How active will Dubas and the Penguins be during NHL Draft week?

How active will Dubas and the Penguins be during NHL Draft week?

business is about to pick up ladies and gentlemen it is officially NHL draft week and we’re going to get you set for everything you need to know over the next couple of days you’re Locked on Penguins your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins part of the Locked On podcast network your team every day welcome in to another edition of the Locked on Penguins podcast i’m one of your hosts Patrick Damp you can follow me across all social media platforms at synonyonyinem as always by the one and only Hunter Hodies it’s going to be a big week for him ladies and gentlemen it’s draft week you can follow him on Twitter at Hunter Hodes you can give our show’s Twitter account a follow Penguins and now you can also follow us on Instagram at lockedon_penguins and of course as always we appreciate you making this part of your daily routine because we’re your team every day don’t forget we’re free and available wherever you get your podcasts as well as YouTube plus if you follow us on YouTube make sure you’ve hit the notification button that way you can be among the first to know when we drop our daily Monday through Friday episodes or any breaking news emergency episodes that we may need to drop this week because as I said in the start business ladies and gentlemen is about to pick up the draft is here it takes place this weekend Friday and Saturday from the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles 7:00 p.m on Friday night and then business picks back up for the rest of it on Saturday at 9:00 am obviously Friday is the first round and then Saturday is the rest of it we will obviously be keeping tabs on it especially that first round when the Penguins will have the 11th overall pick and potentially the 12th overall pick as well we will know that by Wednesday which is the deadline for the New York Rangers to inform the Penguins if they are keeping this year’s pick and giving the Penguins their 2026 pick or if they’re going to give the Penguins their pick this year and hold on to their 2026 pick but we are going to do so much more draft analysis looking into prospects looking into potential picks looking into potential trades and anything else in between later on in this show as well as for the rest of the week but before we get into any of that Hunter I actually wanted to get your take on something that is more global when it comes to the NHL draft this year for those who may not know this is the first year that the NHL is doing a decentralized draft what that means is this is not going to be like all of the drafts in the past where you got the draft floor where every team has their table their general managers their scouting staff their coaching staff all sitting in one place in the same building this is going to be like the NFL draft now where teams have a draft war room in their own facility in their city but the prospects will be at the draft venue simply put Hunter I wanted to ask you this do you like this or do you not like this it hasn’t happened yet but I still just have a weird feeling because it’s so cool seeing every NHL team have their respective table and then it’s also cool seeing NHL GMs go up to other GMs talk to them you see those tweets go out all the speculation starts happening even though it can be a 5 10 minute conversation but it creates excitement and you’re not going to have that this year at the NHL draft so it just creates a little bit of a mixed feeling for me a lot of trade chatter is going to happen before the draft so usually it’s an opportunity for GMs to go meet face to face to either a finish those trade conversations and get that over the finish line or b heck start those conversations face to face and then get that over the finish line maybe the next day or maybe into July you know I remember going back to the Hornquist for Neil trade jim Rutherford and David Bole they were talking on the draft war for a long time before finalizing it and you know stuff like that it creates excitement i always remember when a couple Penguin reporters when Rutherford was still the GM would be like “Oh Rutherford’s on the phone again rutherford’s on the phone again.” And you know you have the meme when Kyle Dubis was in Toronto of him with the two phones on his ears like stuff like that is it a little bit cheesy or corny yeah but you know what it creates excitement for some of the casual fans heck even some of the diehard fans out there so it’s going to be weird not seeing it and if it doesn’t go like the NHL wants it to go I think you’re going to see the draft not be like this going forward I think you’re going to see every single team back at the NHL draft next year and then going forward but again I think weird is the word I keep coming back to like it’s it’s odd that all the teams are going to be in their respective cities in their own war rooms but yet some of the prospects are going to be out of a draft in LA i don’t know just seems odd right i I’m of two mindsets when it comes to this i agree with it being weird mainly because some of that’s nostalgia like I do love that there are reporters who basically spend the entirety of the draft tracking the movement of general managers of oh hey I was getting debachi dinner when uh James Neil was traded for Patrick Hungquest always like you know you have oh Kyle Dubis is over at the Anaheim Ducks table and he’s talking to them and oh this general manager and this general manager just walked off the draft floor together because that’s fun like you said it’s a lot it’s enjoyable on the other hand it’s 2025 like the everybody’s got internet everybody’s got an iPhone or a Blackberry or whatever sort of personal use device they’ve got they’ve all got email they’re easily in touch it’s not the 1990s anymore where you know you got to call through a landline and you got to hope that somebody’s not on the internet at that moment so you can get through but at the same time those personal in-person interactions are getting lost because you hear it from reporters you hear it from former general managers you hear it from agents that a lot of deals don’t get made on the draft floor it’s not Kyle Dubis walking over to the Nashville Predators table and talking to Barry Trotz for 10 minutes it’s when the draft is over it’s or before the draft begins or the night before the second round when they’re at the hotel bar they’re yucking it up and they have a couple beers couple pops and they start talking about deals they start talking about getting business done and when you’ve got everybody in their own city that kind of goes away so I’m interested to see how it goes i I think I like the idea overall because let’s be honest the draft should be about the people getting drafted it should be about the kids who are about to achieve a 16 17 18year-old dream of making it to the highest league on earth and this is the culmination of that but at the end of the day it really does serve as the epicenter of hockey in the start in my estimation of a brand new season so curious to see how that goes let’s I know some people will try to compare it to the NFL because the NFL teams are in their respective cities for the NFL draft while the top prospects go to the city that the draft is being held but the NHL doesn’t do that like they’ve really never do that so it’s just again it’s weird that you’re going to see this like I I want it to go back to where all the teams are together for the the draft so you can see some of those conversations being had on the draft floor and even if you don’t see some deals made there usually made you know a week or two or maybe even three weeks later into July so it’s cool that we got to see them all together at the combine but not having all them there at the draft hopefully again we’ll have to see i I I I got to see how it goes but right now kind of getting a little bit of the ick about it right so real quick before we end this segment because like I said at the top this is going to be Mr hod’s week to shine because we’re going to keep going through his draft board and looking at some potential picks that the Penguins could make but before we do that let’s give everybody this quick rundown of what to expect this week and what to expect on Friday and Saturday the Penguins right now they have 10 picks in this draft they’ve got the first round 11th overall in the second round they got 59th overall in the third round they’ve got three picks 73rd 84th and 85th in the fourth round they’ve got the 105th pick the fifth round they’ve got two more picks 130th overall 148th overall they’ve got the 169th pick in the sixth round and the 201st pick in the seventh so lot of opportunity for Kyle Dubis to not just make a lot of picks this week but he also could use a lot of these assets to help improve the team in the immediate get some young talent get some young help and prospects to bring into the system so overall this is shaping up like it could be a pretty active week for Kyle Dubis and the Penguins i would be surprised if we don’t get at least one deal from the Penguins this week if not two they’re You keep reading the same report Pat over and over and over again you have Elliot Freeman saying like “Oh they’re like a salmon going against the stream.” You have other people saying they’re the only team selling yeah it’s all fine and dandy that we keep seeing the same reports but wake me up when something happens and I do think you’re probably going to see a trade or two from the Penguins this week but I’m sorry man i can’t keep reading the same report over and over again every single day it’s reminding me of the Brandon Aayuk nonsense with the Pittsburgh Steelers last year please let’s just get on with it at this point i’m sorry i can’t just keep reading the same report but as I said I do think you will see the Penguins very active in the trade market this week and I think you see one if not two trades made this week by them and the good news is Hunter you’re not going to have to read those reports for much longer because it is draft week we’ve got just a couple days before the Penguins make their picks and make their trades and we’ll obviously be tracking them all week long making sure you’re updated but that is going to do it for our opening segment hopefully our quick and easy guide to this week’s NHL draft has you caught up and ready to go now let’s get you caught up on some prospects the Penguins could be picking with one of these many picks on this weekend and we will do that when we come back right after this but first we’ve got to tell you about today’s first sponsor and that is Wonderful Pistachios if you’re looking for a snack that is both delicious and nutritious crack into a good source of protein with Wonderful Pistachios wonderful Pistachios it is one of the highest protein nuts and each 1 oz serving of these nuts have six grams of protein giving you over 10% of your daily value plus they’re packed with fiber as well as those better for you unsaturated fats that help keep you feeling fuller longer said it before I will say it every single time we’ve got wonderful pistachios as a sponsor i love the no-shells variety it’s perfect for me as I’m at work or I’m at home cleaning up and doing house chores or if I’m on the road that quick and easy snack gives me that protein boost as I work to get my little butt back into shape but if you’re looking for that satisfying crunch the classic inshell variety is always an option so get snacking and get cracking with the snack that packs a protein punch and visit wonderfulpistachios.com to learn more welcome back in to the Monday edition of Locked on Penguins i’m Patrick Damp right alongside Hunter Hodies and Hunter I’m treating you this week like a golden retriever that’s got acres and acres of land because you are going to get to run this week my friend i have said it before I try my best to keep up with prospects but I simply just don’t have the time i’m not going to lie to our listeners and say that I’m a prospect expert because I simply am not it’s my one blind spot as a hockey analyst but I know that you have been grinding away for the past couple of months looking at potential draft picks and prospects that you think the Penguins will have interest in and let’s start with a really interesting one that you have said you want to get a lot off your chest for and that is center Jake O’Brien a big boy a big body and he has got a lot of creativity for being that big of a player so Hunter tell us more about J O love that you brought up creativity because he is very silky with a puck on his stick the amount of times I saw him de a player out of his skates this season was ridiculous he would literally make players fall on the ice so bad because he would just knife through these dudes in the neutral zone knife through these dudes in the offensive zone he is a treat to watch when he has the puck on his stick 32 goals 98 points in 66 games this season for the Brinford Bulldogs he was outstanding it’s a 19 goal increase from the previous season as I said very sil silky can de players out of their skates he creates his own offense with his shot but he’s still I think to me a little bit more of a playmaker his vision absolutely absurd i think that’s one of my favorite parts of his game as well his skating I think it’s fine enough i think he projects to be a good top six center if he pans out i would be over the moon if he were available to the Penguins at number 11 as well but there might be a big run on centers to start the 2025 NHL draft Pat so the chances of him being at 11 might be a little bit more slimmer when you compare it to someone like Eklan i’ll say this I think Ekkund has a better shot at being available to the Penguins at 11 than O’Brien does i think Ekkan is a better overall player but this is what happens when you have a potential big run at centers because O’Brien is a center i expect him to go in the top 10 but if he is there at 11 heck if he’s there also with Eklund who the Penguins have a pretty big decision to make there because both are two of my favorite prospects in this year’s draft but Jake O’Brien man the vision that he has the playmaking ability has a good shot his skating is fine i would be over the moon if they were to somehow get him at 11 when you told me this is who you wanted to look at today I dove into some of the footage i do I dove into some of his tape and there was one thing about his creativity that stood out to me and it’s something that and again I don’t want to you know overinflate values i don’t want to sit here and say that oh these guys are the next ones they’re going to be you know the next Crosby McDavid yada yada yada but let’s keep it realistic here when I looked at his footage one of the things that I noticed about his creativity in the way he plays the game the way he possesses the puck in the way he creates offense is he has an ability to pull defenders in and make defenders and defending teams focus on him which opens up opportunities for his teammates and that is something that is so valuable in the National Hockey League because we know regardless of how you feel about coaches whether you have ones that you like ones that you dislike we know that this game and it’s been a pet peeve of mine for a while now is that the game is overcoached the game is so structured it is so sticking to exactly what the system is but if you can get a player like Jake O’Brien in that mold that plays creative is able to improvise a little bit and is able to pull defenders in and open up opportunities for teammates that is incredibly valuable oh 100% and again the way that he sees the ice the vision that he has the hockey IQ that he has I know that sounds so cliche to say it’s off the charts like the way that he can thread the needle so nicely with some of those plays once he gets into the offensive zone is second to none and that’s another really big thing that stood out to me when I was watching the tape and just watching him throughout this process was you know how patient he is with the puck and again man he he makes it look so easy i felt like for a time he would try to do too much with some of the des be like “Okay turn down a little bit just because I saw him lose the puck a few times.” But a whole bunch of other times he’s just going through these players like they’re absolutely nothing so again Penguins can get someone like this in their system it would go a long way towards really improving this prospect pool even more and we have another center to talk about coming up here in the final segment that is depending on who you talk to is either top five or is not even in the top 15 he is on my list though and I am getting a bit more comfortable as each passing day goes that the Penguins potentially want to take him at 11 ladies and gentlemen if you are not in the podcasting or radio business that is what we call an elite tease and that is why Hunter is one of the best in the business we will leave it there on the Jacob Bryan preview and when we come back just like Hunter said we’ve got a pretty polarizing one that when you take a look at draft experts some like him some love him some don’t even like him at all we will talk about him when we get back right after this but before we do that we’ve got to tell you about today’s last sponsor and that is FanDuel summer sports are in full swing and whether you’re all about baseball under the lights golf on the green or high stakes soccer action FanDuel is the best way to make every game even more exciting you’re already following the action so why not make it a little more thrilling with FanDuel you can get in on the game while your friends are getting sunburned at the beach it’s easy to use the payouts are fast and it makes regular season games feel like mustwatch events if you’re new to FanDuel new customers can bet $5 and get $150 in bonus bets if their first bet wins so open the FanDuel app today or visit fanuel.com/lockedon to get started back here on the Monday edition of Locked On Penguins I’m Patrick Damp right alongside the one and only Hunter Hodies and you said it before we went to break Hunter not to go full all iteriteration here with this segment but it’s a bit of a polarizing prospect and that is center Roger McQueen a right shot another big boy depending on when you look at his some of his rankings but if there is one thing we know about him 6’5 is 6’5 no matter what ranking you put it at had a solid year this year in the WHL but it was a limited year he had some back issues he had some injury issues only played 17 games but in those 17 games 10 goals 10 assists 20 points and 40 penalty minutes to go along with it if there is one thing that stands out about McQueen if nothing else it is that he is a physical specimen but Hunter some scouts and some draft experts have their questions about McQueen what are those questions and why aren’t you worried about him anymore i I mean how do I want to say this i’m still worried a little bit just because of the injury concerns so you look at what he did this year right so he could go as high potentially as top five he could even drop out of the top 10 to top 15 he was limited to 17 games this season 10 goals 20 points in the WHL for the Brandon Week Kings though if I did have to guess even though I’ve seen other people put him outside of their top 10 and top 15 if I had to guess he probably is still going to go in the top 15 due to the potential that he has and if the Penguins doctors clear him and they say that he is all good and the Penguins want to pick him at 11 if he’s still there hey I’ll support it because when you turn on the tape even though it’s limited for this past season he’s still very and I mean very good 21 goals 51 points in 53 games last season as I said health is the biggest thing he’s had some back problems but there’s been some reports that there was a bit of a misdiagnosis and that he’s fully healthy now and they keep talking about the Penguins well we want to get bigger we want to get bigger well McQueen is 6’5 and almost 200 pounds play center there you go for that number one for me he loves driving to the net he actually uses his frame to his advantage i talked about Lynon Lacovic last week who is also a big boy but he doesn’t use his frame to his advantage he doesn’t go to the net as much roger McQueen he will and he’ll bully players out of his way to get to the net and get what he wants also has some really nice playmaking ability one of my favorite plays when I was watching the tape from him from this past season was he kept the puck in the zone of the point on one of his power play chances he drove to the middle brought everyone with him and then set up a teammate for a wideopen one-time just a really nice play from him the Penguins were also one of the teams that took him out to dinner at the combine so they are at least very much looking at him as an option number 11 he skates a lot better than someone like Lacavic who again similar size i don’t think it’s awkward i don’t think it’s clunky it’s actually a really nice stride i think he could maybe work a little bit more on the first burst but again when you compare to someone like Lakavic and even though he’s 6’5 I think his skating is much better there even though I still think it could be a little bit better going forward but again that’s what comes with the de development right he’s not as much of a distance shooter but he can still rifle a puck like I I would I would categorize his release as good it’s not great but I would say it’s good again not as much of a distance shooter but he can still really use it when needed can thread the needle with some soft passes to some areas there will be times where he would try to de too many players when coming into the offensive zone and he would lose possession i say less is more for something like that but to me he has all the potential the skill is there it’s just that A can he stay healthy and B can he do this on a consistent basis like those are the two biggest things for me if the Penguins believe that both the answers to those questions are yes then by all means take him i’ll trust Wes Clark when you look at his draft history in Toronto i’ll trust Kyle Dubis and all that i had him a bit lower on my board coming into this i’ve started to rise him up a little bit just because some of the health concerns for me are easing up and I very much see the talent on display when I put on the tape i would still have him behind players like a Victor Ecklund like a Jake O’Brien even a Brady Martin which we’ll get to later this week but if he is there at 11 if he is the pick I will understand it and heck you look at some of the data for him like like the tracking data on elite prospects and stuff it’s it’s comparable to Misa who should go number one in this class he might not might go might go number two because I think the Islanders might go for Schaefer at one potentially but it’s comparable to Misa who again is one of the two best players in this class so that’s where I stand on Roger McQueen i was obviously a bit cooler on him for a while than most but I’ve been warming up to it a bit more over the last couple of weeks as we’ve gotten more information about the injury stuff and a couple other things as well you brought up one of the concerns that I noticed about him when it comes to his game i love the tenacity i love the skill i think this kid if like you said he can stay healthy could really develop into a very good forward in the National Hockey League but you brought up that there were a lot of instances where he would try to do too much yeah and you have to hope that you start to develop that discipline with time because I am never going to hold a player to an unfair standard and try to crit criticize and get mad at every mistake they make i want young players to try i want young players to learn and get better especially skilled tenacious forwards like a Roger McQueen you look at his game the guy is not afraid to use that 65 frame the guy is not afraid to bully people and be the kind of player that can be successful in a changing NHL where size physicality and skill are all starting to get molded together but you also don’t want him to take unnecessary risks you don’t want him skating right into a trap you don’t want him to see a team stack up defense at the blue line and he skates right into it leading to a turnover and a chance the other way for the opposition all that said I very much am of the belief that that comes with time and experience especially when you’re a skilled player who has been one of the better and bigger players at every level he’s played at and eventually you start to learn okay I’m playing at a higher level now the guys who are around me and the guys that I’m playing against were a lot like I was coming up it’s not me feasting on lesser talent like I got to do with some lower levels now everybody can do this but when you mix the skill when you mix the size that this kid has there’s a recipe for this kid to become a really effective NHL player just has to put it all together again that’s where the consistency comes into if he can do this on a more consistent basis and he can stay healthy he can develop into a top six center in the NHL i’ve seen a couple of people compare him to Gino when he’s healthy not really sure if I see that just yet i think that’s a little too much right now i think people are just looking at the size and like oh my god like look he could do this that type of stuff people got to chill out a little bit on that but I will end it with this when you look at some of the tracking data on elite prospects for Roger McQueen he ranks in the 98th percentile for offense 96 for transition 95 for defense i should have added that his two-way play it’s fairly good i don’t think it gets talked about enough and again his shot it’s not great but I think it’s an underrated aspect of his game i think it’s a good release and he could use it a little bit more even though I still like his playmaking ability quite a bit as well one last thing as I said if he is healthy and the Penguins doctors clear him and he is there at 11 I will not have a problem with them taking him with that pick just make sure he’s healthy the skill is there just have to hope that he’s healthy i think that is good a place as any to leave our Monday episode hopefully you learned a bit more about two potential Penguins picks but they are not going to be the only two that we go over like I said this is going to be Mr hody’s week to shine because he has been grinding away at this draft board and I want to make sure everybody gets a chance to see who he has ranked so we’re going to leave it there for the Monday edition of Locked on Penguins hunter and I will be back with a brand new episode for you on Tuesday we’re going to go over two more prospects as well as any other news and notes that come up between now and then so for Hunter Hodies I’m Patrick Damp thank you as always for tuning in and we will be back on Tuesday

We’ve made it to NHL Draft week, and the Penguins have a lot of decisions to make! Patrick and Hunter start the show giving you all the information you need to know about the 2025 NHL Draft, including when it will be live, where it will be, and how many picks the Penguins have as of Monday morning. They also discuss how this will be the first time the NHL holds a “decentralized” draft and whether or not that’s a good idea. Then, it’s time to dive deeper into Hunter’s draft board, starting with center Jake O’Brien, who had a solid year and could be a piece in the Penguins’ puzzle to get bigger and harder to play against. Finally, they bring up a polarizing prospect in Roger McQueen, a big center who is getting mixed reviews heading into this weekend’s draft.

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