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Tip of the Ice-Burgh Podcast

Roster Battle Beginning For Penguins Prospects

In this edition of Tip of the Ice-Burgh, Nick and Nick preview Pittsburgh Penguins' rookie development camp and why it may have implications on the Penguins NHL roster this season (1:05). They also react to an infamous former Penguin calling it a career over the weekend (11:00). The Nick's finish the episode by discussing the Florida Panthers' Stanley Cup victory and how former Penguins played a major role in an electric Game 7 (21:25). Tune In! The top podcast for the most avid Penguins fans! Tune in as Nick Belsky and Nick Horwat bring you all of the Pittsburgh Penguins top news and analysis! New episodes every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday Follow us on X: @IceBurghPodcast Watch segments and full episodes of the show on YouTube at Tip of the Ice-Burgh!! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Duration:
36m
Broadcast on:
25 Jun 2024
Audio Format:
mp3

In this edition of Tip of the Ice-Burgh, Nick and Nick preview Pittsburgh Penguins' rookie development camp and why it may have implications on the Penguins NHL roster this season (1:05). They also react to an infamous former Penguin calling it a career over the weekend (11:00).

The Nick's finish the episode by discussing the Florida Panthers' Stanley Cup victory and how former Penguins played a major role in an electric Game 7 (21:25). Tune In!

The top podcast for the most avid Penguins fans! Tune in as Nick Belsky and Nick Horwat bring you all of the Pittsburgh Penguins top news and analysis! New episodes every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday

Follow us on X: @IceBurghPodcast

Watch segments and full episodes of the show on YouTube at Tip of the Ice-Burgh!!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

(upbeat music) - This episode is brought to you by Experian. Are you paying for subscriptions you don't use, but can't find the time or energy to cancel them? Experian could cancel unwanted subscriptions for you, saving you an average of $270 per year, and plenty of time. Download the Experian app. Results will vary. Not all subscriptions are eligible savings, they're not guaranteed paid membership with connected payment account required. - Ryan Reynolds here from 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. Have it to get 30, 30, 30, but to get 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 50, 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, promoting for new customers for limited time, unlimited more than 40 gigabytes per month, slows, full turns at mintmobile.com. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) - Hello everybody and welcome to the tip of the iceberg podcast. Your home for Pittsburgh Penguins, news and analysis. I'm your host, Nick Belsky joined as always by Nick Corout. We got a fun show for you guys today because we finally have reached the full NHL off season. Stanley Cup was awarded last night. Congratulations goes out to the Florida Panthers. And we'll talk about a couple players on the Florida Panthers as well as one from the Edmonton Oilers, former Penguins that contributed in a massive way to, what was a pretty electric? Game seven, we'll get to that in a little bit, but also an infamous former Penguin called it quits on his career over the weekend. We'll talk about that. But we're gonna start things off with two prospects who are set to begin building their case for NHL roster spots. Let's get started. Now the Pittsburgh Penguins officially announced over the weekend. The rookie camp dates coming up here this next weekend, July 6th to the 10th with four practices culminating in a four on four tournament on July 10th. They didn't announce a full roster with this, but they did mention a few names that will be in attendance, including first rounder Owen Pickering, Cruz Lucius, Tristan Brose, Villekoy Vounen, and Brayden Yeager. Now you would have to imagine guys like Lucas Feckowski, guys like Isaac Bellavo, guys like maybe a Joel Blungfist, get an opportunity at this rookie camp. But the two names I wanna highlight and headline here, Villekoy Vounen and Brayden Yeager, because what I think is this is the beginning of a very long road for those two to potentially make the NHL roster out of training camp once October rolls around. Horawat, do you think that there is some of that levity as we get set to go to UPMC Complex in Cranberry this weekend this Saturday, July 6th? - Absolutely, I think so. There is that sense of looking toward the future of the organization more than just the two names we're gonna discuss, but looking at the full complement of prospects that are looking to be NHL regulars in the near future, in the far future. However you wanna put them, even a couple of draft picks may show up from rounds two through wherever or if maybe they snag a first round pick, a lot of work has to be done for a lot of teams and that's like 48 hours. That being said though, it's a good opportunity for guys like Yeager and Koi Vounen to start setting themselves up for NHL roster spots, to start proving what their worth is in the NHL for the team and for the team right now. It is that sort of launching pad. It's not the preseason, it's not training camp but it's a good spot to prove that you are far and away better than your peers, that you are deserving of all the recognition you've been getting, all of the hype that you've been receiving and just setting yourself up for success. It all starts for these kids right there at that development camp. Like I said, it's not the preseason, it's not the training camp, the full training camp where you're playing with and against guys older than you, aged veterans, other guys coming in from other teams trying to make points. It is you coming in from the draft or from the minor leagues or from your junior team to show why you're better than your peers. It's a fun thing and it's gonna be exciting to watch, exciting to keep an eye on, to keep up with and we'll see if Yeager and Koivuna especially can set themselves apart. That's why those are two of the biggest names you need to look for and maybe some other names will pop up but those are the names that we know right now. - Yeah, neither of them are gonna be able to go out there and win a roster spot over the next week and a half but when you go out there, what they're trying to do is as you mentioned, just lay the foundation for a successful summer. That's what Kyle Dubas wants to see from these guys as can they continue to show growth because there's obviously things, especially for Braden Yeager who's I think 19 years old at the time, there's certainly things that they need to work on and I'm sure the Pittsburgh Penguins have already highlighted that, have already emphasized to these players, hey, over this summer, this is what I want you to get better at and this is gonna be their first opportunity at least formally to show that to the organization. Now, if you think about it in a holistic sense, the new league year technically begins, what? July 1st is technically when everything begins for the new league year because that's when free agency opens, that's when everything starts. I understand the draft is before that but this is the first time that the 2024-25 Penguins will step foot on the ice and it is prospects, it is rookie development camp. We understand that it is not gonna be full of people that are all going to have opportunities. The only two that might have an opportunity to make the roster at any point this year are Koi Vuna and Yeager but this is the first opportunity for them to really make a name for themselves and if they can get off to a hot start, that puts them in a better position come, if they end up going to prospect development, the prospects challenge in Buffalo, if not, whenever they get here a little beforehand, if they're playing with some of the veterans in unorganized team activities, they want to put themselves on a solid path towards getting one of those roster spots because especially if you look at the roster right now, there's gonna be opportunity for young players. Kyle Dubas has said as much throughout the last, what, four, five months even dating back to when we were in the middle of the season when he was saying we need to get younger, we need to get faster, we need to get younger, we need to get faster. Those two players are pretty much the epitome of younger and faster for the Pittsburgh Penguins. This is a great opportunity for them to kind of set themselves up for success as the summer goes along. With that being said, I mean, obviously, we're not looking for anything specific from Braden Jaeger and Billy Koivoon in a prospect development camp. But when I ask you, what are you looking to see from them during this camp? Is it more so along the lines of what we saw last year from Braden Jaeger in that prospects challenge in Buffalo? - Kind of, yeah, it's a lot of that. And I kind of answered it a little bit earlier too and just proving that you're better than your peers. And that goes for everyone, that isn't just for those two or just for Jaeger, it is for everyone that will be in attendance, whether their name has been announced or has not been announced, you want to see them try and be better than their peers, try and prove that they are reasons to be moved up in prospect rankings, if that's even part of it. If they know they're not gonna make a team this year but want to have that shot down the line, it's just more along the lines of proving yourself, proving you're better than the other kids of your age. That's the most that I'm looking for out of. Anyone that shows up is just looking for everyone to prove that they're better than their peers. - Yeah, think about a guy like Cooper Foster, what he was able to do last year at Penguin's prospect camp and then also at the prospects challenge in Buffalo. He's not a guy that had any shot of making the NHL roster but if you make a name for yourself in these summer sessions, everybody's gonna keep an eye on you when you go back to your junior team, when you go back to your college team and that's gonna be a name that you would imagine the organization does the same thing and they keep a closer eye on you and they expound more resources to making you develop a little bit more because they've seen the potential that you've shown and what you were able to do when you stepped up when given the opportunity at these NHL events, at these rookie camps, at everything that's gonna happen over the summer. So that's again, exactly what you mentioned. Be the best out there, be the most noticeable out there, make the least mistakes, make the most surprising plays, be consistent throughout these four days because there's sometimes players come out and they look really good day one and then days two through four they kind of fade into the background. You're like, well, I mean, if you can't keep it consistently for four days against rookies, why are you gonna be able to do that whenever the veterans come into town during training camp? And at the end of the day, that's what a lot of these players are playing for. They're playing for an invite to Pittsburgh Penguins training camp in the fall to be able to prove their medal against some NHL veterans. So I'm intrigued to see who stands out. I'm intrigued to see the full roster and the full lineup when it comes out later this week, but definitely looking for guys like Koi Voonin and specifically a guy like Braden Yeager. How does he respond after having what? Four weeks off after ending his season with the Moose Jaw Warriors and the Memorial Cup. After four weeks off, what does he look like in rookie camp and development camp? And what specifically is gonna stand out about his game? And this is the first opportunity we've had to see it in Pittsburgh since last year's training camp. - Yeah, it's gonna have that opportunity to see him gonna have that chance to just put eyeballs on him. But I'm sure depending on keeping a close eye on all of these kids, all of them that have been in the system already, but more opportunity. That's what these are. Again, like you said, you're not winning roster spots, but you might be setting yourself up for failure almost if you don't have a good run here. It's all about just setting yourself up to succeed in this organization. - Now, I know that this is kind of a loaded question, but Billy Koi Voonin, Braden Yeager, which one to you as we sit here today? Because things can change. Obviously we have a lot of summer sessions to go. Which one has a better shot to make the NHL roster next year? - I'd have to say Koi Voonin just because he has the easy opportunity of going to the A if he needs to, starting out in the minors if need be. Whereas Yeager doesn't have a choice, but to go back to juniors if things don't work out. And now the Penguins might try and give them that nine game sample size and see if things work out, but it just, given the way the Penguins like to slow roast their prospects a little bit, that just might be the most likely outcome. - Yeah, if they're gonna be careful with any prospect, it's gonna be Braden Yeager, not only because he is the guy that has the highest ceiling, he is the number one prospect in your camp, but he's also 19 years old. Koi Voonin, he's played professionally, right? He played professionally overseas. He succeeded professionally overseas. So it's not that big of a jump to imagine that he comes over to North America. And if he has a good camp, especially this camp, and then going into training camp, he could become part of that Penguins Bottom Six. So we'll have to keep an eye on both of these guys as the summer progresses. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) - This episode is brought to you by our good friends at NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube TV. I'm sure by now you've all got back into your Sunday routines, but they could be even better. With NFL Sunday Ticket and YouTube TV, you get the most live NFL games all in one place, every game, every Sunday, and you can even watch up to four different games at once with Multi-View, one of my favorite inventions of this decade. It's exactly what you need to catch all the action. Make your Sundays more magical. And also, YouTube TV is great. I got it this year. It's awesome. Sign up now at youtube.com/bsdevice and content restrictions apply. Local and national games on YouTube TV and NFL Sunday Ticket for out-of-market games excludes digital-only games. - When it comes to toying, seeing is believing. That's why Chevy Trucks Advanced Camera Technology offers up to eight available cameras for 14 unique views so you can focus on the view that really matters. Chevrolet, Together Let's Drive. Learn more about Chevy Trucks at chevy.com. Safety or driver assistance features are no substitute for the driver's responsibility to operate the vehicle in a safe manner. Read the vehicle owner's manual for important feature limitations and information. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) - Let's talk about somebody who is at the tail end of his career actually calling it Quiz on his career. And that is former Pittsburgh Penguin Derek Bursard officially retiring after a 16 year career in those 16 seasons. He played for 10 different teams, 215 goals, 545 total points in 1,013 games played. So before we get into what we're gonna talk about, 'cause this is a Penguins podcast and everybody listening to this knows exactly where we're about to go with this. He had a very successful career. I don't want anything that we're about to say in the next 10 minutes to make it seem like we don't think that a thousand games played in 500 plus points isn't a successful career. You have to be a stellar hockey player to play for 16 seasons at the highest level. But boy, is that one of if not the worst trades of the 21st century for the Pittsburgh Penguins? - It's up there. You could name some around the same length, same level. But I mean, when the Penguins got them, they thought they were getting a, you know, pretty solid piece, a pretty solid center option for that third line position for building into what was supposed to be a third Stanley Cup run? Is that when they grabbed them? Yeah, they thought they were really loading up for a third Stanley Cup run at that time. And they got out of the first round. So there was some hope that things could turn into something. Whenever they got him, they thought they were getting someone pretty solid. I mean, he had 18 goals. He already had 38 points coming in with the Ottawa Senators who were just falling apart. They were selling off everything they could. The Penguins got in on that yard sale and thought they were getting a pretty solid piece. Like I said, 38 points coming into Pittsburgh at the trade. That's not a terrible number, considering how not good the Senators were and just how the production should have been there. There was something stinky about him in Pittsburgh though. I don't know how else to put it. He just, you don't want to say fell off a cliff, but you look at the numbers as I'm trying to and it's tough. I mean, you see eight points in 14 games in the to finish out that season and it doesn't sound terrible, but it's certainly not what the Penguins wanted. The only three goals in that time. And without looking at the post-season numbers, I kind of forget, but it just didn't work out, especially if you look into the next year whenever they traded him after 40 games. Nine goals in that time. Yeah, there was something about Derek Persart in Pittsburgh that didn't work because he would go on to have one more pretty successful season at least back with the Islanders when he had 32. So he had it in the tank still. The Penguins just weren't a system that fit for him. And it's interesting too, because I think there's a little bit of a, what's the word I'm looking for? There's a little bit of a connection to today's Pittsburgh Penguins, because Riley Smith, same number, which is a coincidence. Riley Smith, just for some reason, stellar player before he comes to Pittsburgh, comes to Pittsburgh and it just, it doesn't work. There's something off. And it's not just when you watch the game, it's not just the counting stats. It's the feel of him playing what's, like Evgenie Monkin with Sidney Crosby, with his position in the lineup, it just feels like something's not clicking and something's not going to click. It didn't feel like it was gonna click with Derek Persart. It doesn't feel like it's gonna click with Riley Smith. It still remains to be seen whether or not they give him a second opportunity. Maybe that 40 game sample size that they gave Derek Persart in the second year, but it just didn't click for Derek Persart when he was brought over the Penguins. And the reason that it is one of the worst trades is because not only did you trade a lot to acquire him in the first place, you traded him a less than a year later and had to pay a pretty penny just to offload his contract. You looked at the initial trade and that was a three team deal between the Ottawa Senators and the Vegas Golden Knights. You traded away a first round pick, a third round pick, Phillip Gustafson and Ian Cole. That's what the Penguins got rid of and in return, they got Bresard who didn't work out. A third round pick that they eventually traded away to the Colorado Avalanche. Vincent Dunn, not that Vinny Dunn, but Vincent Dunn who played zero games for the Pittsburgh Penguins and Tobias Lindbergh who played zero games for the Pittsburgh Penguins. That trade alone is a loss if you're the Pittsburgh Penguins. Then you look at the trade that they made to get rid of him. Trade Derek Bresard, they attach a second round pick to fourths and Riley Cheyenne. In return, they get Nick Butte's dad who did very little for them, didn't really fit and Jared McCann who was good for them when he was here and then they let him roll for nothing. So that trade tree in and of itself that started with the trade, Bresard to Pittsburgh, just a horrible sequence of events for Jim Rutherford. - Yeah, not good. Man, thinking of what the Penguins traded away to get Derek Bresard, again, they thought they were getting someone. They thought they were getting a useful piece. At the time you'd probably look before he played a game, you probably looked at it as, okay, that's about what you, maybe it was a bit of an overpaid and then put your figure in, he should be doing something. He should bring something that, if they go on to win a third straight, the Penguins were coming off two cups. Maybe the morale was a little higher too. If he helps bring in a third, we don't care. That's three in a row, something no one's done in a long time. You've totally forget about it. Then you see three goals in 14 games and go, this is not at all what we should have gotten out of them. And also the Ian Cole side of it ended up being a disaster for him in terms of being sent to Ottawa, but that immediately flipped to Columbus because Ottawa was a disaster. - Yeah. - So then you feel bad for a guy that just helped you win two cups and that really doesn't look good on that side of things. And then the train out, yeah, you got good years out of Jared McCann and yeah, Nick Bewkstad ended up doing pretty much what Derek Persart did not showing up in Pittsburgh, but going on to do decent things somewhere else. I mean, not too long ago Derek Persart, not too long ago Nick Bewkstad was a top trade candidate at the deadline somehow. So it's, that just goes to show us some weird things that like third line centers come in with hype, play with nothing and then leave with more hype afterwards. Oh man Pittsburgh, third line centers. But it wasn't ideal, it wasn't ideal. And again, you got good use out of Jared McCann, but everyone, a lot of fans these days look at Jared McCann as he should still be here. - Yeah, a lot of fans, especially when you consider that that is the second time Phillip Hollander has made his way into this trade tree here because the initial third round pick that the Penguins acquired, I mentioned they traded it to Colorado Avalanche, that was in order to trade up, to draft Phillip Hollander and then of course, Hollander ends up coming back in the Jared McCann trade or going out in the Jared McCann trade. I don't know, Hollander has been tossed around by the Penguins multiple different times. I think it was a return of Hollander and a seventh and Hollander ended up leaving after a season once he returned to Pittsburgh from Toronto. But I do remember, you know, you mentioned the three goals in 14 games end of the season. I do remember having the conversation. I don't remember if it was with you. I know we were in college at the time saying, three goals in 14 games is bad. Don't get me wrong though. They acquired him 'cause he's a playoff performer. You look at the playoffs that he had with the New York Rangers, especially in their run to the Stanley Cup final in 2014. He scored a huge overtime winner for them and was a consistent force in that playoffs. And then you look at what he was able to do the year prior in 2017, helping the Ottawa Senators get to the Eastern Conference finals and playing up against the Pittsburgh Penguins. He had a track record of being a pretty solid playoff performer, bringing him in to be a third-liner to add some of that depth like the Penguins had in 2016 and 2017. That's the thought process, especially whenever you're going like you mentioned for that third cup, you're like, all right, you know, screw the picks, they're in a cup window. They've won two in a row, just keep this rolling as long as possible. They obviously ran out of steam and Derek Persart didn't provide the jolt that they had wanted him to, that they had hoped he would. And then it just, it got worse after that. After the cup runs were over in 2018-19 then. If you, he didn't start the season right, it seemed like it was never going to be fixed and then the trade that you made. Yeah, Buick's dad, I had higher expectations for Buick's dad, Jared McCann, who at the time was thought to be the secondary piece in that trade, turns into being an eventual 40-year goal scorer, not for the Penguins, but for somebody else, it's a, it's a good piece, it's good, you know, bit of scouting by Jim Rutherford and his scouting staff to bring in Jared McCann as part of that deal. But at the end of the day, you look at all the wasted assets on those couple of trades. I mean, McCann is the only player that had really solid production with the Penguins. And you traded away a first, a third, a good gold-tending prospect that has turned out to be a half-decent NHL guy in Philip Gustafson, Ian Cole, who was a stellar defensive defenseman for a couple more years after that season. You know, a second round pick, two-fourths. It's a lot of assets for not a lot of return. And I think that's where you see, you know, the Penguins for a while had the worst prospect pool in the entire NHL. It's because they were given away pieces and not all the time where they getting back solid results. And the Bursar trade, it reeks of it all over the place. - It, it, it always has, it always will. The Jay Fresh Card, you ever see Jay, the Jay Fresh Card for Dave Bursar? It's hilarious. It's production, production, production, years in Pittsburgh, tank. He leaves Pittsburgh, production, production, production. It's a hilarious card to see. - Yeah. - Don't know what happened here. - But hey, outside of Pittsburgh, great career. So congratulations to Derek Bursar, he has more money than we'll ever see and he's gonna be able to enjoy his retirement after 16 seasons in the National Hockey League. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) - Speaking of legacy and making a lot of money, Stanley Cup was awarded yesterday to the Florida Panthers after a two to one victory over the Edmondson Oilers. Shutting out Conor McDavid in the final two games is nothing short of a miracle for the Florida Panthers. And when you look at last night's game in particular, a lot of Pittsburgh Penguins getting in on the action there. Three Penguins contribute on three goals in the game. Evan Rodriguez had a primary assist on the Carter-Birhege goal. He puts it on net. Birhege deflects it past. Stuart Skinner, Cody Sisi has a beautiful two-line pass to Matthias Yanmark on the game tie-in goal just about two minutes later. And then Dimitri Koolakov with the moment of his career. Makes a massive save in his own crease, makes a pass out and it ends up becoming a secondary assist on the Stanley Cup winning goal. A lot of former Penguins getting it on the action. What did you think of game seven? - It was a fun game. It was an entertaining game. I tell you what, after Edmonton scored first in game six, I thought it was theirs. I thought the entire series was theirs. I thought they were going to go into Florida, do the same thing they did and, you know, make history. Turns out, even when Florida scored first, I thought that's fine. It's great, get your crowd louder than the other crowd that's there because boy did Edmonton travel for this. But I thought it was good. Florida's going to make it a game and then Edmonton immediately after almost made it a game. And I thought we were going to have a classic on our hands. I'm not going to say it wasn't a classic, but certainly a great game that, like you mentioned before we started here, one of the best final series we've had in a long time. That's tough to come up with anything that replicates it. I mean, I know 2019 went to seven, but don't remember much of it. We talked about 14 because there was multiple over times, couple double over times. It was only five games. It did all the way to '09 with the Penguins, but this is also us forgetting everything that happened in between. But it's a series that was full of drama, full of turmoil, considering the Oilers down three nothing, winning three straight and bringing, I can't wait to see the viewership numbers for this, by the way, it helps at the greatest player and the world was involved in game seven. Helps that Miami sunrise, close to Miami, is a pretty big city to have it in or have it around and have that sort of be a center of a population, density area for the market. That's what I was looking for, for the market. - Yeah. - And it helped that, let's be real here, that Stephen A. Smith was talking about. It helped that big wigs in ESPN and around the sports world, we're talking about it and wanting to watch it. I can't wait to see the numbers, and it'll probably be the highest used to really come up behind on a long time, if not ever. And it was a great game overall. This shut down, and the Panthers shut down McDavid. Again, two games in a row. - Yeah. Now two games in a row, they shut down McDavid, but the two games before that, it was four point performances for Conor McDavid, the first player I believe in the NHL history to have back to back four point performances in the Stanley Cup final. They shut down Leon Drysotl the entire series. Three assists in seven games, for a guy who had 28 points in 18 games going into the Stanley Cup final. His disappearance is gonna be talked about for a long time. Now, part of it is the Florida Panthers are a very good team defensively. But even when the Florida Panthers were on their heels, Leon Drysotl was invisible. And you just can't do that, and put all of it on Conor McDavid in the Stanley Cup final. You need your stars to stand up. One star did in Conor McDavid, and you had some of the supporting cast, Adam and Henryk scored a couple of big goals. Obviously, Evan Bouchard played very well in the series, but you can't have Leon Drysotl. One, not like the lamp at all, and two only have three assists in an entire seven game series. - Yeah, that's not a formula for winning. I mean, how many past years of the Edmonton Oilers' playoffs have we looked at? Leon Drysotl going on, how are you better than McDavid right now? - Yeah. - And it was kind of stupid. It was McDavid would rule the regular season, they'd get to the postseason, and you'd look at Drysotl, like he's gonna be the one that carries his team. And whenever he turns up invisible in the most crucial series that team has seen in a long time, that's not ideal. And you're right, he was, especially in game seven, I don't remember hearing much of his name. There was one point where he almost almost, again, a lot of almost for him, almost created something late, but man, and then it doesn't help that he wasn't doing anything. And then I know McDavid played 10 minutes, I think, about 10 minutes of the third period, half the period. I don't know what Drysotl played, but I would assume it was about 10 minutes because when you're down by one in game seven, yeah, you're chucking two of the greatest forwards in the game right now, over the boards, every opportunity you get. The shift chart for the third period must be insane. But yeah, you gotta have your star show up. Again, McDavid didn't for those last two games, but at least he seemed to be noticeable. And I mean, it helps that it was game seven, and everyone was going to force you to notice him, one way or the other, but nothing got through, and they were just one shot shy of tying it and making it really interesting. - Yeah, game seven over time would have been great, but, you know, alas, we didn't get that. We got a great game seven though. And like you mentioned, one of the best final series of the salary cap era, and I wouldn't go back further than that because I wasn't, I didn't watch further than that. I think the first Stanley Cup final I remember watching was the one directly after the lockout, which was 20, 2006. I think that was Carolina Edmonton. - Edmonton again, yeah. I remember the one before the lockout, Calgary Tampa Bay, which again, I don't remember all the details, but I remember that being also a fantastic series. I believe that also went seven. It's like famously went seven, did it not? - I don't, like I said-- - Cup was over the line according to Calgary. - Yeah, like I said, I don't remember that series. I was too young to remember that series, but when you look at this one and how it stacks up, you mentioned a couple of them. I'll throw in the 2011 Boston versus Vancouver series, but again, you know, I don't know if this is recency bias and we need to let a little bit of time pass, the way that it got to seven, the storylines involved here. It feels like it was one of the best final series of my lifetime. I would put 2009 up there because of all the storylines, because of all the Hall of Famers, because of, you know, the crowning of the kid as the next great one of Sydney Crosby winning the Stanley Cup in his fourth season. This one had all of the makings of becoming it, and I think it lived up to it with Conor McDavid going down three to nothing, the Florida Panthers who lost last year in the Stanley Cup final and got embarrassed coming back and almost losing in a more embarrassing fashion, giving up that three to nothing series lead, going three to three. If they would have lost it at home, it would have been huge, especially with the amount of Oilers fans, as you mentioned, in attendance, but they get the job done. Paul Maurice finally gets the job done. And you see Conor McDavid become the sixth player ever, the second skater ever to win the consmith trophy as a loser. This one to me feels like it's beat pretty much every other Stanley Cup final in my lifetime. Like I said, it's neck and neck with 2009, I might be a little biased on that one, and I don't think it's gonna be beat for a little while. - It's, no, no, it's not. Unless these two meet up again next year somehow. Unless McDavid is back again next year somehow, against whoever, it's going to be a fascinating next season for those two teams, see how they roll. This series will not be beat for quite a while, you're right. It's the storylines that happened, the ways that the games happened, aside from the eight to one game four, every game felt kind of close. I mean, Florida wasn't supposed to win game one. I've mentioned dominated them. Game two, I believe, was a little closer again. Now my member is getting foggy game three. - Well, it's hard when those games were a month ago. - Oh god, that part two, boy, goodness. But then game six felt like it probably could have gone either way, especially, the off-side call, the off-side review, let's say he doesn't review that. Maybe Florida crawls back into that one somehow. There was a little bit of drama in game six. Five was sort of close, I mean, it's not like, aside from game four, it's not like these were blowouts. It was close games from beginning to end. And in game seven itself, another really close one. Evan Bouchard hit a post while he was down by one. - Yeah. - Let's say that goes in, tie game at, believe it was probably still the second period, I believe so. That changes a lot of, changes a lot of the third. Or if McDavid or if dry side will find some magic, how many amazing saves did Wabrowski make toward the end of that game two? - Yes, not only Babrowski, but like the Lucerine block shot in the late third period? - Selling out to block shots, and let's say any of those squid through. It's all complete, we're having a clear different conversation, maybe. - Yeah, and here's the thing, and here's the reason, and we can close it on this. Here's the reason I think it is memorable. Here's the reason I think it goes right up with that 2009 cup. They saved the best game for game seven. You look at 2011, game seven was a four to nothing, shut out win for the Boston Bruins in Vancouver. You look at 2019, it was a four to one win for the St. Louis Blues in Boston. You look at this one and you look at 2009. The best game was game seven, and that's what makes it a lasting memory. Not just the storylines leading up to it, which all help, but the fact that the last thing you see, the lasting memory is a terrific game, and that's what we got on Monday night, that's why I think it stands the test of time, and that's why I think it elevates itself higher than all of these other Stanley Cup finals. - Yeah, and that makes complete sense too. It's 04, I'm thinking back to also as one of the better ones, but again, pre-salary cap era, just barely, but still going seven, a ton of close games, some big overtime games in that one, and like I mentioned, the storyline of the puck over the line, maybe Calgary should have won in six, but getting back to it, this one will stand up to those ones. It'll be one that's talked about forever. The 30 for 30 is gonna be fantastic on this. Oh, also the Amazon cameras, I believe, are following a couple of players around in this series. - Yeah, definitely both of the Edmonton players and Matthew Kachuk. - Oh, my goodness, yeah. That's gonna be a phenomenal, phenomenal series to watch that Amazon thing. Can't wait to see that because the details that come out of that are gonna be great. When it comes to dry side, I bet we get the injury news. Hey, he got hurt again. We'll see. I bet we find out, but Ross, he got hurt too. I mean, how did he fall off a cliff for three straight games like that? - I mean, Conor McDavid. - Sure, but I could make the excuse for him at Conor McDavid went to another worldly level. Four points in back to back games. I mean, it gets difficult, not to mention the entire Florida Panthers team kind of disintegrated for a little while there in the middle of the series, but a great Stanley Cup final, puts a nice little bow on the 2023-24 NHL season and we move forward and what, two days to the NHL draft in the start of the 2024-25 season because in six days, the opening of free agency could be a very busy week for all involved in the National Hockey League. Should be fun to follow along with. We hope you follow along here at the tip of the iceberg. You can find us on YouTube or anywhere you get your podcasts from by searching tip of the iceberg, but we will see you next time. That's gonna be it for this one. It's been a great season. We're looking forward to a great one next year. We'll see you guys next time. (upbeat music) (upbeat music)