Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Will the 2025-26 Penguins be the FUN kind of bad?
Episode Date: August 25, 2025While the Penguins aren’t expected to be good this season, they could at least be the fun kind of bad? Hunter and Patrick start the show by taking a look at the potential forward group for this upco...ming season and how the Penguins could be the fun kind of bad - losing but scoring a lot of goals in the process. Then, they take a look at the organizational depth in net and what they expect to happen between Arturs Silovs, Joel Blomqvist, and Sergei Murashov over the next couple of years. Finally, The Athletic released its front office confidence rankings, and for Kyle Dubas, the disparity between Pittsburgh and the general public could not be more different.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!GametimeToday's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNHL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply.Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNHL at monarchmoney.com/lockedonnhl for 50% off your first year.FanDuelToday's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Football season is around the corner, visit the FanDuel App today and start planning your futures bets now.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.
Transcript
Discussion (0)
Penguins training camp is on the horizon,
and I just have one simple question for you all.
Are the Penguins going to be the fun kind of bad team this year?
You're Locked-on Penguins, your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins,
part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day.
Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast.
I am one of your host, Hunter Hodes.
You can follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes,
joined by my host, Patrick Damping, and follow him.
on all social media platforms at Sending for Wet.
You can follow the show's Twitter at L.O.
underscore Penguins.
And you can follow the show's Instagram account at Lockdown,
underscore Penguins, of course.
Thank you all so much for making this,
your first lesson slash watch of the day.
We are free and available on all platforms.
And finally,
this episode is brought to you by Monarch Money.
Take control of your finances with Monarch Money.
Use code locked on NHL at MonarchMoney.com for 50% off your first year.
Happy Monday.
25th, we have reached the end of August, or just about the end of August.
September is right around the corner.
Thank God, it's been so slow during the month of August.
But things, they're going to start picking up here pretty soon.
As I mentioned at the start of the show, Penguins Training Camp is only a few weeks away.
And when I thought about that, you know, you look at the roster right now before group,
it's still fairly solid.
It looks like this is going to be the players that they take at least to training camp,
unless some surprising move happens over the next few weeks.
But will this still be the same team that goes to opening night?
I would say probably not just because waivers, send downs, all that good stuff.
There's going to be some pretty good competitions for forward spots.
And obviously for the right side of the defense, even the left side of the defense.
But we'll touch on that once training camp gets closer over the next few weeks.
But we wanted to start this episode talking about how much fun the Penguins could be to watch this year,
even though they're probably not going to be that good because Pat, again, you look at this four group.
I think the Penguins have the makings of a team that will be able to score on a decent amount of nights,
even if Raquel and Rust aren't as good as they were last year.
They'll still be good, I think, for, you know, around 20, 25-ish goals.
You'll have a full season of Tommy Novak.
You have some okay depth pieces that I think can score double-digit goals.
Like even Kevin Hayes, for example, if he's on the team opening night,
I don't think he was that good last season.
I wrote about that for the hockey news this morning.
I think he was fine.
Still scored 13 goals for them in a bottom six roll.
You'll take that.
So, again, there's the makings of a four group that will have at least a decent amount of okay goal scores.
And then you have the big guns up front.
Cindy Crosby, we all know how good he still is.
Even if Gennie Malkin, who was another year older, I think he could potentially hit the 60-point plateau
if he has those consistent linemates.
All year.
And he kind of maybe finds the fountain of youth.
a little bit. So I think they're going to be fun to watch. I think this team can score,
but at the same time, they're not going to be able to defend worth a lick.
You're going to see a lot of, right now at least, a lot of five, four, six, five games.
And when you combine Tristan Jari as the starting netminder, who has been very inconsistent,
that's what you're going to get. So that, that, to me, that's the fun type of bad team that
it's cool watching sometimes. Like last year, the sharks,
They were the fun type of bad.
They were really bad.
But that team, if you turn them on for multiple games a week,
you saw some of their younger pieces doing a lot of really cool things.
They couldn't defend and they couldn't get goaltending,
but they were still a blast.
I don't think the penguins are going to be as bad as the sharks were last year record-wise.
But in terms of style, I could see it.
Fandle is one of our sponsors here on Locked-on Penguins.
And if you're a betting person, hammer the over this year for the penguins.
And just for the goal, game-to-game goal.
goal totals, just hammer the over because they're going to be able to score,
but they're not going to be able to stop the pucks from going in their own net.
So I agree with you.
I think that there's a very real world where this Penguins team is kind of fun to watch
because you look at the returning players in some of the additions.
Last year, the Penguins had 10 players who scored double digit goals.
And they weren't very good last year.
So you get 10 players to score double digit goals.
You have 3.30 goal scores, all of which are on your top line.
You had five players who eclips the 50 point mark.
I think of Gennie Malkin's going to do that again.
Eric Carlson, I think at this point, if he stays on the team,
you can pencil him in for 45 to 50 points.
He does that pretty consistently throughout his career.
Brian Rust, he just keeps getting better.
We talked about him a couple weeks ago.
So it seems like every time he's supposed to slow down or regress, he somehow gets better.
Ricard Raquel, give myself a pat on the back for that one.
I said two years ago, I thought injuries just plagued him.
He wasn't able to get any sort of consistency.
He figures it out last year.
And of course, the captain.
He's Sidney Crosby.
He's father times number one rival because he just keeps getting consistently, not better,
but he consistently is one of the better players in the NHL,
and he's a lot closer to 40 than he is 30.
So, yeah, I mean, at the end of the day,
you add that up and then you look at some of the additions.
Like I think we talked about it again,
Coyvin and McGrady are going to take a step.
They're obviously not to the level of what the sharks had last year.
The sharks are a really exciting young core
that's going to continue to grow together,
and that's going to be a good team in the next few years.
but you've got a couple young guys in Covenin and Magrorty who are going to grow and going to get better.
I think Anthony Manta is a real dark horse to be a solid player this year,
especially if he bounces back from having a knee injury.
I'm intrigued by Tommy Novak.
I think that he can be a pretty good middle six forward,
whether it's center or wing, depending on who he plays with.
Tomicino, find some consistency, pop in 15 goals or so, not a bad year.
and my biggest excitement on the forward group this year
outside of the obvious is Justin Brazil.
Like that dude, I don't think he's going to light the world on fire,
but he kind of fits the modern NHL.
And if he can find a role, carve it out,
that's a solid player to have in your bottom six.
But like you said,
we go from the forwards,
the defense,
goal-tending,
that's going to be a little rough.
That's one word to say it.
But I agree with you on all the other friends.
When it comes to, again,
McGority and Coivinen,
I do think they will take at least a bit of a step this year.
But as we've talked about all offseason,
people need to manage their expectations.
They are not going to light the league on fire this year.
Like, if they somehow give you 50 points,
that would be insane.
I think, as I've said, 35-ish would be a pretty big success for them this year.
If it's a full 82 game season, that's what I'm looking at.
Heck, even maybe 30 points, I think is also totally fine.
Justin Brazzell, I think he's the better version of Nolachari, in my opinion.
He can give you double-digit goals potentially on a fourth-line role.
I think people are also continuing to sleep on Blake Lazot as well.
Good penalty killer can score in the bottom six.
He can give you double-digit goals.
Teams are always looking for that type of depth around the trade deadline.
So I could see contenders looking at him at the deadline.
Connor Dewar as well.
I like the small sample size that he had at the end of last season.
Can he build on that?
So there's a lot of really intriguing depth pieces here.
Is it playoff caliber good?
No, people.
It is not close to a playoff caliber good.
But is it still decent?
Yes, I would say that.
I think the forward group as it stands right now is fairly decent.
That's really the best way to put it is decent.
It's not a great forward group.
Let's not get carried away.
I know that we're having the point of the segment is we're having fun
at how much fun the penguins are going to be.
Because I do think that as we've said,
it's going to be the fun kind of bad.
Unless Dan Mews suddenly comes in
and tries to do what Mike Johnston did
and make this team defensive,
this could be a fun team.
I think you're going to be,
hopefully they will be better defensively.
But I think what you're trying to say is he's probably not going to turn them
into a trappy team that plays a bunch of two one games.
And honestly, Pat, they're not built right now to play a bunch of two one games.
And I mean, our good pal, and I think we need to put him on a milk carton because he's been
missing.
We got to get him back on the show.
Jesse Marshall kind of wrote about this a while back long after Muse was hired.
You look at the kind of system he employs.
It's heavy on the forecheck.
It's heavy on puck support.
It's essentially very similar to what Mike Sullivan likes to run,
but it's going to fit more in with the personnel that the team has.
And he's also the kind of coach that isn't so entrenched in his own system.
Because if you watch some of the film, especially from when he was heading up the U.S.
development team, there was a gold medal game where they were going to,
getting their system beat. It was figured out. I think it was by Sweden if my memory serves.
And he switched it up and said, okay, Sweden figured out what we're doing. We're going to do
something different now to counter their counter. So I don't see him as being a defense first kind
of coach, but I see him at least early on before we find out where this organization is going and who
they're going to put the saddle on for the post Crosby Malkin days.
I see him being malleable.
I see him being willing to change.
But when you look at the forward group, you can see him going, you know what?
We got to get better defensively.
But what the hell?
Let's try to score five or six a night and see what happens.
He'll try to get them to be better defensively.
But I think just based on the limitations of the roster, I'm not sure how fully realistic
that is just because when you look at the defenseman right now,
I agree with you with what you said before.
The biggest thing, like, you know, under Mike Sullivan,
the underlying numbers were usually fairly solid.
You know, their expected goal rate was well above average,
but the actual finishing rate,
aka the actual goals rate,
was in the bottom third of the league,
especially these last few seasons.
I think one of the biggest goals for Day Muse is getting that up,
aka they're finishing.
Penguins just could not finish chances under Mike Sullivan,
with these last several seasons.
I had been waiting for it to revert to the norm for forever, it felt like.
I want to see if Mews can tweak a few things to get the Penguins back up to being at least
a decent finishing team or a consistent finishing team just because it's been so bad.
Like they've been able to generate Pat.
They just can't put the puck in the back of the net.
And I do think that was a little bit of a limitation of Mike Sullivan towards the end of his tenure.
But that would do it for this segment.
Coming up next, we've talked about.
Tristan Jari a lot already this all season.
But what about the other goalies?
What about expectations for those goalies in the system?
We're going to discuss that coming up right after this.
However, before we get to that, we have to tell you all about our first sponsor, and that is
game time.
College football is back.
And honestly, there is nothing better than the energy of tailgates and being in the stands
with your fellow fans.
The only downside, trying to get tickets, endless cues hidden fees in prices that jump at
checkout.
That's why I use game time, the app that gives the advantage.
back to fans. It's the easiest way to secure last minute tickets at the best prices with no surprise fees.
What you see is what you pay. I pulled up game time recently in just a couple of taps.
I saw amazing deals and I'm talking about Virginia Tech games as low as $25.
I am super stoked for Virginia Tech to open the season this next Sunday against South Carolina.
Shane Beamer coaches South Carolina son of Frank Beamer. It's going to be a lot of fun.
And I just can't wait for Virginia Tech football to come back.
I love the zone deals, though, on GameTime.
Pick the section.
Game Time picks the seats and you save big.
The app also makes it very simple, even outside of zone deals.
I could see the exact view from my seat before buying my tickets.
So take the guesswork out of buying college football tickets with GameTime.
Down the GameTime app, create a account and use code locked on NHL for $20 off your first purchase.
Turns apply.
Again, that's code locked on NHL for $20 off.
Swipe, tap, ticket, go.
Download game time today.
All right, we're back here on this episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast.
I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes, joined by my co-host, Patrick Namben, Pat.
Let's get into some goalie talk.
Also a weakness for the NHL squad going into the 25-26 season,
just because we've talked a lot about Tris and Jari and his inconsistencies
and that you really don't know what to expect just because it's very hot or cold.
It's been a lot of cold these last few seasons.
So, again, we've talked about that enough.
But outside of that, you have the competition for the backup spot, Archer Sheelovs, or Yowell Blumquist.
I think this is a very big year for YOL Blumquist development, is you're going to sink or swim?
That's really what it comes down to.
He had a couple of NHL stints last season.
I thought his first stint went fairly solid.
Second stint, though, you could tell NHL shooters were really figuring him out, going blocker's side a lot.
I think that's something that he still needs to work on quite a bit going into this year.
But I feel like at this point, it might be now.
or never because he's going up against Shilov, Sue, had a really nice year in the
HL, Calder Cup playoff MVP, led the Abbotsford, Cunuch to, excuse me, to the Calder Cup
was really good for Team Latvia.
A couple years ago was the MVP of the World Championships.
He stood on his head for Team Latvia, knows how to show up in big moments.
And if he has a good camp in preseason and starts out the season well enough to win the
job over Blumquist, he could potentially steal some starts.
from Tristanjari if he falters.
But I think that's also the best case scenario.
So a lot of interesting things going on with those two.
Sergei Murashav, I think we all know what the expectation is for him.
It's to get the lion's share of the starts in Wilkesbury.
I think that is the next best step for him in his development.
I don't think he has much left to learn at the ECHL level,
considering how he dominated.
People talked about wheeling in the playoffs.
Only a few games.
I'm not too concerned.
But I think the next best step for him is taking the net in Wilkesbury and running with it.
Could that mean Yowal Blumenquist also get some starts there?
Yeah, especially if he loses out to Arthur She-Lovs with the NHL squad.
You also have the Philip Larson situation where he also played really well in Wilkes-Ferry.
So time will tell on that one.
But again, there's a lot of fascinating situations that could develop here for goalies outside of Jari this year.
You brought up the biggest, quote, unquote, battle that I'm interested in in that she loves versus Blumquist because it kind of feels like Blumquist is getting squeezed out.
And it's through no fault of his own.
I do still think he's a very intriguing goaltending prospect, but we know what the future hopefully holds for Sergey Murshov.
he looks like he could potentially be the future franchise goaltender.
And you look at Blumquist and what happens between him and Shilovs?
Does Shilov snatch up the number two job in the NHL?
Because it for him, kind of similarly to Blumquist,
it's getting to be put up or shut up time.
because he was very good, obviously, for the Abbotsford Canucks, winning the Calder Cup,
getting the playoff MVP.
A couple years ago, he unexpectedly has to step in for the NHL Canucks against the Oilers
in the playoffs and plays pretty well.
Yes.
Much like the Penguins number one goalie in Tristan Jari, his problem is rapidly becoming
he's got to find consistency because he has these.
flashes where you think this is a guy. This could be a starting goalie in the NHL. Is he going to be
one of the best? Probably not. But he's the kind of goalie that you can give the lion's share
to starts to and you'll be okay. And then he has other moments where you wonder if he is just a
fringe NHLer and will be good in the AHL but never really figures it out at the big level. With
Blumquist, I think he's just a victim of circumstance.
Sergei Murashov eclipsism on the depth chart because he was really good.
Blumquist, not bad in his first NHL action, kind of falters in his second stint.
I kind of look at Blumquist as a dark horse trade candidate for Kyle Dubus because it's probably not going to happen for him here,
especially if Sheelov shows up and does pretty well.
And if you can leverage having a solid goaltending prospect on the trading block,
you can probably get something worthwhile back for him.
It won't be tremendous.
Don't get too excited.
But if you can look at a franchise that needs a young goalie or has an older goalie that's on the way out
and you're looking for a stopgap solution, that might do pretty well for
Kyle Dubus.
But there's one other thing I'm curious to see, and it kind of relates to the first
segment.
You brought up Dan Mews wanting, hopefully making this team a little bit better defensively.
If Jari has another Jari-like year and Shilov does okay, he kind of looks like he might
be able to steal some starts from Tristan Jari, it might be if this team plays better
defensively, at least marginally.
Not the worst idea to say, you know what?
We're going to put Jari back in the H.L.
We're going to see what Shilovs and Blumquist can do.
And if this team plays okay defensively,
if Blumquist can't hack it or kind of struggles again,
you might have your answer.
But again, if it's similar to last year where this team can't defend,
don't feed Blumquist to the wolves.
Let him split starts in the HAL,
maybe move on from them split starts between Jari and Shilovs and just see what happens.
Right.
Like they were kind of feeding Blumquist a little bit to the wolves at the end of last season,
which is why I think the management group was just like,
all right, let's just call Jari up for the rest of the year.
We know we're not making the playoffs.
We don't want him to keep getting destroyed like this on a nightly basis,
where he's just giving up goals to his blocker side and just giving up weak goals in general.
You know, that game against the Mapley still really stands out to me later in the year,
Pat where I was like, all right, I think it's time to maybe focus on his development a little bit more,
maybe in the HL, just because that game, I was like, all right, like, that's too many bad to flat out weak goals.
He was given up.
It just wasn't best.
As for a trade for him, I think you could get something back.
It's not going to be a lot.
You know, maybe if you can try to swing a prospect for prospect type trade where it's not, you know,
a top prospect coming back, it's kind of a middling piece.
maybe you can swing that, maybe a later draft pick, but this isn't going to be a bit.
Yeah, I don't want.
I don't want people to think I'm saying that Blumquist is this A plus plus trade ship.
But again, you look at the organizational depth in net.
And again, through no fault of his own, he's kind of getting squeezed out just because the emergence of Sergey Mureshov, the acquisition of Arthur Shilov's.
and kind of similar to Sergey Murashav,
you look at Yoel Blumquist and think,
I mean, you can put him in Wheeling,
but what is that really going to do for?
That doesn't do anything.
He's too,
you know that Murashav is probably your top prospect in net.
Blumquist has to figure it out,
or at the very least turn in a performance
that eclipses Murashav,
which is questionable.
So I do think he's,
just a victim of circumstance.
Right.
I hear you.
And then you also have Philip Larson to figure out.
You still have Taylor Grodier coming back, though I think it's more likely that he probably
isn't wheeling again this year, even though he's been lighting up at ECHL these last few years
as well.
So maybe there's another trade to be made before the season in terms of, you know, one of
these younger goalies, you know, whether it's Blumquist or Larson.
But for a lot of these guys, it's time to really figure out, especially again, for someone
like Yo, I Blumquist, but that would do it for the second segment.
Coming up to end the show, the Athletic released its annual Faith in the Front Office
rankings last week where fans got to rank the top front offices and the Penguins.
They were a little bit below average, and Pat and I have some thoughts about that.
That's coming up right after this.
All right, we're back here on this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast.
I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes, joined by my co-host Pat.
Dom of the Athletic, I'm not going to try to pronounce his last name because I know
I'm just going to butcher it.
So I'm just going to call him Dom.
Does really good work there.
By the way, he released his annual, you know, faith in the front office stuff,
where fans get to, you know, vote on the top front offices around the NHL.
There's like the public section.
And then there's the fan base section.
So Pittsburgh Penguins overall came in 20th, so a little bit below average.
Last year, they were 29th.
So a pretty big step up.
And a lot of the fan base, they have Kyle Dubus in the B-My-My-My-My-C.
plus range, which I think is a totally fair grade.
I think he has been average to maybe a little bit above average during his tenure.
I don't think he has been bad.
I also don't think he has been excellent.
I think he has just been fine.
And I think that's totally reasonable to say.
I think if people try to, a lot of people for a lot of things just try to go to these two extremes.
And it's just like, for a lot of things, it's just right down the middle.
This is one of them.
And for the public, though, as expected, you know,
you have some D plus, C minus, D plus, all this stuff.
And I saw some tweets being like, well, not surprised at all that a lot of Penguins fans think that, you know, everything is better than it is.
And it's like, do people really expect the public to actually vote accurately?
Because it feels like to me a lot of Leafs fans just review bomb to this.
And I'm not too surprised about that because they don't like Kyle Dubis.
Like, I feel like some people are missing that.
And I feel like also a lot of hockey fans out there.
really don't like him.
Not even just for Toronto.
I've noticed some Islander fans also don't really like him.
I don't really know where that came from,
but I've noticed that as well.
But I just don't think that is accurate.
Like they're not closer to the D plus C minus range.
They are closer to me to that B minus C plus range.
Like I think the fan base has a pretty good handle on that.
Like I know a lot of England fans are pretty nuts.
Like that's not new information.
hear people, but we love most of you, especially you guys that listen to our show.
But I think B minus and C plus is way closer to an accurate representation of Kyle Dubus
than a D plus or a C minus in my opinion.
That's where I am.
And by the way, it's Luce, Lishin.
That's how you say it.
Lus Shizn.
But anyway, I don't have any proof or basis that Leif's fans review bombed it.
They probably did because they, you listen to any sort of Leif's show or read any sort of Leif's
media.
still are not over.
Kyle Dubus,
they talk about him incessantly,
and I don't get it.
But anyway,
it's like us still talking about Jim Rutherford.
Like,
it's been over.
So move on.
Or even,
you know,
Ron Hextall,
we have no reason to talk about him anymore.
But I do want to talk about
Ron Hextall because I want to talk about
how it relates to what the penguins are doing now.
You could kind of see at the end of Ron Hextall's tenure,
it was a pretty directionless ship.
He kind of wanted to rebuild, but kind of still wanted to contend.
He kind of wanted to go and make the team a little bit tougher,
but he also wanted to go out and get a certain type of offensive player.
It just felt like they were throwing everything at the wall
and really had no idea what was going to stick.
Kyle Dubas's first season, we've talked about it.
It wasn't great, especially the off season.
He took a lot of swings, didn't hit a lot of,
didn't hit much of anything when he took those swings.
Rightfully acknowledged that and began the rebuild retool process.
And while it's frustrating after 20 some odd years of being either Stanley Cup contenders
or playoff contenders, people were at least like, okay, we get it.
You're going in a direction.
You're committed to it.
You're doing it.
That's fine.
There was no false starts.
There was no stops.
There was no, oh, actually,
just kidding. We're going to try to contend again.
So I think Penguins fans as a whole understand he is committed to a direction.
He's sticking with it.
He is going to do what makes this team better for the future rather than try to get that
papered over band-aid sugar rush that a lot of general managers try to do.
And then the other end of it, what you said about the public, just putting the Leafs fans aside,
even we're victims of doing this.
We don't know and fans don't know the every, every single day, day to day of what goes on with every team.
You and I try because it's our job to analyze the sport.
But I don't know what happens on a day to day weekly basis, whatever with all 31 other teams.
So everybody's kind of used to, oh, the Penguins have Sidney Crosby and Gennie Malkin.
They should be really good.
Well, they're not really good.
So obviously the front office and coaching staff doesn't know what they're doing.
But if you're in this every single day like we are, you see, okay, they're keeping the legends around, but they're very clearly getting ready for the time when those guys leave.
Right. And I think some of the general public is still under the assumption that, oh, well, since there, you got to commit to winning with him for as long as he's there. And it's like, that's not the plan right now.
The plan is to rebuild this thing as quickly as possible. And maybe, just maybe, get.
him to the playoffs one more time before he retires. But again, that is a massive maybe because we don't
know fully how long this is going to take. So I think the general public, a lot of them, they're just
kind of out to lunch. And I will say one thing that both the public and the fan base agreed on.
And I'm going to assume that the fan base all listened to us that voted in this, free agency,
C minus for the public,
free agency, C plus for the fan base.
Yes, that's fair.
That is,
that's the Kyle Dubus experience right there.
The guy is extremely good at trades.
Never loses a trade.
He might not win it,
but he doesn't lose it.
Scouting and drafting,
pretty darn good.
He is pretty solid at that.
Look at the Leafs.
I know we said the Leafs already,
but look at the Leafs up right now.
They have a lot of good players.
and a lot of them were under him in West Clark for the draft process.
Free agency, he is not a very good negotiator.
He is not a very good contract drawing up however you want to describe it kind of guy.
So if we're Penguins fans right now, our hope has to be that he does a really good job
in building up this prospect pool and getting the next generation.
because if he tries to build it through free agency,
it's probably not going to work.
Well, I don't think you're even going to see that next summer
when they have right now 50 plus million of cap space.
They'll make some moves,
but he's not building this team through free agency.
Next summer, I think that would be ludicrous
and also just ridiculous to do.
Like, you're not going to be seeing that.
Like, again, I think they're going to be more aggressive next year,
but you're not going to be seeing 10 to 12 free agency signings
or anything like that.
But I think,
I think I've said everything I've needed to say about this, you know, public model and, you know,
the rankings and all that. I think he's been totally fine as GM. He's committed to a direction.
And the team that you see right now is not going to be the same team that you see, especially after
the trade deadline as well, because there are going to be trades between now and that I think
the team is going to look fairly different once next March, especially comes around.
But that will do it for today's episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. Pat and I will be
back with a fresh episode for you guys on Wednesday before finishing off our top 25 of the last
25 years on Friday with the top five players of the last 25 years. And of course, we'll do
Fan Take Friday as well. So for Patrick Damp, I am Hunser Hodes. Thank you guys so much for tuning
in. We appreciate it. We'll be back on Wednesday.
