PENGUINS POSITIONAL PREVIEWS: With just one spot which forward MAKES IT?

0:00This is the Lockdown Podcast Network celebrating 10 years of your team every day. Thank you for making Lockdown your first listen every day. For your second listen, go find Lockdown Fantasy Hockey. Steal Rodin and Flip Living Stone provide daily fantasy tips to give you the edge over your leaguemates all while making you a smarter hockey fan. You may have heard the Pittsburgh Penguins have a lot of forwards heading into training camp next week. Yesterday we went over the players, we believe will be locks to make the opening night roster. Today we talk about the forwards who are going to have to earn their spot on the 2026-27 Pittsburgh Penguins.

1:01You're Lockdown Penguins, your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome to the Thursday edition of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I am one of your hosts, Patrick Damp. You can find me on most social media platforms at Synonym for Wet. Join as always by my partner in crime, Hunter Hodes. You can find Hunter on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. You can follow our shows Twitter account at L.O. underscore penguins. We're also on TikTok at Lockdown Penguins and Instagram at Lockdown underscore penguins. With training camp just a week away, make sure you're subscribed across all audio platforms as well as YouTube. That way you're getting the latest penguins news and analysis here on Lockdown Penguins.

2:02Today we officially have those dates for training camp. Phil and Amanda Kessel are heading to the US hockey hall of fame. But we begin this episode by continuing our penguins positional preview series with part two about the forwards. Yesterday Hunter and I went over the forwards we believe to be locks for the opening night roster. And when it comes to forwards, 11 of the 12 spots appear to be claimed. But by my count, Hunter, and you can correct me if I'm wrong here, there are eight players vying for that one single spot. By my count, I have Vila Covenin, Elder Saudder Blum, Justin Brzo, Hendrix LaPierre, Philip Hollander, Rutger McGrawert, Avery Hayes, and David Gustafson. Hunter, this is how I see this going, at least how I see it going in the beginning.

3:02The 12th spot is going to go to Covenin. He just signs an eight year deal. The team clearly believes in him. So he's going to get that spot. He's going to get a run to prove that he has improved to show that he belongs in the NHL full time. However, I don't see that set in stone. So I'm going to push back a little bit on you there. And I wouldn't say David Gustafson is the eighth. I think he's starting the season in Wilkesbury on the top line. I think that's part of the reason why they got him is too, so they can have another body down there to really fill the hole. There was a pretty big hole there. They lost some pretty solid pieces during the off season. So I think he's going to start the season in Wilkesbury. The eighth player I would say is Tristan Brose. He will at least give it an opportunity to try and make this team. He had a very good camp, very good preseason last year. He was very close to making the team. Then obviously, when he was healthy, he had a really good season in Wilkesbury.

4:04I think the odds are still stacked against him making it this year, even if he has another good camp in preseason, but he's still going to be given an opportunity to make it. I think that final spot, at least the 12-4 spot, is going to Elmer Soderblum. I was a big fan of the way he played after the trade deadline. It was about a half a point per game. He was so good along the boards. It was hard for defenders to knock the puck off his stick. Just the way that he was protecting the puck was really nice to see his net front game was also really nice. He had better hands than I expected him to have for someone who was just so freaking big, just the way that he was using his hands around the net front was great. Also, his play behind the net, I thought was really strong as well. I like what he did at the end of the regular season. I also like Tally played in the playoffs when he was given an opportunity. I do think he has what it takes. I think he will win that 12-4 spot in camp in the preseason.

5:04We're going to get to a full camp schedule later on in the show. I will say this here, preseason games are going to value even more this year than before, because when you look at the schedule, there's only three camp practices in the first three days of camp. Those preseason games, they're going to carry even more weight. With that, I do think Soderblum is going to win it. Time will tell what happens on a 13-4 spot. I said before, if I had to guess, it's going to go to Justin Brasot, Hendrix La Piera, it's going to be in the result from maybe a 14-4 spot. This is the competition that I am really excited to see, because there are a wide variety of players that could really win this job in the 13-4-14-4 spots. It's going to make for a really fun battle during camp. As another option paddle, if you want to add number nine, he is a top prospect and we saw Ben Kindle make the team last year when none of us had it. I will add Bill Zonin, but he's going to have to have that Ben Kindle type camp where you

6:08just can't say no to him being on your roster. I think he's going to make his NHL debut a bit later on in the season, potentially, but I don't think it's going to be this year, but for making the team out of camp, but I still have to put him there because we just saw it with Ben Kindle last year. You are speaking my language, Hunter Hodeys, because he is, and I have said on the show, he is kind of my under the radar, almost dark horse candidate. I'm still skeptical. I don't think he will make the team out of camp, but if there ever was a Ben Kindle type player to show up, blow everybody's expectations out of the water and make the team out of camp, Zonin fits that profile, though I don't see it happening. The other thing that I wanted to say, because we are, like Hunter said, we are going to talk about camp more in depth than the second segment, but there is a little nugget in the new CBA that is now in effect or will be in effect in a couple of days.

7:11Certain veterans only play two preseason games this preseason. When you have this glut of forwards that the penguins do, you're going to see a lot of these players in the preseason because you're not going to see, and even though you never would in the past, you're not going to see Crosby, Malkin, Rust, etc. You're not going to see those guys. You might see them in one game. I think there will be one dress rehearsal game. Maybe it's that final one. I believe it's a three o'clock start, if I recall correctly, that final weekend of the preseason before they head to Philadelphia for the season opener. Maybe it's that one, but overall, I think you get one dress rehearsal game, and I think the rest of it is seeing these young players in the veterans will be battle it out for the remaining roster spots that are not locks. I do think should camp go the way they want it to, especially at Forwardware. It's a very competitive, very intense week and a half or so that we're going to see of

8:15camp. I can see this ending in a world where they just keep 14 forwards on the roster to start the year, where you'll probably, if I had to pick a couple of names, I do think it would be Coivan and Sotterblum and Brzo, if they're all still here by the end of camp, because they strike me as the three that are going to get the most runway and have the, I don't want to say highest ceilings because that kind of puts it in a different conversation, but we saw last year that Sotterblum and Brzo, they are very much NHL players. They're not minor league guys. They obviously go through some slumps, but who doesn't, but they're not in between guys. They're not guys who need some time in the AHL and then can come up. They're full time NHL players. Coivan and I keep repeating it. They have faith in him. They have a belief in him now. He has to go prove it.

9:16So he's a player that I do believe they're going to give runway to work everything out. It's not going to be a one strike policy with Coivan and they're not going to say, ah, he had a bad game, scratch him, send him down. He's done. They'll give him seven, eight, nine, 10 plus games to work it out. If it gets into double digits and he's not producing or at the very least is not playing well, I could see that turning around on him, but at the end of the day, those are the three that I see making it. And here's the last point that I want to make before we get into training camp is this. Somebody I trust pretty well when it comes to things he says in his analysis is a very polarizing agent in Alan Walsh. And he basically said that this training camp season mid September into October, you are going to see a flurry of moves.

10:18You are going to see a lot of movement, whether it's waiver claims, trades, you name it because of the rising salary cap and because of teams like the penguins who just have this crazy log jam of forwards. So I do think a lot of the names we are talking about right now might not be in Pittsburgh when we get to Philadelphia for the season opener. Yeah, I mean, that could definitely be true. And we've talked about how, you know, if there's a younger player that really impresses, I don't think they'd hesitate to potentially put one of these veterans on waiver saying, like, hey, you just didn't do enough and we're going to give this opportunity to a younger player. If that someone is like, well, I mean, again, I need to see it during camp preseason before he potentially makes the team. Okay. If that someone is avery haze, rock and regret, et cetera.

11:18Okay. Same thing. They won't hesitate to move a veteran or two out to make room for some of these other younger forwards. I know I'm playing it a little bit safe going with a couple. Well, she's a couple. Hendricks Lopier is still pretty young in his 20s. I mean, he does have at least a decent of NHL experience, but he's not like a full, established veteran like some of these other players are going to be chalking for spots. But I still don't think they'd hesitate to find room for someone else who has a little bit lesser NHL experience. Again, like someone like a McGrawdy, like a, every haze, like a Ville Covenant, et cetera. So again, those first three days of camp, this is a nice T-Store, the second segment, those first three days of camp, they are going to be ultra and I mean ultra competitive. And we now know when those first three days of camp will be upon us, we will talk about the schedule and what camp means this year as we are one week out. So stick with us. We are going to talk about that when we come back right after this.

12:25Before we do that, though, we got to get to our first sponsor in that is ODO. Running a business shouldn't feel like you're trying to connect a bunch of systems that were never designed to work together. One app for accounting, another for inventory, another for sales, and somehow none of them talked to one another. That is where ODO comes in. ODO is an all in one business management software that brings every part of your business together in one powerful platform. From sales and accounting to inventory and marketing, everything works in one place. ODO is a platform to manage, grow and scale your business. And the best organizations know that success is not just about talent. It's about having everyone working toward the same goal. And that's true in sports, just like it is in business. We know that there's going to be a lot of forwards at Penguin's training camp. And that is by design because you know that Dan Mews and Kyle Dubas want to have a competitive

13:25camp and get the most out of their players that they can over the next few weeks. Great organizations win because operations matter. And that is why you should be using ODO. ODO is one platform again to manage, grow and scale your business. Try it for free today at odu.com slash locked on. Back here on the Thursday edition of the locked on Penguin's podcast, Patrick Damp and Hunter Hodes here with you. And can you feel it? The days they're getting a little bit shorter. The temperatures, well, here in Pittsburgh, they're not getting that much cooler, but they're going to start getting a little bit cooler here soon. And that means hockey is not far behind today. The Penguin's officially announced training camp dates, which will all take place unless otherwise noted at the UPMC Lemieux complex.

14:28It begins on September 17th. That is when the first practices will take place. Hunter, we have got quite a bit to discuss about camp. So I'm just going to go through some stuff here real quick to get the schedule out of the way because you can find it on the Penguin's website. I'm just going to hit some key dates here. September 17th, camp opens, first days of practice. Runs through September 27th. There are two off days, technically three. September 28th is an off day, but camp is over by then. So it's an off day. So there will be days off on September 20th, which is a Sunday. And then Wednesday, September 23rd with the new 84 game schedule. Preseason is down to just four games. They will play the sabers on September 21st in Pittsburgh, the Red Wings on September 22nd in Pittsburgh, the Blue Jackets in Columbus on the 24th and the Stabers in Buffalo on

15:29the 26th. You hinted at it in the first segment though. This is a pretty short camp. So there are a lot of things that players are going to have to do in a not so long amount of time. Especially for the younger players that are really going to try to push a veteran or two out of the line. And because you see me, especially that 12th forward spot, when you look at the defensive pairing, someone like Owen Pickering, for example, who's also going to try to make this team out of camp, you really only have three practices. And then a handful of preseason games to make it happen because yes, are there two other practices a bit later on in camp? There are Friday, September 25th. There's a practice at 12 o'clock, but 27th there's also one at 12 o'clock. But I feel like by that point, most of the roster is probably going to be set in stone. At least that's my current thinking. I think that by Saturday, that's going to be more of like a dress rehearsal game in Buffalo at three o'clock, where you're kind of just getting set for the season.

16:32But in terms of like a pure training camp practice pad, there's only three of them next Thursday, next Friday, and next Saturday. All three practices, the first group comes on the ice at 8.45 in the morning. Hey, I know you're going to be like, oh, you have to wake up early for this. Yeah, I do have to wake up early for this, even though I'm used to sleeping in. Usually a little past nine, but I will do it for any type of hockey because we are getting set for the season here. So first group comes on group A 8.45 through 10.15. And then after that, group B is 11.30 to 1 o'clock. Group C comes on right as group B is finishing up at 12.45 and they are on the ice through through to 15. Excuse me. That schedule remains the same for Thursday, Friday and Saturday. And then you have a few morning skates. Those are also all open to the public. All practices, by the way, are free and open to the public. So I'll be there next Thursday, Friday and Saturday. If you're going to come, come say, I'll be sitting next to my colleague, Kelsey Sermaxle,

17:35we just be covering camp, the practices, trying to speak to players in coaches. So really excited, man, I can't wait to see how this goes. It's definitely a lot shorter of a camp than we're all used to. I mean, last year's camp went way longer. It also helps that there's a lot longer of a preseason, but with a shorter preseason, shorter time to go to the regular season. This is what happens and I'll repeat it again. The season games are going to carry even more weight this time around than they did last year because you had a lot of practices last year. Now, only have a few, and then you only have a few more chances in games. So that's where you're going to have to really make your mark in terms of making this team. I'm excited. There are two things I want to get into about this. First is to say, I get it that a lot of people will look at this, whether it's us, fans, other analysts and say, this is craziness. They've only got basically three days of real practices because the other practice days

18:39when you look at the schedule, the 25th, it's a 90 minute practice from noon to 1.30. And then that Sunday, the 27th, it's a one hour practice from noon to 1. Here's the thing. It's a cliche because it's true. You can't simulate games. You can't. You can have as much fun as you want doing scrimmages and full ice and three on three and all that stuff. But if you really want to see what some of these players are made of, put them in game action and put them in game action that, yeah, the score isn't going to matter. If the penguins go 0 for 4 in the preseason, it's not going to matter, but it's going to matter how these guys play, how they play in certain situations, how they handle certain roles and all of that. So having four preseason games while it's fewer, they carry much more importance now. The other side of this, and it's something that I've talked about for multiple different

19:42reasons, it's 2026. It's not 1976. These guys are full time professional athletes. It is a full on career and occupation now. We don't need a week to bring them into camp and whip them into shape and figure out who's ready to go and who isn't. If these guys show up to camp out of shape, that's an issue. If they show up in shape, that's the expectation. So as much as it is weird, I think this makes a lot more sense because we don't need four days of, all right, we're going to skate them into the ground to make sure they're ready to go. So I do suicide for the first four days of camp, just pure skating drills, up back, up back. We're just going to do those, but I'm just kidding. But I will say though, the one thing that they are missing and this gets into something I talked about in the first segment about the new CBA, the one thing they don't have anymore. And even players who have been upset about this is the fitness testing because at the very

20:47least, the players, while they said, hey, we're not going to miss the Tortor Real Escape test that he is so famous for, even though he's not coaching, they did say like, hey, we like having that baseline of when we got into camp and we did the fitness test, here's where we were, did we grow, did we decrease, did we get better, did we get worse. But at the end of the day, again, these guys have a full time job and it is pro athlete. If they are not in shape, that is very much a problem. And real quick, just to go off that, all these players have been back in Pittsburgh skating in these informal skates since the end of August slash the beginning of September, campus starting in a week. So they've been out here going, I wouldn't say like full go, but they've been practicing it feels like most days in cranberry together as a team, even some of the players that were in Wilkesbyter for a lot last year, like Sergey Murershoff, for example, he's been up here practicing with a lot of the NHL group, even some of the NHL players who we know are

21:50going to be in the A this year, but are going to at least come to Penguin training camp. They've been up here as well, getting reps and getting some informal skates in. So it almost feels like it's been like a mini version of camp before the real thing starts. So that's not going to really be an issue for me once it starts next Thursday. The two games that I am going to have circled the most for this preseason are the two in the middle. The Tuesday, September 22nd game against the Red Wings and then the Thursday, the 24th against Columbus, because the way I look at this, I'm not going to say that the first game doesn't matter, but that is going to be if I, if this camp goes the way I think it's going to go, that's going to be a weird mishmash of a roster where you're probably going to see not the big guys, but you'll probably see a few players that you know are going to make the roster and they're going to get their legs under them and you're going to see a bit of a weird roster. Those middle two games, I think is where you're really going to see, all right, these are

22:55the players, young, old, new that are on either the bubble or we want to see what they're made of and if they can steal a spot from someone. And then that final game against Buffalo in Buffalo, that is like you said, probably going to be their dress rehearsal where you'll see probably most of the team that you're going to see on opening night with maybe a couple of guys who's surprised or have played well and might have a shot at stealing a spot. So I do think those two middle games, games two and three will be the most important because that will be where they put out a roster of these are all the guys we want to get a better read on and we want to see if they're ready to go. I think I'd throw the first game in there as well. I think you could potentially see a more younger lineup and that one sprinkled around with a few veterans just to help them out. So I'd say definitely yes for the middle two games, but I wouldn't be surprised at that first game as well as kind of similar where a lot more younger guys are in there.

23:57They're going to get potentially bigger roles and hell. Sometimes we see some of these younger lineups play a full-on team that's playing a dress rehearsal with their big players and sometimes those younger players out there. Without play a team with full of initial players even though it's a dress rehearsal just because those players Pat, that's the real. Those guys are probably not going 80% during a no. They're kind of just going through the emotions like okay let's just get through but for these younger players that are fighting their butts off, they're going zero to 100 and rightfully so. So I would push it up to the first game potentially as well but I drew good with you of the last game too. That one I think has a better chance of being the dress rehearsal but you know, maybe we're all wrong here and they pull a steward's where some of the veterans just don't even play in the preseason. That's also a potential possibility. So I will say this of all the veterans, the only one I could see pushing his way to get into a game is Sid because of Maniac. I could genuinely see a world where Malkin, Carlson, Latang, all three of them just don't

25:02play in the preseason because one, you've got a few defensemen who do need to make an impact. So you know Latang and Carlson are going to be on the roster. You know Crosby and Malkin are going to be on the roster. So let some of these young guys cook, put them in a bit of a bigger situation and a bigger role and see if they can handle it in the preseason and go from there. See where they fit. As we have been saying all summer, this is a good problem to have for the penguins. They have options. If some guys disappoint, you've got hopefully some players who can step in. If they all work well, you've either got good assets to move or you've got insurance for when injuries inevitably happen. But we are one week away from training camp as Hunter said him and our pal Kelsey surmats will be there. Don't be afraid to go up and say hi, give him a compliment on his hair, whatever you'd

26:03like to do when you see him at training camp. And obviously make sure you're following us. Make sure you're subscribed because we're going to be covering it the whole darn time. That's going to do it though for this second segment. When we come back, a big honor for two people that play big roles in the penguins history and organization. We'll get into that when we come back right after this. Finish it up. The Thursday edition of Locked On Penguins, Patrick Damp and Hunter Hodes back doing daily episodes with camp just one week away. And there is but just one way to conclude the Thursday episode. Nice guy, tries hard, loves the game and now a hall of famer announced today the 2026 class for the US hockey hall of fame and it includes Phil Kessel, a two time Stanley

27:06Cup champion with the penguins and the penguins director of minor league operations, Amanda Kessel. Here's the thing, we can wax poetic about Phil Kessel because I think about Phil Kessel way more often than any healthy human being should. I think what gets lost in this and simply because of the gold medal, Amanda Kessel is arguably one of, I wouldn't say the best, but she is in the conversation for one of the best American women's players to ever play the game. Yeah, I mean, she was fantastic when she played. Obviously we all talk about how great she does with the Pittsburgh penguins in their front office and she continues to do a great job, also Pat assistant general manager of the Wilkesbury's Cretan penguins. But when she played, especially for teen USA at the Olympics, multiple times, she was usually one of their best players.

28:07She won a gold medal in 2018. She won silver twice in 2014 in 2022. She also played a national women's hockey league for a couple of seasons. She was always so fun to watch, especially in those Olympic games. So I am thrilled that she is getting this honor very well deserved. She does a great job, as I said, in the penguins organization, especially with Wilkesbury, getting that team into the playoffs year after year, really helping them out, really helping of course the Pittsburgh penguins as well. She also played at the University of Minnesota and she led them to three division one national championships during that time. Hell will player in her own right. Don't get me wrong. And as for Phil, man, you're right. I think about Phil Kessel way too often. He was so freaking awesome as a member of the penguins. I still think about that trade, man. Bob McKenzie, Kessel to pit in a multiplayer deal done and ran around my house when I was

29:1017 at the time. I was 17 turning 18 that year. I got a step in with this. I'm not sure I have told the story on the pod before. I'm not going to put any names out there, but I do believe that the statute of limitations has very much ran out. But at the time of the trade, I was working for the nailers and I will say this straight up, this is not a head fake. You don't have to start looking down the Wheeling nailers staff history roster to figure out who this was because that won't give you the answer. But I was sitting in my desk in the nailer's offices in my phone pings and it's a friend of mine who says, the penguins are getting Phil Kessel. And I went, that's funny. Are you playing NHL? And he said, no, I'm at work. And the penguins are getting Phil Kessel. And I had to wait for like an hour to tell anybody because wasn't allowed.

30:15Would have got them fired, but he was right. The other thing, and I'll get to fill in a sec is just listen to this. Amanda Kessel, 2012, 2013 season. She scores 46 goals, 55 assists for 101 points in 37 games. Yeah. And because she was just the fifth player in NCAA division, one hockey to reach 100 points. That is how good she was. Yeah, she was fantastic. Yeah, her whole entire playing career was great. She fully deserves this honor both on the ice and her work off the ice with the Pitzer Penguins organization super thrilled with her, you know, just going back to Phil for just a second Pat four seasons. Of course, with the penguins 110 goals, 300 three points and 328 games during that time. Two time Stanley Cup champion. He was electric in 2015, 16 and 2016, 17.

31:20Hilarious both on and off the ice. His teammates absolutely loved him. The way that him and I've getting him all can with always bicker on and off the ice was something to behold. I still think about how he was always yelling at everyone in that game against Ottawa. Emma with the whole Pat. He scores the game winner to help the penguins even up the series. You see him just huffing and puffing and he's getting talked to by the coaching staff. Trying to be like, okay, Phil calm down. We get it. Then he scores the game winner and then he has an unreal celebration for that. But elite in the playoffs finishes to his career 17 years, 992 points and 1,286 games. It does stink that he was not able to get to those two milestones, 1,300 games and 1,000 points. But very much deserves to be in the US hockey Hall of Fame Pat and you also represent a team USA quite a bit as well and played pretty well for them. So very well deserved for this for Phil Castle. He still holds the NHL's Iron Man streak, which is absolutely huge for him.

32:25Phil was as advertised when he came to the penguins huge part of those championship teams and we will forever love Phil the thrill. But that is going to do it for the Thursday edition of the Locked On Penguins podcast. Hunter and I will be back with a brand new episode for you on Friday and we will be putting out the call for a very special fan take Friday. So keep an eye on our socials on our YouTube channel because we want to start training camp with a bang. So keep an eye out for that. But for now for Hunter Hodes, I am Patrick Damp. Thank you as always for tuning in and we will be back on Friday. The Locked On Podcast Network is brought to you by Fandible baseball fans. If you think you know who's hitting a home or today, Fandible is giving you a free chance to call your shot with daily dingers. It's easy to play. Just make your free pick for who you think will hit a home run in their game. If you're right, you'll receive a profit boost to use on your next bet for a chance at

33:28extra winnocks. Best of all, you can make a free pick every day throughout the MLBCs. So are you ready to play your game today? Join all the action at fandible.com. That's fandible.com to play daily dingers and make your free pick on who's hitting a home. Play ball and swing for the fences on Fandible, an official partner of the MLB. Thank you for making Locked On. For first listen every day. For your second listen, go find Locked On Fantasy Hockey. Steal road and flip living stone provide daily fantasy tips to give you the edge over your league mates all while making you a smarter hockey fan. Find Locked On Fantasy Hockey on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Your team every day.