[MUSIC] >> This episode is brought to you by Microsoft Azure. Turn your ideas into reality with an Azure-free account. Get everything you need to develop apps across Cloud and hybrid environments, scale workloads, create Cloud-connected mobile experiences and so much more. Discover what you can create with popular services free for 12 months. Learn more at azure.com. That's azure.com. And sign up for a free account to start building in the cloud today. [MUSIC] >> Hello everybody and welcome to the tip of the iceberg podcast your home for Pittsburgh Penguins News and Analysis. You can find us on YouTube at tip of the iceberg or anywhere you get your podcast from I'm your host Nick Belsky joined as always by Nick Horwatt. And we continue to preview Pittsburgh Penguins training camp as it is probably about two weeks away. They haven't announced an official date, but in a little over two weeks, they kick off their preseason against the Buffalo Sabers. So you would expect that they're going to be on the ice in training camp in about two weeks, but what we're going to do today to help preview that training camp is break down who on this roster are locks to make the NHL team right out of camp and then dive into what I believe are six roster battles that we should be expecting at Penguins training camp. Let's get started. And let's start things off by discussing who are locks on this team. Whenever you look at this roster right now, I say they're 17. So I'm going to run through these 17 names. I consider them to be locks to make the NHL roster. Then there's a handful of guys that you expect to make it, but there's a chance that they get lapped if something drastic happens. And then of course, there's the truly open spots that are just up for grabs at the start of camp and the 17 locks. Let's start with that. Cindy Crosby, Evgeny Mulkin, Ricardo Raquel, Brian Rust, Michael Bunting, Drew O'Connor, Kevin Hayes, Lars Ehler, Nolichari, Blake Lazott, Eric Carlson, Chris Latang, Matt Grizzlick, Marcus Petterson, Ryan Graves, Tristan Jari and Alex Nadelkovich. That's 17 locks, which means to me, there's six roster spots that are technically up for grabs. Whoa, what did I miss anybody or was there anybody on that list that you think I shouldn't be putting as a lock to make the Penguins roster? No, I'd say that sounds about right. That sounds about spot on with what is set in stone for this team. And still with plenty of discussion to be had over who's filling in those last spots. There's way, way, way more than just six players that can filter into those roles as varying as those roles may be as well. I mean, though what you listed there are just locks for the roster, not locks for the position they're in either. So there could be some movement within that. I think, though, that's a perfect list for the locks that will be coming and going, especially as training camp gets going. I'd say that's a good, good start. Now, I said there's a second grouping here of players that you would almost expect to make the NHL roster, but at the same time, there is an opportunity for them to get lapped or them to get past and they have to end up starting the season either on waivers or one of these players is waivers exempt. So he would go straight to the American Hockey League and the Wilkes-Bursch Grand Penguins. And those four players are Anthony Beauvilla, Rucker McGruder, who is the waivers exempt player, Cody Glass and Sebastian Ajo. Again, I expect them to make the roster, but there's chances that I think there is an opportunity that if somebody comes in and outperforms them from day one to day 14 in training camp, there's an opportunity that they end up getting pushed out of the roster to start again, slim opportunity, but I wouldn't consider them to be locks. Yeah, it's those are the bubble guys for now, I think, but also bubble guys with high upside and a ton of potential. Those are the faces that you'd expect to see in there. It's just going to be fascinating battles because through the discussions we've had over the weeks of all the names that are going to be around the, around the training camp roster, there's still a ton of names that I have completely forgotten about. There's so much kind of just sitting there and once everyone returns, then these discussions will really take off, but for now it's, it's wide open for those six spots, even if there are front runners, no doubt. Yeah, and the one that I think everybody's going to have exception to is Rucker McGruder. Now I, I fully expect Rucker McGruder to make the roster. I would put him in as a lock, but at the same time, you look at a rookie who a couple of weeks ago did say I've been promised nothing but a spot on the prospect development camp, like the prospects challenge roster. Excuse me, I think he's going to have to earn his spot in camp. Now, do I think he will? Yes, but I'm not going to say he's a lock to make the roster. I'm certainly not going to say he's a lock to be in any position. Do I think he's a front runner for one? Yes, and we'll get to that, but I think when you look at McGruder, this is a wait and see type of thing. And I think the same thing could be said for the other three on this list. I mean, Beau Villier on Tuesday, we said he could be anywhere from a first liner to a waiver player by the start of this season. And I think that really holds true. This is a guy that has had tremendous success in the Metropolitan Division. But as you mentioned on Tuesday, he's been traded three times in the past two seasons. This is a guy that really needs to find his footing fast. And I think the Penguins are in a position where, you know, all things considered, they would hope that he plays really well. He performs from day one. He's a good piece of the Penguins roster, but they have somebody else that could take his spot and they can trade him at some point this season for some valuable trade assets, whether that be draft picks or a decent prospect or what have you. That's just where the Penguins are at as an organization. But I think when you look at Beau Villier, when you look at Cody Glass, when you look at Sebastian Ajo, you're looking at players that the Penguins are hoping work out. But at the same time, I don't think they're tied to them in any way. Yeah, I would assume something like that. It's going to be fascinating. I always kind of fall into the stance of when you brought them in, you're going to give them their chance or you're going to give them their due. But there's so many players like that, though, this year. Yeah, there are so many. And certain guys are signed longer than just a year. So maybe they get the Elise of Ashanoho is signed for two years. Maybe he gets an extra edge because he is already expected to take a spot and be here for a little bit longer or just trying to filter through. Blake Lazade is signed for two years, whereas Beau Villier signed a one-year deal. So maybe Blake Lazade has an extra edge over whoever he has a roster battle with. There's going to be fascinating little bits for this, but it's interesting. And I think, yeah, you're going to give the fresh faces their dues, but also there are so many names that you can still consider a meal bench, a meal bench from fresh enough. I mean, again, he's not a locker in one or tight in one of these races by any means, but that's another thing to keep an eye on because someone they grabbed last year, staying with Jesse Pullyard, they picked him up last year. Guys that haven't been here for a full year, essentially, I would also look at as maybe they still deserve a chance. It's tough to say, but again, the names just keep getting added on, and there'll be plenty of the way. I thought there was a lot of fight last year at training camp. I think this year, thinking hard about it, there might be more. I mean, even last year, though, we looked at third line left wing as a roster battle, and then first day of camp, that was shut down because Drew O'Connor stepped in, and he immediately was even all the opportunity there. He immediately was, they made a big deal about him and Lars Eller as a duo, and you said, "All right, well, that's already figured out. That battle has already been closed, opened and closed within a 24-hour period. This year, there might be some similar situations, but let's get into those roster battles." Let's start with the one that we've talked about a little bit, and that is first line left wing. Who plays next to Sydney Crosby? The way we're going to go about this is we're going to name our favorite, we're going to name our biggest competitor, and we're going to name our long shot, and then we're going to just kind of discuss what we feel about this roster battle going into Penguin's training camp. And the first line left wing battle, I would say the favorite has to be the guy that finished last year in that position, and that's Drew O'Connor. As far as his biggest competition, when I look at talent, and when I look at situation, I think his biggest competition is Rucker McGrody, a player that right after that trade, I put him up there on the first line, and then had to kind of take a few steps back and say, all right, this is still a 20-year-old, this is still a player that is new to the Penguin's organization, that is new to the National Hockey League, that is new to professional hockey as a whole. They're not going to, there's a chance, it's likely, they're not going to just immediately put him in that position and say, sink or swim, we'll see what you end up doing as a 20-year-old. I think they're going to protect him a little bit. I think they're going to slow play him a little bit. That's why I think the favorite going into camp is O'Connor. I have McGrody as that number two guy, and as far as a long shot, you know, second time we're bringing him up here, I'll say Anthony Beauvilla is there. A veteran has more games played than the other two combined, and really is a player that fits Mike Sullivan's mindset, as you always like to say. Anybody that played for the New York Islanders is automatically going to be somebody that Mike Sullivan would enjoy having on his roster. So, you know, I throw Beauvilla in there as the long shot. What do you think about these three and the first line left-wing battle? He had nailed my exact order with that, actually. Yeah, Drew O'Connor's going to come in as the favorite to start because that's where he ended last season. There was a very good, it was a very good run, very good chemistry being formed there. You like retica McGrody as the long shot option, just because, they're not long shot option, that second option because of what he might be able to bring, what he might be able to add, and then, of course, just Anthony Beauvilla being a long shot because it just feels like something Mike Sullivan would do, feels like something Cinecrosu would be comfortable with, and you nailed it on the head with everything else. So, you nailed my three as you were reading it. Yeah, the one thing that, you know, I look at here with Beauvilla, though, is that experience. How much are they going to value that? And that's one of those things. Again, we talked about O'Connor last year in camp. That might be one of those things that we learned day one in camp this year. I know Mike Sullivan likes to harp on it, especially in his first press conference after that first day of practice. Don't take a lot of what you saw out there to heart. Like, take everything with a grain of salt because it's the first day of training camp. We're just throwing things out there, getting a preliminary feel about where these players are at, how they play alongside each other. So, I think this is one, though, that we're going to be able to read into a little bit as far as how many opportunities Beauvilla gets and where he's sitting on the first day of camp. Let's move over and talk about Third Line Center. This is an interesting one because I think a lot of people would look at this and say, "Well, this is already determined." But, Horawat, I'll let you lead off on this one. Who is your favorite? Who is the biggest competitor? And who is the long shot to be the Penguins' Third Line Center out of camp this year? The early favorite is the one that everyone assumes it's going to be, and that's Kevin Hayes. Just right off the jump, whenever they acquired them, that's just kind of where the vibes were sent immediately. It was Kevin Hayes who fell into the Third Line spot, and then Laura Zeller, who is the second option here for, I forget the order now all of a sudden, it's the favorite, the what and the long shot? The biggest competitor. Biggest competitor. Yes, and Laura Zeller is going to be the biggest competitor there. He had it all last season, was the most productive player in the Penguins' bottom six. And maybe they like him as the fourth line center more. Maybe they like him as the third line center more. That is exactly what's going to make that roster battle kind of interesting because it could go one of two ways between those two. The two veterans for between Kevin Hayes and Laura Zeller. I would say at the moment you give Kevin Hayes the edge, that's what makes him the favorite and easily Laura Zeller as the biggest competitor. Figuring out who could be the long shot though is so interesting because of the amount of names and faces that could just, I don't want to say easily take the spot, but could suddenly put up a good fight and camp. So I'm going to, and it's going to be a tough random, not even a random choice, but it's just tough to pick anyone and say Sam Poolin. Because it's time to shine. It's his time to go. It's the last chance he gets. This will be his last, you know, basically his last training camp to prove what he's got. If he's able to step up in the right way, maybe he's the one that filters in and just steals the show one way or the other with at the center position, maybe forces bumping Kevin Hayes to the wing, forces someone else to be placed on waivers, maybe. And then there's options that open up, maybe a trade happens, I don't know. But maybe the doors open for Sam Poolin to finally excel and prove that he can be a third line center. If not him, I mean what, Panamara maybe, but at this point I'm looking at prospects. I'm thinking the long shots are going to be one of the prospects rather than another veteran. Yeah, I go Cody Glass for the long shot here. He's a guy that can play center or wings. So there's a little bit of flexibility there. If they want him to be on the wing instead, but I still think that when you look at Sam Poolin, you're looking at a guy that, albeit hasn't had a lot of opportunities. He's only played in six NHL games and it was split out between a full calendar year and more. He hasn't had a lot of those opportunities. And even in those games, he hasn't really been given very many opportunities. But I see him as a guy that is going to be forced to earn his opportunities once again this year. Whereas I look at a guy like Cody Glass, who the paying one's got for nothing, right? They got for, you know, they actually got more to take on Cody Glass because of his contract. I just feels like he's a player that I'm not going to put below Sam Poolin early in this, but I look at Sam Poolin as a guy that could be that fourth option. I go Hayes one elder two. I agree with that. I think that we talked all off season about, you know, Lars Eller was really good at third line center for the penguins last year. He was phenomenal defensively. He had some offensive upside that he that's shy and through at certain points in the season. But that was just a little too inconsistent and that he would be better served being the penguin's fourth line center and they need to bring somebody in that can create a little bit more offense from that third line center spot. And that's exactly what Kevin Hayes was. I mean, in the July 1st presser with Kyle Dubas, they asked him, what position do you foresee Kevin Hayes playing? And he said center right away. There was no hesitation. And to me, you're not bringing Kevin Hayes to put him as that fourth line center while having a more defensive-minded third line center above him. You're putting Lars Eller down to fourth line center where he fits best. And Kevin Hayes in a position where we talked about it on Tuesday, he can score 50 plus points. He did it two years, two years ago with Philadelphia. If he can do that again this year, that is far and away more points than the penguins have seen from the anybody in the bottom six, not just third line center in years. So I do agree, Kevin Hayes is one, Lars Eller is two, but I'd give Cody Glass that not as the number three guy and sit him in the long shot position, which meanwhile, in this competition, whoever loses is probably your fourth line center. Whoever comes in second, I should say, is probably your fourth line center. So that kind of rules out that as a roster battle and its entirety, it's all kind of meshed into one third line and fourth line center. Yeah, it's the way it's going to be. It's the way I look at it to it's again, unless there's like a surprise, surprise jump. But even then, depending on the surprise jump, if it's a prospect, you're not going to want to stick them in fourth line role in a fourth line role right away. Unless there's a whole new game plan going into this season, which I just doubt. So yeah, whoever loses this third line center battle, probably just be the fourth line center. And let's say decide to move Hayes to wing. And I mean, come on, July 1st press conferences don't mean that much now. Yeah. Yeah, I think the fact that he was so quick to it, I feel like they at the very least want to start the year with Hayes at center. That's why I have him as the favorite. But you're right. I mean, they could, if Ella or beats out Hayes and is better at the center position and they want Ella at third line center, then maybe they do move Kevin Hayes over there. But I'm also still not ruling out the opportunity and the fact that there might be a trade before this season begins. And that trade might include Lars Eller. So there's a lot of factors that go into this, but barring any trade, I think this is the the order and, you know, between glass and pool and I think those are both pretty good candidates for long shots in this competition. Let's go over to third line right wing, which I think, you know, spoiler alert, I think the entire third line is a roster battle. I think it is up for grabs who plays on that line from day one to day 14 of camp. But when it comes to third line on the right side, this to me is the most wide open competition of camp. You can pick a favorite, which we're going to do. You can pick a biggest competitor, which we're going to do. You can pick a long shot. But at the end of the day, it feels like there is no real leader in the clubhouse for this position. It feels like this is truly a whoever performs the best is going to get that opportunity. Now, there might be some business of hockey that steps into this, of course, with waivers and stuff like that, which might make it a little bit harder for some of the prospects you mentioned, you know, upon him or ever a koi voonin who would have to move over sides because they're both lefties. But I do think that it is wide open for a lot of the NHL aged talent in this organization. So when we come to third line right wing, for me, the favorite is Cody glass because they did acquire him because he does have that plus, you know, salary cap hit of, I believe it's two plus million dollars right now. I do think that they're going to try to find a spot for him in the lineup. And I think he's the favorite to take this position. Biggest competitor is going to be valteri pustin. And he is going to be an interesting player to follow along with this season because last year, by the end of the year, he was an NHL regular, right? He played 52 games last season for the penguins, and he looked pretty good in most of them. He had great underlying numbers. He was able to create some offense, although not scoring offense, which is what everybody expects from valteri pustin. And you're hoping he takes that second year leap. But again, does he get lost in the shuffle and what is a very, very crowded bottom six picture for the penguins this year? So he's going to be an interesting player to watch. If he doesn't make the team out of camp, how long does it take for him to come up and get his opportunity? And when he gets that opportunity, is he going to be able to hold on to it? Whereas last year, you got to the all star break, pustin and was sent down just to get a couple of games in during the break, because they wanted him to keep playing. And then he wasn't brought back up. So what happens with pustin in this year is going to be a big question mark. And the long shot to me in this competition is yes, a pool yard for you name that in a lot of these conversations has kind of been tossed to the background. I think he is the long shot. He's the number three in this competition going into this season. You know, I like that exact order again. Cody Glass is the starting favorite. He's a guy that could shift to center and move you know, certain ways. Valteri Poussner is interesting in this situation because he's definitely not someone that if he loses the role, they're going to stick on the fourth line or try and do something else with. I wonder if let's say Rucker McGrawty doesn't make the team right away. Does Poussner start on the second line with Ogani Malkin? That is that, is Poussner's elevation upwards rather than, you know, a decline down. I say he's in a fascinating position because I think they want him almost desperately to be in the NHL roster just as much as they want Cody Glass because of the paycheck. So I'd say those two are probably going to make the team. It just depends on where. And I like long the long shot is boy RV2 because who else are they going to put in there? They want Noel Chard to be in this lineup and he's probably going to stay on the fourth line. And if poy RV makes it in, he's going to make it on the third line, but likely no higher. So that's his spot. That's the only place he's got if he needs if he doesn't make it and it's going to be coasting around the HL again for a little bit and we'll see how that goes for him or maybe even I forget about the waiver situation, but maybe even if he ends up being placed on waivers and he goes from there. Yeah, so it'll be tough for him. But if he can earn that spot, it's a long shot, but it's not the longest shot I think. I know you said it's the most wide open spot, but really there the depth in this team isn't set on the right side, it seems. There's it's just a couple of names. Where's the left side stacked up pretty well? It's that right side that really could use some additions if you really want to talk about a wide open competition. Yeah, I think when you look at the right side, you have obviously the two top guys, Brian Rust, who's the best winger on the team. And you have Ricard Raquel, who is an interesting study in his own. And that's a conversation for a different day. But I do think that, you know, we talked about Nolichari as a lock. I think he's a lock for that fourth line right side. So this is the only spot on the right. If you want to make it, yeah, maybe you can be the 13th forward, but this is the only spot in the lineup on the right. And I think there is, you know, you mentioned three names there. I think there's probably, you know, again, the opportunity gets a little bit further and further away from reality. But I think there's probably a half dozen guys that are eyeing that spot coming into cranberry and coming into training camp this year. So it is going to be one to watch for certain. And I do think that this is the one that is going to be the most exciting the whole way through. Like this is one that you're not going to get an answer to until you start seeing some cuts made and saying, all right, this is it starting to actually shape out now. That's probably what they're thinking. Yeah, yeah, that'll be it. It's, you might not know until multiple games into the season too. There might be some moving and changing happening after puck drop because, I mean, expectations on from from outside the room expectations are super high for the penguins. So why not? I don't want to say experiment early in the season, but, you know, why not give things a try in the first couple of weeks? Yeah, yeah, you're spot on there. And I think the big thing that you're going to look back at is last year, Redeem's a horn. I made the team out of camp, which is something nobody saw coming when they got into camp four games later. It's over four games later. They were already changing things up. So, you know, whoever makes the team out of camp is certainly not set in stone as to who was going to be there for the first month, let alone the entire season. So keep that in mind as training camp begins and you start seeing certain players get out ahead and fall behind because that doesn't mean it's the end of it for them this season. Let's go over and talk about the final third line position, which is third line left wing. Or what I'll let you lead off on this one. Who do you have is the favorite biggest competitor and long shot for the third line left wing position. That's tough because we gave Drew O'Connor that leader of the clubhouse for the top line for the top line left winger, but he could also still be the leader for the third line left wing position because of the way things are filtering out. Yeah, there's too much battle going into this. And it's tough to even pick one. Meanwhile, look, just trying to like read names on Puckpedia, there's so many centers that you have to then also get. Yeah, centers. Yes. They have to then also kind of check there, which way they shoot. But early starter, I would say early favor. I know we mentioned Bill Villier is a long shot for the first line left wing as well. That's probably who that's probably who the favorite is here to start third line left wing. Just it's where else would he filter in if he's making this team? If where else would he go? I mean, maybe Blake Lazad is the competitor, but I don't know exactly how they want to filter out the third and fourth line left wing situation. Maybe those two are pretty, you know, interchangeable. Maybe even Blake Lazad is the biggest competitor there for those two. Again, much like the way we looked at the center position. It's the favorite and then the competitor, but also whoever loses it just gets the other position. They seem like not almost set in stone as NHLers right now, but could very well be NHLers when training camp comes to an end. And as for a long shot, again, you're looking at a prospect, right? You're just picking a prospect out of a hat and saying him, which could be someone like Vasili Pahnemar if they want him to play left wing or clearly I did some work here. Jonathan Gruden is a center mostly, but also lifted as listed as a left winger here. The other name we totally forgot about who could fight for a roster spot. I would say he's a very much a long shot to start the season, but I do think that he'll probably get games this year. For sure. He's going to get a call up eventually, but it's so tough to decide a long shot. It really is. Maybe Emil Bemstrom just because it's a place he played last year. Experience, yeah. Has the experience and might have versatility. I never that the penguin's got him. I wanted to see how useful he could be. Turned out to not be that great, but there seemed like there was something there. He's got a ton of NHL experience already, despite being 25. So maybe he's the long shot for that role as well. So you threw a bunch of names as the long shots, which is fine. I understand that's where we're at right now with the penguins left side. There are a lot of names in similar situations, but let's narrow this one down here. Who is your favorite and who is your biggest competitor again? Because I got lost in the shuffle of names that you just threw out at me. Well, Villa and Lazad will be favorite and competitive respectively. If you wanted to flip them by all means and get the long shot to Emil Bemstrom for now, because again, just without seeing anything that could be a battle there. Bokey mama's here too. By the way, if we need some grit and grime in this lineup, forgot he was here. Bokey mama is here. And honestly, you know who they play in the first game, right? Matthew Rempi and the New York Rangers. So maybe you just, you just bring a little bit more fascinating team. It's a fascinating team. I mean, you saw Rucker McGorarty said he met, met Rempi at the rookie showcase or something. It was always nice guy. I was like, you might be fighting him. Like you, you might be fighting him, not that anybody wants you to be the fighter, but you might be fighting him on the opening night of the season and what a month in four days, something like that. Either way, but speaking of McGorarty, he's my favorite in this position. I had him as the biggest competitor for first line left wing. I'll have him as the favorite to start here, because I think this is the position that the Penguins want him to begin his career at. And now I will say, if McGorarty wins that one left wing job, which I think is on the table, but still not a likely scenario, then I'll just plug Drew Connor in here is the favorite. And honestly, it's not a competition anymore. If McGorarty becomes the first line left wing, O'Connor is the third line left wing. So as of right now, I have McGorarty as the favorite. Beauville A is the biggest competitor, because that's just going to be the hierarchy on the left side. And when I go to a long shot, I know there's a lot of options you ran down through all of them. I'm going to say Billy Koivunen has priority there, because Koivunen won was absolutely phenomenal last year over in Europe in a professional setting. I understand Potomarov was good at the AHL in the Carolina Hurricanes organization. He only got a handful of games in the Penguins organization after the trade. But I think Koivunen is the guy that one has the higher upside when it comes to skill and talent. And two is the player that I think has the highest capability to come in here and impress people over a short period of time to earn that position. Do I think he's a favorite? No. But if say Beauville A struggles a lot and he ends up being a guy that they say, "Honestly, we're just going to put you on waivers." Then I think Koivunen could be the guy that goes out there and presses enough to get that opportunity early in the season. So I'll have Koivunen as my long shot, Beauville A is the biggest competitor. And my favorite there is Rucker McGorarty. I do think that again, I wouldn't consider him a lock just because he does have that waivers exempt tag. And sometimes that comes into play in a massive way early in the season, especially for that first, that first roster decision. But I will say he is the favorite in my eyes to be the third line left wing for the Penguins. Yeah, that's a good choice too. Again, not what I was thinking, but as you say it and as you read the options, absolutely that makes a ton of sense too. Yeah, let's move over to defense because there's really only one position that's available on defense. You look at the Penguins blue line right now and five of the six spots are, you could pencil them in, you can put them in pen. It's likely that it's what it's going to be on October 9th. But third line right side defense is still up for discussion. Who is your favorite? Who is your biggest competitor? And who's your long shot? Because I think that we want one thing. We've said all summer that it's going to be one thing, but it might just end up being something else. That's no kidding. I think the favor right now is going to be Sebastian Ojo. The NHL experience, just the the want to see him succeed in that role considering the contract two year deal. Again, just the experience was already there. Maybe Jack saying I have any is that top competitor because of the way he ended last season in a very good position with the Penguins and a very good light with the Penguins and can easily earn that role and earn that spot and just take it right back to where from where he ended. Long shots again, just pick the name from the hat. Go ahead and pick a name. Let's go back all about a start, right? Because it could be any of them. John Ludwig could be the long shot. He might even be the biggest competitor for the NHL contract that he has and also his willingness to do certain things. This is where things will get interesting because they're going to have the seventh defenseman as well. It will probably be a right shot. A right shot? Sorry, left shot, John Ludwig's left. I was going to say the only right shot they really have down there is Jack St. Ivety and Matt Caldwell. Yeah, no, I'm going to say we'll probably be a left shot. So that's what makes this option. I mean, are there any more names that could even enter the conversation? I mean, who is the PTO? I forget the PTO now. Nikolai Nizov. And he's a left shot. So yeah, all right. Maybe another PTO comes in, but I'd say right now the favorite goes to the biggest competitor goes to St. Ivety and then bull from the hat, Matt Caldwell is a long shot. Yeah, I have the same, a similar listing here, except I have Ryan Shea is that number three guy that that long shot, especially because Ryan Shea just fits exactly what they're looking for as a seventh defenseman. He had some down moments last year, but he finished on a high. And the reason that I have St. Ivety there, you mentioned, yes, he was great at the end of last season. That should give him an opportunity to make the roster out of camp. But again, this is where waiver exemption may play a factor, especially this early in the season. And two, if he comes in and has a rough training camp, it's going to be easy for the pangs to say, all right, we'll go down to Wilkes bear, get your feet underneath you, get back to where you were last year when we called you up. And then we'll have that option just stowed away. If he does not perform well in training camp, they're going to go with Sebastian Ajo. So that's why I think it's, it's the only option is to put ajo is the favorite. But I do think that St. Iveny, the door is open. The light is on, as Mike Tomlin would say, for him to have a good camp and to force the penguin's hand to keep him in the in the roster and in the lineup. Yeah, that's the opportunities there. Just gotta go out and get it. Let's finish things off with, again, one that is not much of a discussion, but I do think there's technically going to be a battle. We've talked about it a lot, especially I believe last week, we talked about it for an entire segment, starting goaltender, favorite, Tristan Jari, biggest competitor, Alex Adelkovich, long shot is Joel Blancfist. That's the order. It's pretty easy. There's not really, I mean, it's cut and dry. There's not really much discussion to be had on what the order is here. I think the one thing that is to be determined is about the game split this season. I think Blancfist really does never shot to be one of those two that make the roster out of camp unless there's a trade. And I think a trade is unlikely at this stage of the off season. As far as what that competition is, it's not for who gets to make the roster. It's really for that split, as I mentioned, as to are they going to have a starter backup? Is it going to be one A, one B? And if it is one A, one B, who is one A? And who is one B? I think that is still yet to be determined for the penguin's organization. Yeah, that's it's going to be that way. Those are the three names that you'll be watching for for the NHL roles. You know, Blancfist isn't probably isn't going to make it right away. Maybe something happens down the line. Again, we know Tristan Jari is pretty injury prone at times, even a dogfish got hurt last year. So there will be maybe some movement on that front. But for what it's worth, man, looking into just looking deeper into it, because this feels very set almost the goaltending situation looks very strange about to have a nuts goaltending them. I mean, their entire roster. Yeah, you could you yes, you do have Blancfist and Mershev in the goaltending room. And that is going to be extremely exciting. But koi voonin, ponomarev, somebody's going to get sent down here that could be, you know, pool and pulley RV is going to be down there defensively. You have Owen Pickering. Yeah, it's going to be, you know, John Ludwig might be down there punching people's lights out in the AHL. It's going to be exciting to watch what's happening in Northeast Pennsylvania this year. And, you know, never I was discussing the goal is they also added Philip Larson this summer. And then Taylor go TA is also there who was basically the ECHL goal of the year last year. So I'm assuming he's playing the a playing in the a this year. I mean, do you have do you have opportunity for him? Is that is the question? Exactly. That's where it gets tough. I would think maybe I would think maybe, man, I don't know, though, because you want them playing. You don't want them sitting out as a third string guy at the age level, especially your young guys that you want to develop. Yeah, and that's whenever you start to get philosophical with go TAs. How much do they want to develop them? Because they now have blown off quest, who seems to be on the verge of being ready and Mershev, who they expect to be ready soonish and he's three years younger than go TA. So what and what kind of ceiling just go TA have? Is he an NHL goalie and will other teams be willing to take that? Well, I think he proved last year that he is certainly a stellar ECHL goaltender, which means he should get an opportunity to see if he can do it at the American hockey league level. And the last time we saw a goaltender take that path was Casey to Smith, who has been an NHL backup for the last, what, three, four, five seasons. And in a backup role, he's good. I understand he was a punching bag by the end of his his time here in Pittsburgh, but that's because he was behind a guy who couldn't hold on to a starting job and he was forced into those positions where he became coin flip Casey as I deemed him, a guy that might show up and be one of the best goal tenders you've ever seen, or might show up and be a guy that looks like he started at the ECHL level. So I think that when you look at Taylor go to, you can't help but think a little bit of the path that Casey to Smith took and say, all right, well, if blunk fist or Mershev or your goaltender of the future, you're going to need a backup of the future and maybe just maybe. And again, this is projecting out far too much, but maybe just maybe it is Taylor go TA, which is why you want to see him progress and see if he can handle that next level. That'd be fascinating. I also don't, I just don't know what the rest of the goaltending room looks like. Because whoo, there was quite a few goalies used by the Wilkes-Barrings Grant Penguins last year. There were just get like, is Garrett Sparks still under contract? That I, off the top of my head, I do not have any idea. And yeah, Wilkes-Barrings website is not updated for this for this upcoming season yet. So really, currently an unrestricted free agent. Really? Oh, okay. Well, at least that opens that up. But it'll be interesting. There will be some, again, like discussing the young goal, the youthful goal tending in Pittsburgh right now. It is, it's all crystal ball. It is all. Crystal projections, Chris, the bulky way. Not quite. Not quite. I thought you were saying they could all be Chris, the bulky way. I was like, that's not bad. It's not great, but not bad. It's all just looking into the future and projections and predicting and guessing because for this season, this 24, 25 season, you're looking at Jory Nadalka, which again is the one two. Blumquist sneaks in as a three and then confetti, figure it out. Yeah, and that's the big thing too, that we can't forget is they are looking at Joe Blunkfist as that number three guy. Whereas last year, they brought in Magnus Helberg, the year before, I believe it was Dustin Takarski and the year before it was Maxime Lagasse. Excuse me. Something in that order. Yeah. Typically, typically they brought in a veteran is the point I'm making. But now they trust your Blumquist. And if there is an injury, if there is something that happens, he's the first name up. So expect to see him get at least a couple of games under his belt at the National Hockey League level. But it should be a fun season. That's a wrap for this episode of the tip of the iceberg. We're getting so close. I mean, one week and one day away from the opening of the prospects challenge. Penguins take on the Boston Bruins next Friday at noon. It's going to be very exciting to watch some actual hockey there. Exciting for everything to start happening. I'm excited for everything. I was just excited. That's it. And also, it's the first day of the football season. So I'm a little amped up as well. But that's going to do it for this episode of the tip of the iceberg. Thank you guys so much for tuning into this one. Remember, you can find us on YouTube at tip of the iceberg or anywhere you get your podcasts from. We'll see you guys next time.
