[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 podcasts from I'm your host, Nick Belsky joined as always by Nick Horwatt and well, we finally made it. It is September 3rd. The dark ages of the NHL schedule is past us. Players are going to start to trickle in. Training camps are getting ready to happen. There's Penguins hockey in 18 days. Now it's pre-season hockey, but it's hockey nonetheless in 18 days. And we have a lot of things to discuss leading up to that point. And that's what we're going to do to kick things off on today's show. We're going to preview what should be a very busy month for the Pittsburgh Penguins. And then we have a couple of interesting recurring segments that we're bringing back for this episode, including a quick game of name that stat line that is going to have a point that I'm going to make and finishing things off with our weekly pens poll. Let's get started. And let's start things off with the top storylines to watch in the month of September for the Pittsburgh Penguins, the pens next weekend. Not this upcoming one, but the following one. We'll be at the prospects challenge on Friday, Saturday and Monday. Three games of prospect hockey that you're going to be able to watch. I'm sure the Penguins are going to announce where you can watch that last year. It was on the Penguins app, I believe, as well as their YouTube channel. So we'll see if they do the same thing again, but you would assume that they have somewhere where you're going to be able to watch those three games. And then like I mentioned off the top, first pre-season game in 18 days, it's kind of crazy that we're already at this point. I have to kind of pinch myself and say, all right, hockey's almost back. Eighteen days till camp, as we mentioned, and just over a month away from the opener against the New York Rangers. And felt like it was a long summer, but also not a long summer at the same time, because there was always been, as we'll get into in a moment here, one big piece of news that is yet to drop. It could have dropped at any point after July 1st. And we're still here waiting for it as we approach the opening of training camp. And as these prospects of rookie camps start kicking off, the Penguins are still waiting to drop that one big piece of news that we all at this point expect. We'll just happen at the beginning of training camp or just before it. So that way everyone's in town, everyone's ready, everyone's paying attention. It can get done. There can be the big press conference if there needs to be, and then we can go about our lives. But that's kind of what has made this whole summer sort of fly by for Penguins fans a little bit as if there's always been that one thing to sort of wait on that we, you know, that everyone's just been sitting back, refreshing Twitter, refreshing Facebook, waiting for the first new bit of information to come out. Yeah, and obviously that is going to be the biggest storylines. We'll, we'll give you the three biggest, but that is the biggest one. And that is Sydney Crosby's contract extension. Or as of this moment, the lack thereof, a contract extension, he's blown through two and I'll call these publicly created deadlines, which was one July 1st, which everybody said, all right, this is an easy deal to make. They're just going to make it, get it on the back burner, call it a day and let everybody go about their business. Well, they didn't do that. The reasons being reportedly that Sydney Crosby said, you know, Kyle Dubas has a lot on his plate right now. He's trying to form the team for next season. We'll revisit that when everything calms down from free agency and obviously the draft and the rookie development camp that came up right after that. And then of course, there was the deadline of August 7th, which means a lot to Sydney Crosby, not enough for him to sign his contract on that date. So he blew through those two deadlines that were nowhere in the organization as actual deadlines, but publicly they felt like deadlines. Well, now will he start camp without a deal? I think that is the question that is on everybody's mind. I would say there's no chance in hell that he ends up starting camp without a deal because then as most people have alluded to, he's going to have to answer questions about that. And that's the last thing that he wants to talk about whenever he's trying to gear up for the 2024-25 season. So if he doesn't have a deal in place by the time he steps foot for organized team activities, not any of these informal skates that are happening right now this week, they'll happen next week as well with some of the players that are getting ready for training camp. But if he steps onto the ice for that first true training camp practice without a contract, that's when I start to wonder who or what. Yeah, it's that he'll sign at the day before. Probably. You know, whichever day camp set to start off, I expect something to drop the day before and then the penguins will go from there. I'd be curious to, you're right, because he doesn't want to answer questions about, you know, why there still isn't a deal signed. He doesn't want to enter that sort of media availability with that lingering over because that's the only thing that anyone's going to ask about. There won't be any questions of how does the team look this year? You've had a practice out of your, you know, whoever you're playing with. How do your line mates look? How are they? It'll be none of them. There might be one toward the end when ever sit after four or five questions finally goes, can we talk about hockey a little bit? You think he'd let it get to four or five? I think he'd let it get to two or three and then call it a day. It'd be, well, he'd just be given the same answer over and over again. And just knowing some of the media that might be there might continue. But once I'm confident that it'll get signed, probably the day before camp starts that first media availability, I'd be curious to know if he'll open the door a little bit as to why why it took so what was the? You know, I don't want to say what was the hold up, but were there any hold ups? What was the idea behind putting everything off or something? Is it true that it was just a confidence level between both parties? It was just we knew it was going to get done. We weren't super worried about putting pen to paper right away. We just wanted to enjoy our summers. We wanted to not worry about work so much per se and just get the time off, read, you know, recuperate, get ready for a new season. And then pretty much he could even say we had to deal in place late July. Yeah, we just were waiting until the right time to announce it. So that way, you know, we could sort of come in with a a new mojo almost into camp. Like I said, do it the day before the vibes are high. Start off the season on a high note like that. Yeah, you mentioned that there's other questions that people are going to be asking Sydney Crosby. I'm sure one of them is going to be, what are his thoughts on Rucker McGrory? Because that is probably the biggest or at least the shiniest new toy that the penguins have at their disposal and probably the shiniest new toy that Sydney Crosby has on his wing at some point this season. We don't think, you know, that might not be at the start of the season. It might not be at the start of training camp. But at some point this season, you would have to imagine Rucker McGrory gets out there on the ice alongside Sydney Crosby and people are going to want to know what Crosby thinks. Of the young 20 year old, he's going to be an action. McGrory that is in 10 days at the prospect challenge. He's expected to be on that roster. There's a lot of excitement surrounding him this camp. And I think that's the second biggest storyline is what does he look like, right? How does he kick things off? Because there are high expectations for him because he is the best young player. The penguins have had probably since Jake Genssel back in 2017. And I think there's even more expectation for Rucker McGrory coming in because Genssel, I think a lot of people said, Oh, he could be good. He could be decent. And then he came in and blew the doors off of everybody's expectations. People are expecting Rucker McGrory to come in and be an impactful player in year one at the age of 20. I think that is going to be a huge storyline to follow how he handles that pressure and how he handles being an NHL organization knowing there's very good chance that he's starting the year at the National Hockey League level. Yeah, he said he hasn't been given that role yet. He's going to have to earn it, obviously. But look at this lineup and look at who he may have higher expectations then. It's going to be him above quite a few people. Going to be him quite above quite a few of the prospects above those youngsters that maybe could have fought for roles. But now it's going to be almost his spot to lose. Again, he will have to earn it still, but he's going to start off with a pretty big head start, I would assume. And then yeah, when it comes to following that storyline, it's that's going to be exciting. Before it was him, it was what maybe Kevin Hayes is the biggest piece the Penguins added in terms of just namesake, star power, all of that sort of thing, not necessarily numbers are playing ability or stats, but Rugerty comes in as the Penguins newest top prospect without doubt, clearly. And the most NHL ready prospect out of anyone in the system. So yeah, it's going to be his spot to lose. And I'm excited to see and excited to follow what he can do and see where he's playing. Again, I know early training camp won't be a good indicator of where he's going to play in the season, but curious to see where Sullivan and the coaching staff line him up to start camp and then kind of see where he goes from there. Now the final storyline that I want to headline and highlight going into the month of September is the goaltending battle between Tristan Jari and Alex to Dell commission, who's going to be able to shine early in this battle? Because I do think that especially considering the fact that the Penguins were open to trading Tristan Jari this summer. All reports indicate that they were at the very least open to have those discussions and hear other teams and see what is out there available in return for Tristan Jari. How does he respond to that? Because he's going to see that he's going to be aware of that. He knows that last year was not a good ending for him. How does he respond early in camp and can Alex Nadalkovich take the top spot away from him? It's going to be a battle between those two early in camp to try to one up each other. And of course, everybody expects it to be a healthy battle because nothing that Jari nor Nadalkovich have said have led us to believe that there is any dissension between those two. They seem to like each other genuinely, but there is competition there and there is competition between the two of them. And then on top of that, how do those two young prospects perform? Nobody expects them to challenge for an NHL roster spot out of camp, but everybody has high expectations for them at the AHL level. What do they look like going up against the Crosby's, the Malkins, the Rusts, the Maguerties, if you want to throw him in as well? How do they look against some of these talented players? Because for Blancfist, it's year two, he has a little bit of a resume. He has a little bit of, you know, experience to go back on for Sergey Murashov. All it was was rookie development camp. Like that's all he has over North America, as of right now, in the Penguins organization. So how does he respond? How does he react to his first camp? He's been lights out in everything he's done. But that is a small, small sample size. So I'm excited to see how those two do. But more specifically, I'm excited to see how Jari and the Delkovich handle this type of goal tending battle and and really how the coaching staff handles these two goal tenders early in camp. Yeah, it's that would be fascinating to see there. I mean, when it comes to the Penguins and their goal tending situation, I know we talked to Tandem's last episode, but it's, it's a weird, it's weird to say that there isn't a wrong answer whenever it comes to who the Penguins decide to roll with as their duo, let alone their starter. If you want to go with Jari and the Delkovich one too, that that's fine. That's what you've been doing. It's just a continuation of what really should be the expectation anyway. If you go to Delkovich, Jari is the one too. Okay. Well, that's the way you ended last season. Also a good answer. Let's say again, now is when the spitballing starts. Let's say you're halfway through camp, you realize, okay, it's in the Delkovich is net. He's stealing this. And oh, look, so is one of the prospects. I won't get into deeper than that. Okay. Well, you find that you've rehash those trade, you've regreased those trade wheels, all of a sudden, I guess I'm spitballing you. Yeah. And now you're rolling with the Delkovich prospect, name prospect, it could be either of them. And the same goes the other way too. If you really, I mean, I know they just signed a Delkovich again. But if he is losing the net and looks poor or in Jari's pulling away, and you hadn't the Penguins have that sort of confidence that he's going to sustain it. And you grease those wheels too. That was way less likely. That is the least likely option. That's not on the table at all. To me. Exactly. It's the least likely option of anything I just named here. Because if that's happening, you do just roll the Delkovich Jari and, or Jari to Delkovich and figure something out. But those are the options essentially that are out there. And yeah, it's likely gonna be one of the first ones, which is Jari starting to Delkovich backup or vice versa. Yeah, I think two things. One, as much as I like Mershev, he's not coming anywhere near the NHL this year. So if there is going to be a prospect, it's going to be Joel Blungfuss. And I also still think that he's a little while off, but more realistic than Mershev. And then the trading to Delkovich part of this is not a conversation. Just throwing that out there. Don't have that talk because just Jari is one of, if not the most unreliable goaltender is heading into this season, you're not going to throw a rookie behind him and say, yeah, that's going to be good enough. It's just, it's not going to happen. But it is going to be, I mean, between the four of them, there's a lot of talent in that room. The young guys have an experience, which is why they're not going to be able to get that opportunity to fight for NHL roster spots right out of camp. But I'm interested to see, of course, the big thing is going to be how do they grow throughout camp? And how do they put themselves and where do they position themselves going into the regular season? Yeah, let me throw one more thing in because you also have to remember where the Penguins were the last time during the exit meetings, during the exit interviews, it was essentially, we're not sure where the goaltending position is going. It was, it was, Kyle Dubas saying, we want to see what Joel Bonquist can do in the AHL playoffs for him to set himself up for possibly an NHL role this upcoming season. He lost in that opening three game series round. And at the time, I mean, before that even happened, the Delft, which was an upcoming free agent, I think he said he would like to stay, but then again, who doesn't say that? But it was, I don't want to say it was a Oregon conclusion that he was getting, you know, he was heading to free agency. But it seemed likely that it was going to be jolly or jolly would be traded. And then things would be figured out from there. It seemed almost certain at the time that long quest was going to be coming in as the with the spot of backup set for him almost. Then he didn't get that playoff run. So all of a sudden it turned into a three horse race again. Yeah, I think that's sort of where, at least at the time of, you know, those locker clean out meetings, those interviews, that's what it stood. And then not getting a playoff run kind of even the playing field. Yeah, I feel like it would have had to be a really deep playoff run. And he would have had to be one of the driving factors in the deep playoff run for them to consider going into next season with him as the number two behind Tristan Jari. I think there was always a plan of, Hey, we're gonna look out for somebody to be a one B. And whenever it was an Adelkovich that was resigned, that told you that, Hey, the penguins just don't think Blancfist is quite ready yet. And that's, that's okay. He's only had one year on North American ice. And I think that if he has this year again, I think then you start having the conversation in next year's training camp. But I feel like there was never a consideration, you know, unless he would have gone on a great calder cup run that Blancfist was going to be the number two to Tristan Jari specifically. So again, those are all hypotheticals at this point. I mean, you look back on it. I was shocked. You were shocked that Alex Adelkovich was resigned, especially for two years, 2.5. That's a significant contract for a backup goaltender in the National Hockey League. So where we stand today, I think there's a lot of questions about that position for both the short term and long term future for the penguins. I mean, you look at those two goal tenders. Something's got to give your hope in both of them paying out that'd be great. It'd be a good problem to have. But again, there's a lot of development left in front of both Blancfist and Mershaw. Let's move over and go to name that stat line. We don't do this too often. But I think there's a there's a point to this one. All of these players are going to be stat lines from the 2022-23 season. And all of the players are new to the Pittsburgh Penguins this offseason. So guys that came in in the last couple of months, we're going to talk about their stat lines from 2022-23. I'll give the stat line, Horwatt's going to try to guess it. If you're at home, you can play along. But let's get this started with the first stat line from again, the 2022-23 season, which was not last year, it was the year prior. 81 games played for this player, 18 goals, 54 points. And he has played for two of the Penguins biggest rivals in his career. Can you name that stat line, Horwatt? That sounds like Kevin Hayes's last year in Philly. It is. It is Kevin. He played 81 games. He did. But yeah, yeah, 81 games, 54 points and 18 goals. It's a good stat line. Now he had a bad year in St. Louis, which is why Blues were willing to utilize a second round pick to offload his contract. Not only that, then of course, the Penguins switched some things around, got a second later, got an extra third, whatever. But the Blues didn't want him because he wasn't a fit in St. Louis. If he's a fit in Pittsburgh like he was in Philly, 54 points is a good number right there. Good puck move. That's a good depth center puck moving player. Those are good numbers for that sort of style. I can't even remember the name now. But that's what he should bring to the Penguins exactly, is that sort of play making ability that he's, whether he's playing with Poston and Ormogordi, depending on how things file out. There's a good chance, let me be even, who was it? Those supposed to be Islander. It was named Pavilion, maybe be skating up there because the depth is weird in Pittsburgh. There's a lot of it, but also not a lot at the same time. Yeah. We'll see how it filters out, but I'm, it'll be looking out for Kevin Hayes to have another season like that to have another playmaking year where he's putting up good numbers in the assist category and scoring every so often whenever he can. I forget, I know they probably haven't labeled this yet. I forget if he's a penalty killer though. Yes, he wasn't last year in St. Louis, but he has in his career kill penalties. Okay, because it's, because also figuring out the organization of the power play will be extremely interesting at Pittsburgh this year. So you're one for one and you got that one with, with relative ease. So let's see if you can keep going and I'll keep giving you the first hint. We do have a secondary hint if you need it. Let's go to the second player here. 72 games played in the 2022-23 season. He scored 14 goals, 35 points, and Pittsburgh will be his third organization in the NHL. Oh, oh, what was the, what were the numbers again? 72 games played 14 goals, 35 points. Third organization. I was going to say both of you, but I feel like both of you played for three in the last year. I think he has. Yeah. He was traded twice last year. So yeah, he played for three teams last season. So yeah. And I'm also forgetting who the Penguins got. The goals numbers seem high, but could it have been Matt Grizzly? It is not Matt Grizzly. It is Cody Glass. Cody Glass for the Nashville Predators had 14 goals, 35 points two seasons ago. He comes into Pittsburgh. This is a player that I don't think a lot of people can really nail down where he's going to be early in camp. I mean, he plays center. He can play the wing, but where do the Penguins have him? I mean, there's a log jam at center with we already mentioned Kevin Hayes, Lars Ehler is down there as well. Blake Lazart can play center, Sam Poulan can play center. Now Cody Glass is added into that as well. So there's a lot of question marks about where Cody Glass is going to fit, but 35 points a couple years ago is not a horrible stat line for a player that has been considered a bust among certain fan bases. But looking for a fresh start in Pittsburgh, even if he kind of gets those numbers again, I think it's a solid floor to have. But again, as of right now, it's not his floor. It's closer to his ceiling. But he's also only 25. Exactly. I think that's, that's the fun part of Cody Glass here is that you've said those numbers were 35 points and 72 games. It was 23. Yeah. In his first full season in Nashville. Again, I don't know exactly what happened when we only played eight games in 21 22 without looking into it. I always assume injury, but that was his first real long season in the NHL's, you know, career highs in goals, points, assists, games played, even plus minus for that matter. So that was, that's his year to focus on and something to build off of from that. Don't look too much into last season in your 41 games and 13 points for Cody Glass. That'll have to be his baseline, his target of, you know, let's say playing more than 72 games and then obviously crushing that 35 point number one way or another. And because he's only 25, there's still plenty of room for, I don't want to say figuring out what kind of player you are, but you know, he's got a little more time to sort of earn his, er, yeah, earn his positioning and learn and excel and add to his skill set, which the pain was needed to get younger. And that's one way to adding Cody Glass was one way of doing it. Yeah, 100% and it was knee injuries that held Cody Glass out. So obviously you're hoping that he stays healthy two years ago. It's a lot of games played 72. So it seems like he got over that last year, of course, in and out of the lineup. So we'll see what he's able to do in his first season in Pittsburgh. All right. So you're one and two, or you're one for two, I should say, let's see if you can get a winning record here. Let's see if you can hit two for three on the day. This player played 82 games played in the 2022, 23 season, 18 goals, 40 points. And I'll say this player could be anything from a top liner to a waiver option this season for the Penguins. The waiver option threw me off. He said 40 points. Is this one Anthony Bovillier? This is Anthony Bovillier. If you would have asked for the second hint, which you try not to do and I appreciate that even though I I do prepare at second hints for you, the second hit one at the given other way, he's been traded three times in the past two seasons. Ah, we just discussed it. So yes, we just discussed it. But Bovillier 40 points that season, he had split it with the Islanders and the Canucks. And funny story, nine goals, 20 points for both teams in that season. Clean. Those are the stat lines. You love seeing Yes, 100%. Keep it easy. Keep it simple. Was he better before or after the trade? He was the same. Yeah, the exact same. It's, I mean, before the season was even over, there was everyone saying they're discussing the idea of the Penguins targeting it. And I do think it's interesting that you're right. He could kind of play on the top line, but could also be flew through waivers at any moment. So who have a fascinating season, regardless of what happens, who have a fascinating start with the Penguins, because like I also just said, like you mentioned, he could be on the first on command, the waivers. I pinned him next to Kevin Hayes 20 minutes, 20 seconds ago, too. There's all kind of range this guy can take that I get in terms of like him and macros, like I get where fans are coming from and saying that he is that these guys are not as good, maybe not right for the Penguins. Let's give it a shot. Let's see what let's see some game action before we jump to those conclusions. And for him specifically, I'm real curious to see what he can do with the Penguins in this new system, because I mean, I said most of last year, any New York Islander, whether you like it or not fits Mike Sullivan's system. Yeah, you got a base level. Yes. Yeah, you got to play defense. And that's something he'll be able to do. We'll see how the offense turns out from there. Now, here's the reason I chose these three players to do today. Hayes, glass and bovillier all had pretty rough seasons last year. Hence the reason they were cheap enough that the Penguins went out and got them for peanuts. But the year prior to that, they all had pretty good seasons, 40 points for bovillier, 35 points for glass, 54 points for Kevin Hayes. You know what all that has in common? It is more points than any bottom six score for the Penguins has scored the past two seasons. Last year, if you want to count Drew O'Connor, I'll give it to you, but he only had 33 points. And most of those were because he played with Sidney Crosby. And that's where he got the bulk majority of his points. So taking out Drew O'Connor, the three leading bottom six scores last season were Lars Eller 31, Valteri Pustin in 20 and Jeff Carter with 15 2022, 23, Jeff Carter with 29, Dan Heineen with 22, and Kaspari Captain with 20. So these aren't the, these aren't the best players the Penguins brought in. I understand that and they're coming off of years that aren't good. But they are not far removed from a 54 point season for Kevin Hayes, a 35 point season for Cody glass and a 40 point season for Anthony bovillier. So if anything, this is a reason to have some encouragement for the Penguins bottom six going into this season. No kidding. Just hearing those names and who led the bottom six and score is Carter's on both lists. Carter is on both lists right now. And not necessarily last season, but the season before the 22, 23 season was notifiably just notably a poor year for him. Yeah, he did better last year because he was in a different role. I think everyone sort of expected less and he delivered more. I mean, again, it wasn't phenomenal. It wasn't stand out. But everyone sort of knew this is probably his last year. He's playing fourth line right wing. He's not going to bring a bunch to the table. And then he ended up bringing more to the table than was expected. And yet Jeff Carter was on that list the year before. And like I said, a notably poor year. Also Dan Heineen and who I forget about Terry Pustin and I mean, those guys got points, but they also never struck anyone as goal scorers. I mean, Pustin should and likely will, but not last year. But all those numbers are assists. Most of those numbers are said he had what three goals. I don't know. Pustin had five goals, 15 assists and Carter. It's funny was the inverse. He had 11 goals for us this last year. That's right. He did wild. But Pustin and Heineen, just because we forget that Heineen almost felt the face of the earth, by the way, we was like healthy scratch. He's still sitting in the top three comfortably on that bottom six. And I mean, Casparia captain was also claimed off of waivers that year and was still top three of this list. I mean, Lars Ehler had a good year. That'll be nice to have back if he sticks around and is able to do that again, despite being one of the sneaky old guys on this team. Yeah, already major steps in the right direction for this penguins bottom six. Because like I said, you're reading those names off. I'm sitting here laughing. That is a laughable bottom six these last two seasons scoring wise defense wise. I think they were okay. I forget kind of mostly they were fine defensively. But at the same time, whenever you're a team that needs more goal scoring, and your defense, your actual defense is not good. And your goal tending is not good. A good defensive bottom six that doesn't score isn't really helping all that much. It's great that they didn't, you know, look horrible in the defensive zone. But at the same time, the results stand for themselves and they speak for themselves. They missed the playoffs the last two seasons. So the reason I bring this up is there is reason for encouragement in the penguins bottom six. Those names that we brought up, boville, a glass haze, they can score points. They've proven they can score points as recently as two seasons ago. You bring in some young guys like Blake Lozot. That's going to be pretty exciting. You bring in a young guy like Rutger Magruderi. That's going to be exciting. Maybe you get the opportunity to have Drew Conner in that bottom six a little bit more. Maybe Valtteri Pustin and takes a step this season. There is reason to believe that the ceiling is higher and the floor is higher for the penguins bottom six when it comes to scoring this year. And that's that's just what we wanted to do today because, you know, going into September, we need the vibes to be a little bit higher. So that's why we brought all of those things up. Let's finish things off with our weekly pens poll. This was an interesting one because I didn't explicitly say it. But I did put in here that Sidney Crosby was going to break a record. Who's going to vote for it? And it ended up winning the poll. So let's go to it now, which is most likely to happen in the 2024 25 season. The fans voted 32% of them. Sidney Crosby to score 100 plus points, which just so happens to be an NHL record for most points scored by a 37 year old, which is Joe Sakek with 100 points in 2006 2007. Now, what did people think that is more likely to happen than Eric Carlson scoring 50 plus assists, 27% of the vote, I believe he's done that four or five times in his 16 year career. Brian Rust to score 30 plus goals. He has never done that, but he got 25% of the vote and Tristan Jari to have over a nine 10 say percentage, only 16% of the vote. So I ask you, Horwott, which of these scenarios is most likely to happen this season? So I know the crowd went with the Crosby one. Yes. And we just had a discussion about Jari. Who knows what exactly happens there? I'm kind of torn between the middle two. I want to lean more toward Rust than I do Carlson. But when you look at, I'll start with Carlson for a minute. He had 45 assists last year. And we're discussing him getting 50. It's only five more. And we are expecting him to have a better season. We would have been expecting them better season, even if the penguins didn't add an old friend in Quinn behind the bench. So maybe that's possible. And I like that option from going to give Brian Rust the edge here, because it is harder to it is hard to get five more assists, even if that's sort of the name of his game almost. Brian Russ had 28 goals last year. And arguably would have hit 30 had he not missed 20 games. Yeah, he needed two more. I think I get old Brian Rust, young Brian Rust. Early career Brian Russell, I'm trying to say was a bit streakier. I think me and you had discussions on that many a time whenever he went on long scoreless droughts. And then had a hat trick to break it. Um, this new Brian Ross as he ages is a little bit more consistent. I think that's sort of those stretches of long, you know, paces and long games without scoring are gone and behind him. If he can play near 82 over 78, something like that, he can probably hit 30. No problem. So I'm going to give that one my vote of confidence, because it just seems the most likely it seems like it should have happened already, especially and, uh, I mean, listen, we all have faith in Sydney. All three of those, the Crosby, Rust and Carlson stat lines are all extremely possible. We all have confidence that all three of those can happen. But if I had to pick up most likely, it's going to be Brian Rust. Also, man, I have no faith interest in John. Yeah, I think most people don't. I'm surprised he got up to 16%. And those of you that did, you know, I want what you're smoking because, you know, that is a lot of copium right there. I think thinking he's going to have over a nine, 10, save percentage. But I will agree that the top three, Crosby, Carlson and Rust are obviously much more likely. And honestly, I will say this, I expect Carlson to have 50 plus assists. I expect rust to have 30 plus goals for two reasons for Brian Rust. That one is a little bit, I think Carlson, you can get five more assists if the power plays a modicum of consistent, then he is already over 50 assists this year. And we expect him to be good in year two and quane and all that you cover that well. Brian Rust two reasons. One, Jake Genssel is gone. Brian Rust is winger numero Uno. He is the top winger for this team. He is the top option on the wing. He is the guy this year. That should get him some more opportunities to score. And like you mentioned, he's been more consistent in recent years. And number two, Brian Rust had three power play goals last year, 25, even strength goals. Actually, did he have a short handed? That might be a little different. He did have one short handed goal. So excuse me, 24, even strength goals last season. Those are ridiculous numbers. If he gets an opportunity on the power play to get even double six power play goals this year. And as you mentioned, if he stays healthy, I think it's a foregone conclusion in my eyes that he finally gets to that 30 goal mark. This is the third straight season. I've been saying that that was my bold prediction two years ago. That was my bold prediction last year. And I keep getting, you know, stung by it two years ago, he just struggled last year. It was the injuries. But I will say it again, Brian Rust will score 30 this year. I believe it. I think he is certainly a 30 goal scorer in talent and capabilities. Can he stay on the ice is the only question in my eyes because I think everything else is set up perfectly for him to go over that 30 mark. It's going to happen at some point. It does does not actually, but you know, you'd hope it does. You'd hope it doesn't is for Crosby. I mean, we brought up the list earlier and we were discussing it to be in the top 12 of points scored at the age of 37. It is something that he typically does, which is over 71 points, which is Daniel Alfordson at 12th. But you look at the names up there Saka 100 points at the age of 37. Mario Lemieux had 91 Wayne Gretzky had 90. Joe Pavelsky had 81 underrated, you know, sneaky good season for a 37 year old. Another name on there, Alex Avechkin, who's tied for 10th with Gordy Howe at 75. So I mean, that's a list we'll keep track of this season. But I honestly, 100 points is tough. 100 points is tough. Even though there are more people doing it now than there ever have been before it seems like every single year. Crosby's had two very, very good seasons back to back. And I understand he hasn't had a lot of help and you're hoping he has more this year. But he's had two very good seasons and he's finished in the lower to mid 90s. Can he push over that hump? Can the power play get him over the hump? Potentially. But I think I'm leaning towards either Carlson or Russ. And honestly, I'll put my vote on rust to score 30 plus goals. Yeah, if the Penguins had a rock and power play, all three of those would have been hit last year. Just randomly saying, yeah, no, you're you're probably right. Not that rust was on the power play a lot, but he probably would have gotten more opportunities just in general. Yeah, I think the way it the way it they shuffle it, let's say it was clicking and they were still shuffling as much as they did for some reason. Then yeah, he's obviously gonna get those opportunities because he was still out. He's still on power play too, at least for quite a bit of the season. Yeah, so even if that contributes, it's two goals too. He finds a way. He's he was the closest one. Crosby had 94 points. He was six away from 100. Get a couple of power play points in there and you got it. Eric Carlson, if he was quarterbacking a nice power play, there go a couple more goals right there. Yeah, so. Yeah, get the power play working and all those things should figure itself out once again. Sorry to just sorry. I mean, go out there and prove us wrong. That's that's all I'll say. Not that not that our opinion means anything to him, not that he's gonna even hear it, but you know, that's what that's what mode he should be in going into this season. I want to prove everybody wrong because everybody's doubting me and I will say everybody is doubting you except for 16% of the fan base. So, you know, shout out to that 16% again. You guys have a lot of positive energy and I strive to be that someday, but that's gonna do it for this episode of the tip of the iceberg. Thank you guys so much for tuning into this one. And 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. (upbeat music) [MUSIC PLAYING]
