"With your MX card entertainment benefits like special ticket access and pre-sills to select camp miss events while supplies last, make every tap music to your ears." Feel the pulse of the city. Feel the beat of the drum. Feel the bass? Blow your hair. In Las Vegas, live music delivers much more than sound. It's where music comes alive. Like artists like Pink, Wu-Tang Clan, Nicki Minaj, Garth Brooks, Christina Aguilera, 21 Pilots, Nas with the Las Vegas Bill Harmonic, and many more. Every show is a playground for your senses. See the full summer lineup at visit LasVegas.com. 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 his lovely Bucky's Hat, but also joined today by a third very special guest host, Jeff Taylor of the Fly Penguins Fly podcast. We have a fun show for you guys today because, well, we're in the throes of the off season. We figured, let's take a look back and see what Kyle Dubas has done. Up to this point, we're going to give our grades for Kyle Dubas's off season to this point. And then we're going to look a little bit deeper into what his best and worst moves were this summer. Let us know in the comments what you think his best and worst moves are. And then we're going to chop it up about some pens prospects because Jeff Taylor was boots on the ground at Penn's development camp a couple weeks ago. We'll get his thoughts on what we saw or what he saw at Cranberry at UPMC Lemuse Sports Complex. But let's get started. And let's kick things off with the off season grades for Kyle Dubas. But before we get into that, Jeff, you're joining the show special guest host. How's your summer been, man? It has been a long couple of months since we've seen actual hockey back in April against the New York Islanders. But how have you been of recently? Because we haven't had a chance to chop it up about the pens. It's great to see both of you guys, Nick and Nick and beyond tip of the iceberg. I listen all the time. As I've said before, it's one of the greatest resources for all things penguins hockey. So please keep it up. We're also grateful as listeners. The summer's been wonderful. Some great downtime with my wife, Ashley, who's a big penguins fan as well. The handsomeness of Sydney Crosby is largely why we're allowed to watch so much hockey in our household, although she also knows and can follow the game much more keenly than I can. So shout out to Ashley, my beautiful wife. Two big things happen for me this summer. Otherwise, I released a record with my new band, Farmer. The record is called The Color That Suits You and the single that we put out is called Honey, featuring one of my all time heroes, Dave Matthews. So please do check that out. And the other thing was a couple of days ago, I got on the ice for the first time since March and 11 year old passed me the puck. I one timed it, it rang off the post. It did not go in, but I felt like I was really back. So Kyle Dubas, pay no mind to me. I was going to say, I thought you were about to say Kyle Dubas, if you still need a first line left winger, Jeff Taylor is ready. I'm Marcus Pedersen shaped, but about 15 pounds under his weight, I don't think I would do it and I can barely move. So good depth options. That's all I'm hearing from you. It's a good depth piece to add into the line up at the third or fourth line level, who can be shut down to six or seventh line level at D league men. And also my bench, my chirping stuff, my, I bring that Jersey flair to the bench. And I think that could be helpful. Certainly would make Drew Connor feel right at home. So yes, with that, let's get into some of the off season grades here for Kyle Dubas, because it has been a couple months, but you look at what he's done. It is an incomplete grade, because it seems like there's still more to come. But at the same time, this is basically grading a college student or high school student that is getting ready for finals. So with that in mind, let's start with you, Jeff, because you are the guest and we want to kick things off with you. What would you grade Kyle Dubas's performance this summer as? Okay, you know, overall, I'm impressed. I think we saw more action in free agency and in, you know, following the draft than I thought we would. And some of the names that I saw come in, I was impressed with, you know, Matt Grizzly, because a guy who's, who's done some great things and in place else, places elsewhere in the NHL, Boston, I know it's one place that comes to mind, Blake Lazat, somebody I'm excited to see, slot in with the Penguins. And overall, I think because the Penguins, in my opinion, are really in, they're already in their rebuild, call it what you will, West Wing reference, just say bagel, don't say the word rebuild. But overall, I'm going to give him a solid B and, and there, and it's, it's the my worst move that he made when we get there. That's the reason for that grade. See, I'm like, I'm like right around that I'm a little bit below the solid B grade. I think I've been sitting at a C plus to a B minus just because like you're right, like there were plenty of pieces brought in, there was some key, there was a key piece moved out, free agents left as they normally would. But I think the lack of a splash is what holds me back a little bit. So I go for that C plus B minus range, but knowing there's still time to add to it, but at the same time, we came into this off season expecting certain things, expecting Riley Smith to be traded. That one did happen expecting maybe Tristan Jar to be dealt. He's still here expecting a name like, I think Lars Ella was thrown out there for a little bit. That hasn't happened. Same goes for Ryan Graves and Nolochari and other names that have been thrown out there. But just nothing came to. And I think it was that lack of splash that holds it back for me. I will say one of the most unexpected signs for me at least was the Alex and Delkovich coming back for a couple of years. Yeah. Yeah. And it's funny because you mentioned the lack of splash. It's kind of the inverse of what Dubas's first summer was in Pittsburgh. You look at last off season. He signed the biggest defenseman on the market, which was Ryan Graves. He signed really the most expensive goaltender on the market, which was Tristan Jarri. And then he made the biggest trade of the off season and getting Eric Carlson in early August. And you look at this off season and it's, it has been the opposite, right? It has been a lot of moves that are very quiet, very understated, not a lot of term given out. The only two guys that had more than one year on their contract when brought in were Blake Lazott, who got a two-year contract and Kevin Hayes who had two years remaining. So it is interesting that he's kind of shifted and gone the opposite direction. But I think it goes perfectly in line with the direction of the organization. Jeff alluded to the fact that they're, I mean, I'm calling it a rebuild. I know Kyle Dubas will never call it a rebuild. I know Sidney Crosby will never call it a rebuild because it's a gate driven league and they need people to show up and people don't like to show up for a rebuild. But at the same time, you know, it's a rebuild and their moves have been indicative of that so far this summer. Yeah. Yeah, I agree. And Nick Horwatt, of course you mentioned the Alex Nadellkovich signing that, that to me is my biggest and coolest move that I've seen personally because the eye test as a fan, being out there, going to the rink, watching games from home, that was kind of the big story for me with the Penguins last year was Alex Nadellkovich, just looking great. Did he take the net from Tristan Jari? Yeah, he did toward the end of the season. And that's exciting hockey for me. Gold tender is the most exciting position for me. And, and, and that was a great story. I'm really interested to see and therefore my, are we not, are we not at best and worst moves yet? Am I jumping the gun? I'm sorry. We'll get, we'll get there in a minute. But I mean, go, continue to finish your point, though. I definitely want to hear your point. I'm excited purely from the fans perspective. I'm excited that Nadellkovich is coming back. I'm excited he's going to be here for a couple of years that he's going to get pretty nice payday. And it gives him that extra fire. He brings such great vibes to the locker room, to the media availabilities after all that stuff that we get to consume from that, again, that fan's perspective. It's just he makes the game exciting and makes me feel like the pens have a real chance to get one over on, on another team, on a tough out, like some of these other teams in the Eastern Conference that are on the up and, and coming like Detroit. Yeah, there's a lot, there's a lot going on. Yeah, I'm with you on the Alex Adelkovich thing too, just to build off of it. Like he wasn't awesome players sort of be around in the locker room to bring those vibes up for, you're right for the media, for the media people, but also for the teammates and the coaching staff. And I, this is how far removed we are from the season at this point. I kind of forgot he stole the net in the first place. And like I said, then like he wasn't overly stealing games. He wasn't overly fantastic, but he was doing enough to help the Penguins win. And that's all they needed. And having him back in the fold is going to make things interesting, especially if, like we mentioned Tristan Jari move never happened. If we go back into this next season with those two is the duo is the tandem, there's gonna be a dichotomy there of who's starting. Who is the starter? Because like you mentioned, I mean, Adelkovich stole that role, but Jari is still around making starter money. Yeah, that is going to be one of, if not the biggest headlines and storylines to follow when the Penguins come back into town in September and get ready for training camp in the 2024-25 season. Let's round out the grades here. I didn't give mine. I know Jeff, you had a solid B, Horwatt, you're between a C plus and a B minus. I'm gonna go straight C plus on this one. And I'm not, I'm not wavering at the moment from that one. Because what's the goal? If the goal was to build a championship team, it's an F we can close the book, we can end the recording and we can go on with our lives. But the goal is to thread the needle and the thread the needle between making sure the future is brighter and brighter every day while still giving Crosby and Malkin enough players and enough support to where they can be competitive night in and night out and potentially push for a playoff spot. That's a tough position for Kyle Dubas to be in. And the reason I give him a C plus is, well, he really didn't do anything to overly, you know, add to the team going in the next season. But at the same time, he only signed like I mentioned, those two contracts are brought in those two contracts that are more than a year. He didn't sign any major contracts that you're thinking, all right, in a year, he's gonna have to try to make his way out of this and try to find his way out from this like he did with Riley Smith. So I thought he stayed middle of the pack for the most part. And again, what else was he supposed to do? I don't know. But I still look at a team that on paper is a bubble playoff team. And I understand that the goal is hope that you bring in guys and they can be greater than the sum of their parts, especially whenever you're led by a couple of greats. But I still feel like those parts could have been a little bit better. Again, it's hard to sit from this position and be able to go out there and say who it could have been because that other player has to have interest in coming here. But I still feel like, you know, you look at this team who's playing first line left wing. What is Anthony Beauvilla supposed to do? Who from the younger penguins that we want to see get a chance are actually going to get a chance? These are all questions that I feel like if there were answers to or better answers to his grade would be a little bit higher in my eyes, but I'm going C plus. Any rebuttal, let's get let's sorry. I mean, I'm the host here. Any rebuttal from that from you, Jeff, first before we go over to Horawatt? No, no rebuttal, per se. When you said young penguins and forgive my silence, I was actually typing in the name of one of those those young penguins. Somebody that came to mind was Cori and Denofsky. And every time I've seen him on the ice in camps in the last couple of years, he's just a real physical presence, you know, kind of a bull out there. And there are, there are players, right? There are starting to become here. There is starting to become a fairly respectable, kind of exciting group of players on the bubble for me. And we saw some of those players really starting to get a chance last year in Houston in and and Drew Conner establishing a more solid role right on the NHL roster in the last couple of years. And, you know, it's just going to be gradual. I mean, there are, there's no magic wand that can be waived, right? Father time is undefeated when it comes to the older guys. And as far as the younger guys coming up, short of one of those generational talents that just parachutes in and changes the whole game. That's and even when that does occur, as we've seen with Paul Skeens in in baseball, you know, in hockey, when's the last time? I mean, it's really been some time now since someone really came in and didn't like get badly injured and miss a good portion of the season because they're just undersized or they're really not prepared in some other way, really takes a while on the NHL for those barnacles to to attach themselves and toughen the skin and toughen the carapace, if you will. So I I am just I was reading one of Josh, he always mailbag questions this morning and the person asked how as a fan in this time of rebuild does one stay engaged and excited. And the simple answer Josh had for the athletic was, I mean, you get to go watch Sydney Crosby every night. You know, you get to go to PPG Pains Arena and watch this incredible talent, this top five of all time, that really is the end of it for me. I go to watch Sydney Crosby and whoever else, you know, and we talk about what's the chemistry going to be like on the on the top line and in the top six and who's going to have the opportunity, as you guys said in your last episode, not the demotion, right? If Drew O'Connor were to end up on that third line, Mike Sullivan's the first one to say, you know, you can call it the first, second, third, fourth lines. I just try to make the best lines and put the team on the ice gives us the best chance to win. So I'm excited. We love the sport, right? We're in it because we love the sport. We don't just get together to talk about it because maybe the pens will win the Stanley Cup. And I think fans and the organization in general, for us all to keep the spark alive, to show up, to to root, to cover in whatever we do, whatever fashion we do it, it's for the love of the game. So, and I think we don't have a super terrible team, as Josh also said in his mailbag piece. So what else do you want? I mean, there's always a chance. There's always a chance the Penguins crack the playoffs. And once you do that, weird things happen. You never know. A goaltender gets injured on the other team. You steal around and how wonderful would that be? Right. Exactly. It's and then it's why do people like what is the point of showing up if things are rebuilding? It is the Sydney Crosby factor is the fact that he is who most people, not most, but a lot of people have been going to see for the last nearly two decades. That's not going to change going into this upcoming season and a few seasons following hit, hit, wink, wink, something needs to go on there. But it's that is one of the big reasons why people go there. And of course, also have Genny Malkin, you know, at the time, Mark Andre Flurry and Crystal Tang and all the other big names that have come and got Phil Kessel. But through all those last 20 years with Crosby and Malkin, at least there have been some bad Penguins teams yet fans were still showing up. So even in this new era, if you will, of Penguins hockey, not only will people still show up for Sydney Crosby, but this should be the kind of year that after they've missed the playoffs for two straight years, especially if things don't get off on the right foot, there needs to be a shift in the way people watch the Penguins. It can't pretty essentially shouldn't anymore be watching. We're watching them to win. Now it will have to switch to essentially, we're watching the final data Sydney Crosby and appreciating what he has done for the Penguins for the league and for the sports. I get it. And I understand both of the points. I will say you watched a win. I am a competitive person. And I know the people of Pittsburgh as far as what you look at fan bases, Pittsburgh's fan base is a competitive fan base. And that is that is spurred on by many years of winning that is spurred on by five Stanley Cup championships in the past 30, 40 years, whatever it is back to 1991. So you know, it's going to be a different experience watching the Penguins this year, but still it's going to be watching a team that is going to be fighting for a playoff spot and fighting for everything that they can get. And I think that is in and of itself outside of the Sydney Crosby factor, something worth tuning in for. And part of that's going to be, you know, the players that were brought in the moves that were made this offseason. All state wants to remind fans that mayhem is everywhere. Like when your fantasy league meets up at your house, everything's great until the hot plate gets too hot for the tablecloth. Now your kitchen's up in smoke. And if you don't have the right home insurance coverage, the cost to fix this is anything but a fantasy. So switch to all state, save money, and get protected from mayhem like this. Not available in every state based on coverage selected subject to terms, conditions, and availability savings vary. Walmart has the trusted brands and products your kids need for school. Like HP Chromebooks. Yep. Reebok Huddies. Yep. Pokemon pencil cases. I think you know the answer. But just in case, yes. Go back in a style with Walmart. With that, let's move over and talk a little bit about best move, worse move. Jeff, you already kind of alluded to yours. You love the Alex Nodelkovich signing. Is that what you would consider their best move so far this offseason? I think that's a great move. I guess the other one that I would have to mention again, I didn't mention it yet, is the hiring of David Quinn. I guess that's not really a, that's not a Kyle Dubas move, right? Somebody correct me here. I'm sure he has a hand in it. I don't know who makes the official. It's either him or Sullivan, but between the two, we've seen that those two are pretty much in cahoots with every move that is made here. Yeah. And that something needed to happen there. I definitely opined, thought about, pondered the idea of whether Sully's time in Pittsburgh in any way, shape, or form should be considered or reconsidered. And as I read about it, consulted guys like yourselves or the fans, I think I came around to the idea that it's really not a situation where it's like the coaches fault, especially not a future, probably a future Hall of Fame coaches fault in the way of Mike Sullivan, that the team is foundering in the way that they are at when you have this legendary core who are aging. And it's just kind of, you're not really able to play the same hockey that you were playing in those in those in those cup years. We're well past that now and into this into this other era. If they'd made a change at the top, so be it, they didn't. And to so to see Todd Reardon go and to see David Quinn come in, someone who, for lack of a better way of putting it, is kind of like a pseudo Sullivan looking, sounding, pedagreed hockey player and and coaching staff type of guy. I mean, they really do almost look like thesby inversions of one another future and past. I don't know how much older Sully is, but maybe it's like in that president role, you age faster. When you win, go on those cup runs, Sully looks great. He's a handsome fella, but he, but he looks a little older to me than David Quinn. I'm sorry, coach, but you know, I believe Quinn is three years older or something like that, because there was a story. Quinn's older. Yeah, there was a story that I think I'm getting it right. Whenever they first coached against each other a couple of years back, whenever he was with the Rangers. Oh, wow. NBC sports at the time did a little document, documentary on them, a small clip. And I think it was Quinn said, because he was a couple of years older, he gave his ID to Sullivan to go around the bars in at at BU. So for like two years, he essentially was David Quinn. Yeah, as a right now, it's 57 to 56. David Quinn is in the lead. Oh, so it's just like a year. Okay. Wow. They both look great. I just was going to say in comparison to one, but that said, former teammates and I think that's a really exciting thing in addition to Nodelkovich being resigned is the addition of David Quinn. And just what if there's a real spark there and a chemistry there between him and, you know, Latang and Carlson and then dialoguing and what happens if the Penn's power play catches fire a little bit, we would see a very different result down the stretch with this team. And I'm glad you brought that one up, because that's a hiring and a move that I had completely not forgotten about, but kind of overlooked for this section here, because you're right, the kind of new voice, what what a new voice behind the bench can bring, especially a guy like Quinn, who can maybe find something new in Crystal Tang for the last couple of years, maybe find something new in Marcus Patterson as he's probably going into a contract season. But most importantly, be that whisper for Eric Carlson to wake him back up for his next season after, you know, not let's just say not meeting expectations in his first year in Pittsburgh. Now, who have a familiar voice that he had with in San Jose, where he got 101 points as a defenseman, allowing him to sort of settle in a little bit more comfortably. You know, it's tough playing with a superstar like that, who kind of doesn't play by his own rules necessarily, but has his own mindset. David Quinn, maybe honing that in a little, or at least letting other guys know how to work it, it should be a very big net positive for the team. And not my, not what I had written down for my best, but definitely that's a good second. The more I think about it and talk about it. Well, let's hear what is your best, Hora. Let's go over to your best move of the off season for Kyle Dubas and the Penguins. Quite simply just moving out Riley Smith. We don't, we don't have to go too far into detail on it. Just the chemistry seemed to work at first for the first couple of games. And then it all felt flat and never really woke back up. So moving out on a name like that, you know, you didn't need much in return. You were just trying to dump it off and get, open up the space, open up the cap space, open up that roster spot for pretty much anyone else. And going from there, it's a topic we've discussed a gazillion times since the season. Nothing new is really sad other than moving on from him is, at least as of right now, probably the best move the Penguins have done this off season. Yeah, not only getting something back, getting more back than you paid a year prior after a down season. That's that was on my list. That was certainly on my list there because you traded a third round pick and everybody said, Oh, that's a that's a bargain price, but for especially for what you're getting. And then they feel like didn't get close to what they were asking for last year when they acquired Riley Smith. And again, you mentioned it's not these a bad player. It was just a bad fit in Pittsburgh. But to get back a second and a fifth. And I understand they're retaining 25% of a salary for one season. But again, we talked about this on the outset. This is a team that is, you know, don't say the big word out loud, but say the big word out loud rebuilding 25% or bagel. Sorry, bagel. State 25% for one season is nothing, especially to get a second and a fifth rounder in return for a player that let's just face it didn't work with the Pittsburgh Penguins. And I'd like to add regarding Riley Smith. And again, this is to say nothing per se about somebody I've never met in person. But yeah, when I'm reading from the outside perspective as a non, you know, in the locker room person, that Riley Smith has been vocal around the organization from day one about not wanting to be in Pittsburgh. I will self promote fly penguins fly for one second, which is a, which is another podcast that's out there somewhere. We talked to Paul Stagerwald for one of the episodes. And he discussed the culture that has disseminated down from Badger Bob and Craig Patrick in the early 90s. And it was such that if you brought bad vibes into the clubhouse, into the locker room, into meetings, into into camp, into practice, you did not last long. And according to Staggy, that has lasted through to today in some generational sense. Well, it's a great day for hockey. You know, that's positive. I don't want to be in Pittsburgh, bye bye. And the fact that he was here as long as he was, was frankly kind of as soon as that started to leak out that one of our, you know, top talent pieces in the forwards doesn't want to be here. And Sid Crosby is our captain. And Gino Malkin with his particular brand of humor. And Carlson comes in with this great attitude and the tang after the incredibly difficult year that he had last year rose character wise to the challenge of sharing those top defensive positions. Marcus Pedersen best attitude. I mean, again, from from what I saw from what I gleaned, receiving the content that Nick Corbett that you and your other associates in the locker room there, we're bringing to us on TV and on the radio as a penguins fan. That's my favorite part about rooting for this team is that there's so much positivity. There's a good vibe almost always right with with all these cats. And my when we get to worst moves, once again, I'll I just can't wait for that one. Yeah, I wouldn't say Riley Smith necessarily brought the vibes down openly. I think maybe there was some quiet because nothing's going to be open and obvious. This isn't the NFL where guys are straight up saying nonsense things to rise. Although for NHL terms, that was as close as I've ever heard it come. Yeah, in the penguins land to someone kind of being like almost anti penguin while wearing the crest. And that was weird. And like I said, he's not gonna straight up come out and say it, but I can understand where from some of the vibes that were there, where people would have that conclusion. And I'm impressed that that's sort of mindset from the 90s has carried over. That's something you really want to hear that you only want guys that want to play for your team. That should always be the way it is. I mean, sometimes just doesn't happen. And it makes me think more of some of the faces that have shown up for a year, maybe two, whether it be through through a draft or through a trader assigning and then have been gone pretty quickly. I mean, a couple of names came to mind right away and maybe there was something to be said about that for those certain guys. The one thing I'll say about Riley Smith at the end tail end of this is the thing that you mentioned there, Horwad is you would have never been able to know inside the locker room just by being there if you didn't hear it from elsewhere. He's a professional as are most of these players that are brought into the Penguins organization. So he has to be commended for that. But again, the attitude towards the trade, the actual performance on the ice, that stuff you can dock them for. I'll say that for certain. But again, the professionalism was there. I don't think there was ever an Iota of belief that he was actually dogging it on the ice because he was unhappy. I feel like he put his full foot forward, but it just it wasn't a fit in Pittsburgh. Let's close out the best moves here. I'll just throw one extra one on the pile here because there have been a lot of good ones discussed already. I'm going to say that Kevin Hayes trade is up there because again, what are you trying to do? You're trying to not mortgage the future. In fact, you're trying to make a brighter future while making the team currently a little bit better. Kevin Hayes trade very low risk. In fact, almost no risk for medium reward. He could be a 40 to 50 point producer if possible at his best. He's a guy that brings in that veteran presence. He's a guy that is historically outside of whatever happened at the tail end in Philly has historically been seen as a very good locker room presence. You bring a guy like that in gain a second rounder in the process. Think it's a nice little piece of business from Kyle Dubas. That's why I'll put that in the best move category. I agree with with Jeff. The David Quinn one is probably a little bit higher up there. I agree with the Riley Smith one being pretty high up there, but I think Kevin Hayes trade needs to go up there as well. I don't disagree with that at all either. It just matters seeing how it goes, seeing how it turns out, but I like that one too. Oh, sorry. Go ahead. No, go ahead. Finish off on Kevin Hayes. We love having everybody in the penguins locker room who was a part of spreading the gospel about the bad vibes in Philadelphia as he was so, you know, well, story to have been a part of. So well done there, Kevin. Allegedly. Allegedly. Allegedly indeed. I certainly don't have proof of that. And now two pigeons be moaning the fact you can stream direct TV satellite free. 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Let's move over and talk about the worst moves with that in mind. Obviously, there have been some moves that are been are, you know, not beloved by the Penguin's fan base as we've certainly seen in our comments section. Horro, let's start with you on this one. What do you think was the worst move of the Penguin's this offseason? I think so far my worst move is the lack of moves and by lack of moves I had mentioned the lack of splash earlier. We don't need to do too much more of that, but much like we just me and you probably as he just talked about repelsky I should say sorry I'm still getting used to that. Um it's a switch. I would say not having Crosby signed yet still. Again it is still nothing to worry about but the fact that it's still gone on for this many weeks and the waiting game is still being had. Like we said the longer it goes on the more speculation is going to come up and just something needs to get done there. I get that they're all trying to be private and hush about it. Um but a little bit of a little bit of vocalness would be helpful for a lot of people especially if speculation does start kicking up again again not at the moment not yet but soon enough. Yeah we talked on Tuesday about that a little bit that you know if it gets past his birthday which is August 7th then there's going to be a lot of people that start the chirping a little bit more even though they were just shut down by yoey or sorry by Rossi on July 8th they're they're starting to get a little bit nervous and they're starting to be a little bit of rumbling outside of the city of Pittsburgh about this. Do you have any thoughts on the the non-signing so far of Sydney Crosby Jeff? I mean it's just any anytime the conversation even comes up about sit not finishing in Pittsburgh regardless of whether it's founded or not it just makes my stomach hurt and and I don't want to think about it because I as a sports fan I would be glued to the television if he signed in Montreal or did some crazy thing like that. I would it would be the most uh consequential thing that's happened in ice hockey period in the world since I started following not that long ago and all that is to say I I take cues from those who've been penguins fans for longer than me and I've been a penguin fan since I started following hockey but you know I can't replace somebody who's known it for 30 plus years and it sounds to me from all the people that I've spoken to it's just not going to happen he's not going anywhere Sid's staying here he's going to follow in the footsteps of of Iserman and Lemieux and the very few players who've been nearly as great and have stayed in those in those hockey cities so it's just a thing to talk about it would be really cool and very Sid from what I do know that that he would sign on 8/7/24 I would love that I think it would be so in keeping with that superstitious side of of our captain. The question that I have here and I got to look it up because you just mentioned the date and it's 8/7/24 if he signs a three-year deal on his birthday 8/7/24 what that means he's going to sign for up to 24 seasons in the NHL because that could really bring this home he's going into year 20 it'd be 21/22/23 now it would be through 23 so that quickly put to a close but it was close it stuck in my head for a second but yeah no it would certainly it would have been interesting if that would have lined up perfectly obviously we know Sidney Crosby is a as superstitious actually that's underselling it he is the most superstitious person that it has been logged in human history up to this point he's still having the equipment staff repair that one set of rebock pads or whatever that is really something yeah I mean that is just the for lack of a better term that is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Sidney Crosby man but Jeff you were very excited about your worst move I'm gonna actually put that on the back burner and let you let you close us out with this my worst move and I know that you might disagree with this because you mentioned in Edelkovich already was standing pat at gold tender not just bringing back Alex Edelkovich because in a vacuum I like that move this is a guy that proved to you that he deserves an opportunity to get more opportunity going into this season he deserves to be a 1b for your organization moving forward what he was able to do down the tail end of last season was great for the penguins he gave him a shot he gave him a chance and he brought some excitement back into the city of Pittsburgh down the stretch but again you look at what those two were Ned was a 900 gold tender Jari was once again I'm just gonna say a failure at the end of last season because for the third straight year or fourth straight year really his entire career once the all-star break came and went so two did him being good at hockey the penguins need those two to be their first health first half selves Ned was 6 2 and 2 up until January with a 924 save percentage Jari was 11 11 and 2 but he had a 916 they both fell off after that and the defense wasn't good at the beginning but it wasn't good at the end either they just fell off so who knows if Kyle Dubas tried to move Tristan Jari and there wasn't a market but going into the season with Ned and Jari once again with that as of right now seeming to be the plan I think that was his worst move I think he could have done a lot more especially in an offseason where we saw a heck of a lot of movement in the gold tending market overall well the good news for your listeners who need to be somewhere at some point is that that was my worst move also oh there we go so we're just gonna to not bury the lead and I just couldn't agree more and I think it says something that both of us had that on our list as the as potentially the worst move and it was like kind of a non-move as pleased as I was I seen a duck which come back I think he's a very very solid backup goaltender or a 1b or whatever you want to call it look we're we're in the bagel we're in the eye of the bagel and you know Tristan Jari for me for the penguins is not it in my opinion and that's not to say because what happens when you say that to a really in the know you know stat knowledgeable league market knowledgeable hockey analyst or journalist the first thing that you get thrown back at you is but what else is out there what did you where who else did you think you were going to get you want to get john gibson well he comes along with this issue in that you weren't going to get hella buck when that ship sailed because of x y and z who who is it that you and the arm chair gm in me just and this doesn't really make a ton of sense at the nhl level so forgive it in advance please well get rid of him for a song you know see who will take him on retain a little bit of salary and get any old decent goaltender don't have a top-top level goaltender don't try to have you know I mean try but if there's no one out there just switch it up you know if it's not working fix it if it ain't broke don't fix it if it's broken and the relationship between jari's process and what we see on the ice year and year out and and in different ways sometimes it's an injury issue sometimes it's a didn't play that great under the bright lights of the playoffs and in the one real chance that he had or you know very few chances that he had when he wasn't injured it's just the chemistry between this organization and this player to me just is not it's not there I remember it in a microcosmic sense the day that caspary captain and put on a st lewis blues kit he scored a goal and he kept scoring for them at least in the short term i didn't really keep super close track of cabinets progress with st louis but the point is we've seen it with with jared mccan we've seen it with other players daniel sprong almost anywhere else he's gone after the penguins he's done somewhat better than he did here that's probably not the best example but there's there's somebody we we did mention uh murashoff before i know he's not ready yet but look folks like neds pretty darn good there's some other pretty darn good goalies out there and you just never know what you can get done is somebody with the right personality the team plays in front of that goal tender in a certain way we saw that with the delkovich somehow the team felt a spark playing in front of him particularly on nights when jarry would be pulled net would come in or net would start the game and you just there was like a punkness to it like a cool new band like nirvana before nevermind came out like they were just out on the circuit a lot of people already knew about them uh and if you were at those bleach era shows i mean what's cooler than that there was like a vibe right and it's spurred on this this this thing which did continue to be successful i'm interested to see number one if nadalkovich's 24 25 series is nevermindish and then number two is there is there there's not right you guys jerry's jerry's here for the first game of the season he's going to play or be dressed for penguins rangers uh at ppg paints arena right he's going to be he's going to be a penguin going into the season there's there's nothing right most likely uh it's just going to be the situation it is because well i think now the kind of what we're all getting at here is that the worst move is the fact that there hasn't been a move because well nadalkovich staying in might be good or bad for whatever reason that uh you think that everyone was expecting jarry to be dealt and it hasn't happened so where do the penguins go from here it seems to be it's going to be just the same duo but they have joe blomquist waiting in the wings for some sort of bomb to drop if one even happens or if someone gets hurt and he has to come in we'll see what it happens during the season it could be an entertaining trade deadline there's always that to look forward to too i mean yes nadalkovich is around for a couple seasons but if he plays pretty well that's a moveable deal if jarry isn't doing well someone might take a flyer on if jarry is playing well and a delk of just playing well see what you can get and see what you can get in return especially if blomquist is doing good there's all kind of possibilities that can happen with this gold tending duo or trio as the season progresses even yeah it is going to be you know it is going to be huge for the penguins this year what happens in net do they end up trading jarry at some point does blood yet you just ran all down down all the possibilities there for what there is a lot that goes into the season for the penguins and net and i just expected there especially whenever the trade went down i just had the expectation that knowing the way the gold tenders were about to be moved it felt like that was move number one and it was the start of a of a little bit of an avalanche in it it wasn't in fact it's been radio silence on the gold tending front since then for the pittsburgh penguins while the rest of the league has continued to to shape shift when it comes to their net mining trios or duos or what have you so it is certainly going to be a storyline to follow as the year progresses let's close things out for this episode with a quick check-in on some prospects we've talked a lot about prospects and we like to do it in the summer time because that is the future that is what's exciting we can talk about Crosby and maulkin and brian rust all the live long day but the reality is is we have a pretty good idea of what to expect from them next season we'll get into all of our predictions in that as august rolls in and as september kicks in but as of right now we want to talk a little bit about prospects and jeff you were in attendance for prospect development camp up at cranberry the upmc sports lemue complex you had close eyes on sir gay mershev is the guy that everybody has been talking about seemingly since that development camp and the guy that whenever i texted you about it you said listen i was laser focused on mershev and every single move that you had what were your thoughts on the young russian netminder well mershev made a couple of many bell i don't know if it was 10 bell but some great saves while i was there on a lot of these players who have either just recently been drafted who we saw suited up or uh you know have been at camp before players like uh zonplant or uh names that are fun to say like that one but you know watching him in net he looked spry he looked very excited really dialed in very alert um upright you know standing coming far out of the crease looked pretty bold and i did watch also some of the interview footage that i saw from the previous day of camp when i wasn't on the on the ground and he seemed like a pretty sharp a sharp guy right i got to make this decision i have a lot of decision making to do uh he was really transparent talked about an offer that he had uh from his home team and possibly signing with the khl again and or whether to i don't know if the decision is either to do that or say you know try to come and get a job with the wilksbury scranton penguins or what the next move would be but it was just to see to see the media excited got me excited so then i came down to the rink and when i walked in just so happened that sittargay was tending goal right by the door where you first walked in so i first saw him from behind and then i came in and sat right in front of him and watched all these uh pretty exciting sequences just neat also there's something about a russian goalie in the penguin system i'll just say it that that gets me excited as a uh person of some russian ancestry and i always hear about gino thriving whenever he had sittargay gone char in the room or any time he's been able to go like we've seen in the footage from what was that some kind of an all-star game that was going on over uh in russia where he and ovechkin were playing together i just love seeing him i'm not saying that we we expect to see much of overlap with if guinea malkins career it's probably not going to be the case unless some uh like you said a bomb drops uh but cool to see him out there and any other player that stuck out to me and look i saw the other names out there like pickering and then ovsky of course tanner how was signed uh i think later that day after i left camp must have been right upstairs from from where we were all watching by the way i always say it anybody out there listening you're a penguins fan from out of town come into town get yourself a flight to pittsburgh and go watch camp whether it's prospect camp rookie camp or penguins training camp it's free there's no better non-ticket than to just get waltz into upmc and watch the penguins system in action it's so exciting to sit up right on the glass uh the other player who carried the puck really well looked great on his skates and made a few people look slow uh and i may have a little trouble with the last name was a player out of uh university of wisconsin uh matthew dsp matthew disainth fally or p h a l l e looks strong on the puck great skater uh right shot five foot nine one seventy listed here on the um uh university wisconsin on the badger's website this may be a little outdated uh alternate captain there in in wisconsin so definitely a uh and a senior there had had been a senior so yeah yeah i got on the uh development roster uh think too he played seven games with wolf's barrier this past season i believe uh squirt a goal so he's got a little experience in the penguin system uh well that's one of those things it's fun seeing names like that pop up and just someone to you know stick a flag and keep an eye on it see if things progress and that's what makes these like you mentioned these camps so much fun especially the development ones where i must be honest a lot of these names that we're looking at on that i'm looking at this roster we'll probably never hear again uh but knowing this kid has experience in the system already if he sticks around i don't know exactly what his contract situation is and what it all looks like um but he's got experience and is stuck around a little bit more and you said he looked really good and is progressing it seems maybe that is a name that sneaks his way into something i mean for what it's worth jax a naivety wasn't on anybody's radar until he made the league last year so there are always sleepers in this sort of situation yeah that eye test right i mean the and the say and i have any eye test another saint by the way uh was great for pens fans if you're watching the the games down the stretch and seeing that shay say and i have any pairing it was exciting it was something new and you have this goaltender in there who you didn't expect to see down the stretch just that that's a reason to come to the rink it outside of the the obvious you know the big the big names like Crosby and then um i'll kick it back to you guys i i could talk a little more about camp but it would just be sort of anecdotes about how fun it is to be in the building and get a good latte and and have a good lunch because there is a great grill and and coffee bar outside as well so the penguins got to hire you as a like ambassador to come get people into practice and you start you know maybe not the penguins but upmc Lemuse sports complex is probably like this guy i guess ambassador we got in town but they've approached me a number of times the numbers just didn't look right yeah of course of course you have to obviously go into business for yourself there but no thank you for uh your insight on that one and thank you for joining us on this episode of the tip of the iceberg i'll give the floor to you let the people know what's going on in your life obviously you mentioned new band new single featuring dave matthews what else is going on in the life of jeff taylor well i'm two years plus now into living in pittsburgh with my wife ashley and our sweet little dog louise if you see me around come say what's up i wouldn't say that i'm like a pittsburgher you know at my core yet i still have a jersey accent and occasionally the own has become a hn in my vernacular and i get teased for it by my wife but you know other than that it's just looking forward to uh you know the season here coming up with the penguins fly penguins fly podcast will be continuing my co-host uh jordan defigio and i both uh singer songwriters the frequency of the podcast which at one point had been every game day has reduced because our music careers have been have been picking up but uh it's just a fun thing to collaborate with whether it's with you guys tip of the iceberg podcast or any of the other luminaries around the penguins hockey world and yeah farmer my band farmer we are at farmer jams on all social media so go ahead and follow us just a couple a couple of old guys making rock and roll and uh at pen's pod on on x if you want to follow the podcast and as i follow uh both of you and this podcast tip of the iceberg it's just so fun to to be part of this community and that's it trying to trying to take things off my plate i would say that's that's kind of what's up with me is the streamline things you got rock and roll you got penguins hockey and of course overall that is just you know love and and life in my family that's that's life that's life so thank you one more time to jeff taylor of the fly penguins fly podcast for joining us but that is 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 we'll see you guys next time
