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Joined as always by Nick Corwatt. And with the end of Prospect Development Camp, we have a few developments of our own. In the news way of the Pittsburgh Penguins, we're going to start today's show talking about the Penguins maintaining a not so honorable distinction that a lot of fans are probably not going to be happy about. We'll continue the show talking about a few defenders on the Penguins that have fallen in a yearly ranking that we like to look at. And then we'll close out the show with the Penguins making potentially their biggest switch of the summer. Let's get started. And let's start things off with the Penguins holding a dishonorable distinction. And that is, according to NHL rosters on Twitter, the Penguins are currently the oldest projected 20-man roster in the National Hockey League. This despite Kyle Dubas' mission statement of getting younger around the core of Crosby, Malkin, Letang, Carlson, they maintain their standing for the third consecutive season as of now as the oldest team in the National Hockey League average age of 30.9 years old. Horwatt, how concerned are you about the average age of this team being older than 31 other clubs going into this season? I don't know how much it can concern me considering the big reason and the main reason why the average age is still as high as it is is just because the best players got a year older. I don't know if it might concern me a little bit down the line. I just think looking at it right now, there's still time for that. To shrink a little bit, there are still time for changes to be made. But it won't go far whenever, again, of the 20-man roster, four of them are north of 33. That's a little tougher to do and you know Lars Ehlers is still around. He's a sneaky elder, 35. So it's going to be tough to pull that number down without losing. I mean, that's five names right there and that's a quarter of the players. So the average is going to be higher automatically. Unless you're filling the rest and evening it out with 18 year olds, which they're not going to do, it's going to be tough to get that number to lower. So I'm not totally shocked by it. The way you have to look at it is if the team gets younger just by feeling out the rest of the roster, you have to essentially exclude those four names and Crosby, Mark and Latanga, Carlson, and go from there. You can count Eller in the full count because again, he's not part of the core team that's going to make the big swings on the team. But everyone else, that's kind of where you have to look at, did the team get younger? And for what it's worth, with that handicap, a little bit. Yeah, I mean Riley Smith, you know, losing out on Riley Smith for a name like Anthony Pavilion or Michael Bunting's 28. So he's down there a little bit. It's a, it's a better looking age difference. But having those four each out of here doesn't help. Yeah, they went into last year at the average age of 30.8. They are now 30.9. And a big reason for that is, well, you do lose Jeff Carter, who was 39 going to be 40. You do lose, as you mentioned, Riley Smith, who was over that, you know, Mendoza line of 30 years old, but you bring in 30 year old Mac Riswick. You bring in 32 year old Kevin Hayes. And again, this is the 20 man projected roster. And we'll get to in a little bit how that number can easily come down before the start of the season. Maybe not enough to make them the 31st oldest team in the NHL. They're probably still going to stay at number 32. But again, you mentioned it's not a concern for you simply because they're best players. Are there oldest players? I'll add one more to that. You look at the list that NHL rosters put out there. The second oldest team on that list, just competed in the Stanley Cup final. That is the Edmonton Oilers. And then eight of the following nine teams also made the postseason. So again, age, as we've stated on the show multiple times, age is not the determining factor in whether or not your team is going to be good. It is a factor for the Pittsburgh Penguins needing to get into a rebuild based on where they're at. And that's because of the skill of the players they have in their roster, not because of the age of their overall roster. So again, you look at their oldest players, I've got him all can I believe is going to be the oldest player this year, 38 years old. He's still one of the best second line centers in hockey. But the problem is when you have a secondary source of scoring be 35 year old Lars Ehler, 32 year old Kevin Hayes, 32 year old knowledge chari still on the lineup. And you don't have a lot of those 24 and under type players. But even if you look at late last season, and I'd have to dig up the tweet from Bob Grove towards the end of the season when the Penguins are playing their best hockey, they had six seven players that were 25 and under, which is the first time we could have said that for a couple of seasons. Yeah, and it's probably going to continue, you know, moving in that direction. If you want to really add in some handicaps, I don't know where this tweet kind of pulled their numbers from or their roster projection from. And I don't know how much this move that moves the needle. But you know, guys like Jack saying I have any and John Ludwig are still technically not on an NHL roster. They're still sort of in the reserve list or on the non roster list on sites like Puckpedia and probably daily face offs lines. I haven't looked at those yet. So with that sort of distinction, maybe there's a way to get a smaller number. It would just depend on moves that need to be made considering the seven defense that are listed, at least on Puckpedia in the NHL are Eric Carlson, Crystal Tang, you know, both, you know, 30 34 37 respectively, like you said, Matt Gris looks 30. Ryan Shays, a sneaky 27. And I know he just played his first year, but he's a sneaky not older, but up there in terms of these numbers. Smash and also his 28 forgot about that part. Marcus Patterson also 28. And then Ryan Graves 29. So unless you're moving off of a guy like Ryan Graves, somehow, or finding a way to get maybe Sebastian Ahoe, or maybe even Ryan Shake to the AHL for John Ludwig and the name Jackson and I have any thank you, there's automatically some younger faces. So yeah, so moving and shaking still needs to happen, but it's not going to move the needle much considering, like I said, a quarter of your roster is well over 35. Yeah, not only that, I do think there are a couple other paths to lowering that overall age number. If it does concern you and it doesn't concern me, but I do think that the overall age is going to be lower by the time the opening night rosters come out. And I think for one reason, you have some camp battles that could potentially lower the average age. You know, they have the emergence of prospects, potentially guys like Billy Koivunen, who looked pretty good at prospect development camp. You have Vasily Pahnomarev, who, you know, was close to getting an NHL opportunity last year before he got injured down the stretch. Maybe even a guy like Brayden Yeager, who I know you mentioned that, you know, 18 year olds aren't going to make it maybe a maybe a 19 year old will, right? Maybe that 19 year old will at the very least make that opening night roster, which would considerably considerably drop the average age, especially if you swap them out for a guy like, I don't know, say, Nolichari doubt that that's going to happen. But I mean, speaking of a chari, I think that's another reason that you could, you know, bet on the fact that it's not going to be 30.9 years old when the season begins, because I still think that there is a large possibility that one of Eller who's 35 or a chari is traded before the start of the season. I mean, they have an abundance and an overabundance of centers. The question becomes, you know, what is the trade market for them? Is there somebody that's going to be willing to give up an asset that Kyle Dubas deems respectable in return for a guy like Eller who, for all intents of purposes, was one of the more consistent penguins last year or Nolichari who Kyle Dubas holds in a very high standard. You know, Dubas saying he desperately wants draft picks. He desperately wants, you know, prospects, particularly prospects that are closer to the NHL level. It feels like one of those two guys could be on their way out. And when you replace them by guys like, you know, Sam Poulan at 23 or Jonathan Gruden, who's 24, or yes, of pool Yervey, who I believe is 25 or 26, it's automatically going to bring that average age down. So again, it's not a concern because one, it's probably going to drop anyway before the start of the season. Two, you look at around at the other oldest teams in the NHL. Most of them made the playoffs last year. And three, as you mentioned, the best players are their oldest players and they don't perform as such, right? Cindy Crosby outperforms the average 36, 37 year old every single time he touches the ice. So it's not a concern to me. I understand why it's a concern to a lot of fans, because, you know, over the past couple of years, it's been, and Jeff Carter just does not look like he could do it anymore. There were times last season where I've guinea maulkin looked like via step behind. I understand it's not visually a plea, you know, visually pleasing, but at the same time, you know, to me, it's not that big of a concern because the overall body of work from a lot of the older players on the Penguins has been substantially better than what you can expect from somebody that simply has that age. Yeah, it boils down to the team's best players are their eldest. Yep, it's, it's a weird phenomenon, but it's just the way it is in Pittsburgh. There's nothing they can really do about it. You're not gonna, you're not gonna trade away certain guys just because of their age. I mean, you wish you could was in certain occasions over the past few years, but this time around, you look at it and go, well, these are the best options. Cindy Crosby of guinea maulkin are your best two center options. Age be damned. There's nothing you can do. Crystal Tang and Eric Carlson are your best right side defensive options. Again, nothing you can do. They're gonna have to be in there. If as long as their age doesn't start affecting them and becoming a problem, it's not that much of a problem. Yeah, and for most of them, it hasn't. The one that surprised me when I was looking through the Penguins roster, Brian Russ is 32 already. I can't believe that it feels like obviously 2016, 2017 are getting further and further in the rear view mirror, but it feels like he just broke into the NHL and yet he's been around for what this will be his eighth or ninth season at the NHL level and he's 32 years old. So again, that goes into the same thing. Brian Russ, one of the best players on the team, probably right now, the best winger on the team. He's above that 30 year mark. He's 32 years old going into the season. He turned it in May, so he's going to stay 32 the remainder of the season. But again, age to both of us is not a chief concern for the Penguins, just a moniker and a distinction that they have going into this season for the third straight year. That is not always the most flashy one. It's not it's not the one that you like to see in the headlines, but here we are for the third straight year. And it's what the Penguins have on them. Yeah, you want something even scarier though, Brian Russ is about to enter his 11th season on the NHL. That's ridiculous. I mean, you can handicap it a bit and say 14, 15. He only played 14 games, but that counts a part of a season and it counts 15, 16. He played 41, which was the half, but also really when he became a consistent regular NHLer. So he really wanted to find he's entering his 10th season. He's entering a decade in the NHL. That's when he broke in, he was still only he was only 22 because he played, I believe all four years at Notre Dame, if not at least three. So that that handicaps his age a little bit, a little bit more right there, too, because I believe the Penguins drafted him before he even went to Notre Dame, went to college, yeah, or started college. So it's been a long road for Brian Russ, which will those four years allowed to his age. And then, you know, just for how long ago it was, his NHL debut was 11 seasons ago. So time flies. Yeah, it is like I mentioned, those 16 17 runs are far in the rearview mirror for the Pittsburgh Penguins. There's a lot that could impress you about the all new Honda Pro Log EV. True, it's got class leading passenger space and clean, thoughtful design and intuitive technology. But what really sets the Pro Log apart from the competition is that it's more than an EV. It's a Honda, Honda, the power of dreams. Visit Honda.com/Pro Log to learn more. So good, so good, so good. Get ready to rack to school at your Nordstrom rack store because the deals are amazing. Levi's, Adidas, Falcom and Hurley from only $20, save on everyone's favorite denim, sneakers, boots, backpacks, and more at Nordstrom rack. But Hurley, get first dibs on new arrivals from just $20 and make it the best school year ever. Great brands, great prices. That's why you rack. Let's move over and talk about a couple of defenseman who have fallen in what I would deem as national rankings. Friend of the show, Jay Fresh, who haven't had on in a while, we gotta get them back on here. He typically puts out positional fan rankings every year. And I like to look at these because it shows me the perception of certain Penguins players in the national eye. Obviously, Penguins fans are going to vote for their guys or maybe not considering the two guys that are on this list. But it's interesting to see where they fall in the national perspective. When you look at the Penguins, Eric Carlson and Chris Latang both have fallen off a little bit from their rankings going into last season. Carlson right now is ranked the 16th best defenseman in the National Hockey League, which is down eight spots from last year. He was ranked eighth following his third norest trophy campaign with San Jose Sharks. And then there's Chris Latang, who right now is ranked 35th down 12 spots from last season. What do you think about Carlson and Latang bouncing down these fan rankings from Jay Fresh hockey? I'm not surprised either of them dropping because Carlson just had a season where maybe the expectations from certain people like fan voters was just a little too high. And when he didn't reach it, oh, he's washed. Oh, that's it. That's enough for that because he's Eric Carlson. He can't even play defense. And now he can't even score 10 million dollars overpaid. That's what a lot of fans are going to think. It's regardless of that though, 16 still not terrible. Yeah. In terms of the fan vote, that's still pretty good. It's just also hard to take votes away from guys like Cal Macar, Ross was Dallene even. Adam Fox, Adam Fox, Roman, you see, it's hard to take votes away from those guys. Yeah, but you really have to essentially have that hundred point season again to really suck votes away. And as for Latang, I mean, criminally underrated his entire career, both by national voices and fans outside of Pittsburgh. So even inside of Pittsburgh for a good long while for what I can recall, but that being said, again, doesn't shock me because he's just never had that national attention. He's never had that. I don't want to say star power league wise, but he's just never caught the eye of everyone in the NHL that rightfully and that he rightfully deserves. So not shocked to see it drop either. And again, whenever your team isn't doing well, everyone kind of gets pulled back. And then whenever you are like, we just had this discussion of age, when you are a year older, and we think your skill level will eventually decrease, this sort of ranking is going to decrease as well. Yeah, I was looking up Chris Latang and his finishes in Norris Trophy voting the closest he's ever come his third. So he's one time finalist. That was over a decade ago, right? That was 2012, 13. That was the lockout shortened season where he put up 38 points and 35 games. You forget how good that team was. That was the again, la year that they brought him in at the end of the year. That was a great regular season, Penguin's team. But I mean, you look at both of these players, they're players that in their own fan base are very much maligned, right? You look at Carlson, he took a beating last year in the eyes of the fans. You look at Latang, he has taken a beating his entire career. But what I think you saw from both of them last year was glimpses of their old selves, right? Carlson at the end of the year, Latang at the beginning of the year, and we we will never know how much of Latang's downfall and performance throughout the year was due to his quote, myriad of injuries, right? How his lengthy list of injuries, we know one of them was a finger. There were multiple, we don't know the other ones. They didn't require surgery. So they weren't released. So I think what you notice is both of these guys could be in line, despite being a year older, could be in line for a much better season this year. And again, if the expectations are lowered for a guy like Carlson, that just means he's going to be actually given realistic expectations. And that's why I think a lot of people are going to like his season this year. Also, because I think he's going to be much better this year in his second year with the organization, I think bringing in, you know, I keep switching up the names, not Dan Quinn, who's the head coach of the Washington commanders, but David Quinn, who is the assistant coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Now, I think bringing him in is going to help Carlson. I think it's going to help Latang. And I think you're going to see both these defenseman, not that, you know, the ranking is end all be all. But I think you're going to see both of these defenseman bounce back up going into next season, because I think they're going to have good years. Oh, yeah, they're going to be a bit more settled into their roles. They're going to have much higher expectations for themselves because they are driven competitors that may have had off years by their standards. Look what Brian Russ just did. He had an off year by his standard in 22, 23, and then came into this past season. Pretty solid. Looks pretty good year round and definitely had a better season. And not that, you know, Brian Russ is any less driven than Carlson or Latang. But those two are going to put it onto another level because they are elite elite talents, or at least maybe they used to be. So they still may have something left in the tank to show. I absolutely expect them to have better seasons too. It just depends on how much better, at least in Latang's case. Again, he's a few years older. He's usually injury prone. So we'll see how much further up he can go at this point of his career. As for Carlson, he's still got a little bit of time left in him. I'd expect way, way, way better season coming into 24, 25 in just a couple of months. Now, there's one defenseman that J. Fresh poured out the top 80 in the results. There's one defenseman that did not make the list. And I had to check it a couple of times. And I still feel like like I pulled up my Twitter because that's where it's at. I still feel like I may have missed something because Marcus Pedersen, nowhere to be found on the top 80 best defenseman in the national hockey league. He's been criminally underrated. You mentioned that for Chris Latang. I think Marcus Pedersen is somebody that could have that tag placed on him as well, criminally underrated, nowhere to be found in the top 80. I understand it's a fan ranking, but there are names like Rasmus Sandeen, Jacob Truba, who I think won for one defenseman wise. Marcus Pedersen is a much better defenseman than Jacob Truba. He might not injure people as much, but you mean, hey, yeah, I think he still has a pretty big impact on the game. Cam Fowler, who to be completely honest, didn't even know was still playing out there in Anaheim. Jake McCabe and even a guy like John Merino, who even had his best in New Jersey. I don't think he touched what Marcus Pedersen is for the Pittsburgh Penguins. I think Pedersen is a bonafide number one left handed defenseman on any team. And you look at a guy like John Merino, who has been a top four guy for certain teams for the Penguins he was, especially, but again, seeing him on that list and not a guy like Pedersen, those are just a few names as well. The fact that Pedersen wasn't on this list was very shocking to me. Are you surprised at all that he didn't make the 80 best defenseman in this fan voting? I guess and no, I'm surprised because he definitely is among the top 80 defenseman in the NHL. It's point blank. There's no doubt about that. I'm not surprised though, because of the fan vote portion of it, because it is fans looking at, maybe I don't know how the whole thing worked. I don't know if they, I don't know how many defenseman fans listed off, but if fans are only submitting say their top 10 or their top 20, the name's just not going to get brought up. So it's not going to file into that sort of scenario. And also when you consider some of the names that you brought up there, John Merino is one where you can have the argument over who was better between Merino and Pedersen on the grand scheme of a fan vote. The hand is going to be pushed toward John Merino. That's just the way that is. Jacob Truba, I mean, the thing is he's going to reach that list because A, he plays in a massive market in New York. B, he makes headlines every day, good or bad, regardless of what it is. And C is a captain of that team. I mean, automatically, the status and the stature is going to carry him in a fan vote like this. The rest was Sandine one. Okay, that's weird. That's interesting. Could just be because former Leaf, former, whatever, and may have impressed a bit more than expected. Maybe he's one of those guys that they're given the vote to him because of maybe he's got a good future ahead of him. What else? What are the other names that you say? And there's one more on one of the touch. Oh, Jake McKay also plays in a father. I got nothing on that. I got nothing. He's aged. And maybe that's part of it. And he's just a name that's been around for a long time and it's still playing. Go ahead. But Jake McKay plays for the Leafs. So it's again, a massive market that is going to push in a fan vote, bear guys in to something like this. So, and in terms, if you really wanted to boil it down, people are going to again look at Jake McCabe and say, well, he might just be better. Again, that could just be a wrong opinion. But it is. But in the quick scheme of I know how these things work. They're kind of just voting in a Google thing. But they're not really doing hard research, but it's just part of the vote. And again, I'm not bashing the vote, not bashing with the fans think because the top 10 is probably nine, eight for 10. Not bad. But of the way we looked at it and in the grand scheme of things, he deserves me in the top 80. Some of those names are questionable. But I can understand why certain ones would make it over Marcus betterson. Yeah, would you agree that he's one of the most underrated defenseman around the NHL? For sure. And that only grew in the past few seasons too. I mean, let's not forget a couple years ago, not too long ago. We were looking at Marcus Patterson as probably the top trade chip on the team. Yeah, for multiple seasons, for multiple seasons. And the reason was, because of his contract, and he hadn't played up to it. And now you're looking at his contract and saying, well, he's overplayed it now. So it's kind of balanced out in a good way where now there's a lot of discussions about should they or shouldn't they extend him or use him as probably their best trade chip going into the 2024, 25 season. So interesting rankings here. I'm intrigued to see when the rest of the positions come out. Gold Tender word is just a Jari stand, probably very low. Centers is Crosby still the top five based on fan voting. I would say he's probably close. Where does Mulcan land? And then obviously wingers, I don't know if there's a lot of penguins, wingers that are going to be high on that list. Brian Ross, maybe Michael Bunting, maybe, I mean, he's still, I believe, loved in Toronto. So maybe he gets some votes to go into the border. Hear that? That's what cooked when you order juicy beef sounds like. The steaming hug of two slices of melted cheese, the crunch of tangy pickles and sliced onions all topped with a toasted sesame seed bun. That's the sound of a McDonald's quarter pounder with cheese. First beef at participating US McDonald's excludes Alaska Hawaiian US territories. It took a lifetime to find the person you want to marry. Finding the perfect engagement ring is a lot easier. At Blunile.com, you can find or design the ring you've always dreamed of, with help from Blunile's jewelry experts who are on hand 24/7 to answer questions, and the ease and convenience of shopping online. For a limited time, get $50 off your purchase of $500 or more with code spotify@blunile.com. That's $50 off with code spotify@blunile.com. We're going to move on for the time being and talk a little bit about Penguin's second-rounder Tanner Howe. When you look at the draft this year, Penguins focused heavily on defense. But one of the four words that they took early, Tanner Howe, an 18-year-old out of the Regina Pats of the WHL. He signs his three-year entry-level contract earlier this week before he departs from Penguin's development camp. He's an undersized left wing that is going to head back to the WHL this season with the eligibility to elevate to the American Hockey League in the 2025-26 season after his fourth season down there with the Regina. What are your thoughts on Tanner Howe and the fact that the Penguins already inked him to his three-year ELC that will likely, almost definitely, get slid through this season and start next year? The fact that he was able to pick up a contract that quickly shows how highly the organization thinks of him. I don't know too much about him. I don't know too much of the numbers, but he's obviously caught the eye of an organization who was so trying their hardest to build a great prospect pool and was trying to expand their future of young names and young prospects that the fact that they gave him a contract this quickly shows just how highly they may think of him. I don't know where he sits in terms of the Penguins Top 10 or Top 20 Prospects, wherever you want to look at it. We'll do that next week. Yeah, he might be up there, though. He may be in that list because of this sort of push he's getting. And I mean, not that Jaeger isn't the Penguins Top Prospect because he is. He doesn't have a deal yet. He doesn't. They drafted him last year. So I mean, again, I don't know the semantics or any reasons why a deal may or may not have been signed for certain prospects. Don't understand how any of that works. But for what it's worth, they gave this kid a contract pretty quickly and are probably going to try in. I don't want to say push him to the Moon, but get him going in the organization and should absolutely be a name to now reach everybody's radar who cares about this team in the future. Now, the one thing I've picked up about Tanner Howe and Jesse Marsh wrote about this in his piece about Howe and Harrison Brunick that Howe plays much bigger than he is. He's five foot 10, about 180 pounds, I think soaking wet, but he does not play as if he is that small. So I'm intrigued to see what he does this season because, you know, that Regina team was not good last year and neither was Harrison Brunick's, you know, Kamloos blazers, but that Regina team was not good last year after losing Connor Bedard the year prior. So I'm intrigued to see what he's able to do if he's able to elevate that team back into a playoff position. But as far as him signing his ELC straight out of development camp, about two weeks after being drafted, it's a good sign, right? It's a sign that the organization has a lot of faith in them. They want to get them under the umbrella as quickly as humanly possible, meaning under the umbrella and under contract as quickly as, you know, humanly possible. So I'm intrigued to see how his season plays out in the WHO and the WHO is going to be a very exciting watch for Penguins fans. I think as we've noticed over the last couple of seasons, the prospect watching has picked up significantly, simply because I think a lot of people are realizing that the beginning of the end is here for the NHL squad and for this current era of Pittsburgh Penguins hockey, but you look at the WHO next season, will Brayden Yager try to defend this title with Moosha? There's a, I would say likely chance he ends up back in Moosha. There is still a possibility that he comes in lights the world on fire and is able to get at the very least that nine game sample size at the NHL level, but there is a likely possibility that he ends up back in the WHO with the Moosha warriors. Harrison Brunick, defensive prospect that was taken in the second round will be back with Kamloops blazers, Tanner Howe will be back with the Regina Pats. So there's a lot of players in the W, they're going to be worth watching. And outside of that, a lot of the other prospects, as we'll talk about in a couple of weeks, a lot of the other prospects are going to be in the AHL. So there's really only going to be the WHO in the AHL for the vast majority of Penguins prospects next year. So it's going to be exciting to watch the W next year, even though we were all tuned in to the W a lot this past season because of what Brayden Yager was able to do. And honestly, because of Owen Pickering as well with the Swift current Broncos and having a good season there and getting them into the playoffs. Yeah, you're going to be watching the WHO for the prospects. And everyone was tuned in to the AHL last year, not so much for the future, but to see which guys can could have jumped up and helped that year. Now it will be similar prospects are down there and seeing what the future may look like. So yeah, obviously everyone looks the HL as the ground of okay, also you can come up right now if we need to help. But I'd say this that's going to be a good facility for seeing what the future looks like. Again, new head coach there that's trying to build that winning culture. It's it'll have the veterans, there'll be a couple of veteran players for sure. They're always is, but the interesting piece. Yeah, the interesting pieces will be watching those prospects. Like if Owen Pickering is there, maybe if Jackson not even starts the season there, there's a weird dynamic that might happen with the AHL this year. Yeah, we'll see how it all goes. We'll see how it all how it all unfolds, but there will be prospects to see there, not just veterans trying to crack the NHL lineup again. If St. Ivani starts in the a we riot or what, we do not allow that miss, you know, that that injustice to stand because Jack St. Ivani with his performance last year, 100% earned the right to be that third right handed defenseman on opening night next year. I don't, I don't see any way that they don't go with that unless they sign Oliver Schillington unless they sign Oliver Schillington or Jack St. Ivani just craps a bed in training camp, which again, based on how steady he was in the situation he was placed in, I find it very hard to believe that he's going to come into training camp and craft the bed. But, you know, that remains to be seen. I think it's going to be an interesting year for prospect watching for the Pittsburgh Penguins and we will place both Harrison Brunick and Tanner Howe in the prospect system, the rankings, as we're going to try to keep up to date this year, we're going to have that next week as part of one of our shows for tip of the iceberg. Let's finish this show off with probably what I would consider Horwatt, the biggest news of the Penguins off season. Crosby contract put it on the back burner. Marcus Patterson extension, will they won't they put it on the back burner? The massive trade to bring in a huge pivotal piece in Kevin Hayes. Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating that one a bit. But the biggest move for the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Coke era has officially begun at not just PPG paints arena, but the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex officially becoming the official beverage provider at both of those fine establishments. Horwatt, the death of RC, I know you went out and poured one out as you went to the store and got a case of RC yesterday. What are your thoughts on Coca Cola officially becoming the beverage provider of the Pittsburgh Penguins? Okay, first of all, I didn't actually buy a case. I was joking. Oh, I said I almost did. I was grocery shopping and walked past a case and thought about it. Um, but that's less fun. But all right, continue. But it's, uh, it's about time. I would say that's about it. I mean, if you want to get into brand semantics, I think, uh, it's Dr. Pepper that owns RC or the other way around. So yeah, maybe they're losing the Dr. Pepper and Snapple contract, which I love. I love having free Snapples there. Um, but it overall to me a small move, but it's going to be noticeable because every time people discuss PPG paints arena was wise, it's still RC. Yeah. What is Royal Crown Cola still doing here? Uh, it's, I can't think of any other place that that's like the main provider. Cause there probably isn't one. Yeah. It's just Coke or Pepsi or some sort of you're at some weird brewery. He does local stuff. So it's just a good move. Hilarious that Twitter reacted the way it did because genuinely it wasn't mean for a long time that, uh, PPG paints arena had RC products. And again, if you just avoid the RC, there's fine stuff. Dr. Pepper's good. There's, there was plenty of Snapple all over the place. Yeah. Um, but, um, now you'll be able to get Coke and Coke products without looking at the list. I don't know them off the top of my head, but positive moves steps in the right direction. Uh, and for what it's worth, I'm personally a Pepsi guy. Sorry. Oh, that was my next question. Are you Coke or Pepsi? You're a Pepsi guy? I like Pepsi because their brands outside of the mains are better. I like Mountain Dew way better. They own Taco Bell. They own KFC. It's, they have better brands outside of the mains. Um, also cherry Pepsi knocks and each sort of cherry Coke product out of the, out of the water. Okay. Well, one, I can not argue for the most part with a lot of those statements, but if it comes down to the two, that's what I'm asking here. I'm Coke loyal, but if it comes down to the two, Coke or a Pepsi, one of those two are in front of you. Which do you take? Honestly, I might take the Pepsi still. All right. We're, this is it. This is over. That is a horrible, horrible thing that I just learned about you. I've also never actually like given the tribe. All right. Let's see which one I actually like more like I genuinely would probably like shove my eyes and just grab one because I've never really thought about which one I like more because I'm always more of a Mountain Dew, ice tea or I was going to say like a spider, a serum, but I don't really care too much for you. You don't like story. Oh, that's right. It's story now. It's story. Yeah. But no, um, Pepsi tastes like television static and Coke tastes very good. So that, that's my take and that is the correct take. Not just in my opinion, but that is verified by the world that Coke is better. I'll, I mean, you're right. In terms of brand, uh, brand notice, notific, whatever the hell it's called, uh, brand recognition. You're right. Absolutely. It's going. It is for sure. More recognizable. It is more popular. It is more synonymous with, uh, soda beverages because when you look at, there's still a map that floats around every now and again. That's how America print out, like says pop or soda. There's always a little faction that still calls it just Coke, just hilarious. So that's, you're right. I get you there. Um, just, I've never actually taste tested to see which one I like more out of the term, just the main Coke or Pepsi homework assignment for the weekend. Have your girlfriend Megan blindfold you and taste tested and you tell me what you think is better, but there are two more arguments that I want to make. Two coke side one, Joshua put out the poll and the definitive answer. Yeah. Was Coke over Pepsi 2000 for 700 votes. I'm going to point that out. 69% said Coke can't go against it. Nice. And also the mean Joe green commercial. Come on. I'm really going to go against mean Joe green. Come on now. Like I said, the, the Coke brand is more iconic. It is more, uh, recognizable. They have had way more popularity in terms of the Joe green commercial. Many other commercials before, or how about, how about the theory that they invented Santa Claus? It's, it is hilarious how big that brand has grown and just the whole backstory of it. So there's so much to it. Whereas I think Pepsi, I think it's now, now I'm starting a big brand and I should probably stop, but Coca-Cola has their big brand, big one note brand. Whereas Pepsi, it's smaller, but wider. Yeah, they had to go invent other crap to be relevant because their main, their main star is just not up to snuff. So penguins made the right decision going with coke. I'm excited to, uh, I'm not going to drink coke when I come to the games that I always drink beer. So, but I mean, still, nice to know that the penguins smartened up and got coke instead of RC and, uh, and instead of Pepsi as well, but that is going to do it for this fun, fun episode. Gotta love summer episodes to the tip of the iceberg, but this, that's going to do it for this episode of the tip of the iceberg. Remember, you can find us on YouTube at tip of the iceberg or anywhere you get your podcast from. Thank you to everybody tuning in a day later. Sorry that we had to force you to have a little bit of patience, but we hope we delivered with this final episode of the week. We'll see you guys next time.
