Ryan Reynolds here for Mint Mobile. With the price of just about everything going up during inflation, we thought we'd bring our prices down. So to help us, we brought in a reverse auctioneer, which is apparently a thing. Mint Mobile unlimited, premium wireless! Get 30-30, get 30, get 30, get 20-20, get 20-20, get 20-20, get 15-15, 15-15, just 15 bucks a month, so... Give it a try at mintmobile.com/switch. $45 up front for three months plus taxes and fees, promote 8 for new customers for limited time, unlimited more than 40 gigabytes per month, slows, full turns at mintmobile.com. This episode is brought to you by Nespresso. Satisfy your iced coffee craving without leaving home with custom blends, from double espressos to cold brew style. Men to be iced, men to be simple, and consistently delicious with a touch of a button. Visit nespresso.com to learn more. [Music] Hello everybody, and welcome to the tip of the iceberg podcast your home for Pittsburgh Penguins News and Analysis. You can find us on YouTube at tip of the iceberg or anywhere. You get your podcast from I'm your host Nick Belsky joined as always by Nick Horwatt and we are in the dead season of the NHL offseason awaiting a couple more moves from Kyle Dubas. But in the meantime, we still have plenty to talk about today. We're going to take a look at where the latest draft picks stand in the Pittsburgh Penguins prospect system, especially considering over the last calendar, your Kyle Dubas has propped up that top 10 list at the very least a heck of a lot. So we'll go through my top 10 prospects in the penguin system, then we're going to break down the best case scenario for Penguin's third line center, Kevin Hayes. And it's going to be interesting because we didn't really get to talk about him when that acquisition happened because it was the Saturday of the NHL draft and then we had Monday's opening of free agency and then we had our Tuesday episodes. So there's a lot going on. We're going to go back and retroactively talk a little bit more about the acquisition of Kevin Hayes. And then we'll get the final results on this week's Penn's poll. Let's get started and let's start things off with the 2024 NHL draft because the Pittsburgh Penguins seemingly once again have added a couple of stellar names to their prospect system, something that fortunately we've been able to say a handful of times since Kyle Dubas came to the organization. Now it is a little bit easier whenever you have the mentality of again, whatever they're calling it in house. I'm calling it a rebuild. It's not, you know, your grandmother's rebuild. It's not your father's rebuild. It is a different looking rebuild. But whenever you have that kind of mentality, it's easier to bring in talented names to the prospect system. And I think Kyle Dubas has done that. So before we get into that, Horaw, what have you thought about Kyle Dubas's ability to acquire top prospects here since he joined on June 1st of 2023? It was part of his plan from the beginning. I think we knew that he gave the generic, you need to retool on the fly almost, you need to win now and win later. That's sort of the pathway that every GM gives. And I think I remember discussing that with you whenever he was hired as, yeah, it's the generic answer that every general manager, every head coach, every president, whatever is going to name. Something felt different about it being Kyle Dubas compared to Ron Hekstahl. So it still doesn't feel like the win now part of it has really happened. I think everyone has their own opinions on the NHL moves that Kyle Dubas has made. Some of them good, some of them bad. But I don't think anyone can, for the most part, disagree that he has definitely at least built for the future. He has at least improved the system. It's not still not great. It's still not over the top outstanding. But there are pieces that the organization likes, there are pieces that we like. And then there are definite names that can be NHLers, you know, pretty soon to down the line because because Kyle Dubas has done a good job of retaining first round picks, except for this last one, we don't worry about it. But then getting good value out of the deep picks. So there's plenty to look forward to in the future. Again, it may not be a overly successful team, but if Sydney Crosby can usher in almost that next generation, there could be a really good team here at Pittsburgh still and Kyle Dubas is doing a great job of building that young core of guys that are going to be here for a while. Yeah, you talk about the value in those later picks. And that is the two 18 year old second rounders that headlined the 2024 NHL draft for the Pittsburgh Penguins. That's right handed defenseman Harrison Brunick and left winger Tanner Howlin, both of those two are going to be headed back to the VHL this season, even though Tanner How has we talked about last week signed as ELC when he was here for prospect development camp, but the question then becomes where do they rank in the Penguin system as of right now. This is the first time that we're putting them in the system. So where is their base level coming in after being drafted at the sphere in Vegas a couple of weeks ago. I'll run down my top 10 prospects. And again, this is my opinion based on what I've seen read and everything in between for all of these prospects. Let me know in the comment section what you think. And also, you know, horror, we're going to go back and forth. We're going to start with where Brunick and how are, but also I want us to get your opinion on just the top 10 in general. So let's get started here with this one. I mean, Braden Jaeger is number one. I think that is undoubtedly the fact and I think anybody that's doing a top 10 prospects is doing a disservice to this list if they don't put Braden Jaeger at number one. So I have Braden Jaeger at number one. I got Billy Koivounen at number two, Joel Blungfist at number three. Then I have Vasily Pahnomarev at number four. Then I have Owen Pickering sitting at number five. Sergey Murashov has moved up this list because of how impressive he was last season and how impressive he was in his first glimpses at prospect development camp. So I have Murashov at six. Then I have Harrison Brunick, 2024 second rounder at seven. Sam Poulan at eight. Tristan Brose at nine and then Tanner Howe rounds it out, kicking things off at number 10. So that is my top 10 prospects. First and foremost, Horwatt, I have Brunick at seven. How at 10. What do you think about the placement of the two newest additions to the Penguins prospect pool? Let me hit unmute and let you know. I think it's a good spot for the two of them because, like we mentioned, the pool isn't deep in Pittsburgh necessarily. So anytime a name comes in, they're automatically kind of shoved into, well, are they a top 10? And for these two, I mean, we discussed it a little bit last episode. However, we were talking about how signing is ELC. That sort of shows you that the organization seems to believe he is somewhere among those names. I mean, it's an apples to oranges comparison. But Braden Yeager doesn't have his ELC yet. He was drafted first round last year. She's likely going to get one this summer because he may play NHL games. So he may see some contract handed to him soon, but with since how got his already, that gives him an edge to some of the other names that you didn't mention. And that's a runic. I think that's also a good choice. I mean, when it comes to defense in the Penguins system and in the depth or in the in the prospect system, there isn't much. There is not much at all. In his own pickering, maybe the French Canadian whose name escaped me. He signed a deal last year or two years ago. But Belavo? Yes, Isaac Belavo. And then him. That's about it. They needed to build the defensive portion of their prospect pool and Bruno's a good choice to do that. And without seeing much of him, at least, so far, I would say that's a good placement for him, not necessarily in the top five, but right on that edge. Well, here's the thing about the top five that intrigues me is two of them, or honestly three of them, could be graduated this year. Right? You talk about Cuy Vounen and Potomara, both guys who have a chance to start the season at the National Hockey League. And then a guy like Joel Blunkfist, who there's going to be a lot of speculation about whenever he gets his opportunity this year, three of these names. And honestly, if you go down through the bottom five, you can throw in Sam Poulan as well. Four of the ten could make an impact at some point this season for the Pittsburgh Penguins. And I think that's a massive part of Dubas's plan as well, which is, yes, he has propped up the prospect rankings as of right now to where the top ten finally looks like at half decent top ten. But also, this is where a lot of these young guys are going to start getting the overall age gap, which is what we saw and talked about last Thursday. The overall age average, not gap, the age average is going to go down because all of these guys have an opportunity to potentially stick at the NHL this season. They're going to get chances this year with Mike Sullivan's team, especially because Kyle Dubas is going to rely on these guys a lot this year to potentially try to get up to the NHL, have more than a cup of coffee, and really state their claim as full-time NHLers. Similar to what Posten did last year, which is why he graduated from this list. Yeah, and I was going to say how long until Poulan is graduated from this list because even if he doesn't make it to NHL regularity, this has to be it. I think we said this last two seasons. This has to be it of listing him on prospect lists. I think he barely made it to that prospect challenge, those prospect challenges in Buffalo last year because he just didn't play. They just wanted him to play. If he hadn't stepped away, maybe he wouldn't have even been there. So I think Poulan being on the list is fine. I still am with you on it. He should be for now. He's played six NHL games at this point, but at this point it's going to switch this year from Hey, you're a prospect to Hey, you're just an AHL or no. Yeah, yeah, that's about that time. Another thing too is looking at this list is I marked him down. Five of these players are Dubas editions. You want to talk about him building the future? I mean, yeah, okay, it's through draft and none of them have really shown spice in the NHL, but that doesn't matter. There are guys that he's brought in and have automatically gave this prospect pool some juice. So there's a lot to be had about Dubas building this team out and a lot to be had about guys graduating their way off. Like you said, we only could get there. Ponomarke could get there. Poulan could get there and Joe Blonquist gets in. We'll see how the gold tank situation shapes up. He could get in there too. There's plenty of room for a big prospect graduating class between 24 and 25 for the Penguins. Yeah, that's exactly what they need. You know, you look at the NHL side of things and that is what they need. They need that infusion of youth that they had back in 2016-17. I don't think the foundation is quite there. I think we can all agree on that. The foundation that's already at the NHL level is not quite there like it was back in those days, but the infusion of youth will still have a massive impact similar to how it did. Back, what, eight years ago at this point, but you mentioned five of the top 10 from Kyle Dubas, three of the top four from Kyle Dubas and two of those coming from the Jake Genssel trade. Sergeant and Mr. Smith, you're going to love this house. Bunk beds in a closet? There's no field manual for finding the right home, but when you do, USA homeowners insurance can help protect it the right way. Restrictions apply. This episode is brought to you by Nespresso. Satisfy your iced coffee craving without leaving home with custom blends, from double espresso to cold brew style. Men to be iced, men to be simple, and consistently delicious with a touch of a button. Visit Nespresso.com to learn more. Let's move over and talk about somebody at the NHL level, and that is Kevin Hayes. I mentioned that we really haven't had the opportunity to talk about Kevin Hayes, the veteran forward coming in at 32 years old over from the St. Louis Blues. They attached a second rounder to get rid of his services and in fear of the Pittsburgh Penguins. That's what everybody said is, well, at least you didn't give anything up. And well, at least you got a second round pick and that helps for the future. But what does it do for the now? And that's what I want to discuss here with you, Horwatt, because you get them for nothing. So the stakes are already pretty low, especially because I believe he's in a contract year as well. That I don't have right in front of me, but I do believe that he's in a contract year. Sounds likely that he gets an opportunity to start at Third Line Center. What do you see as the ceiling for a guy like Kevin Hayes entering next season? He's got two years left. He's got this upcoming season of the year after, so the ceiling, I would say, can be decent. He's proven before to be a 40 point score. He's capped out at 55 and the year he got traded from the Rangers to the Jets. It's not going to be anywhere near that. I'd say his ceiling is, you know, in what expectations he has is he had 29 points last season. More than that, get 30, get 30 plus, even in the position of Third Line Center, I'm not worried about goal or assist split. Just sort of prove he can produce as the Third Line Center, be a decent enough face for that, for the depth, because the penguin's depth is needed help for ages now. And then play the defensive side of the puck, which should just be steady as normal for him. It's hard to really nail down and sort of say what's good or bad about playing defensive, forward stuff without looking at analytics. But whenever he plays, it should be obvious what he can bring. I'd just say, in this answer for July 16th, for now, it is just the expectations are to play decent enough defensively and exceed 30 points this year to really show that this wasn't a total waste of a move, because yes, for future considerations, but two years left at three point something. Yeah, it's already retained, but could that, you know, people will discuss, could that three point, whatever have been spent somewhere else. Yeah, and could they have potentially gotten a better option at Third Line Center? Probably. Could they have gotten a better option where they also got a second round pick? No, and I think that's the one thing that you look at and is overwhelmingly positive from that move, but it isn't exactly what it looks to be. It is the move of a rebuilding team that needs to fill out a roster that has some capabilities, but also needs to not cost you all that much. And it didn't cost them anything in acquisition because they got it for future considerations, so essentially nothing. And then you get a second round pick, which is a massive piece to this. But if you're looking at, you know, Kevin Hayes specifically last year, he had 13 goals, 29 points and 79 games for the St. Louis Blues, and it just didn't work. It didn't fit. It was, you know, Riley Smith to the Penguins ask where it just it didn't fit except, you know, Kevin Hayes was a little less upset about being in St. Louis, I would imagine, because this has been very storied about, you know, Riley Smith's thoughts and feelings about his trade to the Pittsburgh Penguins. But a repeat of that season, which was a disappointing season, no doubt, would still be only two points shy of what Lars Ella brought you offensively last season. And that's what I think the benchmark should be. That is the starting point for a guy like Kevin Hayes, which I think is 100%, if not just achievable, it's probable that he's going to get up to that mark, not only because he is more of an offensively inclined player in the bottom six, but because I do think that he will bounce back and have a better season than he did in St. Louis. I'm not saying he's going to bounce back and score career high. But I think when you're looking at the ceiling, it's 15 to 20 goals, which is where he's finished the last five years around and 45 to 50 points. And that is, if you're getting that, which is a 20 point increase on Lars Ella on a year where the Penguins finish three points out of the playoffs, you're going to be happy with that result. Yeah, it's even 45 to 50 seems maybe not overkill, but quite high expectations. I know he's not far removed from a 54 point season, but it's just the way that it was on a weirdly bad Philly team that he may not have had the greatest. You know, piling around friendship with his teammates, we'll see where things go. You know, I think he's going to be an okay addition to the to the Penguins. Like I said, if he can base it at 30 points and go from there, you're right. If he hits 30, you said that's too less than what Lars Ella brought this past season. 29 was too less. Lars Ella had 31 points. It's 31. All right. So, yeah, if he can exceed what Lars Ella brought, that's the bare minimum, and that should be a pretty easy hurdle to clear the max. It's just tough to guess the max on players, especially when they're coming to a new team. You don't know how they're going to mesh with new line mates if who their alignments are going to be and if they're going to stay consistent all season, especially the way the Penguins are filtering in and out of wingers in certain spots. Kevin Azel come in and have new names to get to learn to play with. And that'll be a mystery to see what his max could be. I'd say for now, the max, though, isn't going to be too much higher than 40, if 40. I don't have super great expectations, but a little more than what Ella brought and, you know, not touching a career high in points. You know, I think the other part of this that has to be talked about is I think he's going to have more offensively capable line mates than Lars Ella had on the third line last year. I mean, you look at, you know, you're going to get a seasoned Drew Connor who going into last year, there were some expectations, but going into this year, there are people right now that are saying, Hey, they're fine if he's their first line winger, right? And if they are able to go out and get a winger, which still feels like that's, that's, you know, outside of Crosby, that is objective number one for Kyle Dubas is to get somebody to play with Crosby. Then you get Drew Connor, who's a, you know, a New Jersey guy that went to school in New Hampshire that's playing alongside a guy from the beanpot, right? In, in Kevin Hayes, that could mesh really well. You get Valteri Pustin in, in year two, potentially on his wing and a guy that had so much more offensive firepower than he showed last year, once scoring five goals in 52 games, especially for a guy like Hayes, who's a set up guy, really, at his core, you know, getting the opportunity to play with a sniper like Pustin, and who is starting to get his feet underneath him at the NHL level. And if not, you got some, you know, high quality prospects, Cuyvunan is played against professionals over in Europe. What does he look like? This is like one point in two games or two points in one game, whatever it is, but a high talent player, or maybe if it's a guy like Yes, a boy RV, who I think a lot of us need to start talking about a little bit more when looking at next year's team, but either way, you look at all those options. It's a much better crop of options than Lars Eller had last year, going into the season. The one thing that we could say about Lars Eller last season is, from day one of training camp, you were there. Eller and O'Connor looked good together. And that was O'Connor before he went on this breakout season. And now as you saw towards the end of the year, knows how to finish his opportunities more. He always had that for checking ability. He always had that kind of overall game, that physicality that he likes to bring. But it was the finishing ability that escaped him throughout much of the season. He found that at the end of the year, and he carries that into this year. And I think that's going to be a big help if he's playing on a line with Kevin Hayes. Now, obviously, it's a huge help if he's playing with Crosby, but I think it helps if he's playing with Hayes as well. Yeah, he's essentially learned how to use his abilities. I think that's one way you could describe Drew O'Connor is that he is learning what he has. He's learning about his speed. He's learning about his skill. And he's fully fleshing out his game. And that can bode well for playing with Crosby, or he can really learn in that third line role as well. So, for Drew O'Connor, yeah, anywhere he sits should be a good spot for him. And for Kevin Hayes, he should have better options on what Lars Eller had. He also defigured down the stretch of the season whenever the Penguins were really going for it. Lars Eller was sat with Riley Smith and not Terry Pusenan, who Pusenan is still going to be there, so it's not like it's that much of a fresh start. I forget who Kevin Hayes played with in St. Louis. I think that's where I would like to see that sort of comparison. Is he going to be playing with better wangers than he was with the Blues, or even with the Flyers, because he had, like I said, 54 points two seasons ago on a very bad Flyers team. That's, I forget what the release chip situation was there, but there's a reason why they got him out and retained salary. So, yeah, for what, at that point, three years, they retained $3.5 million on Kevin Hayes, but I do believe, and again, don't quote me on this, I'd have to go back and double check. I do believe he played a large part of last season with Caspari Cappen and in St. Louis. Of course he did. Of course he did. But, before we try to go down that foxhole, I do like the thought of a Drew Connor, Kevin Hayes, yes, a pooly RV line. I'd like to see them get a run at some point this season. Yeah, that can be fun. That's on paper without knowing that Drew O'Connor is learning his game. That just sounds like a line where offense kind of goes to die. It kind of does, but at the same time, pooly RV and Hayes are both good at creating in the offensive zone. It's just, exactly. Somebody has to finish. That's the question. And that's always the question with Mike Sullivan teams is, who's finishing their opportunities here? And that's why I think, post it in likely starts there. But I do like the thought of, you know, O'Connor, Hayes, that's a lot of, that's a lot of body mass, right? That's a heavy line right there. So, and I think that they all have some pretty good offensive instincts as well. So I think it's a line that could create, and it's a line that I think Penguins fans who seemingly like to look at the height and weight, they'll like that line. They will. That's, that is the video game size line. Like those dudes are big guys. I mean, whatever I say, that's where offense goes to die. I mean, all three of those players have offensive capabilities. Um, it's just a matter of, like you said, who's finishing here? It's a lot of set up, set up, set up to corner gets a 30 goal season because the other two refuse to shoot the puck. Exactly. Is that what I'm hearing? Essentially from the third line. You know what? We take it, but anybody would take 30 goals from a third liner. Exactly. Exactly. So I don't hate the line. I just really feel like, all right, there's clearly a mission here and that is kill time. Kill time. Keep the puck out of your net. Barely put the puck every once in a while. Barely put the puck in the other net. Uh, kill time. We're here to kill time. It's Crosby and Molkin arrested. Kill time. I mean, that's essentially been the, the plan for the Penguins bottom six since 2005 is like, just don't lose us the game when you're out there. That's please. Just don't, don't lose us the game. And the other guys will win us the game. And I think Kyle Dubas did say something to that effect, not that harsh, but like saying that Kevin Hayes is starting at the third line center, he's going to get those defensive zone starts and it's going to be able to move the puck up the ice, which opens things up and makes life easier for Crosby and Molkin. Essentially saying, get the puck out of the defensive zone. That is your primary objective, Kevin. Just do that. And also, you know, when you're looking at locker room one for once, if you compare third liners, Riley Smith out, who, you know, I don't know him as a person, but clearly he wasn't happy here. Josh Joey echoed that sentiment in his mailbag this week, did not ever really enjoy the fact that he was in Pittsburgh and bringing in a guy like Kevin Hayes, who outside of whatever happened in Philly has been known to be a pretty good locker room guy. So, especially I think Crosby and Hayes, something tells me that's going to be like a buddy cop movie, even though we're not going to get to see it because, you know, there's no in the rooms anymore, but I think that it's a good one for one. Uh, yeah, it should be a step in the right direction. I don't know for how much Riley Smith didn't like Pittsburgh, or like being in Pittsburgh, he's still skating with Crosby and Brian Dublin. Yeah, and Brian Dublin, who is at this point in Anaheim. And Anaheim Duck. Yeah, it's interesting. Draw the conclusions from that, from what you will, but, you know, it was also interesting because I saw that I was like, man, they really got him Rangers gear really fast. I think Duma was already in Doug's gear too, if I remember the photo correctly. Well, I mean, hey, this is the top of the top in North American hockey, so I guess they should be able to expedite FedEx shipping, but. College students get 50% off Walmart Plus memberships, so you can get things like talkies, lab notebooks, and socks delivered straight to your dorm. So get ready, because Clear the Rack is on at your Nordstrom Rack store. Now through Sunday, find incredible deals on we're now styles on sale for even less at Nordstrom Rack, taking extra 25% off red tag clearance throughout the store from brands like Vince, Sam Edelman, Rag and Bone, and more. All sales final, the best stuff goes fast. So shop this sale at Nordstrom Rack today. Please see Nordstrom Rack dot com or ask a store associate for details. Let's close things out with our pens pole. I'm not going to call it a weekly pens pole because I'm horrible about putting these out weekly, but we did put out a pole this week. And we asked which depth forward has the highest upside in the 2024 25 season. You voted. We'll discuss Blake Lezot came in with an overwhelming majority of the votes, 49% of the vote going to Blake Lezot, the newest Pittsburgh penguin. Yes, a pull your V got 30% of the vote, which means that similar to me, a lot of people out there are saying, Hey, let's not forget about pull your V sample and get 17% of the vote. And I don't know why I put a meal Bemstrom in this one. It was kind of rude of me. He gets 4%. I tallied the total. That is 15 total votes for a meal Bemstrom. So he has, he has a nice little fan club out there. But outside of Bemstrom, because I know that's not going to be your answer unless you want to shock the world here, which forward do you think has the highest upside of the form? Probably three. Highest upside is going to be Blake Lezot. If you want to chat on Bemstrom for a second, I think he is the most question marks because there could be something maybe, I doubt it. There. But Blake Lezot is going to be the obvious answer. Hence why it was an overwhelming majority here. Just because he's got a ton of upside joining the team. He's going to be in the lineup. That's one thing you can almost guarantee that the other three on this list straight up cannot that they will be if they will be in the lineup. So he's going to have the highest upside by sheer playing the closest to 82 games out of the four of them. Coming into a new system, he already has his goal pretty much set and that is be that depth forward that's going to play the entire 200 feet. Play to the defensive mindset that the Penguins bottom six usually has, but then chip in a goal, chip in a few points as much as possible every now and again. And I just think it's going to be that fresh face feeling. It is guys coming with bigger expectations. We haven't seen him before. Let's see what he can bring rather than we know we already barely gets ice time. We know sample and might not even make the lineup yet. And we know a meal Bemstrom is going to be a meal Bemstrom. So that's sort of how I saw this playing out. Yeah, when I look at upside, it is between the top two, right? It is between Lazat and Pully RV because sample ends played six NHL games. You really don't know where he fits here because we talked a lot this off season already. I mean, especially since July 1st, the center ice position is is a tough one to crack in Pittsburgh. They brought in Kevin Hayes, who we just talked about. They have no the Chari who Kyle Dubas is in love with. They have Lars Eller as well. They brought in, you know, Panamarev, who is the center. So the center ice position for pool and it is not going to be easy to get into. But then you look at the bottom six. And when it comes to wingers, it's crowded. We mentioned these four, you know, there's Pustinen. There's O'Connor. There's Koivunen who comes into that as well. And then there's the floating shadow of Brayden Jaeger that is looming and potentially ready to come into the light. So there is there's a lot in front of Sam Poulan. Now he was one of the more impressive players when he was healthy last year and will expire. So I think there's an opportunity. But he just needs to prove that he's not that, you know, to borrow a baseball reference here. He needs to prove that he's not a quad a player, that he's not a guy that's great in the minor leagues, but can't just translate it to the majors and then the professional leagues and the NHL. So I think there's still, as you mentioned, questions with Bemstrom, but questions with Sam Poulan as well. Between Poulyarvey and Lazart, I'll go Poulyarvey in this one because I do think the ceiling is a little bit higher. Lazart is younger. I think Lazart hasn't really gotten to his ceiling. I think Poulyarvey may have, but his ceiling was 15 goals. And that's a guy who I think the Penguins might be comfortable putting on their third line. I don't know what led to his healthy scratches at certain points last year. It was a little confusing because I thought that when he was out there, he was playing pretty well. It wasn't perfect hockey, but this was the Pittsburgh Penguins of last year. A lot of the times they weren't playing perfect hockey. In fact, most of the time they weren't playing perfect hockey. So I liked what I saw from Poulyarvey and I think that he has an capability of playing higher in the lineup playing. We saw last year, he played a couple of shifts, played a couple of games in the top six as well. And I think that still holds true, especially the further away he gets from that double hip surgery that he had a couple off seasons ago or last off season, I guess it would be. So I'm going to say Poulyarvey, but not because I don't like Blake Lazart. I just think Poulyarvey has a chance to move up in the lineup a little bit faster than Lazart, which I think automatically raises his ceiling. And Poulyarvey just had a fascinating season. I mean, jumping from the AHL rehab stint, then into the lineup, then out of the lineup, and then in top six out in and productive every time he's been in to cap off it. How many games did he even play? Like 10? I forget. He probably played over 20 games, but it doesn't, and that's the thing. It doesn't feel like it because of how long he was here sitting in the press box. 22 games last year. He played about a quarter of a season. Wow. And it doesn't feel like it at all. I think mostly because you remember, that's why I said 10. He has four points. I remember all four of those points sticking out pretty nicely. But only 22 games is surprisingly high for what it felt like. So maybe he exceeds that this year. I would assume he does now that, like you said, the hip surgery is more in the past. Maybe he comes in with a bit more oomph into preseason and training camp. I have higher expectations for him too. So I'd like to see where it can go. Either way, the fact that at any given moment, two of the names that were on this poll here should be in the lineup at once. Maybe three, maybe all four of things go a certain way. Yikes. Yeah. But two to three of them being in the lineup at any given night. That's a good, I'd say. I mean, we know Blake LaZoppe has the overwhelming majority of the votes here for a good reason. Pull you over, finishing in second and for all the reasons you gave why that should also be good. Those are at least two solid pieces to have in the lineup. We'll see if I'm sure can bring anything at all if he even makes it in. And then if Sam Poolin cracks the roster, he's there for a reason then. We know there's a reason why he's there. So I, if anything, I'd say three of the four names are solid pieces to the lineup. We'll see if the fourth can contribute at all. And we'll see if it can be a four piece there that even make the lineup. But overall, those top two we're discussing having those two in the lineup at once, as long as they're playing. That's a good addition. That's a good solid ground to build the bottom six on, even though you're building it other ways, but you get what I'm saying. Good to have a man. Good pieces. Even if all four of these guys are in the lineup, and I understand that the hope is that, you know, it wouldn't be a pretty picture, but it's better than having Matthew Phillips in the lineup. Remember those three games. It's better than having Jansen Harkins in the lineup. And I'm not going to talk crap on Jeff Carter because he scored more than he was last year. And he's retired retired. He did. He played and did his job. That's that's all you could say about Jeff Carter, but it's better than Phillips. It's better than better than Harkins, certainly, who is signed, by the way. So the long national nightmare is over. You don't have to worry about Sully's pet coming back to Pittsburgh, but he's a Dumillins teammate now. Speak of the ducks. Oh, my Lord. I mean, that that mullet in Anaheim, it'll fit right in there with with the zigresses of the world and the Mason McTavish's of the world. So, you know, best of luck to him out there in Southern California. He's certainly going to have better weather than us here in the northeastern part of the country. But at the end of the day, I'm excited for, I'm excited to see Paul Yarvey in training camp. And I think that's a big thing because last year he jumped on a moving train. He can actually build up with the rest of the team this year. And I think that is also a pretty important factor to put in here as well. So it should be fun. Obviously, we are, I think, still two months. They haven't released the dates yet for training camp, but it's typically around the middle of, you know, this time in September. So we'll have to wait a couple of months. I'm sure people at the beginning of September will start to come back to Pittsburgh. You'll start to see players back on the ice a little bit more frequently than just Sydney Crosby doing his crazy stuff of being out there all the freaking time. But that's going to do it for this episode of the tip of the iceberg podcast. Thank you guys so much for tuning into this one. And remember, you can find us here on YouTube at tip of the iceberg or anywhere you get your podcast from. We'll see you guys next time.
