I mispronounce his name. He had five goals during that tournament. That game against Canada was a blast, by the way. And I loved their story during the tournament. I hate that they were eliminated during the quarterfinal.

But it's been really nice seeing them, not just in the world juniors, but you know, in the world championships as well. Heck, even going back to the Olympics, it's been really nice seeing them continue to grow as a hockey country. And I know I'm going to have my honor on them again at the World Championships for next year and at the Olympics in 26. This is how you grow the sport. This is how the NHL in a bunch of national programs grow the game. If you can find your best players and put them on the world stage and give them an opportunity to show themselves,

it will continue to grow because this didn't just happen in this world junior tournament this year. You hinted at it. The last couple of Olympics, the last couple of world championships and the last couple world juniors, Latvia snuck their way in.

And they've either gone toe to toe with the likes of the US, Canada, Sweden, Finland, and it becomes a story. And when it becomes a story, young kids in Latvia see that game. They see that moment and they go pick up a pair of skates. They go pick up a hockey stick. They start falling in love with the game. And next thing you know, you've got a generation of kids who grew up thinking,

I want to be on that team that upsets Canada next time. I want to be on that team that beats the U.S. next time. and it only benefits the sport, the NHL, the American League, the ECHL, all the European leagues. That is how you grow the sport. 100%. And this was the first time they were in the quarterfinal for the world juniors. It just goes to show how awesome of a story it was and how great hockey they play throughout that group stage before they were eliminated in the quarter final.

But that will do it for this second segment. Coming up in our final segment, we're going to discuss yes, he pool. speaking out about his healthy scratches and Chris LaTang finally skating after getting a bit banged up. But before we get to that, we got to tell you all about our final sponsor, and that is Fandul. The NFL playoffs are almost here, but it is not too late to get on the regular season action with Fandle. That's America's number one sportsbook, because right now, new customers can finish the season strong with $250 in bonus bets. If you win your first $5 bet, just visit fendool.com to join today.

that's Fanduil.com for your chance at $250 in bonus bets. You can bet on the NFL games this weekend, including the Steelers and the Bengals. As the Steelers try and eliminate the Bengals from playoff contention, heck, you can also bet on the Minnesota Vikings versus Detroit Lions game, how it's for the NFC North, and for the number one seed in the NFC. You can bet on both those games and so much more on Fandle. Make everyone more of Fandle and official sportsbook partner of the NFL. All right, we're back here in this episode of the Loll.

Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Huns or Hodes. Join my co-host, Patrick Dam. So, Pat, we kind of skipped over it a little bit, but yes, Cipu-RV goes unclaimed on waivers, so he is still part of the Penguins. They're playing for him right now. It's not totally clear. They can reassign him to Wilkesbury any time now because he cleared waivers, and we'll have to see if they do that. But he spoke recently to Matt Vensel of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, and I'll link that column to everyone in the description box for both audio and video. And he's, he's, you know, fairly fired up about his situation. Rightfully so. He said, I want to play because it's been a long process for me getting to this point, being healthy, and I'm healthy now, and I would like to play.

That's the goal, and I will keep going to get that goal. Also, this is a hard business and you have to live with it. I would like to play, and hopefully at some point, I get a new opportunity. Well, Pat, that final sentence seems like he kind of wants to go to a new team, and honestly, I really can't blame him. No. I will. I will. say this though earlier in the story he did say that he spoke with kyle a couple weeks ago about the situation and said it's been a long kind of difficult process so at the very least it appears that the team is communicating to him what the plan is we're just not privy to it but i don't blame him for being upset because it really we already ran the

this topic out of the out of the park earlier this week with everything about it but it just doesn't make a ton of sense what they're doing with him i i continue to argue that he needs to find more consistency but that is in conflict with well when does he get the opportunity to show said consistency because he hasn't gotten a long run way to do it so i wouldn't be shocked if kyle dubus tries to trade them and tries to get a little bit back for him. I don't think they're too worried about sunk cost. They didn't spend a lot of money on them. They didn't give him a ton of term. And his value isn't exactly high because at this point, you're buying potential. He really has not lived up to the potential he was supposed to have. So at the end of the day, we'll see what

happens. But I do hope if they don't trade them, you see him in the lineup over the next week or so, because I get a feeling you put this guy in the lineup for a game or two, he is going to be shot out of a cannon. Oh, 100%. I definitely agree with that. I think if you put him in the lineup maybe as soon as this weekend, if you want to, that probably seems a bit unlikely right now. I do think he will give that bottom six a spark with the way he's talking with just how he's

played earlier this season. He really wants to get in there and show what he can do. And I do think also, if they're playing. is to maybe deal him for a mid, a late round pick. Wouldn't it make sense to put him in the lineup to kind of do a little small showcase to other general managers to see how he can play before maybe pulling the trigger? Like, yeah, you can assign him to Wilkesboro now that he cleared waivers, but what is that going to do?

You know, you're going to have him feast on HL competition. I don't know. Like the more I think about it, the more that doesn't make too much sense. I think you need to healthy scratch one of these veteran forwards, put him in there so you can show to at least other GMs, okay, this is what he can do, give us a call if you're interested, all that stuff. Or if he plays better than you expected, just keep him in the lineup, as I've been saying for most of the season. But hey, that's also my take on that. Chris Lattang, he's skated, so his return is hopefully getting a bit closer.

And I do think Owen Pickering is getting fairly close to returning as well. It's probably going to be this weekend. We'll just have to see which defenseman comes out. probably going to be one of Ryan Graves or Ryan Shay, though, with the way this season is going, I don't think they're going to take out Matt Grislook. They're going to continue to at least, you know, play them on the top powerplay. Well, the two power plays are split right now. So it's power play 1A, power play 1B, people. He's quarterbacking one of those units.

They're still continuing those split units. Let's just say it's a 10-man unit next. I think that's fair. He's quarterbacking one of them. He's actually doing a fairly good job with it, all things considered. his five on five play could always improve, but they're not going to take him out of lineup. I think it's probably going to be one of Graves or a shade that comes out.

I'm curious, though, to see what they do with the goalies. Nadelkovich now two starts in a row. Does he get one of these next two? Does Jari get these next two? Curious to see what Mike Sullivan does there. Yeah, I mean, and neither goalie has really taken the reins in the last couple months. Like we have said that Jari has played better, and he has, but that bar was not exactly difficult to clear.

Alex Nadalcovic kind of skated, no pun intended, because Jari was so bad to start the year that nobody was really worried about Alex Nadelcovich's play. And it was still somewhat better than Tristan Jari. So he kind of got away with it. As for the defenseman thing, it actually wouldn't shock me if they gave Pickering a few games back in Wilkes Bear just to maybe get his legs under him again since he's gone through an injury. but I wouldn't expect that to be a long time in Wilkes Bear just because he has proven at least so far that he belongs in the NHL. But I also don't want to burn this kid out because let's be honest here. He is still very young. He is still very green.

And you want this kid to be a penguin's defenseman for the next decade. You don't want him to be a penguin for the next two years and then burnout. out. So if they feel like, okay, we can get away with putting them back in the miners and letting him dominate the miners, great. But keep giving him shots until it feels like he can't handle it anymore. But just be mindful that this is a kid you want in your long term plans and not someone to chase a first or second round exit this year or next. Yeah, he was hitting a little bit of a wall. And of course, as soon as I say that, Teddy sees something outside and was barking at it, probably all the snow that's coming down, at least the flurries. But he hit a little bit of a wall.

You could see him struggling a little bit. But I think once he gets back into the lineup, I do think he's going to get past that, especially with the way that he was playing to start his penguin's tenure this year. But I think that's going to do it for today's episode of the Locked on Penguins podcast. As always, thank you all so much for taking the time to listen to watch this one. Pat and I will be back with another show. if you all on Friday. To get you all set for this crazy weekend, we're going to preview both games against the Panthers and the hurricanes to see just how the penguins do against two of the top teams in the Eastern Conference. So for Patrick Damp, I'm Hunter Hodes. Thank you all so much

for tuning in, and we will talk to you all on Friday.