Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - The Penguins' YOUTH MOVEMENT begins with the 23-man roster!

Episode Date: October 6, 2025

The Penguins' youth movement is here as two young players made the initial 23-man roster! Patrick and Hunter begin the show with their surprise that both Benjamin Kindel and Harrison Brunicke have made the team out of training camp ahead of the season opener in New York. They then dive into expectations for both players, how they can stick in the NHL, and what they need to do to continue impressing. (0:00) Then, among some of the more surprising moves of the weekend, defenseman Ryan Graves was waived and sent to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. They get into what a disaster Graves has been for the team, as well as some of the young players who didn't make the team. Also, the re-assignment of defenseman Owen Pickering could spell trouble. (13:58) Finally, real hockey comes our way this week. They get you set for the Penguins' first three games of the season! (27:19)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've got actual hockey this week. We've also got a 23-man roster and the youth movement is underway. We're going to get you set for the start of the regular season 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. 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 4 Wet.

Joined as always by the one and only Hunter Hodes. You can follow him on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. You can give our show's Twitter account a follow at LO underscore Penguins. You can also find us on Instagram at Locked On underscore Penguins. And of course, we appreciate you making us part of your daily routine. Don't forget that we're free and available wherever you get your podcast. podcasts as well as YouTube. And if you're following us on YouTube, be sure to hit that notification button. That way you can be among the first to know when we drop our daily Monday through

Friday episodes. Today's episode is also brought to you by Fandul. Download the Fandul app now by visiting Fandul.com and you could win $300 in bonus bets if your first $5 bet wins. Before we get into all of the news. Before we get into the 23-man roster, and before we get you ready for the week ahead, we've got to start today's episode with some massive, massive news. Congratulations are in order for my co-host, Hunter Hodes

and his now fiancee on their engagement. Hunter, congratulations. my friend. I am so, so very happy for you too. Pat, I offered her a lifetime extension. No arbitration needed. She took it without question. Oh, you put a no move clause in there, no trade clause, all that good stuff. She's not getting out of that deal unless she requests that, which God forbid that happens, my friend. But we very awesome night on Friday. It's, it's been a great weekend. We love to see it. Congratulations again, my friend. Awesome news. Made my whole weekend. And you know what made my weekend even better?

The youth movement hunter is underway in Pittsburgh. We will see for how long, but for at least to start the season on the initial 23-man roster. First round pick, Ben Kindle, and defenseman Harris and Brunich both remain on the roster as we get ready for the New York Rangers. And I'll start it with this. Kudos to Kyle Dubis because the actions have matched the words. He said that they weren't going to block these players if they performed well. And for Kendall and Brunich in training camp, they performed really well. If anyone saw this coming from Kindle at the start of training camp, I think you're lying.

I just, I'll start with that. Part of this episode is going to be where Hunter got it wrong. I'm going to clown on myself throughout this episode. And I will say it firsthand, I completely got it wrong with both Kindle and Brutick, especially Kindle, though, because, you know, I kept saying last week, you know, what I would do, I would just send him back to Jr. But Pat, I'll give kudos to you. You said, hey, keep him up for a few games, see what he can do.

And it looks like that is the plan right now. I still don't think they're going to keep him beyond nine games unless he's a point per game or something like that. I just don't think they're going to burn a year of his ELC. But it at least appears that he is going to get a few games in the NHL before probably going back to junior. And kudos to Ben Kendall, by the way, for continuing to get better and better and better in each preseason game.

Now, how do you respond going up against grown men starting lineups in the NHL? Talked about before. The jump from the CHL to the NHL, especially in the regular season is so massive. This usually doesn't happen. How do you respond out of the gate in those first few games where you're going up against veterans who have hundreds of goals,

hundreds of points even in the NHL players that are coming at you a lot faster than it is in the CHL? So I am really curious to see how this goes. And as for Harrison Brick, you know, kudos to him too. I talked about my mock roster last week. my dogs are going crazy downstairs. Then I said it. Like, I didn't think he was going to be there.

I will 100% take the L on that. Please, clown me in the comments. I'll take it in stride. I thought they were going to keep Ryan Graves. I thought they were going to give him a few games. And then if he plays bad, which he probably would, they were going to waive him. But I at least applaud the penguins for getting it out of the way,

waving him saying, hey, you weren't good enough. We're going to go with one of our younger players here, especially in Harrison Brunick, and you're going to go through waivers and you're going to go, you're going to go down to Wilkesbury and see if you can, I guess, somehow we have your game down there. But that's a multi-year problem, man. They're probably going to have to consider down the line, not this year, but I think down the line of potential buyout situation just because I don't see this getting any better anytime soon. But you're right.

Also, kudos to Kyle Dubis for following through in the youth movement. And I just want to congratulate Brunich and Kindle. So I got those things out of the way in terms of being wrong. We'll get to a couple more a bit later, especially also Ryan Graves. I got that completely wrong as well. Well, so did I. And we'll park Ryan Graves there because we're going to spend the first two segments of this show on the opening roster because there's a lot to digest on it. But let's stick with the young guys for now.

You're 100, you're 100% right on Kindle. Nobody I don't think even the penguins saw this coming. Now, I'm still very much of the mindset that this is going to be a cup of coffee. coffee for Kindle. Because you look at a couple of the other players that got sent down. Again, we'll get into those in a little bit. I do think between the injuries to Brian Rust and Kevin Hayes and just where this roster is right now, this was a perfect scenario for him to get a cup of coffee in the

NHL. If Rust and Hayes were a little, or were healthy, they probably would have sent him back at the end of camp. It would have been almost a repeat of Brunich last year where you go, okay. He's well ahead of schedule, but he's not quite ready yet. Now, when you look at the Penguins' first nine games of the season, so we don't know how long he's going to stick, but this is not going to be a very easy start for the Penguins.

You obviously start with the Rangers at MSG. There's going to be a lot of emotion in that game because of Mike Sullivan and because the Rangers are looking to bounce back this year. Then you've got the Islanders who the Penguins always struggle with and always have tight games against. Then the Rangers again. And then you go to the West Coast right off the bat. The ducks are a lot better this year.

The Kings, even though they had a not so great off season, are still a pretty good team. And then you got the sharks, who are the sharks. And then you come home, and it's Vancouver, who are still solid enough. And then the defending, you go see the defending champions in Florida after that. and then it's a rivalry game against the Blue Jackets.

So this is not going to be an easy start to the season. So we'll see how Kindle comports himself in what happens with the health of the roster and how long he sticks around. As for Harrison Brunich, I'm going to give myself credit for this. And here's the thing. I don't want to say that he is totally 100% NHL ready. I don't think, again, that he is going to be a regular mainstay in the lineup. but he's not going to get any better going back to junior. He'll do, it'll do a lot more for him, I believe, to stay in the NHL.

He'll be training with an NHL team. He'll get NHL experience. He'll get NHL nutrition plans, workout plans, and learn what it is to be a pro. So I think at the end of the day, this is the best route for Harrison Bruning. He has a much better shot of staying beyond nine games than Ben Kendall, especially development-wise because he's ahead of him in that. And I think they're going to want to bring him in and out of the lineup. I don't think he's going to be in the lineup every day if he stays beyond nine games.

And hey, Pat, say he struggles, for example, in these first nine games, they can still be like, hey, we got you also a cup of coffee. We're going to send you back. But again, we don't obviously want to struggle. We want him to play really well. So he could get more NHL minutes. But I do still have that option in their back. back pocket at least. I do think though, Hunter, with that said, it would be better. Now,

this is assuming he doesn't struggle mightily. If he struggles mightily, then yeah, you can send him back to junior. But if he's a little off, half a step behind, looks a little inexperienced, that's no big deal. You can pull him out of the lineup for a couple games, have him work on some things in practice, watch film, get himself more acclimated, and then put him back in. But if, again, if he struggles mightily, then yeah, you can send them back to junior and say, listen, got to refine a lot of things, got to do certain things at the junior level, and we'll revisit this next year. But I really, after watching his preseason performance, I don't see that happening with Brunich.

You got burned a couple of times. Tage got him at least one story in that game. where it was like, ooh, not a good sequence there, but the goal that he scored, Pat, that was beautiful. Just an awesome goal there during that preseason game. So a little bit of a mixed bag, but I will say the goal that he scored was fantastic. He did have a good camp. He had a good preseason.

And, hey, I'm excited to see we can do it at least for a few games before they have to make a decision if they want to keep him up for the rest of the year. And if they do do that, I'm in agreement with you where they'll play him maybe 45, 50 games, because they're also trying to showcase other players. They're going to try to showcase Matt Dumbah. They're going to try to showcase Connor Clifton.

You're going to see Brunick, I think, get rotated throughout the season if he stays beyond the nine games and play with different players. He was paired with Connor Clifton at times during practice this past week. He was also paired with Ryan Shea at times. He was quarterbacking PowerPlay 2. I honestly would not be surprised if he was Power Play 2's quarterback to start the season because with Rust out, they have Latang on the same unit as Carlson. They were doing that during practice. So you might be seeing that to start the year. which means, I think Brunick, you kind of have to put them there.

I don't really trust anyone else on this defensive group to kind of quarterback the second power play. Now, if they want to switch out Latang for someone else, that's a different story. But as of right now, they're running Latang and Carlson on the same unit. But just as a whole with these two kids, I'm excited to see them get some NHL action. Going back to Kindle for just a second, it really is like the perfect storm for him. Obviously, we want Rust and Hayes to get, you know, healthy as soon as possible, especially Rust. and if they were healthy, not sure he'd be here, but he has an opportunity,

especially because, you know, Russ could potentially be back at some point during these nine games. Same with Kevin Hayes. And they'll have a decision. But, you know, this is why you keep someone like this. Let's see what he can do now for a few games. And again, got that one wrong, got Brunich wrong, and I also got Ryan Graves wrong.

We'll talk about that in just a second. You said it right there. A lot of other roster moves that we got to jump into that happened over the weekend. that gets us to the initial 23-man roster for the Pittsburgh Penguins. We'll keep this discussion going when we get back right after this. But first, we got to tell you about today's first sponsor, and that is Monarch Money. Most people can't name all of their financial accounts or even what they're worth,

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That's a 50% off offer for your first year at monarchmoney.com when you use the code locked on NHL. Back here on locked on penguins, I'm Patrick Damp right alongside Hunter Hodes. And a lot of news as we said over the weekend, Hunter. You brought it up at the end of the first segment. Ryan Graves put on waivers,

and clears waivers and will be assigned to Wilkesbury Scranton to start the year. Along with him on waivers was Alexander Alexiev, Raphael Harvey Panard, Boko Amma, and Sam Pullen. All of them also cleared. So they will be assigned to Wilkeshire. And the guys who didn't have to go through waivers also sent to Wokesbear Tristan Brose, Avery Hayes, Sergey Mureshov, and Owen Pickering. Now, let's start with Graves. This is a massive issue for the penguins right now. When you have a guy inked to this kind of deal for this kind of money and you're putting him on waivers and into the minors, this doesn't feel like a Tristan Jari situation.

I know that we've had our problems and our issues with Tristan Jari, but you could kind of tell when they sent Jari to Wilkespaer last year, it was a get right moment. It was a go down there, clear your head, play with the young guys, figure it out, and we'll bring you back up. With Ryan Graves, you couple with the way he's been talked about by management and the coaching staff, and now this demotion, who knows if and,

when we see him again. I think with Jari, I agree in part with you, but I also think they weren't going to bring him up if Yuel Blumquist was playing better. He was just so bad. They weren't like, okay, it makes no sense to keep throwing him to the wolves, especially with our defensive situation. Let's just send him back to Wilkesbury.

See if you can get some starts. And we'll call up Tristan Jari, even though he's not playing well, because he really wasn't playing that well. And then he goes on that little mini heater. It looks like Prime LeBron when the game. games are not important yada yada yada everyone knows what happened there but i think of yall blumick was at least average up here i don't think jari was going to come up now as for graves i agree with you i just don't think there's saving this like this is to me jack johnson part two here where

they simply missed the eval on this player and you know that's coming from someone who i was a bit higher than some others were on the signing at the time. I thought that he was going to help the Penguins defensive group, but you could tell five games in. Now, I'm not joking when I say this. You could tell five games in that this was not going to work out. He was completely out to lunch five games into his penguin senior. And it never got better.

You know, Kyle Dubus, low-key called him out going into last season, wanted him to be better. Never got better. They were trying to see if he was going to have a better training camp. and preseason this year, it never got better. And if you're not going to beat, you know, Ryan Shea and Caleb Jones for spots and, you know, those two players, they're nothing special. Like, if you can't beat those two guys out on the left side, I just really don't know what his future is here.

Like, they're going to have to come up with some creative way to get out of that contract at some point. I don't think they're going to buy them out right now just because of the cap hits. And I know they have some cap space right now. They're going to have a boatload of cap space. next year. But Caldubis is on record saying he doesn't really like buyouts. So I don't think it's going to happen right now.

If it were to happen, it will be like a worse comes to worse situation where they would do it a bunch, much later down the line. I think somehow or some way they're going to have to explore a trade where maybe they can attach an asset with how many picks they have and such. But I just, it is what it is, man. I was right there with you when they got them. I thought it was a solid signing. Now, I thought it was a little. long and a tad expensive just, but that's the pre-agency price. Exactly. That's the cost of business on July 1 is you're always more than likely going to

overpay. But you look at his history. And I understand that the penguins no longer have a player of this magnitude. But in Colorado, he was pretty good with Kail McCar. When he went to New Jersey, he was pretty solid with Dougie Hamilton, Damon Severson, and even John Marino. know, the, the body of work was there that at the very least he could be serviceable, if not somewhat valuable. And for whatever reason, the minute he got here, he just completely fell apart. And I think looking back, Pat, it might be more of New Jersey, like the system there was just better for him. Like, and how he goes to a team here, just not working out.

So I just don't think there's any salvaging this. I'm, I'm with you on that. I just I don't see it turning around. He's been given opportunity after opportunity, and it just, it hasn't worked. As for the rest of this, we said at the top, the youth movement was on, and I want everybody to take a deep breath here because Tristan Bros, Avery Hayes, Owen Pickering, they all go down. I don't see it being for long because you know there's going to be injuries.

you know there's going to be underperformances. For the case of Tristan Brose and Avery Hayes, assuming Kindle doesn't light the world on fire, which the way he played in camp, he's surprised us this far. We'll see what he does in actual NHL games, but it feels like one or both of them are basically being told, listen, we're giving Kindle a look,

we're probably going to send them back. You guys are going to be the first calls. They had good camps. I don't think this is any sort of negative on them. I think it's just they have the ability to call them up and send them down without worrying about waivers. You give them some time in the A, you let them do their thing, and then they'll be back. They're definitely going to be in the NHL at some point this season. I got it wrong with Avery Hayes.

I had him on my 23-man roster, so that's another Hodey's L for this episode. I still would have kept him. I think he was good enough during the preseason training camp to warrant a roster spot. but, you know, they also want to at least get a few games out of Ben Kindle. And I think, you know, once some injuries happen, you're going to see him and Bros come up. And also, once you see some trades happen as well, like they're going to trade at least a few of these depth forwards to other teams before the trade deadline. And I think you will see some of these kids get called up for books, right, like a Tristan Bros, like in Avery Hayes. I think you will see both in the NHL this year.

I liked Hayes' camp a little bit more than Broses. but if you wanted to argue Bros. Over Hayes, you know, I hear you out. I wouldn't disagree. I thought he was also great during camp. They were- people were mad about Noel Chari making the team. And I get it to an extent, but that management staff loves him. The coaching staff seems to like him.

I'm not really high on him as a player. He's not going to be on the team, in my opinion, for the entire season. But he's well respected in that locker room. They like how he kills penalties. They like how he blocks a ton of shots. physical. Now, what I have kept Avery Hayes or Tristan Bros over him? Absolutely. I 100% would. But I'm also not surprised that Achari made the roster. I mean, I had him on the roster. I didn't have Ben Kindle. But I'm still not surprised that Achari made the roster. All I'm saying is to everyone, you got to be patient. Like, he's not going to be on the roster, at least in my opinion, the entire season. And you can probably say the same about some of these other depth forwards as well. The HR thing. It gets it gets into what you said there a little bit ago. they got to showcase some of these older veteran players and some of these older depth guys.

And part of that is they are going to block for at least a temporary amount of time, some of the younger guys we want to see. But it's also not going to be the worst thing for some of these young guys to go down, dominate, play really well, be in prominent roles, and develop and develop some more confidence when they come up to the NHL. That's not the worst thing in the world. I will say, though, more surprised. in the performance, then the move because they go hand in hand, was Owen Pickering.

He was okay during the preseason and training camp, but the one thing I will say in his favor, he's obviously not to the level of Harrison Brunick when it comes to potential and when it comes to what he could grow into. But with a player, the way Owen Pickering is, he is mostly a two-way defenseman. He is very good defensively. A defenseman like that at his age is going to take some time because they don't pop off the screen. The numbers aren't always the greatest. It just takes a little bit of extra time with a two-way defenseman to really blossom into a full-time NHLer.

And given what we've seen from him with limited NHL experience, what he's done in the AHL, he's on his way. It's going to happen assuming he doesn't suddenly go. stagnant. I sure hope so, my friend, because I am a little bit worried after he did not make the team. I had him on my 23-man roster, another Hodes L there. That's probably the fifth one so far today, I think. But I am a little bit worried. Like, I thought his camp was good. I thought his preseason was fine. But the fact that he did not make this roster over the likes of Caleb Jones and Ryan Shea, who, again, are really nothing special. It's a little concerning to me. Like, I, In my opinion, I don't think he has anything left to learn in the

NHL, but now that he is going down there, I expect him to dominate, and then hopefully earn another call up to the NHL roster, then hopefully stick there. But it just worries me. Like, the left side, in my opinion on this team, is the weakest aspect of this team. And you still couldn't win a spot coming out of the camp in the preseason. Come on, man.

Like, the options out there weren't exactly strong. This isn't the right side where you have Eric Carlson and Crystal Tang hogging up a ton of minutes every single. night. It was Parker Weatherspoon, and, you know, who knows what else, but it looks like Caleb Jones is going to start in the top four, which, again, I wouldn't do, but it looks like they're going to do it. You know, you have Ryan Shea, you have Clifton and Dumbug to potentially play on their offside. Obviously, Brunick is going to play on the right side, but still, I need to see him go down into A and dominate and then earn another call-up because I liked his NHL minutes last year,

but, I don't think of the shows that he's going to earn it. And as for Sergey Mershov, not surprised that he got sent down to the A. I don't think anyone should be. This was always the most prudent move for the penguins. Get him a full season of reps down there, assuming he plays well. We can have a conversation about him being the full-time starter for the 26, 27 season.

Hey, who knows that? Maybe Tristan Jari stinks this year. Maybe Archer Shilov doesn't play well, and Mershov gets a little cup of coffee in the NHL. Could happen last season a couple times with you, All Blumquist, so we'll see. But at least to start, let's get him. him a lot of reps, excuse me, as the number one in Wilkesbury.

It wouldn't shock me if by the time we get to 2026, one of she loves or Miroshov is pushing to take the net from Tristan Jari. Just given everything we've seen from him the last couple of years. One last little bit of note, we have kind of hinted at it, but let's just make sure it's out there for the record. Brian Rust, Kevin Hayes, Rutger McGroherty all start the year on IR. Rust got hurt in camp. so did Kevin Hayes. McGority was hurt to start camp. We'll see what happens with the both of them.

I do believe once Rust and Hayes are healthy, though, get slotted back in. Magrorty will probably get some conditioning time at the AHL level just to get himself back up to speed. But I do think sooner rather than later, hopefully for all three, we'll see them in NHL action. But that is going to do it for now,

for the second segment and the 23-man-Ross. And guess what, Hunter? Because we got a 23-man roster, we got real hockey this week. We will get you set for the week ahead when we come back right after this. Before we do that, though, we've got to tell you about today's second sponsor. And that is Fandall. The NFL season is in full swing. And Fandul has an offer you don't want to miss.

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Head to fandual.com to download the Fandul app today and get started. Back here on the locked on penguins podcast, as always, I'm Patrick Damp, joined by the one and only Hunter Hodes, and our long wait has come to an end. The preseason is behind us, training camp is behind us, free agency is behind us, the draft is behind us, and tomorrow night, the Pittsburgh Penguins will open the season against their former longtime head coach Mike Sullivan and the, the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden. Then just two days later on Thursday, the home opener comes to us as the New York Islanders come to town. And then the week finishes up with the Rangers once again at PPG paints arena. Big week for the penguins to start.

We talked about all of the roster moves. But I will say this, Hunter, for everything we've talked about this team, the expectations are high. We expect them to miss the playoffs once again, but three very winnable games to start the year for the Penguins. Yeah, I mean, the Rangers, I don't even know what to expect from them this year. And we'll get into more of our first preview, by the way, on Tuesday. We'll also get into some bold predictions for this season, see if Pat and I can be right with some of those after last year. I don't think we were very good with our bowl predictions last year. I think we took a lot of else on those. But the Rangers, I don't really know what to expect. They have the,

all-star goalie they got Adam Fox their forwards are fine but I don't know man a lot of their back end is not very good so I could see it going decently well but I could also see them not being very good this year so I haven't finalized my standings yet I don't know if I have them as a playoff team just yet if they get in I think it's going to be as a wild card though but that's a winnable game and a pretty big year for them you know Panarin is a UFA the expectation again are high. The Islanders, I don't think they're going to be very good this year. They're very much kind of starting a little bit of a rebuild here. I like some of the talent that they still have, but I still don't think they're a playoff team as right now. We'll preview

that a little bit later this week. And then you have the Rangers again. And you know, that's going be an emotional night for Mike Sullivan. There's going to be a video tribute for him. He's going to get a standing ovation for everything he did as the Penguins head coach. And yeah, I know guys, like the last few years weren't the greatest for sure. He definitely wore out his welcome at least for some of the fan base, and I get it. But he also put two championship banners up in that arena. So he's going to get a pretty good ovation.

But even though the Penguins, we don't think they're going to be that good, all these three games against two teams who, you know, I think they'll be around in the race. But I don't think the Islanders are going to make the playoffs. I'm still iffy on the Rangers. they'll have an opportunity to at least potentially win two of these three. Hell, maybe they'll win all three. The schedule gets a little bit tougher just because they have the California trip.

But at least to start, like these are some pretty winnable games. You're not going up against, you know, Vegas to start. You're not going up against Dallas to start. You're going up against two teams that are trying to get back to the playoffs this year. And especially for them, they're very much on the bubble to, you know, potentially, you know, not being very good. So, hey, I'm excited. and man, we've gotten through the offseason.

We got through the camp in the preseason. Let's just get this show underway already. You're absolutely right about Saturday. It's going to be very emotional. I have made my feelings on this show very apparent about how I feel about Mike Sullivan. Think he's one of the best coaches to ever do it, even if the time here at the end was not that great. But looking at their schedule to start the year,

they could bank some very good points early because I look at this first week. I think those are all winnable games. I look at the California trip. You get that out of the way early, have some early team bonding. And yeah, the ducks are improved. I think they're going to be a sneaky team this year. I don't know how good they'll be, but they'll definitely be competitive.

Obviously, the Kings are still pretty good. And then San Jose, they're still figuring it out with a rebuild. But then you look at the rest of the month. I mean, Vancouver's going to be good. Florida is the reigning champions and they're still very good. Columbus will be better, but still a winnable game. And then to end the month, you've got St. Louis, Philly, and Minnesota. I mean, they can have a solid start to the year if they play well.

The other side of it, though, this team is as bad as we think they might be. Could be a rough start, but at the end of the day, we finally have actual hockey. We made it. And obviously we will preview all of these games. We will recap all of these games. We will cover any news that happens throughout the season. We made it. Hockey season is here.

And we just hit 3,700 subs on YouTube. So we're trying to get to 4,000 by the end of the year. If you don't watch us on there, just consider still giving us a sub if you want. But I'm excited, man. Even though expectations aren't high, I think this is going to be one of the most interesting seasons you have seen for the Penguins in a very long time. A brand new coaching staff is in place. I think the forward group is pretty decent.

Defensively, they still scare me quite a bit. The goal-tending still very much scares me. But I'm excited to see how a lot of these younger players develop. I'm obviously very excited to see Crosby, Malkin, Lattang do their thing. I think you're going to see a better season from Eric Carlson this year. He looked great during the preseason. Yeah, I know, guys. It's only the preseason, but I'm thinking he's going to look better under a new staff.

There's a lot of very intriguing things about this Penguins team this year. Again, even though they may not be very good, this is still a team that I think you're going to want to want, you're going to want to watch more than not. So I'll leave it at that. I'm excited to start previewing these games, though. You and me both, buddy. And that is going to do it for this edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. Hunter and I will be back tomorrow to preview the season opener against the Rangers as well as make our yearly bold predictions.

You're not going to want to miss that because it's a way for you to take some notes and then clown on us at the end of the season. But for Hunter Hodes, I am Patrick Damp. Thank you as always for tuning in and we will be back on Tuesday.