When you need meal time inspiration, it's worth shopping Kroger for thousands of appetizing ingredients that inspire countless mouth-watering meals. And no matter what tasty choice you make, you'll enjoy our everyday low prices, plus extra ways to save, like digital coupons worth over $600 each week and up to $1 off per gallon at the pump with points, so you can get big flavors and big savings. Kroger, fresh for everyone, fuel restrictions apply. This episode is brought to you by Honda. When you test drive the new prologue EV, there's a lot that can impress you about it. There's the class-leading passenger space, the clean, thoughtful design, and the intuitive technology. But out of everything, what you'll really love most is that it's a Honda. Visit Honda.com/ev to see offers. 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, who is bringing in the tail end of cottage season down in South Carolina, but we have plenty to talk about surrounding the Pittsburgh Penguins as we are just 22 days away from the opening of Penguin's training camp in Cranberry. Not to mention before that, we get a little taste of what's to come in the future with the prospects challenge up in Buffalo, New York. But today, we're going to talk a little bit about who are the Penguins' biggest threats going into this season. Some people don't see the Penguins as a playoff team. Some people see them as a bubble playoff team. Whoever we see them, who are their biggest threats and who are going to be the teams that they're going to be battling with as this season progresses. Then, we'll take a look at one of the biggest roster battles. We mentioned camp is only three weeks away. Where is one of the biggest roster battles going into that training camp? And then we'll finish things off as we try to every Tuesday with our weekly pens poll. Let's get started. And let's start things off with the Penguins' biggest threats. I think we can all agree that nobody's expecting the Penguins to go out and win the Metropolitan Division this year. That's not what everybody's thoughts are at this point in time. But I could see them being a bubble playoff team once again. There's a lot of people that, especially after the Magrurity trade, which we'll touch on in our pens poll, a lot of people that are saying, "Okay, you know what? On paper, this team might be better than everybody expects them to be." Horawat, what are your overall thoughts as to where you think the Penguins are going to land going into this season? I feel like they are sitting in a better position. Like I said, the Magrurity trade is going to be approved to be a beneficial one right off the jump because, I mean, I haven't had time to discuss it yet, but we will eventually and probably plenty over the next few weeks and months. He's got the potential to make the lineup right now and be a useful piece right now. As for around them, it's, I mean, I try to remember what the rest of the Metro has done. It seems like it's still pretty stacked, I think. Carolina held on the natures, they're about to sign Jarvis, so there's not much change coming to Carolina. I think outside of Carolina, or outside of the Metro, though, there's plenty of teams that have improved. The Atlantic Division, I think, got a lot better, and even if some of those teams, like the Canadians or the Senators, maybe if they don't make the playoffs, but they're taking steps forward and stealing a couple of wins here and there, maybe from the Penguins, and that could be detrimental. Yeah, I mean, when you look at where the Penguins were at, I think it's going to be similar to the last two seasons where they are one of those teams on the bubble for the playoffs, fighting for one of those two wild card spots, and it's tough because you look at the Atlantic as you mentioned. You have Boston, who is typically always pretty good. You have the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers. You have the Toronto Maple Leafs, you have the Tampa Bay Lightning, and all of a sudden, you're saying, wait a minute, if all four of those teams are considered playoff locks, which they have been for the last three or four years, there's only one playoff spot left if you're not going to finish in the top three in the Metro, and when I look at the top three in the Metro, I see the Devils, who finally got some gold tending. I see the Rangers, who are coming off of President's trophy winning season, and I see the, why am I blanking on the last one? I see the Carolina Hurricane again, yeah, who is always going to, who was always under Rod Brindemore, been a very difficult team in the regular season, you're looking at one playoff spot left and a lot of teams that could potentially vie for it. So with that, I have four teams here on top three in an honorable mention, as who could be the biggest threat for the Penguins? I'll go through them. You let me know what you think of this list, and if I missed anybody and you think that somebody else is a bigger threat to the Pittsburgh Penguins heading into this season. One of the teams that I look at is a team that they were fighting with till last second last year, and that's the Detroit Red Wings Penguins were two, one and O against the Red Wings, including a crazy game in the final week of the season last year, they were knocking on the door. They had a guy like Vladimir Tarasenko, a two time cup champion. They make a sneaky underrated move, bringing in Cam Talbot to be between the pipes for them. And I think the Red Wings are once again a team to be reckoned with with a lot of young talent that has now kind of learned what it's like to be in a playoff race. And now they're going to be able to take that into this season. Speaking of teams that were around the Penguins last year, the New York Islanders are always around the Penguins. So I have the Islanders as another one of those teams, Penguins two, one and one, including that loss on the last day of the regular season. They're always around the pens. And also the one thing that I look at with the Islanders going into this year is Ilya Sarokin had a down year last year. I understand his down year was still better than both Penguins gold tenders. He had a 908 save percentage, believe a 301 goals against average. But he was surpassed at certain times by Simeon Varlamov. I don't see that happening again. So I think the Islanders are another team that's going to be tough to contend with. The senators are the one that I'm kind of worried about here because this is a young team that for the longest time just has not put it together. Now they add a couple of veterans, lean us all market net, David Perron on the forward side of things. They still have all that young talent and the Penguins just, they can't beat them. Oh, one and two against the Ottawa senators last year. They have struggled to beat this young team with a lot of foot speed that just gives the Penguins fits. Brady could chuck leaves a lot to be answered from the Penguins forward side of things and the Penguins defensive side of things. So I see the senators is honestly probably the biggest threat. And then an honorable mention because they're always around the Penguins and I think Spencer Carberry did a really good job last year. I'll throw the Washington Capitals in there as well. So Red Wings, Islanders, Senators, Capitals, those are the four that I'm looking at. But specifically to me, the Ottawa senators are going to be a problem this year for the Penguins. I can see the senators being a problem absolutely. Like I said, they are one of those teams that even if they don't make the playoffs or they don't take the huge steps forward, just a couple of wins here and there that could steal a few points away from the Penguins or steal a few points away from other teams. It could just be just a roadblock team for the Penguins who still may have playoff aspirations for themselves. I think you mentioned that you didn't want to just pretty much didn't want to discuss the top three teams in the Metro as teams that could be in the way because obviously. But I think the Devils are an important team to discuss in this situation because of them that replacement last year. They weren't that great of a team last year, they were riddled with injuries, they couldn't figure out the goaltending. And now because of their position from last year, the way they've revamped and rebuilt and put themselves in a much better position going into this next season, they're another team that is well deserving of this sort of conversation. I mean, it's just the way they're going to skyrocket up back to, you know, probably the top three team, you think they could be a Stanley Cup contender even and that's the kind of team that sort of rejuvenation should make them a team to keep an eye on and could be a big threat to the Penguins, especially if you consider the teams in the Metro that made the playoffs last season, are you going to add the Devils into this playoff race or are you going to subtract another, are two going to subtract out because the Penguins are also making it? Who's all falling out of contention here with the Devils improving and it doesn't seem like the Penguins would be able to be a team that does that. Outside of that, I like the teams you mentioned, I just don't, they don't strike too, strike me too much as, excuse me, threats by way of taking playoff spots from the Penguins. But like I said, just a couple of points here and there, a couple of wins here and there and just adding roadblocks is what seems like the Islanders and Red Wings specifically are likely to do for the Penguins. Yeah, you mentioned the Devils there, we could also throw in the Buffalo Sabres who had some good moments last year and I think got better this off season as well. It's going to be very busy and very impactful to see who starts hot because obviously last year, we thought the Senators were going to be that team, they weren't. We didn't think the Philadelphia Flyers were going to be anything they were. So there's always teams that kind of defy what you expect of them on paper. So that's something we can't take into account on August 27th as we mentioned off the top, the show still cottage season. But I do think that these four teams, especially, you know, three of them were around the Penguins last year, two of them made it to the Stanley Cup playoffs and the Islanders and the Washington Capitals. I think that's, it's going to be, as we saw last year, a very crowded Eastern conference down there at the bottom. I think there might be a little separation between the wildcard teams and the teams vying for those wildcards and the top teams of the conference, but I see the Penguins firmly entrenched in the middle there. Could they, again, could they start the season hot and surprise all of us and have a good power play and Tristan Jari is his all star self? Yeah. That could happen. I'm not ruling that out. I'm very excited about certain aspects of the Penguins team. But it seems like on paper, when comparing them to the rest of the Eastern conference, this is kind of the tier that they're going to be in with the Islanders and the wings and the senators and the caps and all of those teams as they vie for one of those two final spots. Again, maybe Boston takes a step back because they've kind of been steadily declining from that powerhouse team that they were a couple of years ago, you know, as the turn of the decade, whenever it got to 2019, when they were in the final and 2020, whenever they were one of the best teams in the league. So it's going to be tough for the Penguins in the Eastern conference. I think there are a lot of good hockey teams in the East more so than in the West and they're going to have to win these important games, especially against teams like the senators, especially against teams like the Capitals, who seemingly every time they match up is going to have implications for the playoffs, no matter if they match up in April or they match up in January. So there's a lot of teams that could be a threat to the Penguins this year. You mentioned that the Devils, I think that's a good addition here. I think the biggest one is going to be the Ottawa senators. I truly do. And I can see the senators too. I just don't recall exactly the kind of big moves they made. If Linus Olmour can continue to be as good as he was in Boston, that could be a huge deal for them. That's seemingly the biggest addition they made unless I'm missing something obvious. It's been a long summer and also a longer August. But yeah, it's about stealing those wins from those teams, getting those couple of points here and there. All 82 games are going to be important for the Penguins this year. I mean, you saw the last two seasons, they're missing by a game, two games. You could pick out one loss from October in both seasons and say, "This could be a reason why they didn't make the playoffs." So all 82 from start to finish are going to be of mass importance for the Penguins. It'll be important to win, obviously, clearly, and that's why we play the games as many of those games as possible. When you need meal time inspiration, it's worth shopping Kroger for thousands of appetizing ingredients that inspire countless mouth-watering meals. And no matter what tasty choice you make, you'll enjoy our everyday low prices. Plus, extra ways to save, like digital coupons worth over $600 each week and up to $1 off per gallon at the pump with points so you can get big flavors and big savings. Kroger, fresh for everyone. More restrictions apply. 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. Give it a try at midmobile.com/switch. $45 up from payment equivalent to $15 per month. Two customers on first-three-month plan only, taxes and fees extra, speeds lower above 40 gigabytes of detail. You've got to shake the cobwebs off for what, because cotter season is almost over. And as we mentioned, 22 days away from the opening of Penguins training camp, let's talk a little bit about what we're going to see at Penguins training camp at UPMC. There's going to be a couple of position battles. We'll talk about one in the final segment with our weekly pens poll. Let's talk about another here, where there are kind of two spots up for grabs and really about five or six, maybe even seven players that could vie for those positions. And that is the bottom spots on the defensive side of things for the Penguins. Obviously David Quinn, the new coach coming in for that position group, he has five players that are pretty much locks. And I think we can all agree that Eric Carlson, Chris Latang, Marcus Patterson, Matt Grizzlick, and Ryan Graves are all locks to make the roster, as long as they're still on the roster. Come the opening day of free agency. And I think, or the opening day of the season, excuse me, and I think both of us believe that they will be. But that leaves two spots. That leaves a sixth defenseman spot. And that leaves a press box spot for somebody to be a healthy scratch. And when you look at who's available, right shot, there's really only one name. And that's Jackson Ivani. It's a name that we have kind of automatically put in there. But I think that might be a little too, a little too, getting ahead of ourselves for a guy that only played about a dozen games or a bakers dozen games last year. On the left side, you have a whole bunch. Ryan Shea returns Sebastian Ajo is new to the Penguins organization, John Ludwig returns, and he's obviously coming back from a surgery. So we'll see where he's at whenever he returns to Pittsburgh. But he is another name that you have to figure into the mix. Nikolai Nizov, who was signed late last week on Thursday and then immediately shown up by the Rucker McGurty trade the same day. He's over. He is a former San Jose shark. So David Quinn, very familiar with him. And then Philip Carl, somebody who president and general manager Kyle Dubas drafted and is very familiar with as well. So you look at those six names vying for two spots. I think it's going to be very interesting to see who gets those. Are you convinced that Jackson Ivani is the leader in the clubhouse on that third pairing right side? No, I'm not. I think the Penguins want him to be, and I think that's what they're hoping to be. But I'm not convinced that he's, you know, I don't know how to put it. I think it's going to be an obvious battle for that position. It's going to be an obvious fight, but I think they're both kind of whoever he's fighting with, they're all coming in at level playing field. They all have the same point of entry for this position. No one's getting up her hands. No one's getting handed anything. They're all going to have to earn each inch that they get, and they're going to have to take each inch that they get. I would say he's a likely favorite to take it because he has the experience with the team. He's already got the knowledge of the system and all that. But that doesn't mean it's going to be his position locked up to start the year or even start training camp for that matter. So I'd say they're all coming in on level playing field, but it's not necessarily his spot quite yet. And I'm not fully convinced it will be his come season time, especially if someone steps up and if that someone is a more veteran player even, it's going to be interesting to see how it goes. Yeah, it's funny what you look at experience here. There's not a whole lot of it outside of a guy like Sebastian Ajo, and I think that's a signing that I didn't really think about and consider as much as I probably should have. I mean, 180 or 190 I just looked at and can't remember. But over 150 games played at the national hockey league level, he's the most experienced of this group. Obviously, Ryan Shea and John Ludwig making their NHL day views last year in parts of the season for the Penguin, same with Jack, say, and Ivani. You look at Nikolai Nizov, who just got brought in David Quinn product in San Jose as 81 games of experience. This is a guy that we might have to look at and consider as being one of them favorites to be that seventh defense been going into the season. I think the thing you're looking at here is a lot of people in a similar situation in their careers that are going to have to battle it out. And there's going to be a lot of discussion about earning it, especially when we talk about Rucker McGrody in the final segment. Maybe Jack Saint Ivani has to earn it as well and earn that spot back. I know he kind of proved to be a really, really solid piece late last season. And I think that should carry over. That should give him leader in the clubhouse status. But then I look at a guy like Sebastian Ajo who, while being a lefty, you know, Mike Sullivan likes to put people on their off wing, especially in training camp. Maybe they go to the most experienced of the group in Sebastian Ajo and let him battle things out with Jack Saint Ivani. And I think that's going to be the biggest competitor for Jack Saint Ivani in this position. It's going to be something like that because he's got all of that experience coming in. He played on a very well-rounded, it was an important piece to a very well-rounded New York Islanders defensive court. So it's, he knows how to play defense clearly and there's something there and that's what the Penguins need when it comes to this bottom pairing. Just a couple of shutdown guys are not expecting a bunch of offense from that part of the blue line. That's what Carlson and the Tanger for. It gets down to the third pairing and they just need, guys, you're not going to notice the importance of flying under the radar and just being shut down players, just making sure the puck stays out of your own net and getting off the ice and letting everyone else sort of, you know, rifle and wheel and deal for their own style of offense and defense. But for that third pairing, it's safe, it's the safe bet going with the veteran in this situation too. Yeah, now both Nizov and Phillip Crawl, I think are wild cards because what do they look like in the Penguins organization? Where do they fit in? We kind of know how the Penguins feel about St. Iveny and Shea and Ludwig and obviously Sebastian Ajo has a pretty extensive track record. So you look at Nizov, you look at Crawl, it's kind of hard to judge until we see them on the ice, see who the, you know, coaches put them with. So we'll leave them to the side for right now. But I think John Ludwig is somebody I want to finish this conversation off about. He's a guy that let's say he is healthy and we don't have to worry about his injury going into training camp. Where do you think the Penguins put him? Because last year it was a tough year for John Ludwig. He gets the opportunity coming over late in training camp via waivers to make his NHL debut and then immediately he gets injured. He comes back, plays a couple games, he's injured again, then he's injured again, then he has off season surgery. It's been a lot of off and on for John Ludwig when he's still trying to get his feet wet and get his feet underneath him at the NHL level, how do you see Ludwig? Do you think he's a guy that the Penguins think is NHL first, AHL if he's bumped out or do you think they see him as an AHL or that needs to earn his stripes again to get back to the league? It's tough. That's a tough one because you figure he has an NHL contract. That was kind of one of the big things and ever they brought him over is that he hasn't full NHL deal there. It's a little tougher to move him to the minor. It's a little tougher to move to the AHL. He's got that sort of certainty. I would think he may be starting in that position of the seventh defenseman because he brings an element that not too many other players on the roster have or can bring and that's that physicality. It's that willingness to drop the gloves. It is throwing the body around. Not that no one on the Penguins is willing to fight or unwilling to fight or unwilling to play the body. It's something about John Ludwig who he makes that a big part of his game. He makes one of the main elements that you notice right away. That's why he was injured in his debut. When he came back he immediately started fighting some big guys. It's part of what made him light by the organization in the first place. It's part of what made him get back into the lineup whenever he was able to. Mike Sullivan's liking you for those sort of things and you're going to have a pretty cushy spot but a pretty solid position in this team. I'd say he's the one starting in that Chad Rueo Memorial press box chair, if you will. It's just that seventh man who's going to filter in every so often if it's a rivalry sort of game and the tensions are going to be a little higher maybe he gets the nod over or someone like Jaxie and Ivan or whoever filters into the left side just a stacked. But it would be interesting to see where that goes. I think he'll be that seventh offense when to start the year and that's without even getting into who he's up against in the lineup just because he brings a different element than anyone else. If one of these other guys, new guys comes in and has that element, John Ludwig starting in the minors one way or the other. Yeah. Now, the one thing that I will say is because we both like Jaxie and Ivan, I think we've both agree that if we were putting the roster together today, he would be in that third line right side defensive spot. If we were the head coaches, obviously we know that Sebastian Ajo is going to have a claim to that. He's waivers exempt whereas Ajo isn't, Ludwig isn't. Does that end up forcing the Penguins hand, especially early in the season when it might be a little bit more difficult because teams are looking for certain things when they're building the roster. Maybe that ends up being the case. And I hope it's not because I do think that the Penguins need to get off to a hot start and they need to especially get Ryan Graves off to a hot start. And I think Jaxie and Ivan would be a good partner for Graves specifically. But the fact that he is waivers exempt makes you kind of think, okay, this is a place where the Penguins might have to get into the business of hockey and not just who is the best player that we have seen throughout camp. So hopefully it doesn't happen, but that is going to be something to keep an eye on. Like we mentioned, there is six names here, two spots, and I'm sure another name will emerge as training camp begins. You look at last season, what the Penguins were expecting in training camp coming in. Mark Pessick was a PTO and everybody's saying, maybe he's the sixth defenseman and instead they go out and get John Ludwig at the 11th hour and he ends up starting the season on the Penguins roster. So it's going to be interesting. I'm excited for training camp. We're getting closer and closer as cottage season is coming to a close, but let's finish things off with our weekly pens poll. This episode is brought to you by all state. Some people just know they could save hundreds on car insurance by checking all state first. Like you know, to check you have the tickets in you while at first before you drive two hours to the big game, seriously, you had one job. Now the closest you'll get to the 50 yard line is parking lot D. Yeah, checking first is smart. So check all state first for quote that could save you hundreds. You're in good hands with all state savings very terms apply all state fire and casualty insurance company and affiliates Northbrook, Illinois. And this week, it was a pretty good one. I like this one because it kind of allows us to discuss Rucker McGrody, who was the winner of this pens poll, spoiler alert, but it also lets us discuss a very interesting position for the penguins, which is their left side on the forward side of things. The question was, who should get the first opportunity to play on Sydney Crosby's left wing this season? Rucker McGrody, Shocker here, four days into being on the organization, 56% of the fans vote that he should start the season alongside Sydney Crosby, Drew Connor, who finished last year with Crosby gets 32% of the vote. Michael Bunting gets 10% and then other gets 2% of the vote. So Horwatt, before we get into the Rucker McGrody of it all, who do you think should get that first opportunity alongside Crosby's wing? I'm going, I'm going with Rucker McGrody as well, it was, um, whenever he was, whenever the penguins grabbed him, I think that was my first thought is that he should filter in right next to Crosby, at least to start training camp, at least to start the preseason if that sort of line up comes out, just to see if he is capable of that. If things aren't working, it's early in the season, you quickly move him to wherever he may be more comfortable and go from there. But something about the, one of the top prospects that the league has to offer right now, I mean, major step forward taken by the penguins in getting someone like that, even if it did cost a Brayden Yeager, who, you know, was up there among the top prospects, but not as NHL ready, not as big and doesn't have as well rounded up a game, uh, Rucker McGrody can come in, likely play alongside Sydney Crosby right away at starting his NHL career, alongside one of the best of all time, there's no better way to kick off a career. And we've seen it before, we've talked about it before, the penguins like playing these younger, not inexperienced, but, you know, NHL inexperienced and less skilled, not that McGrody isn't as skilled, but these lesser skilled guys, like, uh, pass out if we, or Dominic Simone, comes to mind right away, the younger, lesser skilled players to all of a sudden be a, for some reason, staple to them, at least in this case, if it is work in McGrody, there's some skill there, there's some hope there is a looking to the future and who knows what kind of future McGrody has. It's a little premature to start looking far down the line of if he can be the one that Crosby and Malkin pass the torch to, but, um, that's still a possibility, if he comes in and he's immediately a important piece to the team and makes a difference and he's playing beside Malkin or Crosby right away, there's no reason why he couldn't be handed that torch in, you know, he'd be a bit more veteran, he'd be a bit older, but five, six years time, maybe depending on how long Cross you've got left, but starting him now, I'd say he's the piece that should be starting next to him, giving training camp pre-season stuff. Yeah, I think when training camp opens in a couple of weeks, I think McGrody should be there, but here's where I differ. I got excited last week, right after the McGrody trade, I put out a lineup, at least on the live, I discussed a lineup where I did have McGrody starting the season alongside Crosby, but I do understand that a lot of people have mentioned this, and I actually agree, this is a kid that has never stepped foot in an NHL game before, has never played a shift, has never took a warm-ups, has never done any of that. For that reason, and for the reason of your third line center, whether it's Eller or Kevin Hayes, is a stout veteran in this league. I think you should start the season with McGrody, unless he blows you away in training camp, I think you should start the season with McGrody on that third line, because not only is it okay, you put him with Crosby, skill, beget skill, it will just be a match made in heaven, but you have to think about the fact that this kid is 20 years old, and because of that, I want to put him with somebody, not that Crosby isn't, but I want to put him with somebody who's going to be able to be that veteran presence, but also I want to put him against people that are a little bit easier matchup-wise, because Crosby always gets the toughest matchups. You might be throwing him into the meat grinder, not just because you're saying, "Hey, sink or swim, you're alongside Sidney Crosby, everybody expects you to swim and swim like Michael Phelps, when you're playing with the best in the world," but you're also going up against some of the best on the other team, knighted and knighted out. So maybe it is good, especially to start the season, to give him a little bit of a lesser role, because he is not a guy that will shy away from that. I mean, the guy is 6'1, 205, he can play that third-line grinder style. He has the body to play it, he has the attitude to play it. So why not let him earn his stripes a little bit? I think it could be a position where he starts in the third line, you let Drew O'Connor start on that first line again, continue to build what he had late last season with Crosby, and I think it could be a situation where you see a very, very quick promotion if he proves to be that guy on the third line and proves to have that skill. That way, you can get O'Connor down there, O'Connor in a role that really fits him perfectly, and you can let McGrory kind of build up to that quickly, and then all of a sudden have that momentum, have that confidence, and put him next to Crosby and let things just take off from there. So I've been kind of one foot in, one foot out all weekend, especially right as soon as the trade happened, I was all in, McGrory next to Crosby. But now I'm thinking maybe you start him off on that third, on that third line and let him build up to that first line. It might be quick. It might be really quick. It might be five, six games into the season before you say, all right, this guy is undeniable. Let's move him up with Crosby and let O'Connor kind of balance things out and a big part of that is going to be how O'Connor performs early in the season as well. But I think it might be good to start him off with a guy like Kevin Hayes and maybe of out Terry Poston and as your third line, I think I could see that working well from McGrory and working well for the Penguins. Yeah, I'm with you on that too. I like the idea of starting the rookie off in a more, not relegated, but in a more sheltered role to start right away, especially because you're right. He hasn't played in the NHL. Not only is he not playing in the NHL, he's never played a game of professional hockey professionally. He hasn't played in Europe. He hasn't played in the NHL. He hasn't played in the NHL. He's even played in the E. He's coming from college, which is a good system, is a good system to play and he was a great player with Michigan, but he's coming into a whole new ballgame with it being straight up professional hockey. Something new. It's his first stint there. It's his first jump. It's his first run. It's going to be a learning curve and that's why I think whenever I gave my answer, I was sort of in the back of my head just thinking the same thing that you were. Start him on the third line and move him up when the season starts, whereas training camp and preseason, stick him next to Crosby and see if he's able to do those things with that sort of player. But once the season rolls around, make sure he's had some reps with Kevin Hayes or Barzellar whoever it may be, and then that's kind of where he goes when the game's getting forward. Because like I said before, all 82 are going to be important. You're going to want your best lineup on the ice, your best combinations on the ice, each and every night, and if what's best for the penguins is him on the third line to start the year, by all means, it's where he should be. And you're right. It could be a quick promotion. He could be jumping right up to the first line at no time. It's just a matter of working his way there. Yeah. Yeah. The one guy we haven't mentioned, and we'll close it out with this because I feel like we got to give him some shine. He was in this poll. Michael Bunting gets 10% of the vote. I think most people when they saw this poll said Michael Bunting with Crosby, that means he's not with Malkin. And that was great with Malkin last year. Is it a foregone conclusion that Michael Bunting is starting the season alongside of Guinea, Malkin? And until they prove that they're not going to be as good as they were last season, that's just going to be who's staple gun to Malkin all year long. And that's it should be. That's the best option for Malkin, the best option for Michael Bunting. Just it's the way it ended. We saw how good of a run Bunting had with Malkin. And how good Malkin was with Bunting, that's just the perfect duo to start the year. Yeah. Yeah. So we'll have to wait and see what all the line combinations are, which will not be the actual line combinations in 22 days. We know that there are some little threads that stick, like last year, it was Lars Eller and Drew O'Connor on day one. And those two did not leave each other's sides until, well, until it was necessary when the season started and the top couple of lines weren't great. But I think it's going to be an entertaining camp. It's certainly going to be an entertaining season because even when the penguins missed the playoffs, like they did the last two seasons, they are always entertaining. And we know that for a fact. So we'll see where the 20 year old fits in, Rucker Magruderi. He's already in Pittsburgh. According to Taylor Ross of DK Pittsburgh, sports him, Sergey Mershov, Cody Glass. And there's one other name that I'm missing. I just can't remember it. They're already in Pittsburgh. They were yesterday already on the ice at UPM Selamute Complex. So hockey is right around the corner. Like I mentioned, 22 days until training camp opens less than that until the prospects challenge. It's almost time for what the drought is almost over. I see you're obviously in cottage season still enjoy the last week of cottage season and enjoy green day later this week. And we'll see you guys next time. Thank you guys so much for tuning into this one. Remember, you can find us on YouTube at inside or sorry at tip of the iceberg. I'm still doing that a couple months later. Tip of the iceberg on YouTube tip of the iceberg anywhere you get your podcasts from. Thanks for tuning in. We'll see you guys next time. (upbeat music) (upbeat music)
