In this edition of Tip of the Ice-Burgh, Nick & Nick discuss a handful of players that could be dark horses to make the Pittsburgh Penguins roster at the end of training camp (1:34). They also celebrate "goalie week" by ranking the best goaltending tandems in the Metropolitan Division (13:30).
Nick & Nick end the episode by reacting to Rutger McGroarty's first press conference as a member of the Penguins and his unique decision in jersey number (23:30). Tune In!
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George Clooney and Brad Pitt's new movie, Wolfs, is on Apple TV Plus, September 27th. That's where I want you to be now. So if you want to see George Clooney and Brad Pitt, go to Apple TV Plus. You got to start the story there? Or if you want to see Brad Pitt and George Clooney, go to Apple TV Plus. I am enjoying the show. And if you want to see their new movie, Wolfs. You can't do it. Win help, yeah. I can do it. Do it. Definitely go to Apple TV Plus. The minute is cool. Okay, fine. It's very cool. Wolfs, streaming September 27th on Apple TV Plus. Where you are? My dad works in B2B marketing. He came by my school for career day and said he was a big row as man. Then he told everyone how much he loved calculating his return on ad spend. My friends still laughing me to this day. Not everyone gets B2B, but with LinkedIn, you'll be able to reach people who do. Get $100 credit on your next ad campaign. Go to linkedin.com/results to claim your credit. That's linkedin.com/results. Terms and conditions apply linkedin, the place to be to be. 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're getting ready for the start of the 2024-25 season. Horwatt, this is our final episode in August, which means starting next week. We are in the same month as prospect challenge. We're in the same month as penguins training camp. And we're in the same month as if I may be so bold, Sydney Crosby's contract extension. So it is an exciting time in penguins land. It's an exciting time around the NHL as players start to get back into their home cities. But we have plenty to discuss today, including the beginning of our training camp preview, where we name a couple of dark horses to make the roster out of training camp. And then we'll celebrate goalie week because that's what the NHL is doing on social media. We'll celebrate it by ranking all the gold tending tandoms of the metropolitan division, where do the penguins stand? And then we'll close things out by reacting to Rutger McGruderty's first presser as a member of the Pittsburgh penguins and the news of his new number. Let's get started and let's start things off with the beginning of what is going to be our ramp up to Pittsburgh Penguins training camp, which should be just about three weeks away from today. You have the opening of the preseason on September 21st against the Buffalo Sabres. You have the prospect challenge a week prior to that between September 13th and 16th. So we have training camp right around the corner. Perfect time to start previewing it. And with the fact that there's going to be plenty of roster battles. I think that the best place to start is to look for some dark horses to keep your eyes on. They could surprise some people this year. There were a couple last year, one of them coming in at the very last second being Janssen Harkins. Now it didn't work out for the Penguins in that one. But are there a dark or any dark horses or specifically one dark horse that you see on this roster right now? There's a couple. I think the way the roster is lined up, the way the depth chart is looking. There's plenty of log jams all over the place. Guys that can't fight for roster spots. Guys that can fight for those first man up spots. There's plenty of battles that'll be happening to the point of I forgot some of these players were even on the Penguins' roster and in the system or whatever it may be. And one of those names is absolutely a dark horse to make the roster because he had a good showing in his handful of games last year. And that's Jesse Paul-Yarvey. I know the way we've been discussing the Penguins all off season. We've been talking about key faces that could make the lineup, that could fight the way into the lineup and never in my mind through those discussions have I been like "Jesse Paul-Yarvey is still on this team" until yesterday. Essentially when you texted me his name and I went "oh yeah he's still on this team." So I'm going to go with him because yeah he's someone that could sneak into this roster one way or the other. He had a good showing last year. Don't have the numbers in front of me but he looked good. He was passing the eye test every time he was out there one way or the other. It will just be interesting to see if he's able to improve and impress and move his way up the depth chart because there are a ton of names ahead of him. I mean a ton of NHL names that the front office went out and got. Like I know Kevin Hayes is a center but it's another forward in the way. Cody Glass another forward in the way and then the guys are still around. Lars Eller, Noah Chari. Forward's in the way of taking up these bottom six roster spots that Paul-Yarvey would likely take. I get Paul-Yarvey could also sneak into a top six role if need be. But that seems like a long shot at this point so when it comes down to it if Paul-Yarvey can impress that's a sneaky choice of Dark Horse candidate that can maybe impress enough during training camp in the preseason to earn himself another role. Yeah you're right he has kind of faded into the back with all the moves that have happened and it's not just the fact that the Penguins have a lot of these guys they do have a lot of centers that's I think where they're most stockpiled where the biggest log jam is but I think with that you're seeing a lot of these centers especially in everybody's projected lineups get bumped over right. Noah Chari was a given everybody said that Noah Chari is better at wing so he should bump over the wing that's expected but a guy like Kevin Hayes if they end up wanting to go with Cody Glass at center Kevin Hayes can bump over and play the wing so it's going to be tough for Paul-Yarvey to make the roster and here's the thing that I said yesterday about him though. Last year the finishing is what it is right he's gonna struggle finishing that's what he's struggled with his entire career everything leading up to that point he did a pretty good job of and he did it in a way that Mike Sullivan likes now he had to ramp up slowly because he was coming back from a pretty significant surgery in the previous offseason but I thought whenever he was finally like 100% and there are reports of him saying that hey he wasn't necessarily 100% throughout that season that he's still battling back still trying to get back to where he feels is his best game but when he got back to his best last year I thought he was really good for the Penguins and again we'll see what he's able to do there are a lot of new faces that are going to get opportunities as well but I like that one I think that's a name that a lot of people have forgotten about throughout this summer and and it should make an impact and should make an impression early in training camp I have two for you here and let me start with the forward since you went with forward I'm going to say Sam Pullan it is a do-or-die season for him and he is another name that with all of these additions has kind of gotten put on the back burner I mean there were people last week I think you included that whenever the Rucker-Margordi trade first came down and we didn't know the return said well it just makes sense that Sam Pullan would be going the other way right I mean he's a still a decent prospect a prospect that has kind of not lived up to the first round moniker the first round expectations but still somebody who at his best was very good at the AHL level last year and hasn't really been given that opportunity at the National Hockey League level the Penguins are overstocked at center so this probably needs a trade of a larseller or a Nolichari to create a little bit more of some space and a little bit more of an opportunity but I think Sam Pullan could come into camp and if he does as well as he did last year especially early in camp last year I could see him climbing up that depth chart and maybe squeaking himself onto this roster it's a tough one to fill but yes I think it's do-or-die season for him I mean it feels like it hasn't for the last two or three years but it truly is this time around because we got the three games two years ago we got three more games last year and now it's time to set yourself apart that the prospect graduation happened last year it's time to prove what kind of hockey player you're going to be what kind of professional hockey player you're going to be is it a regular in the NHL or is it going to be you know maybe he gets bounced around the league a little bit maybe there's just an AHL career ahead of him it's just that time to make that decision and prove that you were worthy of being a regular NHLer and at the moment with the Pittsburgh Penguins it's again it's going to be a fight a tough fight tough battle to work through with all these names that we keep mentioning I'm sure there's still more that we're missing and we're getting about because it's tough to have this kind of conversation not have the list of every name in front of you which I can get any second but just rolling with you know some of the because even when you're looking at it some of them don't stand out but then you look at Sam Pullen's name and you go he should be standing out because of the first round draft choice because of the way the Penguins have you know looked at him over the last few years it's time for him to make that jump it is time for him to rightfully earn a spot it's just you know if it doesn't work out it doesn't work out it's just time for him to take control of his take control of his moment and act on you know what everyone's been waiting for from him yeah regardless of if he makes the roster out of camp or not he needs to make an impact at the NHL level at some point this season I mentioned it's doer die for him he needs to be able to and when he's given the opportunity and hopefully he's given more of an opportunity than you know last season he had three games played the year prior he had three games played but he was drafted five years ago now he was in the 2019 NHL draft you got it at some point make that jump and he's been a very good AHL or the last couple of seasons he needs to make that jump to the NHL and and prove that he could be a piece for the Penguins bottom six for the short term future another name that I'm going to throw out here last one before we move over and talk about some goal tenders on goalie week across the NHL I see Ryan Shea as a dark horse again last year a little bit of a surprise that he made the roster this year I think it's going to be the same way the staff has familiarity with them a lot of people like to give credit to Jack say naivety down the stretch of last season and how good he was on that third pairing well a big part of that was he was playing with Ryan Shea as well Shea had a good end of the season as well and I think most people can agree the future is a little bit brighter for a guy like Jack say naivety that it is for a guy like Ryan Shea but as we've talked about Jack say naivety's waivers exempt that might lead into the fact that he starts the season in the AHL I wouldn't like to see it you wouldn't like to see it but it is a possibility that we should be aware of I see Ryan Shea as a guy that the Penguins could look at and say that's a decent seventh defenseman that we could have on the NHL roster to start the season I don't think he starts the season on the left side simply because you look at that left side it seems like it's pretty much set with Grizz like Patterson and Ryan Graves but Shea is somebody who played both sides last year and he could potentially be that sixth defenseman on the right side or I think he's best fit and I think his best chance to make this team is that extra defenseman that seventh defenseman role as you like to call it that Chad Rueedell Memorial position and the in the Chad Rueedell Memorial chair up in the press box it's something like that when I was right spit it out the other day um yeah the the depth defensive position is just another one where there's all kind of traffic I mean even by alleviating some of it by uh dealing a way uh excuse me or losing P.O. Joseph there's still a ton of names that can take those spots because they subtracted one but then added like four they're like Matt Grizz looks going to take up obviously the you know part be part of the top three easy on whatever side he's on that left Ryan Graves same thing and to take up those roles and then it's going to be tough to find your way in and squeak your way in when there's one spot to work with it's it's a ton of names fighting for one spot I mean you mentioned Jack say no I mean Ryan Shea can be in that conversation John Ludwig can be in the conversation throw in if you really wanted to a Phillip crawl of Mack Hollowell these are all names that if they impress enough thanks to their age because they're a little bit younger too um could step in and find roles add some youth add some youth to the depth and build toward you know getting into that lineup now and building in debt building it down the line Ryan Shea I don't know if he's gonna be a dark horse to me I'm actually a little surprised I brought him back in the first place because of how many other names they brought in but it if he comes in and performs the way he did at the end of the season by all means he this is the kind the same position he entered the organization last year sort of is and not an unknown name at this point but an unknown name to the Penguin's organization definitely started pretty far down the totem pole but worked his way through through training camp with through the preseason to be you know a healthy scratch but on the NHL lineup in the NHL lineup opening night he's in that same position again he impressed enough it's just a matter of doing that again second time around for him maybe he just knows what to do now so it'll be an interesting choice which Brian Shea I think maybe he is once again lower down the down the totem pole like I said but we know he has the ability to climb it yeah he had a good camp last year he can recreate that this year and probably make the roster especially with that familiarity which I think gives him a little bit of an advantage over as you mentioned a Mac Hollowell a Philip crawl even a Nikolai Nizov who was brought in on a PTO late last week on that left side so I do think that he has maybe he's not as much of a dark horse as some of the other two that we mentioned but I don't think he's necessarily a favorite and he's certainly not a lock to make the NHL roster so slight dark horse I guess for Ryan Shea Ryan Reynolds here for I guess my hundredth mint commercial no no no no no no no no no no no no no honestly when I started this I thought I only have to do like four of these I mean it's unlimited premium wireless for $15 a month how are there still people paying two or three times that much I'm sorry I shouldn't be victim blaming here give it a try at midmobile.com/save whenever you're ready $45 up from payment equivalent to $15 per month new customers on first three month plan only taxes and fees extra speed slower above 40 gigabytes of CD Tails this episode is brought to you by Honda when you test drive the all new Pro Log 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 let's move over and talk about some gold tenders because it is goalie week on NHL social media so we figured we'd participate in this a little bit the Penguins have had some very good gold tenders throughout their organizations history Hall of Famer Tom Barasso as well as future Hall of Famer Mark Andre Flurry they headline the list. Recent years haven't gotten the best out of that position so what we're going to do here is rank where Tristan Jari and Alex Dadekovich the Penguins gold tending tandem stands among the metropolitan division. Let me first read you down the tandems that we have here in the metro division and then I'll let you place them first and then we'll we'll talk about where the placement is and who they should be above you have Philadelphia cross-state rivals Ivan Fettetov Samuel Harrison a lot of unproven commodities in that gold tending tandem Washington Charlie Lindgren and Logan Thompson Columbus has Elvis Merz-Lincoln's and Daniel Tarasov New Jersey brand new based on compared to last season has Jacob Markstrom and Jake Allen Carolina has Frederick Anderson and Piotr Kochetkov the Islanders have Sorokin and Varlamov and the New York Rangers have Igor Shastirkin and Jonathan quick for a second consecutive season so when you hear all of those names where do you think Pittsburgh's tandem of Tristan Jari Alex Dadekovich stands going into this season? I would say higher than maybe you'd expect because I'm taking both into account here and I'm just trying to look at this list and quickly pick a spot I mean Shastirkin Jonathan quick got to go first there's no doubt about it because that's you know just Igor Shastirkin one of the top goalies in the NHL right now and future hall of famer Jonathan quick who stood on his head last year almost stole the starting role in the early portions of the season last year that's far and away the easy choice for number one Columbus is going to be last just because Elvis Merz-Lincoln's doesn't this doesn't have the same poppy use to and Tarasov is unproven I want to say Philly's going to be down low too because unproven talent and unproven talent and a very bad situation for their goal attending um I don't know about Jersey that's gonna be tough I'd say if I'm looking at it right now the Penguins probably have off the jump the third or fourth top because Ned did pretty well last year and Jari has the potential to be a good goalie still right right does he really we'll have to he's shown the ceiling right that's what we always argue whenever we're like well is he that bad because he's shown the ceiling of being a all-star on multiple occasions it wasn't one fluke on multiple occasions he's had a great start to the season even last year when he wasn't an all-star he had a great start to the season and then as we typically see New Year's happens he does a little bit too much partaking and all of a sudden the back half of his season is crap yeah and the further I look at it the further down I'm just trying to like look at it on my list I never numbered them they keep they keep sliding down because Washington's is interesting they're probably not as they probably would sit them six because Tom Logan Thompson has to sort of prove himself and maybe it's still Charlie Lindgren's net there is a new move it's interesting but you know maybe Pittsburgh's sitting fifth because you can't deny you'll use a rook and even if the veteran Varlama who might be losing steps is his backup marx was a question mark I get he's you know usually perennial uh pheasant candidate but as some of our last season I don't know if yeah he'll have to bounce back from that and Freddie Kachecoff is another interesting one maybe it's so hard to discuss goalies especially in the metro there are so many good goalies in the metro that it's tough to play some I'm gonna stick with the penguins at fourth don't ask for the rest of the rankings yeah I have the penguins at fifth whenever I look at this I think Carolina if Anderson is healthy him and Kachecoff I think is as a better tandem I have New Jersey a third because I have less questions about Jacob Markstrom I think he's gonna have a good year behind that restructured New Jersey Devils defense and I think having Jake Allen as your backup you know people forget because Jake Allen has been up in Montreal the last couple years which hasn't had a lot of visibility because they haven't been a good team but Jake Allen's been a pretty good goal tender the last couple seasons him and a pure backup role behind a guy like Markstrom who can be that workhorse I think is going to be a match made in heaven and then like you mentioned the two New York teams their goal tending is you know three of the four of them are Russian and we know that right now is the age of Russian goal tenders being the best in the NHL Shostarken is there Sorokin had an off season last year and still had a 909 save percentage I would imagine he doesn't repeat that performance I would imagine he gets back to being his old self and Varlama even though he's he's older he's the ageless wonder like you remember he is probably and unless I'm missing something him or quick have to be the most veteran of the goal tenders in this division and they're still among the best like Jonathan quick had a little bit of a resurgence after getting out of LA it seems to get a little stale out there on the south coast of California but he looked really good last year in a blue shirt and Varlama has looked really good really his entire career when he's been with the New York Islanders so it's hard for me to put the penguins especially with Jari and the question marks surrounding him going into the season above any of those other four now when it comes to who they are above right now Merz Lincoln's like you mentioned has kind of cooled off Terasov has unproven Samuel Ersin of Philadelphia is interesting because he had a couple of runs last year where he was really productive for them but again can he do it and can he and the absolute monster of a man in Ivan Fettetov do it for a full season as that tandem there's question marks there as well so I think Nodelkovich actually helps the penguins more than Jari in this situation because Nodelkovich against some of these other backups I would take Jari against some of these other starters it's a much more difficult conversation so I have him in fifth I think it's it's a toss-up between them in Washington they could be sixth see that's where it gets interesting because the the penguins have the bonus of they have and they're not solid they're not necessarily standing out amongst a pack of this but they have two starters right they have two starting caliber goalies if things are going well Elvis Columbus obviously doesn't have that um Philly might have that I think the thing with Samuel Ersin is that he just got thrust into a very bad situation last week he wasn't supposed to be I don't remember if the sit I don't know if it was supposed to be on the NHL roster but he definitely wasn't supposed to be the starter for that long whatsoever and he did what he could and he did fantastic for you know brutal situation um I just don't see if it don't know if it can continue especially if Edetov can be as good as advertised by the way we were discussing the culture okay before recording there's another name to throw into the conversation if he pops off yeah um though I think Washington Charlie Lindgren and Logan Thompson it's just too it's too many well it's the rest of your team gonna look like to help you out here and well better but still yeah um and that but that's another team that's got two starters you know sister can a quick two starters Sorokin is definitely the starter but Varlamov can spot start pretty nicely um and then Carolina famously had three starters for a long time so now they're down to two yeah uh so it gets tough I could see the penguins getting an edge on some of these guys because they have two quote unquote if you will I won't you know label them as starters but two quote unquote starters that would be starting would have starting roles on a number of teams in the league yeah on the Pittsburgh Washington front I think the ceiling is higher when you're looking at just goaltending team defense wise Washington proved late last season that they are far and above superior to the penguins in team defense and protecting the net front and protecting their goaltender so if it comes down to who I believe will have a better season just in general when it comes to numbers statistics probably Washington because they're probably going to see a lot less opportunities and chances from opposition because Spencer Carbury hammered that home they basically became the New York Islanders with a little bit more flair last year especially late down the season when they were giving up what 13 shots on goal trying to narrow down and get that final playoff spot so team defense is better in Washington so that lends me to believe that potentially they're going to have the better season but I think when you're looking purely at goal tenders the ceiling is a little bit higher with Jari and Adelkovich so I have them at five but I think it's it's it's shake ground for the penguins in that I think the point being here is you know the penguins aren't going to win with goaltending alone this year certainly not in their own division when you look at the Eastern Conference as a whole that definitely gets put into picture even more when you look at a team like Boston who still has Jeremy Swamin if he signs a contract I mean we don't know how that's going to end uh you have Sergei Bobrovsky coming off of a Stanley Cup championship so there's a lot of a lot of good goal tending in the Eastern Conference the penguins are going to need you know as with everything else on this team the penguins are going to need to have a full 23-man roster that is contributing night in and night out you know even the three guys up in the press box they're gonna have to contribute night in and night out hey it's Kaylee Cuoco for Priceline ready to go to your happy place for a happy price well why didn't you say so just download the Priceline app right now and save up to 60 percent on hotels so whether it's cousin Kevin's kazoo concert in Kansas City go Kevin or Becky's bachelorette bash in Bermuda you never have to miss a trip ever again so download the Priceline app today your savings are waiting go to your happy place for a happy price go to your happy price Priceline 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 let's close things off by talking about a new member of the Pittsburgh penguin somebody who we've talked about in each of the last couple of shows because it's probably the most exciting thing that's happened all month it's probably the most exciting thing that's happened all summer considering some of the earlier moves this offseason rucker McGordy spoke with the media for the first time yesterday and and my main takeaway we'll get into all of our takeaways but my main takeaway is it was a quote happy to be here fest it was a yeah i'm very excited for this new opportunity i'm excited to be in Pittsburgh i'm excited to play with Sydney Crosby if it ever happens he says as if it's not a foregone conclusion that he's going to play at some point on a line with Sydney Crosby but outside of that i thought he had a couple of interesting comments and a couple of newsworthy takes and and quotes that came out of that seven and a half minutes at upmc sports complex up in cranberry but let me ask you first because i gave my thoughts yesterday on tip of the iceberg live what were your thoughts on McGordy's first press conference i mean nothing stuck out to me uh there was like you said it was the i'm just happy to be here it's the it's a hockey person trying to answer hockey questions it's it's i'm happy to be here i'm happy to contribute happy to um you know get into a new situation and excited to get into a new situation one of the quotes that got me was um off the jump was him saying whenever he was asked about uh with a winning culture here that he that he likes winning and he wants to win is excited to have that opportunity here uh buddy have you seen the standings the last two seasons first as a joke secondly i get what he's saying it's uh you know there has been definitely a culture of winning in Pittsburgh for the last 16 seasons 17 18 seasons uh 20 years essentially with Sydney Crosby and the line up um there has been that you know that drive of you here to win you're here to be successful and it's going to be up to him to help bring that back a little bit um and i think that one stuck out mostly because obviously the way the penguins have gone last two last few years it hasn't been as successful it hasn't been full of winning uh but that's the fact that the culture of winning is still sticking around that aura and that uh that's still here that means that he feels that he feels there's something that can happen here and he's going to try and continue being a successful player he's gonna have to do in the Pittsburgh now so i'd say that that quote stuck out because it sounded weird whenever you consider where the penguins have been but knowing that with Crosby still around and still kicking with Mulcan still around little Tang Carlson like we just discussed the gold tenders they can pick it up there can be a chance of winning here and he can be a huge part of it yeah and i think that's something that it seems like he's an insanely competitive guy and i feel like he's taking that as a challenge like hey they haven't won the last two years i'm 20 years old he's won in Michigan he's won in world juniors was the captain of the gold medal team which we've talked about uh in 2024 so this is a guy that is insanely competitive and it seems like he's taking that as a challenge like this is a winning culture seems like we haven't done that the last couple years i think it's about time that they start doing it again now again can he carry them to that that's a lot to ask a 20 year old it helps someone you have some hall of famers on the roster obviously is including the biggest winner in all of like hockey history and Sydney Crosby but i did like the confidence of saying listen i'm a winner i like winning things and this is where i want to do it and i think that there's a culture here to do it so i liked that as well my big takeaways one threw it in there comfortable playing on both wings Mike Sullivan will absolutely love that whether they actually test that out whether they actually utilize that different story especially with a young guy you kind of want to protect him a little bit but saying that he's comfortable on both wings that's good something i hadn't thought about i thought he was left wing center if you can get in there on the right side especially considering you know the one other player that the penguins have been not rumored to be going after but we've talked about potentially looking at as a target and Nick Robertson who's a left winger it helps especially if you trade required Raquel that you essentially have that guy that can be top six bottom six left wing right wing it's always nice to have a guy like that and the other one he's playing in the prospect's tournament you know braid and yager was slotted to play in it so essentially he just takes the eggers spot on the roster so with that we're going to see him playing in some game action in two weeks for the Pittsburgh penguins the question i have for you or what is who do you want to see him play with that weekend who do you want him to be on a line with that weekend whenever they go up to Buffalo oh that's tough um there's some good names to both Vasily and Ponomarov and Vili Coivina by the way mind you i haven't looked at the roster who's playing so if i say a name that's not on there shout it out and i will excuse myself but so far those two Vasily Ponomarov and Vili Coivina are both obvious choices to center uh regarding the situation because all three of those names are guys that can be important pieces to the penguin's future getting in that um getting in that mindset of growing a chemistry now getting it in early is a great way to start that sort of process of looking to what the future can be uh Tristan bros is also an interesting name if that lines up because Tristan bros i mean not that he's a dark horse to make the lineup or anything but it definitely needed to keep an eye on going into the following seasons um this year may not come for him but next year could be a big year for him especially if he takes his first run at professional hockey in the a gel and and succeeds and is it excels starting it with rucker mcgordie at this you know prospect camp or at this prospect tournament could be huge yeah Tristan bros is the guy that i i circled here one because they're both college hockey guys bros obviously going minnesota to denver winning a national championship last year mcgordie coming out of michigan and two i mean they've already been on the ice together right earlier this week it was bros it was mcgordie throw in sir gay murashov was out there throw in cody glass was out there glass won't be at the prospect tournament but those other three will so maybe you throw bros and mcgordie similar styles coming from a similar background in college hockey and then the other player i want to see it's kind of a prospects challenge mvp last year opened a lot of eyes was still pretty good in training camp and then kind of faded away as the season got underway avry haze maybe put avry haze on that right side haze bros and mcgordie i'd like to see that i'd also i understand they play the same wing but i'd love to see mcgordie take a few shifts with tanner how because those two the way they play the game together it would be similar to they're not fighters but it'd be like the penguins version of the bass bash brothers in this tournament so i'd like to see those two play get a little chippy get under the skin of the opponents and put in a bunch of goals so if they can get them on the ice at the same time maybe some power play opportunities i'd love to see those two share the ice so that's one thing i'm looking at but i think bros is the big one that i'm circling as him and mcgordie should probably you know share the ice a lot especially if you're looking for bros to come up and eventually be a big piece as a center iceman it's a fantastic pick too it's like you mentioned it the the connection of nc double a hockey the which breeds them into a similar style breeds them into similar mindsets um they'll be able to read each other off that if i'm not mistaken i might be didn't denver go through michigan on their way to winning the championship i could be wrong about that but i remember michigan losing in heartbreaking fashion to someone and i know tristan bros score two overtime game winners in that tournament i just forget who they were against yeah i know he did it against bu and maclin celibreany yep but let me look and see who else they went through they went through boston college in the final bu in the semi-final uh cornel in the second round and massachusetts in the first round so michigan was on the other side of the bracket and were eliminated by boston college in the frozen four got it that's what it was okay but you know both playing in that tournament too it's being around each other getting to know each other in that sort of sense it that's a good little partnership that could be for the penguins down the line pretty fruitful pretty successful the last thing i'll mention about this and this wasn't from the press conference this came out earlier today from nhl jersey numbers josh gets off of the penguins obviously retweeted it he's expected to wear number two what do you look at number two throughout the history of penguins hockey there's 22 of them the first person to ever wear it leo boivin there's a name other names that have worn it over the years phil bork for a season before he became the old two-niner he was just the old two in 1984 jimmy pack joseph melecar hal gill matt niskinin and most recently chad rueedel what are your thoughts on rucker mcgrordie dawning the number two potentially in his first season as a member of the pittsburgh penguins it's a lot of defensement there well it's it's a single digit number it's it's a it's fascinating to see it's interesting because i think will smith with san hose is also wearing number two and it's weird seeing forwards it's like football nowadays so it's yeah no and the nhl has never really had that rule anyway or that mindset of uh your number has to correlate with your position is that the other the only thing that's ever correlated to in hockey is the goalies with number one um forwards traditionally have not worn number two three and up we've seen four and up maybe uh but this is a new little wrinkle that is going to be fascinating and will smith's wearing number two and san hosey rucker mcgrordie might be wearing number two and Pittsburgh it'll be interesting it'll be it'll take the eyes i'm getting used to it's i'm still getting used to lineman wearing number six in football so that doesn't happen as much i mean defensive lineman yes it'll be weird seeing like patrick queen wearing number six let's see it's fascinating and i like it i like the idea of just who cares it's like in the grand scheme he thinks who cares that it's just a number like let the guys wear whatever they want wherever they were trained that's what it is we are trained to be like that doesn't fit that's not where that's supposed to be yep that's you number two is supposed to be a big like how gill like six foot eight and just laying on the ground getting pucks smashed into his face by slapshots and being like all right that's cool yeah like it's good i mean hey i forget who i think it's seth warbar always tweets it whenever a new number comes in like that he's like my eyes are gonna need to adjust to watching i forget who it was exactly uh that there's like one where it's like a defense was taking a forward number why is so-and-so pinching so much oh because it's somebody else that's you know how often we're gonna think that whenever we see rucker mr gordy down below the red down below the goal line or the net front like what's chad rueedel doing down there oh wait uh it's gonna take some adjusting and getting used to uh but i'm fascinated by seeing you know just the freeness of numbers if it's not a legitimate written rule i want to see someone see a skater where number one i really do uh i do i don't care i think it's weird like at the end of the day it doesn't bother me at all but it is when i saw that i was like oh no like that's gonna be so strange and so hard to get used to that's like uh matt gris like war number 24 and i know ty smith war 24 as well but like seeing 24 as a defensive number i'm like i don't know what i expect but 24 is not it like it just seems like a strange number but again you know where what you want to is weird the most interesting of that list is that phil bork war two i forgot about that it was literally his rookie season i believe in 1984 so that one was that one was interesting but you know jimmy pack stanley cup champion with pittsburgh how gill i believe stanley cup champion in 2009 i'd have to go back and check so couple stanley cup champions to wear that number chad rueedel beloved in pittsburgh good old rudy so we'll see if a good things come for rec or migrudy and maybe just maybe he becomes the best to in penguin's history right that's that's what you're hoping for it's got a uh hill to climb he's got a gill to climb oh but i think on that note with the poor pun uh we should close this one out uh but thank you guys so much for tuning into this episode of the tip of the iceberg as hoorwatt slumps into his chair hating me very much so and very happy probably that he doesn't have to talk to me for a couple of days but 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 podcast from we'll see you guys next week when september and hockey truly starts to come back
