PENGUINS POSITIONAL PREVIEWS: The forwards who are LOCKS to make the opening night roster!

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1:02In case you haven't heard, there are a ton of forwards on the penguins roster right now, and on today's episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast, we're going to discuss the forwards that are definitely going to be in the lineup, aka roster locks for opening night, coming up right after this. Hello and welcome to the Wednesday edition of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes. You can follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Join by my coast, Patrick Tamp. You can follow him on most social media platforms at Send Him For Wet. You can also follow this show's Twitter at L.O. Undershore Penguins, and you can find us on Instagram at Lockdown Undershore Penguins. And of course, thank you so much for making this your first lesson slash watch of the day. We are free and available on all platforms.

2:03It's episode is brought to you by Fandall. Get $350 in bonus bets, guarantee when you bet $5 every day for seven days. Join all the action at fandall.com. A bit later on the show, we're going to talk about Sydney Crosby's comments about a new contract extension with the penguins, which is probably coming down the pipe here before the season. I honestly expect this done in the next few weeks. We'll get more into that a little bit later. And we'll talk about the bottom six forwards who we think our roster locks coming up here in the second segment. But to start things off Pat, the top six forwards who we obviously know that are going to be on the roster. Sydney Crosby, Evgeny Malkin, Brian Rust, Ricardo Raquel, Tommy Novak, and E. Yorchina Gov. My projected top six for this upcoming season. I know this is your projected top six as well. Raquel and Rust on the top line with Sydney Crosby. Crosby loves playing with Rust and Raquel, especially Rust. He has loved playing with him for the last several seasons. And with those two, I'm expecting to see 20 to 30 plus goals from them this upcoming season.

3:08Yeah, I know there are another year older in their 30s, but they don't seem to be slowing down. And they both had really good seasons. Once again, Sydney Crosby. Oh, yeah, Pat, roster lock. Right? I mean, come on. We got 100% there, right? You went right into it. And I was hoping that you would give me a little space for it. But I'll just, I'll do the meta thing now where I just talk about the joke rather than make it. But I was going to say, a lot of depth charts here have this Sydney Crosby guy locked into the right, I don't know if he's going to make the team. But yeah, I mean, it's really difficult to have a in depth discussion about the top six. It's about as set in stone as it can get. The thing that I will say is nice right now. And this isn't a commentary on how good or not good the team is. That's a discussion for later on when we get closer to the regular season.

4:13There's a lot of flexibility at the top of the forwards on the penguins depth chart right now. We know that Raquel has the ability to play wing or center. Depending upon injuries, performance, availability. You also know that Brian Rust can move up and down the lineup. He is a proven top six forward. But he is absolutely a reliable two way forward. If you need to move him down, should you get somebody, whether it's a surprise, whether someone like Robertson, who we'll talk about later, has a breakout campaign. Or if you just go out and get somebody later on in the season, you know you can move him down. I think the other thing that's nice about that is the same thing can be said for Tommy Novak. Right now he's more than likely going to start the year on the second line, whether he's a full time center and of getting malkins a full time wing or we'll see. But you also know that if Ben Kindle really starts to develop and looks a lot better,

5:13like he can take on second line center minutes and responsibilities, there's nothing wrong with moving Tommy Novak down to the third line. So I do think as much as there is a glut of forwards going into camp, your top six is pretty well set, but you also have a good amount of flexibility at the top of the lineup. Yeah, I'm glad that you brought up Novak as someone who can be very flexible because he can play center or he can play wing. Obviously in the second half of the season last year, he was playing a lot of center. On the second line of getting malkin was playing a lot of wing on the second line. That's how I expect it to start this year, especially once we get to camp late next week. But if Damu wants to move malkin back to center now that he's coming into the season, 100% healthy, at least for a little bit, I wouldn't be surprised that happens and say for example, Tommy Novak struggles a little bit at center. Again, that's another reason to maybe, okay, you can be able to move him to wing at some point, move malkin to center. He's literally been a center of his entire career though he did play pretty well on the

6:16wing in the second half of this past season. I'm just saying it's at least an option for Damu since both have shown a pretty strong ability to play multiple positions. And then Igor Chenekov on that line obviously showed great chemistry with Novak and malkin. I'm a big believer in this player 18 goals 36 points in 43 games with the penguins last season. I am projecting it, projecting him excuse me to have a pretty big year for the penguins this year was a great fit on that line. Kind of, when they found the fountain of youth just because he's still so young, but he just found a good home with the penguins after struggling a lot with the Columbus Bougiectets. These last couple of years, Damu's has been playing to the strengths quite a bit. I want to see him on the top power play a little bit more. And I really do think there is a good chance he scores 25 plus this upcoming season maybe even 30 plus. I've seen some projections from fans saying he could score 40 maybe, but I'm going to go about 25 to 30 plus. I'm a big believer in this player.

7:17And I think he has what takes to do that. I'm really excited to see what he can do in the full season with them. Right. I had a really good discussion with our pal J over on locked on blue jackets yesterday. The episode aired yesterday. We recorded it over the weekend. But the thing that I said to him and he kind of agreed with in a sense is that a lot of people will look at his time in Columbus and think he was a bust. He was a disappointment because if you look at a lot of his statistics, his analytics, everything in between at his time in Columbus, it was underwhelming. But there was more to it than that. He had the shortest of leashes from the coaching staff at the time. He would make one or two mistakes and then get buried down in the bottom six or he would be outright scratched. He also struggled with some injuries. And it also doesn't hurt that now he's got a linemate in in Evgeny Malkin, one of the top 10 players of the last 20 years.

8:20So having that guy on your line, no disrespect to our little brothers in Columbus. But they haven't had that since probably Rick Nash and that was well before Chinatown Cove's time. So I do think that he does have to take the next step this year. He was very good with the penguins last year. Now you need to both individually and as a coaching staff take him to that next level. We have said it multiple times over. There needs to be power play one time for Igor Chinatown this year, especially with his shot. The coaching staff does need to make that adjustment and put him in more advantageous situations like that. But he also has to pick up the ball and run within himself. They're going to more than likely give him these opportunities. It's also going to be on him to go out and seize them because the way they used him last year, they didn't immediately throw him into the fire, but it was pretty quick. He wasn't eased in so to speak.

9:22There was a week or two where they got him a little more familiar. They sheltered his minutes a little bit. But as soon as they understood he could handle them, they let him run and he succeeded. So now it's time for him to take that next step. As you said and as I have said, I'm looking for 25 to 30 goals, 50 to 55 points and to be, I don't want to say a more consistent contributor because 36 points is pretty solid. There needs to be less time between production. He can't go four, five, six games without putting up points. But if he goes two, three, four, that's natural for point producers in the NHL. So it's going to be on him to really take that next step this season. Yeah, I think that happens with a lot of scoring winners where there are some time to have a little drought here and there, especially as you go further down the lineup as well that jumps become a little bit longer. Still, even a little bit higher up than lineup, you'll see some of these top six forwards go a little bit without a goal.

10:24I expect that at times this season, but I still expect him to seize upon his chances. He did a great job of getting to those goal scoring areas during his penguins 10 year last year. And I expect that to continue because he has a blistering release and he's not afraid to use it. Pat, I also have to say this as well. You talked about the wreck Nash era. I think you just have our Temi Pinaranar racer in Columbus. So come on, man. I mean, don't be wrong. Pinaran's great, but he's not of getting malkin. He correct me if I'm wrong. No. Pinaran, not a center, right? No, he's not. I was just saying like in terms of a great player there. But that's where I wanted you. And then the other thing I wanted to add before we close out the discussion about the top six, there is one worry that I have in the back of my mind. And that is Brian Rust. Now on a much lesser level, I have him in a similar category to Sidney Crosby. I know a bunch of people are going to gasp at that. But I mean it in this regard.

11:25Every year, so we come out and say they got to slow down eventually, right? They got to eventually fall off some kind of a cliff, whether it's immediately, whether it's gradual. Brian Rust has continued to produce for the last five years. Yeah, he's not Sidney Crosby. Sidney Crosby is a top five player of all time. But Brian Rust plays a very blue collar, very honest game. And that takes its toll in the NHL. And until he doesn't do it, he still does it. But I do always have that little worry in the back of my mind that this guy has played a lot of hockey over the last decade. He is a very hard-nosed blue collar player. And those miles do add up. So we'll see what he can do this year. But there is a slight bit of worry for me that he couldn't regress just because of father time, not because of anything he does. Yeah, I hear you. I just still think the thing is for me, I know he's another year older. He continues to be in his thirties.

12:26He's just been Mr. Consistent for these last several seasons. So until that goes away, I'm going to project into score 20 plus once again this year. And I think he's going to score some pretty big goals again for the penguins this year. As well in those 20 plus goals that I think he'll score. But that's going to do it for the top six forwards that we think are roster locks now. Let's get to the bottom six forwards that we think are roster locks. And that's coming up right after this. But before we get to that, we have to tell you all about our first sponsor, which is Fandall. Welcome to your most rewarding NFL season ever only on Fandall. How rewarding are we talking? Well, more rewarding than a touchdown with time expiring. More rewarding than an 18 point comeback and even maybe more rewarding than an offensive lineman catching a touchdown pass. This season, Fandall is making the excitement go beyond what happens on the field with the all new Fandall award club featuring exclusive offers surprises in so much more this season. Fandall is making the excitement go beyond what happens on the field with the all new

13:27Fandall award club featuring exclusive offers surprises and more every week. Check the Fandall out to see what is waiting for you. NFL season kicks off tonight Patriots Seahawks a rematch from the suitable this past season. Really excited to watch that. We have a game in Australia on Thursday. That's going to be a lot of fun. And of course, the hometown Steelers kick off their season against Atlanta Falcons on Sunday to a tag of the lowest starting for the Falcons as the Steelers try to go one in O to start the Mike McCarthy era. Now make this your most rewarding season ever with Fandall. Visit fandall.com to get started. I started or not in 2013 and we make bike apparel. The best part of Shopify for me is our ability to run the business as essentially non-technical people were able to admin everything on the back end, front end, and sell things online easily. If Shopify were a bike accessory, I think it would actually be the bicycle.

14:27It's the thing that you do the thing on. We run the business on Shopify. Start your free trial on Shopify.com. All right, we're back here on the Wednesday edition of the Locked On Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host Hunter Hodes joined by my host, Patrick Amp. All right, Pat, let's look at the forwards that we think are pretty much locks for the bottom six on the third line. Ben Kindle, 100% had an amazing rookie season last year. He is going to be the Penguins third line center this year. And if you look at some of the videos and photos that the penguins are putting out on their social media, just when you see the informal skates, I don't know about you, Pat, but he looks bigger and he looks stronger after a full off season NHL workout routine. Maybe it's just me, but that's the vibe I got when I was looking at him and seeing some of these videos. Nick Robertson and Andre Kuzminko, I have as locks on the third line, especially when you look at the contract that they gave Robertson over the off season, that tells me they see him in a top nine role for the season.

15:28Kuzminko signed to a one year contract. He's the man that replaced him and they're going to try to get 20 to 25 goals out of him this season. I don't think he's going to hit the heights that man that did this past season, but I still think he could be a good bet for 20 to 25. And then on the fourth line, Connor, Dewey and Blake LaZot are my main two for those Pat. That's the thing is we've talked about it a bit this off season. There is basically one spot open at forward and they have a ton of forwards competing for that one spot. And I agree, Ben Kindle looks great. And what else did we expect? It would have been genuinely shocking if he would have come to camp out of shape or smaller or just looking like he wasn't ready because the kid is mature beyond his years for every reason we've talked about. And then for the rest of that line, Kyle Dubas is a big believer in Robertson. He had him in Toronto. He was a big supporter of him there.

16:30So it's unsurprising. He's made his way here, but that's less a case of Kyle Dubas loving his guys and Kyle Dubas identifying a talent that probably wasn't going to get to move up in Toronto's line-up. So there's a better place for him here. Bruce Manko said it before. I'll say it again just to make sure we're all on the same page here. He is going to be frustrating. He's going to be a black hole defensively. He's not going to be the most exciting forward. The thing to keep an eye on for him is he producing because that is what he is getting paid to do for $5 million in that role. He's got to put up at least 20 goals in that role. I know that seems like a lot. But $5 million, one year-prooved deal, we're going to need at least 20 out of you. And then Lizott and Dewey, they were just so good together last year in their fourth line roles that it was one of the more effective fourth lines in the National Hockey League.

17:32And then that brings us to the big competition who is going to get that last winger spot on the fourth line. You've got Ville Coivanin, Elmer Soderblum, Justin Brasot, Loppierre. It's a lot of people vying for one spot. But at the end of the day, it's a good problem to have going into camp because I know he's not the Steelers coach anymore. But as Mike Tomlin often said, Iron Sharp and Zyron, these guys are going to have to push one another and earn their spot to get a jersey every single night. Yeah, we're going to discuss a lot more of those on the Thursday edition, the players that are competing for the 12th-4th lineup spot and the players that are competing for to be one of the extras, maybe one of two extras. We just have to see how many forwards the penguins want to keep going into the regular season pad. Is it going to be 13 forwards? It could be as high as 14 maybe, is it just 12 for example? So there's going to be a huge competition for those spots.

18:35We'll dive into more of those on Thursday. I'm in agreement with you, with Blake Lazade, especially on the fourth line. You know what you're going to get out of him, plays his ass off every single shift, really good forechecker below the dots. Someone who can also kill penalties really well is not afraid to get his stick in his body into shooting lanes really strong along the boards in those areas. Connor Doer, who also loves to drag the penguins into the fight. And I'm excited to see what they can do from another year there as well. So you go ahead. You hit the biggest thing and I remember saying this a couple of years ago, when they got Blake Lazade, he was something that this team had been missing for a couple of seasons. They didn't really have that fourth line bottom six player who can shake you out of a slumber when you meet it and Blake was not and now Connor Doer are two players who can do that. Whether it's just having a strong shift and getting some extended ozone time, throwing

19:38a big hit or even getting into a scrap. They are the kind of guys who Dan Mew's in the coaching staff. If you're on a rough night in late November, early December, January, you're kind of having a sleepy night. You can tap them on the shoulder and say, wait this team up and they'll jump over the boards and they'll deliver that. Yeah, I'm with you that will always do that, especially if they're down by a goal and the third, maybe down by multiple goals in the third. If you need a spark, Dan Mew's is not going to be hesitant to throw that fourth line out there and really get the juice going and then I'm sure they'll throw the crossbite line out there if they can get some momentum out of it. Obviously, that would pay huge dividends as well. But I think that's going to do it for our second segment. Because what we think are the roster locks at 4-11, which means again, the competition for those other spots, especially that 12-4 spot, going to be pretty crazy in camp in the preseason. But again, that's going to do it for this second.

20:39We're coming up to end the show. Sydney Cross, we talked about a potential new contract at the NHL media tour earlier this week and Pat and I are going to discuss that coming up right after this. It's Halloween time that the Disneyland Resort and Minis begun to brew up delights and spine tingling fun. Come see what becomes of Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure Park when Halloween takes hold. Halloween time, August 21st through October 31st, visit Disneyland.com or contact your travel advisor for important details. All right, we're back here to close out the Wednesday edition of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes, joined by my co's, Patrick Damp. Pat this quote comes courtesy of Mark Lazarus.

21:39Crosby was at the NHL and NHL PA player media tour in Vegas. He talked about his next contract because he is eligible to sign it literally anytime now and Sid says. Paterson is talking to Kyle Dubas about it. It's just a little bit more difficult at my age as far as trying to project where you're going to be. I would like to continue playing for a number of years. It's just I don't know what that number is. I guess your minded body will tell you that eventually right now. I do feel pretty good. So I'll echo what I have said and what you have said on the show. This is not going to take very long once they settle on the number because we 99.999% know what the AAV is going to be just because that's who Sidney Crosby is. I think it really just comes down to is it going to be a one year extension? Is it going to be a two year extension? Help Pat could maybe even be a three year extension because it seems like that's what they're really trying to iron out as Crosby tries to decide how much longer he wants to continue playing. But I'm thinking that answer. He kind of indicated he's not thinking about retirement anytime soon.

22:42Just have to see what the term looks like on this contract. Yeah, I think the big hang up overall is the term just because whether we want to admit it or not Sidney Crosby is mortal. He is human and we've seen it with a number of elite level athletes, whether it's in hockey or any of any pro sport. There are times when your body just gives up. There are times when your body just says enough and I don't know when that will happen for Crosby, but it's a very real possibility. The thing that the penguins have done really well that we've talked about on this show is they've done a solid job for the most part the last few years at bridging errors. I've complained about it endlessly that you see a lot of national and non-pitzburg coverage of the penguins and there's this talk of oh, they're hanging on to an era that's long gone.

23:42They're hanging on to this that and the other and they really have it. Because Crosby is still great. Malkin is still very good and he's not blocking anybody from getting into the lineup and you can kind of say the same in a sense for Carlson and LeTang. But everywhere else, they've done a good job of building up the younger talent, the prospect pool, so on and so forth. But the issue there also is as I was saying to start. The time could come when Crosby's body just quits and I'm doubtful it's just going to happen overnight because he's incredibly conscious of his health. He has been since he was a teenager. He's extremely dedicated to his craft. But you also don't want to say, hey, Sid, here's a five-year extension and then two or three years into it. It's just over. Now, he's not the guy who's going to command $20 million and leave you in a hole.

24:44But you also don't want to say maybe sometime in the next year or two, you find that next person. It's probably not going to be the next Crosby. But if you find your next guy and suddenly you've got an anchor of whatever Crosby's making for two to three years because he can't play anymore, that becomes more of a headache. And Dubus does have to be conscious of that. He can't just say, ah, your Sydney Crosby lifetime contract as much money as you want, as much term as you want because that could hamper future plans. So end of the day, I wouldn't be shocked to see it two or three year extension just because I don't think he's suddenly going to be done in the next year. But I do think if you go two, three years, that's going to be a lot more manageable for the franchise. I'm still going to say it's going to be a one to two year deal if I had to pick one, I'd probably say two years, you know, what does this mean for all the Canadian media that

25:46wants to run them up to Canada to go play for Montreal. You know, I had to make that joke just because we saw another thing from Toronto radio talking about, oh yeah, hasn't signed this contract yet. And it's like, yeah, this is probably going to be signed in the next few weeks before this or the regular season guys. It's just like, haven't seen a lot of this this or season, but I am still, whenever it comes up, I'm so sick of hearing about it because it's just stupid jealousy crap. But I mean, how many times have you and I either done a fan take Friday or just an episode of, hey, let's fix the NHL. Yeah. We're all in this together. And when we get to this point where training camp is like two weeks away, we've got to have something to talk about. And again, we didn't have this conversation on Mike when I went with our pal Jay on locked on blue jackets. But if you're going to look me in the eye and say conservatively, 28 of the 31 other teams still wouldn't want Sydney Crosby.

26:49Probably going to call you a liar. Yeah, I think every other team would want him. I think you're even well on 28 of the 31. I'd say all of them. I mean, yeah, probably, but I think like, you know, maybe someone like Colorado would be like, yeah, it would be nice. But I mean, we got Nate McKinnon and Kim McCar right here. It wouldn't hurt. We're not going to say no, but like, I'm talking need like pretty much every team would say, yeah, we'll take them. But like, there's a handful of teams I think could do it, not do without them because who could, who wouldn't want Crosby. But I do think like every team at this point, yeah, if there's an opportunity to get 87, they're probably going to do it. Well, I didn't happen because he's a retired member of the penguins. He's going to sign that contract extension here at some point. And everyone here is going to be very happy about it and rightfully so. So those are Sydney Crosby's thoughts and then our thoughts on what he had to say about his impending contract extension. I do. I do want to add one little piece to this discussion though.

27:53And this is this does kind of veer into the thing that annoys you about the trade. And it's not about him leaving. It's not about him playing elsewhere. But with the rising salary cap with everything, do you see a world potentially where the penguins in Dubas say, Sid, not get the hell off. We're not giving you 8.7. You're getting 10, okay? You're getting 10 for a couple of years because you've earned it. Thank you for everything. The salary caps rising. It's not your job to be the general manager anymore. There's three years at 10 million. Honestly, if he really wants it short, but I just don't really see him veering off the 8.7 unless something unforeseen happens. And now I could be dead wrong about that. And maybe he does sign for 10 million per on this next contract extension. But seeing what he is signed for throughout his career, especially about longing, that

28:54long deal excuse me, his most recent extension. I think it's going to stay at 8.7 million. But does he deserve 10 million plus for everything that he has done for not just the organization, but around the NHL? Oh, 100%. And I would have no problem with it at all. No one should have any problem with it considering the cap continues to rise. But that's how I sold it. It's going to be at 8.7 unless something changes. I do too, but I do think that he's one of my favorite voices in the sport with Jeff Merrick. But I do think when you talk about perceived value versus what they've made, Sydney Krasby and Alex Ovechkin have been severely underpaid throughout their career for everything they've done to the sport. So I mean, if I'm dubious and I'm the penguins, or if I'm just me having one of these in my hands in playing NHL, I'm looking at Sydney going, here's 10 million, shut the hell up and put your pen on the paper.

29:55Hey, maybe you're a small little prediction that could end up being right. Maybe he does get 10 million on this next contract, but I'm still going to air on the side of history here with this one. But that's going to do it for the Wednesday edition of the Lockdown Penguin's podcast. Thank you all so much. Take the time to listen to slash watch this one. Pat and I will be back with a fresh episode of you all on Thursday going into part two for the forwards. Who was battling for that 12 forward spot in the bottom six and then the extra forward spots as well. We're going to discuss that plus any other penguins news that comes out as well. So for Patrick damp, I'm Hunter Hodes. Thank you all so much for tuning in. We'll be back on Thursday. Hey sports fans, it's JD, the host of Lockdown Cardinals. And did you know with the Discover Cashback card, it's payback time when you earn cash back on everyday purchases. Activate and earn 5% cash back in different categories each quarter on up to $1,500 in

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