Ilya Solovyov

And then also, I mean, some guys just haven't gone home all summer.

Ilya Solovyov's been here.

Like, if you're talking about the main group, the whole summer.

Artur Shilov's been here the whole summer.

And then also, I mean, some guys just haven't gone home all summer.

Ilya Solovyov's been here.

Like, if you're talking about the main group, the whole summer.

Artur Shilov's been here the whole summer.

Carlisle more defensively, but, you know, Letang can kind of quote-unquote mentor him a little bit since he's still relatively young in the NHL.

So, again, those are the pairings that I have, and then we obviously have Owen Pickering, who's going to try to make this team, Harrison Brunick, Ilya Solovyov, who I have as the No. 7.

I keep seeing these lineup projections that Ryan Graves is potentially going to be in the top six to start the season.

No, I don't see that at all unless he somehow blows everyone away at camp and the players above him just have an awful camp.

That would be great, but I still would potentially cut his minutes by another minute or two, as I said earlier on in the show.

Sam Gerrard, he obviously has a lot to prove after the way he played.

Down the stretch, Ilya Solovyov, he is someone who is going to be, I think, the No. 7 defenseman, but he's still going to get quite a few handful of games.

And then we've talked about the newcomers, the players that are going to try to make the team.

I know in a couple of other conversations I've had over the off season, I've mentioned that it might be best for Letang to move down to a third pairing role.

and play with a guy like, maybe not Ilya Solovyov, but a guy maybe like Declan Carlisle, maybe even Owen Pickering comes up and that pairing struggled at times as a top pairing.

What does it do as a third pairing? It feels too early for them to pull that trigger on that.

It feels like it's too early for them to have Chris Letang step back from a second pair role to a third pair role.

This is gonna be the new kids on the block.

This is a pairing that could potentially be a good second pairing in the future for the penguins but has the makings of a very good third pairing for them to kick off the season i think this is a match-up pairing where they can kind of take advantage of opponents because they have two guys that are playing in my opinion below slot i think at their best they're both players that would be in the top four of pretty much any team in the nhl So having them both as third pairing guys, I think is an advantage for the Penguins to kick off this season.

And then the seventh defenseman to start the year, I think is going to be Ilya Solovyov.

They loved what they saw out of Ilya Solovyov last season.

The best way to do that, I think, is to put together a third pairing that's got some defensive moxie to it.

And I also feel like, Taylor, since you brought him up in here as well, that Ilya Solovyov kind of profiles in that same mold.

You know, he's that guy that's going to shut down rushes, big wide shoulders, slamming people into the boards.

I mean, you look at Kevin Hayes' shoulder, Ryan Graves can hit

There doesn't look to be anybody on the left-hand side to step into a big role.

he didn't really come out and do that i mean kyle dubas admitted as much after training camp that ryan shea seized it parker wotherspoon seized it um and it just wasn't there for pickering to really grab a spot coming out at camp so you go to this year and you look on that left side and it's it's different for sure um but you know trevor van riemsdyk figures to be over there declan carlisle is going to be in one of those spots Is it Pickering? Is it Ilya Solovyov? Is it Ryan Graves? Is it somebody else? I mean, Pickering's going to be in a battle again to try to find his way onto this roster.

I couldn't agree more.

I mean, it's a guy that we've all been frustrated by since he was selected in the first round.

Grainger, for the ones who get it done.

Ilya Solovyov just turned 26 last month.

He's appeared in 45 total NHL games spread over four seasons.

That right there on its face would strongly suggest he's not going to be part of anything significant for this franchise.

They brought in Trevor Van Riemsdyk, who has been very good defensively throughout his career.

You still have Owen Pickering, who's gonna try to make the team, Ilya Solovyov, et cetera.

But I think that's still very much a work in progress, and that was always gonna be the case when you're kinda revamping the blue line over the last couple o- of off-seasons.

Goaltending is still a huge question mark.