Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Who's going to impress in development camp?

Episode Date: September 15, 2021

It's the last week of the offseason...at least for this show! Hunter starts this episode off with a Tyler Bozak update as he has signed back with the St.Louis Blues. What does this mean moving forward? Is the 4C job now Brian Boyle's to lose? After that, he focuses on the development camp roster and who stands out on it as that camp this weekend. Who has the best chance of making the roster this season? Is Valtteri Puustinen the most underrated player in that group? Hunter also focuses on the TNT roster that came out today about their broadcast lineup and then ends the show on a funny tweet that he saw earlier on Tuesday.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!BetOnline AGThere is only 1 place that has you covered and 1 place we trust. Betonline.ag! Sign up today for a free account at betonline.ag and use that promocode: LOCKEDON for your 50% welcome bonus.Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKED15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.Rock AutoAmazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Your Locked-on Penguins. Your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network. Your team every day. Welcome to this Tuesday evening episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm your host, Hunter Hodies. Remember to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Follow the show's Twitter at L.O. underscore Penguins.

So the full top 50 NHL players list is out the top 10. came out over the weekend. Yes, Sidney Crosby was in the top 10. You can find out all the top 50 NHL players from all the locked on hosts on the Lockedon NHL podcast with Mike DeStefano, Rachel Donner, and Joe DiViase. It's on YouTube. Wherever you get your podcast, you can subscribe to it. Turn on your notification so that you never miss an episode.

So we are back with another episode. This is the last week, believe it or not, of three episodes a week. tomorrow will mark four weeks to the day when the NHL season starts. So your Pittsburgh Penguins will be in action four weeks from tomorrow and I. I am so stoked for this team to be back playing, even though yes, Cindy Crosby and Ganyi Malkin are not going to be ready to start the season. But, you know, that doesn't matter. I've missed hockey so much over these last couple of months.

I can't wait to just go back to daily content for you all and, you know, bring you the best content that I can bring on some more guests, et cetera, et cetera. I have a lot of fun things planned for season three of this podcast, and I can't wait to get it started. Next week when we go back to five shows a week, because remember everyone, training camp starts next week. But start out this podcast. We did have the Tyler Bozac News break today. Unfortunately, he is not signing with the Pittsburgh Penguins. He goes back to the St. Louis Blues.

One year, 750K. In case anyone does not know the significance of what 750,000 is, that is the league minimum to play in the league. league. So, just basically took a hometown discount. I think his wife even tweeted on Twitter that she's not going anywhere either. I think that was the big deciding factor. Excuse me, with this move, the guy's 35 years old. He probably doesn't want to uproot his family this late into his career. He knows that, you know, he's towards the end of it in year 35 at this point. For as much sense as this would have made to the Penguins, and, you know, for as much as I wish this would have happened because I would trust him a hell of a lot more over someone like Brian Boyle.

I can't fault someone for not wanting to uproot their family and just to stay where there are. Even though the blues are probably not going to be that good this year, hey, man, you know, I'm not one to tell a player what to do, especially when it comes to family decisions. So, congrats to him. I do hope that he kills it in St. Louis, though. Again, I really wish that Pittsburgh would have been able to sign him. We did have some news come out about the Penguins today. So we did officially get their developmental camp rosters.

So that runs this weekend. I got the email today from the Penguins Communications Department, I and a bunch of other media members that cover the team. Get all the emails from the communications PR people. So Saturday, September 18th is a skill session at 10 a.m. 11 a.m. is practice. Same thing for Sunday, 10 a.m. skill session, 11 a.m. practice. Then you can go watch the Pittsburgh Steelers at 1 o'clock for all the Steelers fans

that listen to this podcast as well. Monday. It's a bit different, though. 10 a.m. practice, 11 a.m. practice with a small area games competition. And then Tuesday, we wrap it up with practice and a scrimmage. And then training camp for the Penguins opens next Thursday. So nine days away is Penguins training camp right now. And in case you all are wondering what the roster looks like. So 14 forwards, seven defensemen and three goaltenders that are invited to developmental camp. So for the defenseman, Dylan McPherson, Josh Minnescalo, who's been in Wilkesbury for a while. Will Riley, same thing. Ryan McLeary. Camley, he's been in Wilkesbury for a bit.

Isaac Belavu, Nicholas Almari, for forwards. John Gruden, he's been in Wilkesbury a bunch. Philip Hollander, of course. He's going to get a big chance at training camp to potentially make the team. I'll be curious to see how he does in developmental camp. I'll be following some of the reporters that are there for these practices and scrimmages. Remember, everyone, if you are in the Pittsburgh area, you can go to these practices in scrimmage,

I believe it is free of charge, and they are open to anyone that wants to go. So heck, you know, maybe you're planning a road trip with your girlfriend, your fiance, your boyfriend, whatever. You can just go out there, watch the Penguins' prospects, you know, come back the same day or maybe stay a night in the city. I mean, that would be honestly a great idea for a road trip if you ask me.

And hey, you know, maybe you stick around to watch training camp later in the week. I'm not sure if those are going to be all open to the public. I'm sure some of those practices will be for sure. Other boards that are on here, Nathan Legerry, you know, he needs no introduction. He can make an impact at the initial level this year if he makes it. Drew O'Connor, he was on the team a bit last season. Kyle Olson, I don't know too much about him. I'm going to have to actually do a little bit of research on him.

Sam Phelan needs no introduction. Valteri Pustinen, he needs no introduction either. King Clarki and I have been talking about him a lot in our DMs the last couple of weeks. He is one of the best prospects in the system. I think the prospect that gets talked about the least. I think his skill level is on par with Poulin, Ligari, and Hollander. I think he's going to surprise some people in this camp, and he may surprise some people in training camp as well.

Josh Williams is on there. Lucas, I can't even pronounce his last name, but I'm definitely going to try here. I think it's Shevkovsky. I have definitely not heard of him. And then for goaltenders, Tommy Napier, Brett Bosh, Broshue and then Philip Lindberg who the team just signed this off season. So just follow all the local beat reporters for coverage for that.

I am not going to be in Pittsburgh this weekend so I can't provide coverage for that. But I will be retweeting on both the Locked on Penguins Twitter account and my personal Twitter account at Hunter Hodes. Some updates from the local media as I get them. But I'm really excited to see, especially, I know I just talked about this here, I'm really excited to see what Valteri Pusin can do in developmental camp because if that can carry over to training camp, I mean, look out. I mean, this is a player that he's definitely one of the top five best prospects in the system. I don't really think that's arguable. Just, you know, go through his highlights,

look at his stats throughout his career in junior hockey, and you can see that the skill level is there. He just has to bring it all together and he'll be a really good player, I think, in NHL. Obviously, Poolyn. I'm going to be watching him closely as well. As I just said, he has a chance to be maybe a small impact player at the NHL level this year if he makes the team. Nathan Legary, I'm not sure. I know some people are much lower on Ligary than others. I think that's just been the common sentiment I've seen from a lot of people in the fan base and just around the team the last couple of months is that they don't really expect him to make an impact this year. There's also just not a lot of roster spots.

that are going to be open once the team gets healthy. Right now, obviously, it looks a bit different because the two-headed monster is going to be out to start the season, so there are a couple roster spots being open. But with that said, I still don't think Legerry is probably going to get a spot there. Again, really excited to see what Philip Hollander can do at developmental camp. I think he's also going to get a long look at training camp as well. Defensively, I think Cam Lee, you know, this is a player who I think signed under Jim Rutherford.

I think it was a three-year entry-level deal. He's someone that I don't think he can make the team out of camp, but I think he can push to potentially be a call-up, or the first call-up once injuries inevitably hit the Penguins Decor. Same with Josh Manascallo. I like the way he moves the puck. I like the way he defends in his own zone. He's always been one of Wilkesbury's better defensemen,

and Will Riley as well. I don't think he's bad either. There's three pretty decent defensemen there, I would say, then obviously the goaltending wise, Philip Lindberg. I mean, this is the one that everyone is going to look for. He had great stats playing in college, signed to an entry-level deal earlier this off-season.

No, I don't think he's going to, you know, take Tristan Jari's job or Casey to dismiss John. But if he has a good camp and then has a good training camp, I could definitely see him taking a lot of starts in Wilkesbury this season and for good reason. He needs to get some pro experience and go against an HL players because he was just tearing up the last. level that he was in before with just a ridiculous save percentage.

I think his say percentage was well over 940 or something. Yeah, so for this past season with the University of UMass, 949, say, percentage in 15 games, a year before that, 927, played in the Finland under 20, four games in International Junior 925, UMass in 2018, 19, 934. So he was just tearing it up against all this college competition. let's see what he has now against some much better competition in AHL players and his record this past season as well, 10 and 1 and 4 goals against average 1.24. I don't know what his underlying goalie stats are just because I don't think they track it for college level games,

but I do think they do for AHL level games. So we'll be providing updates on Lindbergh throughout his season and how he does down in Wilkesburg because he is definitely really intriguing going into the season. season because, hey, you know, say an injury happens to one of the Penguins' goaltenders, I mean, it happened a little bit last season. He will probably be the first goal he called up, and I would not blame Ron Hextall. There is no one else in this system that should be called up before him, especially with the stat that he has.

But, you know, again, let's see what he can do down in Wilkesbury against some professional competition for the first time. But that would do it for this first segment of the show. I wanted to give my thoughts on developmental camp and who I'm looking forward to seeing do well, and then especially in the scrimmages and then also my thoughts on what happened today with Tyler Bozac as well. Now, before we go any further,

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I'm your host, Hunter Hodes. I'm going to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Follow the show's Twitter at L.O. Arnest War Penguins. We also did have another move over the weekend to talk about real quickly with the organization. I have the email pulled up right here from the Penguins PR department. So Pittsburgh named their two goaltending development coaches, Charles Grant and Kane T.C. so they will be working with the young goaltending prospects throughout the season in Europe, minor leagues, juniors, and college hockey, as well as scout draft eligible goalies

and college-free agent goaltenders. They will both report to Director of Player Development, Scott Young. Remember everyone, Andy Chiodo was the goaltending development coach before he became the goaltending coach overall because Mike Buckley was relieved of his duties. Before coming to Pittsburgh, T.C., he spent the last seven. seasons with the Kitchener Rangers of the OHL as the team's goaltending coach. And while he was there as the goaltending coach, he mentored three goalies that were drafted by NHL teams.

In addition to his work there, he also owns the Kane Tissy Goalie School, which there he trains goalies at all levels from professional leaguers to AAA girls and boys' teams. He's also trained and mentored under current New York Islanders goalie coach, Piero O'Graco. And as for Charles Grant, he has spent the last three seasons. as the goaltending coach of the Cape Breton Eagles of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. So congratulations to both of them for joining the Penguins organization.

I'm curious to see how they will coach up the young goalies in the system, whether that's Philip Lindberg, Joel Blumquist, or Callie Klan, because those two goalies are going to be really good, I think, for the organization at some point as well. I mean, Klan was ridiculous this past season for his team in Sweden and the SHL. even in international.

He only played in, I think, in three games, but had a 9.38 say percentage. But for his overall team in Sweden, played 32 games, 919, say percentage, 2.46 goals against his average. That is better than where he was the season before that, where he had a 9.13% percentage in 34 games with a 2.64 goals against average. So he has been getting better since he was drafted by the Penguins.

And as for Blumquist, he has also been really good lately, in Finland. One of his teams this season played 16 games was 907. So a bit down, but the year before that, 941, there's 916, you know, 2018-19, he was 938 for his under-20 team. He's going to be pretty decent, I would like to say, even though I'm not really sold on if he's going to be a full-fledged starter yet. You know, goalies are just so hard to predict because it's voodoo.

You know, it's really the devil's position to predict, I guess is the best way to put it, because you really never know how they're going to be year after year. You know, that's just the way it goes with goalie. So we'll have to see, you know, both of them are still really young right now. I'm curious to see how both of these goaltender development coaches coach them up. And I can say the same for every other young goaltender within the Penguin's organization. That is not, you know, Casey DeSmith and Tristanjohners, of course, you know, they're at the NHL level.

There's some other little news over the weekend. So team physician, Dr. Darmesh Vihas, has been appointed to medical director of the UPMC, Lemieux Sports Complex. Whenever you see a press release from the Penguins that, you know, a player has surgery or he's going to be out for this, you know, the surgery is performed by this guy. He's one of the premier doctors, I think, around the league, in my opinion, because the Penguins usually don't mess around with a lot of injuries. You always see these teams just bungal like.

lot of things because maybe the team doctors aren't a bit sure. You know, this guy, he definitely does it. And, you know, David Morehouse said in a statement as well. I have it right here. We're incredibly thankful for the work that he has done over the years with our players in the Penguins organization. We would like to congratulate him on his expanded role. His work, which spans from the treatment of financial players to youth hockey players is unmatched in the sports medical field. He's also been a valuable asset to the local Pittsburgh hockey community, and we are very lucky to have him as part of our team. So again, congratulations to Dr. VAS. He just always does a great job. with getting all the Penguins players back up and healthy.

So I thought I would do a shout out to him on this podcast for, I think the first time since I took this over. I just, I really don't think he gets enough credit for the job that he has done with, you know, so many surgeries and so many injuries that this team has gone through over the years. With that said, I did want to end this segment talking about the Turner Sports Network, so TNT, TBS. They announced their game and studio commentator teams today for the initial season with a month ago. They officially announced it.

And this is definitely a bit smaller than I thought it would be. There's only going to be two play-by-play people, Kenny Albert and Brendan Burke. The analyst will be Eddie Olcheck and Darren Peng. I'm a big fan of play-by-play guys. I've always found Kenny Albert underrated. I know some people think he's a bit dull. He's a bit boring. I think he calls a great game.

Brendan Burke, I'm glad that he's going to be taking. taken away, excuse me, from the Islanders. You know, I absolutely hate that he works for the organization because he is so good at what he does with his calls. I think he should be TNT's number one guy over Kenny, in my opinion. Analyst, Eddie Olchek, I know he doesn't really move the needle much. It's just kind of like, you know, giving a hockey guy just a job again. Darren Pang, though, really excited to see what he can bring to the broadcast.

I haven't watched a lot of St. Louis Blues games over the years, but when the Penguins have played them, I will tune into the Blues feed because I really do like the way Peng has called the game during those games. So, curious to see how he does it at a national level. Ice level, basically inside the

glass, as NBC like to coin it. Keith Jones will be there. I don't really know how Keith Jones is on there because he has the personality of a wet rag that you see on an everyday basis. So I don't get that. Contributors Jennifer Botterall, Terrick El Bashir, and Jackie Redmond. So

Congratulations to them. Tarek, I believe, does Capitol's coverage for the athletic. And then Jennifer and Jackie, well, Jennifer was a former Canadian woman's hockey player who was ridiculously good, I might add. And then Jackie Redmond has been doing a lot of stuff on NHL Network, I think, for the last few years. The host of the studio show will be Liam McHugh. I like that higher. Congratulations to him. I always thought he did a solid job with NBC.

analysts-wise, this is where this is basically like a wet fart. I mean, Wayne Gretzky, again, he also probably has the personality of a wet rag that you see. Anson Carter, I think his analysis on the game of hockey is crappy. I just did not think he ever brought anything that was good to the table when he was at NBC. Rick Tunkett, that remains to be seen. I don't really know how he's going to be. Then Paul Bissonette, I don't know how he got that job. I mean, and everyone that follows me knows I can't stay.

Barstool for many reasons. I really don't understand why he is on that show when he's just going to be shouting into the void, I think, the entire time. We're just making stupid jokes for the sake of making stupid jokes. So that's definitely one I did not expect. I will say that. I think overall, when you look at both teams between ESPN and Turner Sports going into this season, ESPNs is stronger and it's really not even close.

I mean, I think they have the better play. Play-by-play voices. I think they have the better analysts, and I think they have the better team inside the studio. And yes, I know that people, myself included, are going to be a bit hesitant with Mark Messier and Barry Milrose, just because they're probably still dinosaurs when it comes to the game of hockey. But, hey, I would take that over TNT's team, which includes, you know, freaking Wayne Gretzky, Anson, Carter, Rick Tocke, and Pulpuss, and that. I just don't think that's going to be really fun to watch.

And, you know, everyone is basically say, you know, I can't wait to mute the TV when Intermish comes on. I mean, I'll give TNT a chance. You know, at least Mike Milbury's not there. At least Jeremy Roanick is not there. That's big. But, you know, having Keith Jones still be on a team when he's just a dinosaur and Eddie Olcheck, who doesn't bring much to the game when, you know, Berker, Albert is doing play by play. And then, you know, Anson Carter's analysis in the studio and Paul Bissinet, just screaming at whatever, Rick Tocke, not really shoggin. And then, Wayne Gretzky, who's probably not going to say much either. It's just, it's, it's definitely a weak group. I mean, you can see why this is the NHL's number two TV partner with a

lineup like this, at least in my opinion. So I wanted to share my thoughts on that. I'm definitely more excited for ESPN going into this season than I am for Turner Sports. That's for sure. Now, we still have a little more to get to in the next segment, but before we do that, we do have talk about, again, everyone's favorite delicious protein bar, and that is Billapar. There is always something for everyone. If you don't know the Bilt Bar flavors, well, I can tell you some right here with orange, cookies and cream, my personal favorite, German

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healthy. You can go to Bilt.com and use promo code Lock 15, and you'll get 15% off your order. That's promo code locked 15 for 15% off at built.com. All right, welcome back to this episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm your host, Honra Hodes. I'm going to follow me on Twitter at Honora Hodes. Follow the show's Twitter at L.O. andswear Penguins. I did want to end the show with this.

So a lot of teams, well, a few teams around the league today have been announcing that full roster of players, coaches, and hockey operations staff will be fully vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus before the start of the season. That includes the Philadelphia Flyers. So shout out to them. They will not be mistreated with this one. The Carolina Hurricanes also announced it today. If I'm not mistaken, I think a couple of teams in Canada did as well.

The penguins need to be next with this. I'm not going to spend a whole eight, nine minutes ranting about this, but the penguins need to have everyone fully vaccinated against COVID-19 so they can help end this pandemic. If you're not doing your part to help, to help end this madness that we have been in for almost two years now, then you are just basically wanting the pandemic to continue. You know, I'm not going to, again, I'm not going to go on a full anti-vax to raid.

I do that on my Twitter at times. Everyone knows my thoughts on that, but I really am hoping that the Penguins make this announcement sooner rather than later, so we can just get that out of the way and that there won't be a big COVID outbreak with this team. I mean, you know, sure, there could be a few players that test positive because I understand that you can get the virus even if you are fully vaccinated, but you have a far less chance of getting it if you are fully vaccinated and a far less chance of a huge outbreak if your team and your entire organization is fully vaccinated. So I really hope the penguins make this announcement soon because it's the quickest way that we will all end this pandemic, whether it's for sports, concerts, and just everything that life has. to offer. And I did see something funny today on Flyers' Twitter. So, uh, fly goal scored by, who was probably one of the funniest Flyers Twitter accounts out there. He's actually someone that

can, I can tolerate to follow. He says, who wins a seven game series? 12 Claude Jaroos, six Ivan Prob Robb's, and two Carter Hearts, or 12 Sydney Crosby's, six Crystal Tangs and true Trishanjari's. Okay. I understand that true Tristan Jari is on that team, which is not fun. I also understand there are two Carter Hearts on that team, so they would probably have a bit of a goaltending mismatch, though. You know, Hart this past year was not good. But 12 Sydney Crosby's versus 12 Claude Jaroos, I'm taking 12 Sydney Crosby's every single time.

Jesse Marshall, even his medicine says, having more than one Sydney Crosby is like crossing the streams and Ghostbusters. Jeff from the Penn's blog said this is basically just playing NHL faceoff 98 and turning the goalies off. I quote tweeted this and I'll say this on my podcast. The Penns would sweep that series. Heck, they would probably win that in one game before the Flyers would forfeit.

Six Chris LaTangs versus six Ivan Provorovs. I mean, if we're talking a prime, prime, prime Chris Latang versus a prime prime Ivan Provorov, again, that's not even close either. And if we're talking a prime Sidney Crosby versus a prime Caud Jureux, you have 12 prime Sydney Crosby's versus two 12 prime Jureus from 2012.

I mean, this is not even a debate, at least in my opinion. I understand, yes, it's a bit of a joke, but it's still fun to talk about. I think the Penguins would probably win every game by eight goals. I mean, even if this was played a thousand times, I think the Penguins win 990 times out of a thousand, literally. I really wanted to end the show on a bit of a funny note because I really did find that funny.

But just having one Sidney Crosby is not fair for most teams. but if you have 12 freaking Sydney Crosby's on a team, I mean, I don't know how the Flyers would stop that. I think they would hate Sidney Crosby, Flyers fans, that is, for longer than an eternity. I honestly think that they would just have a death sentence against Sidney Crosby for the rest of their lives because he would just own them like they have never been owned before by Cid.

Again, considering it would be 12 Sidney Crosby's versus 12 Claude Jaroos. And again, you know, One other way to think, six Chris LaTangues, I mean, especially how he was in 2015-16, and then from 2009 to 2015 when he was ridiculously good without the injuries, I mean, that's just, that's not fair. You know, maybe the Flyers have the goaltending matchup, but that's the only one they will have an edge in that seven-game series. The Penguins will win that every single time, especially since, you know, you're getting 12 of the best player in the world. But now do it for this episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast.

I appreciate every single one of you listening to this one. And we'll be back with another episode tomorrow. And then we'll end on Friday going into next Monday where we will do five episodes a week. So stay tuned for that. I hope you all have a great rest of your evening and we'll talk tomorrow.