Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Who stood out in the Penguins second preseason game?

Episode Date: September 25, 2024

The Penguins dropped their second preseason game 3-2 to the Buffalo Sabres, but many players made their marks. Patrick and Hunter discuss who stood out for the first two segments of the show, how we now have a good idea who will be on the Penguins' blue line this upcoming season, and some players who haven't done enough yet to make the team. Finally, they close out the show by discussing how we're starting to get a clearer idea of what the NHL roster will look like come opening night.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNHL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.PrizePicksDownload the PrizePicks app today and use code LOCKEDONNHL and get $50 instantly when you play $5. PrizePicks. Run Your Game. FanDuelPlace your first FIVE DOLLAR bet and you’ll get started with TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in BONUS BETS - guaranteed !Visit FANDUEL.COM to get started. IndeedStill searching for a great candidate for your company? Don’t search, just match–with Indeed.Claim your SEVENTY-FIVE DOLLAR CREDIT now at Indeed.com/LOCKEDON. Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire? You need Indeed. 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.

Despite another loss in the preseason, there is still plenty to talk about when it comes to the Pittsburgh Penguins. And Hunter and I are going to do just 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 edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I am one of your host, Patrick Damp.

You can give me a follow on Twitter at. synonym for wet, joined as always by my fantastic co-host, the one and only Hunter Hodes. You can follow him on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. You can give our show's account a follow at L.O. underscore Penguins, and we thank you for making this part of your daily routine. And don't forget that we are free and available on all platforms wherever you get your podcast as well as YouTube. And before we hit the ground running on this episode, we have to tell you that today's episode is brought to you by Fandul. Place your first $5 bet and you'll get started with $200 in bonus bets guaranteed.

Visit fandul.com to get started. So it was another loss on Tuesday night for the Pittsburgh Penguins this time at PPG Paints Arena, but again to the Buffalo Sabres. But it was a much different matchup on Tuesday night, whereas on Saturday, the Sabers basically played what is going to basically be their opening night roster. The Penguins played a lot of their younger guys and their prospect. kind of the same deal for the penguins on Tuesday night with a few NHL regulars. And then the Sabres basically played their ECHL and HL players,

the guys who stayed behind for the Sabres as they're heading over to Europe to open the season as part of the international series. And it was, I would say, a better game overall for the Penguins. I think there's a lot more for us to take out of this one, considering it was played more on even terms when it comes. to roster construction. This wasn't essentially a minor league team going up against an NHL team. It was kind of the same deal, guys with professional experience on the Sabres, but still more minor league guys. And then for the Penguins, same deal.

Younger players, minor league players with a handful of NHL players. A couple goals scored for the Penguins on Tuesday night, Jack St. Ivony and Kevin Hayes, both got on the score sheet on Tuesday night. So I want to start right. there with one of the goal scores, Hunter, and that's defenseman Jack St. Iveny. I think it's safe to say at this point, he is separating himself from the rest of the pack. He is more than likely, in my opinion, to take that sixth spot on the defense. And overall, liked his game a lot. Yes, he scored a goal. We love to see that for a sixth

Sixth defenseman and a guy who's more of a stay-at-home defenseman than anything. Getting on the score sheet, always a positive. But away from that, it was more of what we saw from him at the end of the regular season. He played a very solid defensive game, rarely, if ever, out of position, always made the smart play and actually had a lot of good looks offensively, which considering he was essentially a top pairing defenseman in Tuesday night's game, kind of showed the versatility he can have in his game and a very promising night from him. So your thoughts on St. Iivine. Well, first off, I know you're having a little bit of trouble with some of the words there, Pat,

with, oh, I stick. The defenseman is tripping me up. But I don't know. Apparently, that's a tongue twister for me. But I, I continue on. Hey, it's okay, people. I'm just having a little bit of fun here with Pat. And yeah, I think for the Sabres, that was obviously an HAL team going up again kind of a mix for the penguins. You had some NHL regulars in there, but you also had some players who, you know, are going to be in junior league this year, AHL, all that good stuff.

So kind of a mix back with the Penguins going up against an AHL team, at least for the Sabres. But I agree with you when it comes to Jack St. Ivan, you know, he was great if you look at hockey stats cards, Pat. Who was at the top? Jackson Ivany, with the way he played. He's as cool as a cucumber. And I know he had a very short sample size last year,

and I know that was scaring a few people. But he right now is showing that those numbers that he put up last year were very real and that he's going to continue to do that throughout this season. I think he is a totally fine number six defenseman. He was really solid in his own zone last night, didn't really do anything egregious defensively. He's able to jump into the play offensively. He has such a strong hockey IQ. For someone who really hasn't played that many NHL games overall,

his hockey IQ is off the charts. He's always there to make the right play when it's needed. And he's really developing, I think, into a very solid number three right-hand defenseman on the bottom pairing. Not number three right-hand defensemen, obviously overall, but just on the bottom pairing. And I definitely think when it comes to this battle with him and Sebastian Aho, St. Ivany is kind of running away with it right now. I was also focusing on Ajo a bit last night.

He got walked a couple of times, didn't really look that good in the game. if I had to make a decision right now, I'm going to St. Ivany for the number six spot with Sebastian Aho as the number seven of the defensemen. Again, that's my opinion. But based on what I have seen, St. I havenie, I think is ready for more minutes on the bottom pairing. I think he's ready for more of a, what's the word I'm looking for here?

I guess workload compared to last season where he didn't get that many games. He had the games down the stretch. But I think he's ready for it. I continue to be high on this player heading into the season. And I think the Penguins will get a good impact out of him on the bottom pairing. So he was definitely my biggest standout last night. I do think Kevin Hayes had a pretty solid debut as well. That goal that he scored, you know, he's cleaned up a little bit of the garbage, but the way he went about it to clean it up around the net, just a nice nifty play with a puck

on a stick. Also, Pat, I thought Cody Glass had a really strong game. Had some nice shots on net. His speed is very evident as well as physical along the boards. I liked what I saw from him too. for sure and to kind of keep that focus on the defensive battle so to speak for that bottom pairing I do think and obviously it's one preseason game we still got a couple weeks left here of training camp before we really get into the nitty gritty of the season but if last night's an indicator I think we did see that Sebastian Aho probably going to be a seventh defenseman a guy who's up and down and used when really needed more than any than having a regular spot in the lineup, didn't like his game all that much last night.

You talked about Kevin Hayes. The one thing I want to add in for him is given the roster construction for both teams, you kind of wanted to see him be one of, if not the best player on the ice because that was pretty much where he would be with those two rosters. And for the most part, he definitely was. And while that wasn't the toughest thing considering who was filling out both rosters, you want to check those boxes in a preseason game and in those moments. You want to make sure that, okay, Kevin Hayes is likely going to be the top guy for both teams with the rosters they're throwing out. And he definitely was. And I swear at this point, I don't share notes with Hunter. We don't have like a shared notes app for this show.

And he was just sitting here knocking down note after note that I have up. I loved Cody Glass's game last night. The energy was evident. And the same goes for another guy that you and I talked about briefly before we hit record. And that was Anthony Bavillier. I really liked his game last night. The speed he showed, the energy he played with. He looks like a guy that is going to be useful for this team up and down the lineup. But when you put in the makings of the game you saw from Kevin Hayes, the game you saw from Cody Glass and Anthony Bavillier, a lot of signs I think are pointing to toward an improved bottom six for this team this year. Now, again, it's early in preseason.

We're not trying to overreact here. This could all change in a week. These guys could hit a rut. This could be outliers. But early returns on some of these guys acquired in the off season, I think are going to show us that we might have an improved roster coming up this year. Yeah, I liked Bo Villiers game a lot last night too. I thought he was getting some decent chances in the offensive.

zone. His skating also jumped out at me too. He's also a bit physical during that game a couple of times as well, which I honestly didn't really see coming. His underlying numbers were outstanding. When he was on the ice, the penguins had 68% of the shot attempts. They also had 67.9% of the expected goals for rate and then eight scoring chances for, six scoring chances against. Again, very good individual numbers. And his line actually with Achari and Lazot was by far the penguin's best line at even strength last night. When they were on the ice, they played about nine minutes of even strength time, five on five. 86% of the shot attempts. They also had 100% of the expected goals, eight scoring chances for, one scoring chance against, and then Mike

Sullivan went back to that line today during practice. So that could be the making of a potential fourth line here during the season. Remember, of course, they brought Blake Lazot in to be the fourth line center. Archari works better at wing, but Vileet can be like that score on that line. with how good it did last night, which I understand it's mostly against AHL players. It's still something that you can at least take a look at moving forward.

Maybe you can try it out in other preseason games here this upcoming weekend next week before the season starts. I definitely think they're going to give that line more of a go against teams that are, I think, icing more NHL talent compared to Buffalo, but the early returns on that line have been very impressive. For sure. And if there, it's,

it's kind of an intangible thing. It's not something that you're really going to be able to quantify, but it was a moment that stood out to me in last night's game was when the net was empty, Achari was still going balls to the wall. He threw himself in front of a shot to try to block it. And when you know that you're a guy like Noel Achari who has to make a mark in this preseason because everything that went wrong, including injuries last year. And even though he has a resume, he has to prove that he wants.

to belong on this team and stay on this team. So doing something like that in a preseason, yeah, we're going to laugh and joke about it. Oh, come on, dude, it's preseason. You don't need to be doing this stuff. But a player in his position, you have to find a way to stand out. And doing that in the second preseason game,

in a situation like that sends a message to the coaching staff and management that if I'm doing this now, when the games start to matter, you know I'm going to do it then. And for him, that's a big message to show. one last quick positive before we had to break. We're going to talk more about the preseason game in the second segment, because like we said,

a whole lot to take away from that game despite it being a three-two loss. One last quick thing, like I said, I like the bounce back from Blumquist in net taking the second half. Granted, not a ton of chances for the Sabres when he took over for Alex Nadalcovic. I will say that the biggest thing I wanted to see from him was a bounce back, because even though that first game, you really cannot hang around his neck. That was the play in front of him, plus just how overmatched the penguin skaters were compared to the sabers. You always want to see what a goal he does the next game after getting yanked.

And again, despite it not being his fault in the first game, I thought he bounced back really well. He played very solid. And that's exactly what you want to see from a young goaltending prospect in your system, especially one with his much promise as Blumquist. So really liked seeing him bounce back. And vice versa, I felt like Nadelcovich could have been a bit better in the first half. I'm not trying to be, you know, too nitpicky about this. Because, again, it is preseason here.

People, I'm not trying to overreact or anything. I just felt like he could have been a little bit better on a couple of those goals. Again, I'm not concerned or anything like that. I think he's going to be totally fine during the regular season. But I still felt like he could have been, you know, maybe a little bit better overall in the first half. But that's all. Yeah, absolutely. And we'll keep the talk going here on the preseason game in our second segment because like we said,

a whole lot to take away from Tuesday night's game. And we're going to have more on that right after this. And before we do that, we're going to tell you about our first sponsor. And that is Fandul. NFL fans, you can start the season with a big return on Fandul America's number one sportsbook. So when you get a hunch in the middle of a game, say you're using that YouTube TV, an NFL Sunday ticket, you're watching a few games and you get a hunch. You can check out the latest stats, view live play by play, and so much more on the same page where you place your bets.

And you'll get started with $200 in bonus bets guaranteed when you place your first $5 bet. So head to fanduil.com and get started with America's number one sports book. All right, welcome back to the Wednesday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm Patrick Damp. That's Hunter Hodes. Penguins lose Tuesday night, three to two to the Buffalo Sabres. And in the first segment,

we discussed the good that came in the game. So now we should probably balance that to be completely fair and talk about some of the negative. Now, this one that I'm going to start with, I don't want to say it was so much a negative as it was. It didn't get the result you wanted, but you can see the progress. And that's the power play.

Now, it goes over four. They don't get any goals off of it, obviously. But just like in the first game, I think we're starting to see the seeds be planted on a power play that is going to change this year. And it would be absolute malpractice if they didn't change this power play after how disastrous it was last season. But again, it was another night where you're seeing a lot of puck movement, you're seeing a lot of body movement, and you're seeing at the very least a willingness to shoot. And we have beaten this horse to death, but this is the progress you want to see.

Now, eventually this has to start leading to goals. Yes, you got the Jesse Poole-Jarvey goal in the first game, but it went cold after that. It has not scored since. But at this point, I'm liking what I'm seeing from the progress and the process. Now it has to start leading to goals. The best power play I saw last night was the one when, Rutger McGority was just flat out robbed by Buffalo's netminder there.

I couldn't believe that he made that save on McGority. It was a beautiful chance from really about 10, 12 feet out. And I just looked at my screen and I was like, wait, that didn't go in because I was expecting a celebration. It was just a better save. But you could see the movement leading up to that really good chance was really nice. Everyone was moving around. The puck wasn't just staying in one spot. Everyone was, again, just going to different areas on the ice, which is a theme that we've been talking about.

quite a bit throughout this week. There were a couple other powerplays where I didn't like part of it just because, you know, a couple little bits of it felt a little stagnant, but that powerplay that they had, which led to the big chance from McRourty, that was something that I definitely think they can build on for, you know, future practices, future games this weekend against Detroit, you have the one against Ottawa, then you have next week before the regular season starts in a couple weeks. So if there's really one power play to build off of during that game last night, it's that one that I just discussed. A couple of the other power plays were, I think, okay.

But that was the one where I was like, okay, I can see the progress being made from the first preseason game, from practice, all that good stuff. And that's, that is the one that I was specifically referencing where you saw everything you needed to see. And what I'm going to say here, I don't want this to come off as some blind defense or overly optimistic look. Because given how bad the power play was last year,

it absolutely should be criticized, it absolutely should be looked at with a microscope this year, but you are going to have games where the power play just doesn't take off. It happens to every team, whether it's Connor McDavid's Edmonton Oilers, Austin Matthews, Toronto Maple Leafs, whomever else you want to reference the Florida Panthers, they will have games in moments where a power play just never catches a stride. So the way I'm framing that is don't live and die with every power play opportunity. There's going to be nights where it hums along, I think, with this new system, and they get a goal or two. There's going to be nights where it looks good.

The process is there, but for whatever reason, the puck doesn't go in the net. And then there are going to be nights where last night where there were a couple of power play opportunities where it looks stagnant. Take a look at it in rolling segments, game to game. Is it making progress? are they scoring goals or are we seeing the same thing over and over and over. Because in the last year, we saw the same thing over and over and over again. There was no willingness to change.

And I think now we're starting to see that. But keeping it moving here for last night's game, a player we talked about yesterday and we've talked about throughout camp did not really stand out, had two penalties. And this is really not encouraging. And that's Sam Poo-Land. I don't know what else this guy has to do. I mean, I know what he has to do.

He has to eventually start making his mark. He has to start standing out. And so far about a week into camp, I'm not seeing it yet. And again, we don't have the expectation of him coming up and being a superstar. We don't expect him to come up and be in the top six and eclipse someone like Drew O'Connor. But he eventually needs to make his case to be a consistent NHLer and through two pre-stasy. season games in a week of camp, not seeing it. Yeah, no, I hear you.

And the thing is with Poulan, I know some people will say like, oh, well, he's only played six NHL games. You've got to give them more of a shot. And to a degree, I understand what those people are saying, but he still has to earn those opportunities. And he really hasn't done that yet throughout camp here and throughout these two preseason games. I mean, last night, plays about 13 minutes of five on five ice time.

When he was on the ice, the Penguins only had 40% of the shot attempts. he was on for no goals, but one goal against, but also two scoring chances for, eight scoring chances against. He wasn't getting it done in the defensive zone. He wasn't getting it done in the offensive zone. He just really wasn't making his presence felt out there at all. And I said it yesterday. I'll say it again right now.

I think he kind of is what he is at this point, man. I really just don't see it working out with the Penguins. Maybe if at some point he goes to a different team and he's able to figure it out, that would be good for him. but I just think right now with the penguins and with how many I feel like opportunities he's had in camp at least in preseason these last couple of years, it's just, it's not working out. So I really do think this is probably his last shot with the penguins, at least. Anything can change.

But I think right now it's unlikely that he's going to be on this team in a couple of weeks. It's looking less and less likely. And again, we keep adding the caveat because we have to that training camp's a long process. And there are guys who will rise. There are guys who will fall. He's still going to have an opportunity to make his mark. But like we said, early on, the returns are not great. One last player I want to touch on.

And this isn't so much a negative as it is just a status update. And that's Rector McRourty. Now, had the great chance on the power play, played pretty well in the first preseason game. But I will say this. the standout performances aren't quite there yet. Does it mean he's playing poorly? Not at all, not whatsoever. He does not look out of place.

He does not look like he doesn't belong. The problem is with what you have in him in the potential that he has, we're waiting for a breakout day or a breakout game. And here's my thought process on him. Right now, I'm not entirely certain he's going to make the roster out of camp. And it's not an indictment upon him. If he doesn't make the roster out of camp, the conversation has to be, listen, we want you to play. We don't want you to be on the fourth line and playing eight to nine minutes a night. We want you to be the guy. So if we send you down to

Wilkes Bear, it's not because we don't think you belong. It's because we want you to be the top guy down there. We want you to play 15 to 18 to 20 minutes a night. We want you putting up a pile of points, building up your confidence, and then when we bring you back up to Pittsburgh, we're going to put you in a more prominent role. Right. And I will continue to say I am super excited about McGority being here. I was very excited when the trade happened. None of that is ever going to change. And I even said on the show that he was going to have an opportunity, just an opportunity, to potentially win that left wing job next to Sidney Crosby. Through about a week of training camp and a couple of preseason games, it looks like that is not going to happen. least right now. It does not look like he's going to win that job and play next to Cindy Crossey when the season starts in a couple weeks. It's probably going to be Drew O'Connor at this

point, which, again, I think O'Connor has earned it to this point in camp. I think McGority has been good in the first two preseason games, but there hasn't been that wow moment. Like, oh my God, like look at that play. He's ready for top six duty and all that. It hasn't come, at least not yet. Could it still come at some point? Absolutely. The Penguins have a couple of preseason games this upcoming weekend. I assume he's going to play in at least one, if not both of them, so the Penguins can get more of a look at him.

But overall, you said it. If he does have to start the season in Wilkesbury, this doesn't just mean, oh, my God, the trade was awful, fire, Kyle Dubus, and all that stuff. It means A, they want him to get more minutes, and B, they just want him to get that professional experience playing in Wilkesbury in the H.L. And then if he lights it up for a few games,

boom, you can calm up after the first couple weeks of the season, or whenever you want to call him up in general. It's not going to make the trade a failure or anything like that. I wasn't trying to be too ambitious when I discussed on the show that he would have a crack at potentially being next to Crosby because I felt that way, considering that it was a competition heading into camp. He hasn't done enough to warrant that job. It's been a week.

But I think at this point right now, we have to acknowledge that he might not make the team, again, which is totally fine. Could he still make the team? Sure. But if he does, I think, it's probably going to be in a little bit of a lesser role, maybe playing on the third line compared to playing in the top six. So those are all my kind of jumbled thoughts on the McRourty situation overall.

And you hit the nail on the head. And relating it to who he talked about right before him in Sam Poulan, with Sam Poulan, there's no real standout moments at all. He's just kind of is who he is at this point. Basically, there have been small moments with Rucker McGroarty. He's had the chances on the, power play. He's had some looks at the net. But you look at it and think, okay, they're coming every now and then. They need to be coming more frequently. He has to have more chances. He has to have

more looks. And eventually it's got to lead to goals. And you look at the way he's playing and you can think, okay, it's there. Once he fully forms into an NHL ready regular, those are going to be there all the time. Right. And like the underlying numbers were very good for McGarty last night. When he was on the ice. The penguins had 54% of the shot of Thames. They also had two goals for, one against, almost a 78% expected goals for rate, six scoring chances for, four scoring chances against. He is impacting the game when he's on the ice. I just want to see a couple wow moments overall from him.

Absolutely. And with that in mind, when we come back, we are going to talk about today's training camp practices and how some lines are really starting to take shape as we get closer and closer to the regular season. And we will do that right after this. But we have to tell you about our next sponsor. And that is Indeed. We're driven for the search for better. But when it comes to hiring,

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Need to hire you need indeed. All right. Welcome back to the final segment of the Wednesday edition of the Locked on Penguins podcast with myself, Patrick Dam and the one and only Hunter Hodes. And it's the best time of year, Hunter, because we get to do the fun thing, which is look at training camp lines and think, oh my God, these are the lines. and honestly, a lot of them we're looking at today probably will be some of the lines heading into the regular season.

We've got a reunion on the top line, Crosby centering Drew O'Connor and Brian Rust, and then another reunion on the second line with Havgeny Malkin, centering Michael Bunting and Ricard Raquel. Third line, Lars Eller, Kevin Hayes, Cody Glass. I'm a little intrigued by that, but we'll talk about it. Another line combination, Blake Lazot, Nolichari, Anthony Pavilion. Hey, we talked about that one earlier in the show.

A couple other players, put around on the forwards. We may touch on that a little bit, but let's head to the defense. We've got Matt Griswick and Chris LaTang. We have Marcus Pedersen, Sebastian Ajo, Ryan Shea, and John Ludwig. And other than that, I look at some of these lineups that's courtesy of the one and only Josh gets off. And my biggest standout, the one that intrigued me the most is that third line, Kevin Hayes, Lars Eller, Cody Glass. I think that's the makings of a line that could really do some damage on the third line

because Lars Eller plays a very, very respectful workman-like game. Cody Glass has some skill and some talent. Kevin Hayes, really good puck distributor. I think that line could do some work. I agree. And it's interesting, though, that they have Hayes on the wing on that line compared to not playing a center because I was only the impression that Hayes was going to come in here and be the next third line center and obviously, you know, they can keep,

you know, rotating these two however they want. But it is interesting that they're trying Hayes on the wing on that line. Again, I know. Camp in the preseason, we'll have to see what the lineup actually looks like in a couple of weeks. But I'm still a bit fascinated that Hayes is on the wing compared to playing at center because, you know, he's obviously played at center for basically his entire career at this point. But yeah, it's the makings of at least a line that can do a little bit of damage. You know, Eller, he's that player that can play in all three zones, very defensively responsible, but also has some good offense. So to his game, considering what he did last year. You have Cody Glass, who I think looked really well on Tuesday night and is looking for a nice

bounce back after what he did a couple of years ago. And then you have Kevin Hayes, who's also looking for a balance back. I'm going to say this right now. One of the biggest ways the bottom of six can be better this year is if Hayes gets back to the level that we've seen in play at before, whether it's with flyers, even going back to his time with the Rangers, et cetera, et cetera. If he's able to do that, this bottom six, at least in my opinion, is going to be better this year, compared to last year because he's someone that he's a good playmaker. He still has an okay shot. Again, more of a playmaker at this point than a goal score.

But I think he could be the key ingredient that makes that bottom six be better this year compared to last year if he's able to bounce back. Yeah, and I agree with you wholly on that front. And then you also have to factor in that kind of used in the extras, you still have Pustinen who was not on a line. And then yes, you pull Yardvie, who also was on an extra's line. I'm getting worried about Pustin, to be honest. I just don't want to lose him before the season starts.

I don't know. But that just really wouldn't sit well with me considering what I saw from him last year. I feel like he was ready to have potentially a bigger role this year for the Penguins. And I know, again, there's that big log jam there. but I just really do not want to lose Pustin before this. Yeah, that would be tough, but I do think similar to kind of like we said about a guy like Poulan, eventually we got to see some more standing out. I know he's got a little bit more of a pedigree, a lot more of a pedigree.

He's been a lot better than Poulan to say the least. For sure. But again, log jam. There's a lot of guys ahead of him. And I think it might just not be so much an indictment upon him as it is just an unfortunate numbers game that he might get pushed out. at least early on. But then switching to the defense real quick before we close it out here today. I'm really intrigued to see what Grizzlic Latang is going to look like.

I think I've said it before. I'm buying a lot of stock on a bounce back for Grizzlick this year. And he really does strike me as somebody that could do well in that Brian Dumolin type role where just plays a very mature game. He's able to open up the possibilities for Chris Latang offensively to help. him recover from what was a pretty rotten end of the season. So I want to see what they're able to do, especially once we start seeing them in game action, because we have seen guys light it up and have all kinds of chemistry together in

scrimmages and practice and in preseason. I want to see them do it against other competition. And I think there's a lot of potential there for that pairing. Yeah, that pairing will make its debut, I assume fairly soon, if not this weekend, probably next week during the main dress rehearsal game for the Penguins once some more cuts come in. I assume the cuts are going to start coming either at the end of this week or right after the weekend just because they have the back-to-back this weekend for the preseason. So I am curious to see how that pairing looks at least during one, maybe two preseason games overall.

It's clear that they see Grizzlik as that low-key doom-land replacement. If he's able to get back also to a level that he's played at before, you know, that could be at least a decent pairing for the penguins. Letang obviously is a bit older. I don't think he's going to play at the level that he's played at quite a bit during his career. But if he still gives them a positive impact on a nightly basis, obviously I will gladly take that considering what he has done for this team

throughout his career. But yeah, I like that pairing or I like the makings of it. And then obviously you have Pedersen and Carlson once that's going to be healthy Carlson. Still not practicing, but I'm not really too concerned. He continues to skate. And then I assume the bottom pairing at this point is probably going to be graves in St. Ivany, and then you have Shea and Ludwig and all that good stuff, and then Ahio out there

as well. So, yeah, not really too much else to say about the defense other than also, if you have been able to spell Matt Grizzlick's last name on your first try, stand up because I want to see. Yeah, can't do it. I have tried. I have to look it up every single time. But yeah, I was going to say that real quick. Not a lot of updates on the injury guys all pretty much day to day and no real updates from Sullivan on that. And like you said with Carlson, if he wasn't skating, I'd be a little bit more concerned, but the fact that he is skating kind of tells me they're just being cautious. And rather than rush him ahead in preseason and training camp,

they're just going to wait until he's ready, which is the smart move to make. So no real updates there. But that is pretty much going to do it for the Wednesday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. Hunter and I are going to keep our eyes. eyes and ears to the ground for the next few days on training camp and bring you all the updates throughout the rest of the week, which means we will be back with a brand new episode for you on Thursday. And when we return, we'll have all those updates and hopefully more. But for now, for Hunter Hodes, I am Patrick Dam. Thank you, as always for tuning in. And we'll be back

on all your favorite podcast platforms tomorrow.