Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - The Penguins' preseason finale gives the young guys one last chance!

Episode Date: October 3, 2025

We've got one preseason game left against the Sabres, and it's the final shot for many of the Penguins' young players to make their mark! Hunter and Patrick begin the show by breaking down the Penguins' preseason finale roster, which will feature plenty of the young players who have had a strong camp. Will they make the team or is this just one last look for the management and coaching staff? (0:00) Then, the Penguins got some good news on Friday as Kevin Hayes and Rutger McGroarty were back on the ice in limited capacities. They also look at how all six players placed on waivers on Thursday cleared and will be sent back to the AHL (12:37). Finally, it's a Friday, and that means it's Fan Take Friday, they react to some hot takes about the upcoming season, the prospects, and so much more! (19:53) 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.

We have reached the end of the preseason as the Pittsburgh Penguins will play their final preseason game on Friday against the Buffalo Sabers. Who are we watching for tonight? Pat and I are going to discuss that right after this. Your Locked-on Penguins. Your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network. Your team every day.

Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I am one of your host, Hunter Hodes. You can follow me on Twitter at Hunters Hodes. Joined by my co-st, Patrick Damon. You can follow him on all social media platforms at Send him for Wet. You can also follow the show's Twitter at L.O. underscore Penguins. And you can follow the show's Instagram account at Locked On underscore Penguins. Of course, thank you all so much for making this, your first listen slash watch of the day.

We are free and available on all platforms. And finally, today's episode is brought to you by Fandle, down the Fandle app right now by visiting Fandul.com. and win $300 in bonus bets if your first $5 bet wins. Thankfully, Pat, we have finally reached the end of the preseason preseason game number seven Friday night at PBG Paints Arena. And as expected, this is the dress rehearsal game. You will be seeing the A squad in action tonight, kind of as like a little bit of a tune-up before Tuesday's first regular season game

in New York against the Rangers. But it's funny, Pat, you look at this full roster. lineup for tonight. And the Penguins did everyone no favors with this because there's 14 forwards, nine defensemen and three goalies. And I was like, oh, maybe we'll see some lines of the morning skate today. Nope. It's an optional morning skate. So we really have no idea who is going to be a healthy scratch among the forwards and defensemen will try to make educated guesses just because in my opinion, I think they're going to want to get at least one more look at Ben Kendall and Harrison Brunick before they make the.

decisions over the weekend about whether to keep one or both of them, at least for a few games to start the 2025, 26 season. Does that mean a veteran like Noa Chari or Blake Lazott get scratched or maybe someone on the back end? Does someone like a, I don't know, does like a Ryan Shea gets scratched? Does Caleb Jones get scratched? Connor Clifton, probably less so on Caleb Jones because I think they're going to want to get him another look with Crystal Tang since they've only played one game together during the preseason. but Pat, we at least know the goaltender plan. Tristan Jari will start the first half.

Sergei Miroshov gets the second half, which is going to be a lot of fun. But Pat, this is it. This is the final opportunity for these young players, especially Kindle and Brunich, to prove to the coaches and management that, hey, we deserve at least a few games to open the NHL season. Annoying as it is that there was an optional morning skate today before the dress rehearsal, I do think that it was a bit of a reward from head coach Dan Mews because as you have seen firsthand, as we have talked about on this podcast, as we have seen in reporting, it has been a really, really intense training camp, just like we said it should be back when it began.

and by all accounts, there was pretty much 100% buy-in from everybody in attendance. So it kind of feels like that was a good work these last couple weeks, boys. If you want to come out and get a few reps before the final preseason game before we get into the real thing, no harm, no foul, you paid your rent, you paid your dues in this camp. So let's finish this strong and get some rest. The goal tending, though, this is really interesting. Now, I am still, and I know you are too, very much of the mindset that it is going to be Jari and Shilov's to start the year. But at the same time, giving Murashav half the game in the final preseason game,

when you look up and down this roster, this is pretty much all regulars. and a couple of guys who need to prove they belong. It was everyone that practiced at noon on Thursday, just wanted to add that. And I still think it is best for Murashev's development to be the guy in the HAL. But this is going to signal if he sticks around that they are not putting in roadblocks, that they are going to give these young guys all the runway they need. And let's be completely honest here.

Sergei Murasov's been the best goaltender in camp. It's not particularly close. Shilov's been pretty good. Blumquist was looking good until he got hurt. Jari's been okay. And then it's Sergey Murshov at the top. So that is really interesting to me. And then I want to build upon something that you said as well.

And it kind of goes back to our Thursday episode. I think you're right with Caleb Jones. I think he's going to be in the lineup tonight. And he's going to be with Chris Latang. because it feels like this is a pairing they like, but they still need to see more game action. And that is really the only way at this point to determine if it works or not, because we have said it a million times.

You can look great in practice. You can look great in an intra-squad scrimmage, but it is not an NHL hockey game. And even though this is a preseason game, this is as close as you can get to an actual game. So at this point, it feels like, that is a pairing that they're interested in, but they're not committed to yet. And this is going to be the last chance for Jones to prove belongs with Chris Latang and

in the everyday lineup. So that's something that I'm going to have an eye on pretty closely tonight. So yeah, a couple of points. I think the thing with Marischov is they just want to get one more look at him to have him end camp in the preseason with a bang. And then in my opinion, they'd be like, hey, we like everything you did. We're going to have you start the season in Wilkesbury try to get you a full load of games down there. And then at the end of this season, you know, once this is over, you might be able to push for a full-time spot and potentially be the starter as soon as next season.

At least that's what I think is going to happen. I could be dead wrong. Maybe he still has an outside shot to at least be the backup. I'd be surprised because I thought She-Lovs was pretty good in Buffalo on Wednesday, Pat. I'm not going to put any of those goals on him. I think he has it locked up right now. but again, I could be dead wrong on that. So yeah, I mean, I'm not, I'm not immediately going to, oh, he's on this team.

He's going to make it. I figured by now he would either just remain on the camp roster. And then once we're done with the preseason, he goes to Wilkes. Because as you, as I don't know if we've mentioned it on the show or not, but if we haven't, I'll just mention it now. Wilkes Bears camps at the UPMC complex. It's not in central PA. So going to the Wilkesbury camp right now means barely leaving your locker.

So they played Hershey today in Wilkesbury. Yes, but they will be, and eventually they will be over in Wilkeshire, but for right now, the base camp is still cranberry. But I figured that this would be the Jari Shilov's game in that Murashav would be around, but just not in this lineup. So that's why it's really interesting to me that they're not only keeping him at this point they're playing him tonight and we'll see. I mean, again, I still believe that he's going to go to the HL. He's going to be Wokesbury starter. But who knows if he has a big game tonight,

maybe some other decisions get made. Right. I hear you. And that's for the other point about Jones and Letang. Yeah, I mean, they only have one preseason game together. It went fine. But again, it's so hard to judge because it is preseason and not all these players are going zero to 100, especially the regulars that are playing pat these players are just trying to not get hurt the players that are going zero to 100 are the young and hungry players who are trying to make this roster a lot of the regulars are just kind of coasting around a little bit you know going at i would say 80ish percent something like that so it's hard to like fully judge that i want to see more of it tonight see if it can be better i'm still not fully confident in that going into the year i'd rather they have someone else next to a change just because i think this is a big season for him after how I guess uninspiring his last season was. And you and I talked about that a lot in the show that we want to see more out of him this year in all three phases of his game. And I just think part of that also starts with getting him a better partner. I'm just not sure that Caleb Jones is that guy.

I'd love to be proven wrong on that, of course. And then for some of the other younger guys, you have Philip Hollander also in this roster. You have Connor Dewar, of course, Philip Tomasino. Avery Hayes is very much trying to win a spot here. But again, Pat, I'm curious to see who gets scratched out of these. It's 14 forwards. Two forwards are going to be scratched in this game. If I had to guess, it's going to be two veterans just so that the kids can play.

But again, something in the back of my head is also like, I wonder if one of these kids get scratches because it's the quote-unquote dress rehearsal. So I'm really curious to see how damn muse and company go about this once we see warm-ups and the lines that come out. If I had to guess, and obviously this is going to be outdated, like right after we posted it, but still, I would probably assume that Philip Hollander and Nolichari are going to be the ones who get scratched because I don't think Hollander has, I think Hollander's been really good, but I think they're kind of looking at him like, all right, we like we are at, but we want to see, we want to see you do well in the A for a little bit. It does. And nobody panic about that. I don't think that it's going to be a long. time in the HL for him. I think it's one of those, all right,

we got a good look at you. We like where you're at. Go dominate for a little bit. And then we'll bring you back because he's been good. And as for Nolachari, you know what you get with him. He proved it in the last game. He is going to be the same guy.

He's always been. He's not going to be afraid to throw himself in front of a shot. He's going to be serviceable to good on the penalty kill. And he can eat some bottom six minutes for you. And being that they have so many tougher decisions to make, when you have a known like that, you don't need to see more of that. You want to give some of these younger guys a longer look, more of an opportunity.

And when, again, when you have that known quantity, you don't need to put him in this last game. That's fair. I also will say he's only played in one preseason game. He's still working his way back from that injury that sidelined him for most of camp in the preseason. So I would not be surprised still if he did get this final game as another tune up before the regular season next week and all But I also could see Blake Lazott potentially being a scratch. I don't think he played that well on Wednesday.

So I'm curious to see if Dan Muson company potentially scratch him as well. Then defensively, again, there's nine defensemen there. Three of them are going to get scratched. Your guess is as good as mine for that. I've tried to guess that. Yeah, that one's a decision I don't want to make. Yeah, no, I agree with you on that. But I think that'll do it for this first segment.

Coming up in the second segment, we're going to get to a little bit of news around the penguins today before ending the show with fan take Friday. just because, of course, that's what we do for our Friday episodes. So that's coming up right after this. Before we get to that, though, we have to tell you all about our first sponsor, and that is Fandall. The NFL season is here, and Fandall has an offer you do not want to miss. Right now, new customers can bet just $5 and get $300 in bonus bets if you win. That's right, pick a bet, put down $5, and if it hits,

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So what are you waiting for? Visit fandle.com to download the Fandle app today and get started. All right, we're back here on this episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host on Trujodes, joined by my coes, Pat, Pat, I want to start off the segment with some really good news because before the morning skate got underway,

a couple of the injured players got on the ice for a skate. One of them, Rock and McGority, really good news, just because he has not been skating at all during training camp in the preseason. He's missed all of it due to what they're calling an upper body injury. They're not saying what it is.

All they've said is that he's out indefinitely. They're being very cautious with it. You don't know what it is, but he was back on the ice today. doing at least a little bit of skating. So this is really good news. He's probably not going to be ready for Tuesday. I think that's too quick up a timeline here just because it's only four days. But Pat, the fact that he's back on the ice, really good news. And hopefully they can get him back in the lineup at some point here in October. But whenever he's just back healthy, that's the most important thing.

Yeah, barring whatever it is, because we still don't know, they have been very vague about it. And that's fine because we don't need to know. We just, I've always long been a proponent. of outside of the very obvious when, you know, you see a guy break a leg or something like that. Like, we don't need to know what their injury is. So we just need to know that they're injured. And I think this kind of shows that he is going to be destined for the American hockey league to start the year. And it's not an insult to him. It's not saying he's not ready.

You've got to get him up to speed. He has missed an entire training camp. And he's a young guy. I have made this point before. When you have a player at this age and you're on a team that is not really expecting to do much, you don't want to hamper his development and rush him back. There is no sin. There is no problem with him spending a couple of weeks with the baby penguins,

getting himself back up to speed, getting himself healthy, and getting himself into shape. So I know we all want to see him now. I know we all want our dessert and our cookies right now, but don't worry. They are coming and not to downplay Rucker McGrorty. We had a lot of other really sweet treats so far this camp. So we can direct our attention there.

And then when Rucker Magrory comes up, hey, look at that. We got even more. Yeah, I think he could get a conditioning stint for a few games in Wilkesbury. And then once he plays a few games there, I imagine they will bring him back up to the main NHL roster. I don't think he's going to spend a good chunk of time in Wilkesbury. but just because he missed all of camp,

he's missed all the preseason, he's not going to be ready to start the regular season, getting him at least a few games as a conditioning sit in Wilkesbury seems like a pretty, pretty move just to he can get some game action in, and then they can calm up. And hey, maybe he'll get some more reps with the Cindy Crosby line because I thought he and said had some pretty nice chemistry

at the end of the 24, 25 season. Kevin Hayes was also on the ice a little bit before the morning skate. Great news for him, Pat, after he got hurt really early in training camp, after a big hit from Ryan Graves, hope to see him back as soon as possible. And then one last bit of business before we get to the final segment with Fan Take Friday. The six players that were placed on waivers on Thursday, none of them were claimed, including Denton Hinen.

In the back of my head, I was kind of thinking maybe someone was going to claim him, but it didn't happen. Only three players that were placed on waivers on Thursday were claimed today. So almost nobody was claimed. But as for the six players, Smash Naho, Danton Hinen, Philip, Camp Yonelna Copan, Philip Larson, Adelairey Pustin, they have been assigned to the Wilkes-Rurys Grant and Penguins. Speaking of just Heinen, I don't think that's going to last very long. I think he'll be there for a bit before the team kind of tries to move him at some point.

I don't think he is an HL player at this point in his career. I very much think he has a spot on an NHL roster. I just don't think it's on the Penguins roster right now with how much of a youth movement there is, how there's, again, younger players that can take his spot. So I think eventually they're going to try to move him to a team that has a spot for him in the bottom six. He's a useful player. I mean, I don't mean that in he's extremely valuable or he's a can't miss guy, but he brings value. He is a solid middle to bottom six forward.

He can fill in in your top six in times of injury and be a good temporary solution. And he can give you a little bit of production in the bottom six. It's what he's done his entire career. And you said it. There are a lot of better, younger options right now for the penguins. I'm going to compare him to a player on the penguins right now, but it's not an apples to apples comparison. It's just a generalization.

It is very similar to me. He is essentially an older Philip Thomasino, in the sense that where Dan and Hinen is, in his career, he will look really good for three to four games and then he'll disappear for four to five games. The thing with Hinen is if he were able to put up more consistently and be more consistent, he would bring more value than he already brings. But at his age, where he is in his career, you know that he is a middle six, bottom six forward. We want Thomasino to develop into a good middle six to potentially top six forward because of his age.

But his issue is, he's really good for three to four games. And then you kind of lose them for four to five games. Tomasino, you want him to be able to find that consistency because he's young. With Heinen, we know who he is. There's probably a team out there. If you give Heinen a couple of weeks and he plays well, you can probably flip him for some assets, a late round pick, something. but realistically, I am kind of surprised that he went unclaimed because I feel like there are probably a handful of teams that could use that kind of Ford right now.

But either way, that's still not the worst news for the Penguins because he can help some of the younger guys in the AHL. When he comes up, he can provide his value and hopefully you can flip them for something. Right. And I think a late round pick is probably the best value you can get out of them unless we can bring the future considerations back in this type of trade. I'm just messing around a little bit, but probably a late round pick in all seriousness if I had to guess for that. But yeah, he can help out some of the younger guys down there at least for a little bit. Maybe you can watch the trade market over the weekend going into Tuesday's game.

Again, maybe, but I do think at some point during this season, they're going to find him a better situation. You don't want him down there for a full season again, just because I don't think he's an HL player at this rate. But I think that's going to do it for this second segment coming up to end the show. It's Friday. Yins know what that means. It's time for another edition of, sorry, talk.

Stop right here. Okay. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. It's Friday. Yins know what that means. It's time for another edition of Fan Take Friday, where Pat and I react to your takes and to your questions. That's coming up right after this.

All right, we're back here on this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodeys. That's my co's Pat. Stamp and Pat. We did a little bit of a new poll here for the YouTube, almost 70 votes where we asked, how are you guys feeling, answer the poll for the season? A, going to be a great year or, oh, this is going to suck. As of right now, two thirds of you guys think that this is going to be a great year for the penguins while the other third of you guys think that this is going to suck. We had to have a little bit of fun with that. Thank you guys for voting. Got some really

good comments and questions here. Just as a PSA, we're probably not going to be able to get to everyone here in the final segment. We're going to try, but we're probably not going to be able to get to everyone. So just wanted to say that. We'll start with this first one. This comes from Brandon. Vili Coivinen is going to win the Calder Trophy. I like the ambition, but Ivan Demadov exists. And I am not going to bet against him. Matthew Schaefer, I think, is going to be a candidate as well. I have Demadov as the favorite, but not going to go that far for the Vervili Coivin. And I appreciate the ambition again. I like it. But I think a successful season for him, honestly, is like 35, 40-ish points. Like, I think that's a home run for the Penguins if they get

almost a half a point per game out of him this year. Have a good year. And you want me here. I will actually say this for Brandon's take. Yeah. A really successful year for him. isn't winning the Calder, it's getting votes. If we get to the end of the year when the pro hockey writers put out there voting tallies for the Calder Cup, the Calder Trophy, excuse me, and you see some votes for Covenin? It's a great year. He's not going to win. I think he's going to impress.

I think he's going to be very good, but I'm with Hunter. I think it's 40-ish points. That's a good year for Covenin. And if a couple rogue writers write his name in for the Calder, that's a good year. 100%. I agree with you on that. This one comes from Ryan.

I think the penguins are going to crush the Sabres tonight, and I think Brunick will cement his spot on the roster. Hey, I could see it, especially if he gets in, which I know the roster is very loaded. We don't know the full lineup. It's about 4 o'clock right now where we're finishing recording this.

If he does have a really good last game here, I think that could be enough to at least get him a few games to start this season. I'm not saying he's going to spend the entire, entire season on the Penguins roster again, I think it's more likely he gets the trial than Kindle, though both may get one. But I can definitely see a situation where Brunick cements his spot and is on this team to start Tuesday. I will keep saying it until the penguins tell me to stop saying it through their actions. They are daring Harrison Brunick to make this team.

They have been daring him to make this team basically since the start of camp. And if he has another a really good game, I think he's calling their dare and he is going to make the team. I know that we want to see some of these older players flipped for assets, but there is no, and obviously this is a bit of a broad brush comment, but there's no better asset than your young players being ready. Like, it'll be nice to have a few more picks, a couple more prospects, but if 19-year-old Harrison Brunick is NHL ready and he fits in, that's a pretty good asset to have in your system. I agree.

Again, I think there's a much better chance he gets the nine games. Beyond that, time will tell. I'm just letting you know, you better be sure that he can stick around for a full season if you want to burn a year of that ELC. Again, I'm just very cautious when it comes to those in general. I am too, and I'm with you, but I'm going to reiterate. something here. I look at his development timeline and where he is and I don't think he gets anything from going back to junior. Does he have to play all 82? No, but 40, 45 games, sticks with the team,

works out with the team, gets taught under Dan Mews and the developmental staff, works out in the facilities, is around guys like Crosby, Malkin, Latang, Carlson, etc. et cetera, et cetera. He's proven all he has to prove in juniors. And it's a cliche, but he does not at all look out of place. There were, he had a really good camp last year, but there were moments here and there in preseason games, in parts of camp where you went, it's there, but not all the way there yet. This camp, it's there. I, I'm, I'm not ready to say he's going to be, and every night contributor. I'm not ready to say he's going to be a star.

But I just look at the player he is now compared to the player he was last year. That's a kid who doesn't need to do anything more in juniors. If you got to burn a year of his ELC, just to keep him in the NHL and develop them better in a pro level than a junior level, I think the juice is worth the squeeze. I'm okay with that if you commit to actually playing him beyond the nine game trial. And hopefully they will, even though the logjam is still very much there on the right side. they'll make trades. I think they'll look to showcase.

Dumbull a little bit, they'll look to showcase Clifton, just because those players, their contracts expire after the year. I just don't think he's going to be an every night player if he does stay beyond the nine games. But again,

this is his big opportunity to put the final stamp on a really good camp and a really good preseason. Going back to Billy Coivan, Tony asks us, if Coivan does have a solid year on the first or second line,

and Trishon Jari has a bounceback season, do we get that second wildcard spot? barring some injuries. I think it's going to take a little more than that. I think you're going to need more contribution from more of the forwards. I think defensively, they're not going to have to be a wreck because you look at the defense right now. Even with Brunei potentially making the team, you still have Carlson-Latang.

There's still a lot of players there that I have a lot of question marks about. And I feel like they're still going to give up a lot of goals as of right now. So you need them to be a lot better in their own zone. So that's still a big one for me. I still want to, you know, see the depth score. I think the forwards are better going into this year, but I still got to see the depth scoring. I still think a lot has to go right for them to make the playoffs, but those two things would definitely be obviously a big part of that.

Here's the thing that I look at that works in the penguin's favor, quote unquote, in the penguin's favor. In the Eastern Conference, there are the haves and have-nots. you look at the Atlantic in obviously Toronto, Tampa, Florida, might as well just stamp them into the playoffs right now. Like those are three, I think, locks barring massive injuries or anything crazy happening. Ottawa maybe, Montreal maybe, but then Detroit, Buffalo, Boston, unless Buffalo takes a crazy step forward, which I'm skeptical of,

I don't think they're getting in. Montreal, they should take a step, but they're going to have to battle. all same goes for Ottawa. Then you look at the metro and it's Carolina, New Jersey. And then I don't know. Like, I think the caps are going to take a step back. I have no idea what the Rangers are going to look like. They could be really good.

They could be really bad. It's genuinely the biggest question in the East. The Islanders, they're in the middle of kind of the same thing the penguins are, just with a less clear direction. And then the flyers and the blue jackets, It's like there's maybe going to be one or two, maybe three-ish spots up for grabs. And if the penguins have these rookies play a lot better,

and Jari or Shilovs has a good year, they could be in the mix. I still think it's a stretch to say they would make it. But I look at the east and there's the very top and then everybody else. So you have a couple good weeks or a good month. And some of these guys put in better performances and expect. come February, they could be in the mix. Again, I think it's going to be tough, but I can see a world where they're in the mix come early 2026.

You also could have the new head coach bump. We still have to see how a system looks during a regular season game. I've liked what I've seen so far, at least some red crumbs during the preseason, but how does this whole thing look like during numerous regular season games? That's also going to be pretty telling as well. And yeah, of the other contenders in the east are at least licking their chops right now just because

Sasha Barkov is out for the entire regular season for the panders and he may not even return in the playoffs. So I think you have some of these other top contenders in the east going like, hey, we might actually have a chance this year now that Barkov is sadly lost of the year. And I feel awful about that just because it was a freak accident during one of the training camp practices. A couple more to get to here before we wrap up. Christopher Hart, who do you pick if you don't get the first overall pick? So if it's like number two or something like that, I'd go Keaton Bearhoff.

I think right now he's the second best prospect in the draft, but that's also just me. Pat, I know you had one a little bit earlier in the off season. I actually kind of forget who you had. To be honest, my mind has been all over the place and training camp in preseason mode over the last couple of weeks. But veer off for me, I would go right after McKenna. Yeah, the guy I was looking at was Ethan Belchitz, if I said that correctly. but that's a name to remember. He's massive, 6.5, 2.30.

The thing is he, for, like I said before, the player that he is, when you talk about a player that size at that age, they're usually still trying to figure out how to play within that size because usually they had a big growth spurt or they're just not used to it. He is physically mature. And he's also not just big for big's sake. He has talent. He can play.

And it is very much the kind of player that we're starting to see more of in the NHL where they are big, but they can move and they have skills. So if you're in that four to seven range and he's available, that is absolutely the guy I would look at. He's definitely up there too. Again, when you look at this class, there's the potential. You have the generational talent. Gavin McKenna, I think there's potentially four plus other franchise dudes that could be available

in the top five, the top 10 of this next year's class. So I'll leave it at that. We'll get into more of that once we get way deeper into the season, especially depending on how the penguins are doing. Finally, though, this is a really fun one. This comes from Tristan on YouTube with injuries piling. Who are the top three young players you think will get more playing time? Also hot take, the set injuries.

If Kendall puts up another good game tonight, I suspect that he would get a roster spot to start with the club. Honestly, Tristan, I am starting to kind of lean that way, despite my opinions on the matter, just especially now that Brian Russ is out for at least two weeks. I do think if he plays tonight, Kindle, that is, and has another really good game. I don't think they're going to say no to him getting at least a couple of games, even though again, I would just send him back to Junior, though I know that Scott may lose to a couple of hate comments every episode. I totally get it. I know some people may disagree with That's just how I see it.

He says maybe three games of the most unless he plays out of his mind. Yeah, I mean, he's not going to be up here for the entire season. I'd be stunned if he went beyond the nine game trout. If he even gets nine games, Pat has said that he would only give him a few games, which I can also totally understand. As for the three youngsters could get more playing time with the injuries. One, Avery Hayes, I think he should be on this team. He's had a really good camp in preseason.

He's also a very smart player when he's. he's on the ice. He does a lot of the little things well. So that's one. I think Philip Hollander, if you want to, I guess, consider him a youngish player. I still kind of do just because he hasn't had a lot of NHL experience. I think he should get more playing time this year. He should be a lock for the roster, in my opinion. And this will be at some point later on. I do think Tristan Rose is going to get a decent amount of NHL time this year. It doesn't look like it's going to be at the start, but I do think he is eventually going to get called up at some point. And I think he is going

to stick. So at forward, I would say at least right now, those three on the back end, there's really no injuries, but I think there's a chance that Harrison Brunick stays for a good bit. But forward wise, those are the three I would go with Pat. And don't forget, once he's healthy, Rutger McGority. Yes. Assuming he is able to get back to a level he was at the end of the year last year, he looked pretty good. Again, don't forget about Vela Kovinen. He has been very good this preseason. He was very good to end last year. I kind of left them out on purpose. I was going to just talk about the other players that had a time.

Yeah. I know. Yeah. And it's basically a lock at this point. And even when the injuries pile up, if they're not part of those injuries, they're going to get put into elevated roles. And I don't think they're going to be out of place. And I have the same ones. Tristan Brows, uh, Avery Hayes.

I think Avery Hayes and you've said it to. I'm in this camp now fully should be on the roster full time. He's just, he has been. so good and he this is so hockey dude cliche but he is just such a bastard like he gets under other team's skin he plays physically he goes to the corners he goes to the front of the net and let's be real man the penguins have not had a guy like that consistently for a while now michael bunting did that for a little bit but then he disappeared for a while And I'm not comparing him to this guy, but they haven't had that guy since Patrick Hornquist.

And they're going to need some of those guys, not just because I like watching that style of hockey and I admire that kind of player. But that's just the way the NHL is trending, man. You've got to have guys who are going to be pests. You've got to have guys who are going to crash and bang. And you got to have guys who are going to be willing to live in front of the net. And Avery Hayes, this preseason has done all of that. And I want to see him do it in the NH. show. It's a copycat league.

Every one is trying to be the Florida Panthers. And hey, maybe Avery Hayes could be a Florida Panther type player for the Penguins this year. I really think he deserves a spot on this team. But I think that I'll do it for today's episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. As always, thank you guys so much for taking the time to listen to slash watch this one.

Pat and I will be back with another episode for you guys on Monday to a recap this final preseason game. And B, react to the 23-man roster and then Tuesday, we're getting you set. First regular season game against the Rangers, the first preview of the year, Wednesday, recapping that, and then getting you guys set later on in the week

for the home opener against the Islanders, and then they'll play with the Rangers next weekend as well. So keep it right here on Locked on Penguins, people. We've reached the end of training camp and preseason. The regular season gets underway next week. It's going to be hopefully a lot of fun this year. Thank you guys for sticking with us throughout the offseason, camp and preseason, regular season mode.

activates next week. So for Patrick Damp, I'm Hunts for Hodes. Thank you guys so much so much for tuning in. We appreciate it. We'll be back on Monday.