Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Which Penguins prospects can make one last push to make the team?

Episode Date: October 1, 2025

We've got just two preseason games remaining before the regular season begins, so which prospects are making a case to be at MSG on opening night? Patrick and Hunter begin the show looking at the roster for tonight's preseason matchup against the Buffalo Sabres, and how the opening night roster is coming down to the wire with only a few spots remaining, and several prospects still making the case to stay in the NHL. (0:00) Then, it's time once again to talk about the goalies. While Joel Blomqvist's injury has sort of solidified who is going to play where, does Sergei Murashov deserve more of a shot to play in the big league, or does he need more development time in the AHL? They discuss if and how Murashov could see time in the NHL this year. (14:54) Finally, with training camp coming to a close and a new season on the horizon, Warrior Helmet Wednesday returns for another season, and Patrick and Hunter hand out their training camp MVP! 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.

A lot of the young prospects that we're interested are sticking around and they'll be suiting up tonight in Buffalo. Hunter and I are going to get you ready for tonight's matchup against the Sabers and more on this edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. You're Locked-on Penguins, your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome in to another edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm one of your hosts, Patrick Damp. You can follow me across all social media platforms at Synonym 4Wet. Joined as always by the one and only Hunter Hodes. You can follow him on Twitter at Hunter Hodes.

You can give our show's Twitter account a follow at L.O. underscore Penguins. You can also find us on Instagram at Locked On underscore Penguins. And of course, we appreciate you making us part of your daily routine. Don't forget that we are free and available wherever you get your podcasts as well as YouTube. And if you follow us on YouTube, be sure to hit the notification button. That way you can be among the first to know when we drop our daily Monday through Friday episodes. Before we jump into it, this episode is brought to you by Fandul. Download the Fandul app now by going to Fandul.com and you could win $300 in bonus bets if your first $5.

or bet wins more on them later. Hunter, we all got to be just a little bit more patient because we are just about a week away from real hockey, but we still got two preseason games to go, both of which are against the Buffalo Sabres. And the first is tonight at the Key Bank Center in Buffalo, New York. And as everybody has been talking about, and everybody has been clamoring, for it is the much anticipated preseason debut of Noelle Achari. I'm just kidding, obviously. But he is in the lineup tonight. It is a once again pretty young roster that the penguins are taking to the Key Bank

Center to take on the Sabres tonight. It includes a lot of the people we have had our eyes on for the majority of this camp, including Tristan Brose. Ben Kindle is once again in the lineup, Avery Hay. Hayes joined him on the back end. We still have Owen Pickering and Harrison Brunick, and the goaltenders headed to Buffalo are Philip Larson and Arters Sheelob. So this is going to be an interesting game to watch because we know that Friday night at PPG Paints Arena against the Sabres more than likely is going to be the dress rehearsal game. When we get that roster,

we'll get confirmation whether or not it's going to be the big boy. in most of the team that we're going to see at Madison Square Garden next week when the penguins open the season. But for now, this is another look at some of the prospects and some of the younger players and to figure out exactly where they are before camp closes out. Right. And, you know, today is the official closing day of training camp after this. They're kind of just practices gearing up for the regular season.

Yes, Pat, we are six days away now from the start of the NHL, 2025, 2026, regular season. Thank God, almost there. Just two more preseason games to get to. But yeah, this lineup, like a lot of the other lineups in the preseason, outside of that Saturday game against the Blue Jackets, they're pretty similar. A lot of young players, got a few vets in there that are also eyeing roster spots. And, you know,

speaking of Noel Chari, you got to get him in here for at least the game. He's missed most of camp and the preseason with an injury. He's also battling for a roster spot against a lot of these younger players. who have had good pre-seasons in training camp. So you kind of have no choice but to play him in this game, just to gauge where his game is at coming off of the injury.

Once again, Ben Kendall gets his fifth preseason game. Why not at this rate? He played absolutely outstanding in Detroit. Let's see if he continues it up here, because if he does in Buffalo, there is a real chance that he could play in that dress rehearsal game on Friday at PBG paints arena, where we expect most of the varsity A squad to play.

So really excited to see him, along with Ville-Ecovington again. I know some people will be like, well, we probably don't need to see more of Ville Goyvenin. They just want to get him reps, people. I'm sure he's a lock for the roster, but you want to get him some more reps. Philip Hollander is playing again.

Robbie, Fabry, Tristan Bros. You still have a couple veterans like Blake LaZont, Dan Hinen. Heinen is very much jockeying for a roster spot right now. But also, Pat, I'm excited for the Brunick Pickering pairing. Once again in this game, I would expect them to play somewhere. I don't know if it's the first,

second or third pairing minutes, but they're going to be a pair throughout this game, excited for that. And then also you got Jackson, I mean he also making a push for the right side. How does he do because he may not be in that lineup on Friday when a lot of the big boys play? So excited for him. And then goaltending wise, do they split this up again or do they give Sheelovs a full game? They gave Tristan Jari that full game in Detroit after he struggled a little bit in his last game. Now, do they do the same for Sheelovs here and get him a full game? that's something that I'm going to go out I'm going to watch excuse me that may break during this

episode but yeah another very similar lineup to the ones that they have had throughout the preseason and that's not by accident they want to see can more of these younger players keep pushing or potentially even lock up roster spots tonight just because there's only one more game after this I want to park the discussion on archer she loves and the goaltenders and we can talk about that in the second segment because I think there is quite a bit to pack there when it comes to the goaltending battle in camp, even though we do kind of think that due to some injuries and some other issues, that it's pretty solidified at this point. But we'll save that for the second segment.

I also want to touch a little bit again on Ben Kindle because we had a really good discussion yesterday. If you didn't listen to our Tuesday edition, highly recommend you check that out. We have a great discussion about Ben Kindle and Harrison Brunick and what the organization should or should not do with them as we close out training camp. But I look at this roster tonight and I see a lot of bubble players and I'm not talking about the young guys. Obviously, we know that they're still jockeying.

We know that the organization has continued to say that they're not going to throw roadblocks up for some of these younger guys. But here's the other side of that. there might be natural roadblocks and not just the organization deferring to veterans because say Robbie Fabry has another strong outing because he has been pretty solid on this PTO. Has he been one of the better players at camp? Again, really defines bubble player because he's been good. He's been better than I think any of us expected, but I still wouldn't put him in that

top tier of performers in camp. but he's made of serious push to get a contract out of this camp. I also look at players like Sam Poulan and Danton Hinen as players who they have had some strong performances and they all, well, maybe not Sam Poulan, but Danton Hinen, good history there, shown he can be a useful NHL player. Poulan up and down, I do think he's destined for the American League. It kind of feels like he's topped out. out whatever he's going to be.

But then I also look at players like R.H.P. Raphael Harvey Panard. Solid camp, but has it been enough to make the NHL roster? I look at Noelle Achari. He has to have a good performance because of the way he's been a penguin in the emergence of quite a few other players. I also look at Ryan Shea, Ryan Graves, and Philip Kemp as three defensemen who either have not been very good as penguins in the case of Ryan Graves.

Dumba's been okay, but you also actively went out and acquired him, hopefully to move him. So eventually he's got to find a spot on the team. And Philip Kemp haven't really noticed him much. But again, this is a roster of bubble players who need to make an impression and they are rapidly running out of opportunities. Right. For Philip Kemp, I think he's probably destined to start the season in Wilkesbury.

I know a lot of people are going to be also excited about like, oh, they're really going to put a lot of these veterans on waivers. I think you may see a veteran or two on waivers, especially if more younger guys than expected potentially make this opening night roster. But I don't think you're going to see a mass exodus of veterans on waivers before the season. Like, I think Dan Hinen may go on waivers, for example. I need to see a little bit more out of him. I think he's had a totally fine camp. But I just think some of the younger players that are really pushing for spots have had, had really good camps.

So I need to see something more from Hinen tonight. Like, again, I think he's a fine player. He has a place in the NHL as a solid bottom six contributor. But I think he needs to have a pretty good game tonight to really lock up a roster spot because I could see him, for example, getting waived. I don't think they're going to waive Ryan Graves for the season. I think if they waive him, it's going to be during this season. I think they'll maybe give him a small shot to maybe start the process of redeeming

himself when the bar is literally on the floor. That doesn't happen. Then I could see him getting waves. So I also do think in the case of Ryan Graves, and I've brought this up before and it kind of gets reinforced with some comments from head coach Dan Mews that they do see a utility for him. They do see a chance for him to redeem himself. But you also see the other side of that where if you really dig into the comments in the

way they've been using him, the leash is not long. It's not like they're saying go run and have all the time in the world to figure this out. It's kind of a, and then you couple that with the comments of Kyle Dubus over the past year and a half about Ryan Graves. And they aren't burying him yet, but they're making it pretty apparent that much like the entire preseason and training camp right now, they're basically saying you're running out of opportunities to prove yourself. Right. I mean, heck, they sent Justin Jarly to the minors multiple times. last year or so they didn't do it before camp obviously before the season obviously pat but i think during the year is when they would do it if his play just continues to really deteriorate ryan

she battling for that number seven number eight job can he do enough i don't think right now he should be in the top six on the left side i think he's a fine number seven number eight but you know he's still battling right now i'm just excited again for a team like this because it's been fun watching a lot of these young guys just go at it trying to secure spots over some of these veterans. You know, Tristan Brose, I've said it before. I have him just on the outside looking in. He has the ability to change that tonight if he has another really good game because I think he and Avery Hayes are going neck and neck.

I'm giving the edge to Avery Hayes right now, but it's really close between those two. Raphael Harvey Pernard, you brought him up. I think he's probably destined for Wilkesbury. Fabri, I want to see a little bit more. I think right now he could be an AHL guy if they want to sign him to a contract. I just don't think there's room for him as right now. But again, back and change with this game tonight. Like the games are what you look for.

Like you can look good in practice. And I've been talking about that throughout camp. But the games is also the bigger measuring stick to me. So let's see how this one goes before the final A squad coming on Friday. And if you're watching on YouTube, I'm sure you noticed I can't contain my smile because it's been so long since we've had an active, fun, interesting training camp, and that has come back to Pittsburgh. It's cold comfort after 20 some odd years of being contenders and having championship dreams,

but you got to find the joy wherever it is when it comes to sports. But you also brought up a little bit of jari and chances and waivers and all that. That is going to be the topic of our middle segment today on Locked on Penguins. When we get back, we're going to talk about jogging. Shilov, Murashav, the whole lot of them in what we're looking for this upcoming season and at the end of training camp. So stick with us. We will jump into that when we get back right after this. Before that, though, we've 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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here on the Wednesday edition of Locked-on Penguins. I'm Patrick Damp right alongside Hunter Hodes. And let's dive in to the goaltending situation. We look at tonight's roster. And as we said, both Philip Larson and Archer Shilovs are making the trip to Buffalo. We don't have any confirmation yet because we're recording this just after 11 a.m. on Wednesday morning. So the Penguins morning skate will happen while we're in the middle of recording this and getting the episode published. So by the time you're listening to this, you'll probably know who is going to be playing this game if Shilov's is going to get the full 60 or if they're going to split. But here's one thing I want to start with. Let's operate under the assumption, Hunter, that

Archer Shilov is going to see the full 60 because Tristan Jari most recently got a full 60 minute game. Penguins played some solid defense against the Red Wings, and they were able to insulate Tristan Jari, the one goal he gave up in the previous preseason game, really more a matter of the defense falling apart and not on Tristan Jari, made the saves he needed to make. The same thing has to happen for Archer Shilovs tonight, both the defense has to play well, and he's got to make the saves he needs to make, because in his most recent outing, one goal against that you really wish you would have made a save. The other can't really blame him for.

He's been fine. I think that he's even bordered on good in this training camp. But when you have that limited game action and you give up that one goal you wish you didn't, he's got to solidify himself ever so slightly because with the injury to Yoel Blumquist, even with the rise of Sergei Muroshov, we still do believe it's going to be Jari and Shilov's to start the year. But Shilov needs to get himself a little bit more confident in the eyes of management and fans after tonight.

I personally think he has that backup role locked up right now. But for his sake, he probably, for the management and the coaching staff, he needs to finish it tonight and be like, hey, I'm the backup at least heading into the regular season. This is done, even though Sergey Miros Chavez, been the best goaltender at camp. She laws, I think, has been the second best goalie at camp. He's made a lot of strong saves.

He's looked confident, poised in net. Yeah, that one against Columbus, Pat, where he's given up that uncontested shot from, it felt like 40 plus feet out. It can't happen. But again, you know, we talked about it at the time. That's kind of been his M.O. throughout his career where he'll make some really big and clutch saves, but then he'll give up some howlers where it's like, you don't need to be given those up.

If you can just clean up that aspect of your game, you have the ability to be a pretty consistent goaltender in the NHL. And I'm not talking top five or even top 10. I'm just talking a consistent above average goalie. So that's the goal, I think, for him heading into this year. And we still don't know if he's going to get the entire game tonight. If I were damn using the rest of the staff, considering that I, we gave Jari the whole game earlier this week, I would do the same thing here with She loves.

Philip Larson, you know he's going to be reassigned to Wilkesbury. He's going to be battling, in my opinion, Sergey Miroshov for the net there throughout the year. And then you all Blumquist as well once he is able to come back from his injury. I think tonight you got to see Shilov in a full game. We'll see what they do on Friday if they give Mirashov another rep just to close out the preseason or if they give that full game to Jari, which I would not be surprised if they did. But I think tonight you've got to give their full game to Shilov. just say, hey, you haven't had a full game yet this preseason.

We're going to give it to you now. Let's see what you can do. I think that will be prudent. That's where I am as well. And I think that's a good way for us to transition this discussion. Because I mostly agree with the sentiment that She-Lovs has the backup job locked up. But I also want to kind of have a similar conversation to what we had yesterday. yesterday with Kindle and Brunich.

If She-Lovs goes out tonight, and again, we're going to operate under the assumption that he's going to get the full 60, but again, we don't know that, but let's at least operate in that idea right now. If he goes out and he plays just slightly average to maybe a little bit above average, I know that you and I are mostly in agreement that it is probably best for Sergei Murshov to take the lion's share of the starts in the HL, see what he can do when he has the saddle put on him, and he's the guy playing on a better, quote, unquote, better team in the

HL. But the other question remains, how long can you keep them down? Because I get that this team is probably not going to be very good. They're probably going to struggle defensively. and that can be a real big deterrent for a goaltender's development. But at some point, you have to look at it kind of similarly to the way we looked at Brunich yesterday. Does he have anything left to prove for both himself and his development at the AHL level? And if Sheelavs doesn't put up, he doesn't have to put up a tremendous performance. He doesn't have to come out and put up a 950 save percentage and make 40 saves.

and knock everyone's socks off. But if he lets in another stinker, doesn't look all that confident, eventually you have to ask the question. Should Sergey Murshov get a look at the NHL? Maybe it doesn't have to be all year, but at some point, if you're not going to put these roadblocks up,

you might as well throw them up there and give them some spot starts. I hear you on that, but you also really don't want to rush a young goaltender because that could be really, bad. He was good in the stint that he had in Wilkesbury last year. He was obviously way too good for the ECHL comes up. He lights it up in Wilkesbury. But I still need to see him do this for a full year or most of a full year at the AHA level before you bring him up. That's just the way I see it.

Like, yeah, I think the timeline has moved up a little bit for Sergey Mureshov during this training camp. I would say the same about Ben Kendall, definitely for Harrison Bruner. probably as well. Again, we talked about this on Tuesday. I think Harrison Brunick has a better chance at getting a nine-game trial right now than Ben Kendall does. But with Sergei Miroshov, you already know that this is a very talented goaltender. You hope that he is your goaltender of the future. You don't need to rush that during camp, during the end of the preseason and then into the regular season. If Tristan Jari really goes out there and stinks it up this year, which could very well

happen considering the way he played last year, then if you want to have a discussion about maybe bringing him up for a short stint in the NHL like they did with you all Blumquist. Okay, we can maybe have a discussion about that or maybe they even bring up Blumquist once he's healthy. But right now, I'm operating under the thought of let him cook in Wilkesbury for a full year. Let him get that sample size. Let him get adjusted to a full pro season down there. And if he plays really well, let's have some fun going in the next year's training camp where he could potentially become the penguin starting net. and the number one. But that's still a ways away at this point. So that's where I am at right now

for as good as he's been. Keep him down in the A. Let him keep developing. Let him keep cooking. He's not ready yet. But I think he is going to be in about a year, year and a half, two years tops. But I think a year, year and a half is closer. That's pretty much where I am. And I think the best way to frame it isn't so much that, and I know that I said this in the setup to get your thoughts on it, but it's not so much holding him down so much as it is letting him develop. And it's more contingent on the people above him than it is himself. Because I think you're right. At the end of the day, he does have the look of a future franchise goaltender.

He has shown that he was way too good for the ECHL. There was no reason for him to be there. It was genuinely unfair. And then he comes up to the HL, performs almost as well as he does at the ECHL level. And even against some NHL shooters this preseason, he has looked unfazed. But at the end of the day, you don't need him here right now. When you could get him here, though, is what you referred to. If Jari goes out and throws out another subpar performance and looking like he is just completely broken,

and then Arter Shilovs really can't handle that role, then maybe you have the discussion of giving him the Blumquist treatment, where you bring him up, he doesn't take the net, but every second, third game, you put him in there, You see how he does. You do that for a couple of weeks. Let him get some NHL game experience. And then you pat him on the shoulder and say, there was your taste.

We liked what we saw. Maybe we didn't like what we saw depending upon the performance. We need you to go back to Wilkes Bear and guide this team on a deep run. We need you to continue to establish yourself as one of the best goaltenders in the A. And then when we get to camp next year, it's going to be your chance. chance to really grab this job and make it your own. Right. I just think it's a year too early, kind of like Harrison Brunich was last year, where,

yeah, he had a great first camp. He was right there at the end, but it was a year too early. And now Pat, he looks even better. And there's a legit chance that he could potentially get a nine game trial at least to start the season. So again, it's kind of like that. Even for Ben Kendall, I think it's a year too early for him. I want him to go back and dominate Jr.,

because I think he has a couple of kings to work out with. being more explosive with his skating. I think he's a really good skater, but I still want to have him work on his explosiveness. I want him to bulk up a little bit. And I think he can do both those things in junior before we revisit this, excuse me, next year. So it's funny, all three of these guys,

just to put a bow on it, felt like at different times, like last year Brunich, a year too early. This year, Mirashav, a bit too early, Ben Kendall, a bit too early. But don't worry, these players are going to be up here fairly soon. Right. And I'll just add this to put my bow on it.

I also think it's a little bit different between the three of them with Kindle and Brunich. Kindle, obviously, we like what we see, but we understand that he's ahead of schedule, but not that far ahead of schedule. Brunich, we had the whole conversation yesterday, but with a guy like Murashav, with a goalie, it is a very tenuous development because we know that throwing a goaltender to the wolves can, really affect the way they develop as for with a skater, there's more opportunity and ability to shelter them and hide them as they develop. With a goaltender, you are the last line of defense. And if it ain't working,

that can really shell them and hurt the way they develop. So we'll see. But I do think we are both in agreement that it's going to be Jari and she loves to start the year. But there is a pretty good goaltender. looming in the system. And like you said, don't worry. The time is coming.

We just got to be a little patient. That is going to do it for the second segment. When we come back, well, we're basically at the end of training camp. And it's a Wednesday on locked on penguins. And that means Warrior Helmet Wednesday is back for a new season. We will give out our warrior helmets right after this. Before we give out those awards, though, we've got to tell you about today's second sponsor, and that is Fandul. Right now, new customers can bet just $5 and get $300 in bonus bets if they win because the NFL season is here,

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Visit fandul.com to download the Fandul app today and get started with that first $5 bet. We're back here on the Wednesday edition of Locked-on Penguins. I'm Patrick Damp right alongside Hunter. Hunter Hodes, and we have actually gotten quite a few new subscribers and listeners since we last did this. So as a refresher and as an introduction during the season, and we're going to start it now because we're basically at the end of camp, and that means we got to hand out some awards. We do this every Wednesday on Locked-on Penguins. We call it Warrior Helmet Wednesday.

It is paying homage to the 2016 Stanley Cup winning penguins. During that season in the locker room, the team gave out their player the game with a warrior helmet. So that is our weekly MVP. This time around, though, Hunter on this Wednesday, we're not going to do the last week. We're going to do training camp. Who has been our warrior helmet Wednesday winner

for training camp. And when we were talking about this before the show, I thought it was going to be a unanimous one to start the year, but we are going to have this a little bit differently. So if you are watching us here on YouTube, you're going to see our graphic here for Warrior Helmet Wednesday, which we are debuting this year. It's going to be a way for you to see it and for us to keep track of who gets

the Warrior Helmet each Wednesday. As you can see, Hunter is giving his first warrior helmet of the season to goaltender Sergey Murashov and I am giving it to rookie Ben Kindle. So Hunter, let us know why you are giving your warrior helmet to Sergey Miroshov. I think it's simple. I think he's been the best player at training camp. Ben Kindle has had a nice old late charge here, especially at the end. I was very close to giving it to him. But when I look at the overall body of work, I got to give it to Mirashav. And, you know, in the preseason games, he's also been absolutely lights out the way he played against Montreal,

the way he played in the first couple of periods against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Again, he's been fantastic. The way that he makes it look so effortless in net, it's awesome. And again, as we talked about last segment, he's not ready yet. But if he keeps developing like this, we're probably about a year away, hopefully until he could potentially be the penguin starting net minder, at least a backup in the NHL. Like this,

this player is extremely talented. The movement is great. I love his agility. His rebound control for the most part, I think, has been fine, at least for my eye test, watching the games,

watching him at training camp. And you can hear a lot of ooze and odds in the crowd when he dowsles with some of the saves during some of the scrimmages at camp and all these other things. So I think he was the best player during training camp these last couple of weeks. and he gets my warrior helmet.

I'm excited to see how he does in Wilkesbury for a full. You're assuming he goes there, which I think he's going to. But he gets it ever so slightly over Ben Kendall. Again, Pat, a nice late charge by Kendall because before these last few games, Murshov was ahead by a lot. Kindle really stepped it up these last few and made it really close. And I think Kendall's had a great camp in preseason, but Murshov for me gets a little bit of that edge.

The through line for both of our warrior helmets this week is hope for the future. Because Sergei Mershov, I can't deny literally anything you just said. He's had a phenomenal training camp. He's really solidified himself as arguably the top prospect in the penguin system with how good he has played. For me with Ben Kindle, I think it was more I give it to him for shattering expectations. because you and I talked about it post-draft that it started off as a bit of a confusing, maybe not confusing, but not the most obvious pick for the Penguins at the NHL draft. We saw a lot of good in his game.

We saw a lot of potential in his game. But our expectations going into camp were pretty low. We thought he might see a few days, maybe a week or two. And yet here he is in his fifth game, he has not looked. out of place whatsoever. He has made a lot of really good plays. He's obviously scored a goal. And he has shown that he is very much ahead of schedule.

And this is a kid who just looks incredibly motivated, looks incredibly driven to become an NHL player. And obviously that is not going to happen, we don't think, at the end of this camp. But he's a lot closer than anybody I think thought. And now I really look at it. if this kid is a potential top six player in the penguin system, should he continue to develop and stay healthy?

And he has just had a really good, really impressive camp. And because of that effort, I got to give him my warrior helmet. I like it quite a bit. Again, you really can't go wrong with any of these two picks. I'm sure there were, of course, there's others that we could have picked from as well. But I felt like these were the two that, in my opinion, I think we're best. So I like your pick. He's really moved up the timeline a little bit, in my opinion.

If he goes off there in junior this year, dominates it, 100 plus points, maybe gets a little bit of time in Wilkesbury, once his junior season is over pat and looks the part there, we're going to start having even more of a conversation about him potentially making the roster out of next year's training camp in preseason. At the very least, he'll start the season, I would think they're in Wilkesbury, hopefully, assuming that NHL, CHO rule goes through, which would be huge for his development.

but the timeline has definitely moved up to the point where he could be ready as early as next year. I don't think he's ready for a full season this year. Again, we had the discussion yesterday about a two to three game trial to give you a taste and then send you back. I don't think it's the worst taking the world or anything like that. I just simply disagree with it. I'd rather just get him a full season with Calgary and then we can reassess next year where he could be ready. But the timeline has moved up to me. And hey, he's getting more reps tonight in Buffalo.

And let's see if he gets another rep for the final preseason game on Friday with the A squad. That will also be pretty telling, by the way. Well, I do appreciate you saying I didn't have the worst take in the world. That does mean quite a lot to me. But let us know who your MVP of the week is or for training camp in the comments or on social media. Again, we do this every Wednesday during the season. we hand out our warrior helmet as MVP of the week. We will be keeping track of it.

And then at the end of the season, we will give our season long warrior helmet. That is so far down the road. But again, let us know what you think. Who's your training camp MVP? But that is going to do it for our Wednesday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. Hunter and I will be back on Thursday to recap

tonight's game against the Sabres and cover any other news. that might come out of Penguins training camp between now and then. So for Hunter Hodes, I am Patrick Damp. Thank you, as always, for tuning in, and we will be back on Thursday.