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"Wolves" is streaming September 27th on Apple TV Plus. Hello everybody and welcome to the tip of the iceberg live, 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 and we have a good bit of stuff to talk about today as we're getting out of the dead month of the NHL calendar, August, of course, being a month where a lot of people take those last vacations, whether it be players, whether it be front office members, whether it be coaches, whether it be media members so we don't get as many stories. It's coming to an end this week and you're starting to see signs of life around the National Hockey League. Great things to see if you're somebody like me who has been itching to see some NHL action. A couple of Penguins back in Pittsburgh, we'll talk about that. An analyst wants Sidney Crosby to score more goals this year. We'll talk about that and Rutgers McGrory gets his introductory press conference with the Pittsburgh media earlier today. We'll touch on that first. And then, of course, as we do at the end of every single one of these live episodes, we'll answer all of your questions. So make sure that you're dropping them in the chat as well as answering the question that we have here today. Question of the day will Crosby score over or under 33 and a half goals during the 2024 25 NHL season Christopher says over Justin says over and Justin also adds on to this going to have 40 to follow up his 42 goal season from last year. So let us know in the comments. Do you think it's over or under 33 and a half and we'll get to that segment where Frankie Corrado expects more from Crosby this season, but let's start things off with something that wasn't on my rundown until about an hour and a half ago when Rucker McGrory met with the media in Pittsburgh, just some quick takeaways from McGrory's first press briefing with the Penguins media. He seems like he's ready to put everything from Winnipeg behind him was asked about it on a couple of occasions, essentially said, thank you to everything from Winnipeg, but we're moving on. I'm here in Pittsburgh. I'm so excited to be in Pittsburgh mentioned that he will be playing in the rookie tournament, the prospect development tournament that's coming up here on September 13th to the 16th. So that's going to be very exciting myself and Nick Horrott will talk about that more tomorrow on a full length episode of the tip of the iceberg. But you know, he seems like he's eager to be here. He seems like he's excited to be here and I think that sentiment should be echoed by the fact that he signed his three year ELC directly after the trade was made. And less than a week later, he's in Pittsburgh. He's on the ice. He was at a pirates game as he mentioned on Monday. Unfortunately for him, it's not the Pirates of May or June, but it's the Pirates of August, which is not great. And again, sorry to Paul Skeeds for what happened to him today. And the three lead goes to to nothing. That's, that's quick, but we're not here to talk about the Pirates. We're here to talk about the Penguins and McGrory is not the only member of the Pittsburgh Penguins that is back in the four, one, two. Obviously, Alex and Adelkovich was out there last week. He was the first guy to come back, the first guy to get back on the ice. The first guy at the social media team decided to bug and have do a bunch of stuff. So we saw an Adelkovich, but Taylor Haas of DK Pittsburgh sports has been up at the facility all week, letting us know which other Penguins have trickled in. The facility and gotten on to the ice early here in this 2024, 25 season first. It was young goaltender, sir, gay, Mershov. Good to see him back over in North America. Good to see him under contract and excited to see what he's able to do at that prospect challenge in mid September. Tristan Bros was there as well, getting ready for his first professional season. Rucker McGrory, as I mentioned, and Cody Glass. So a bunch of new players, players that you're going to see a lot more of, a lot more visibility and players that the Penguins are hoping can develop really well here over the next year or so and become part of the core going forward yesterday. That list got even longer. No, a Chari couple veterans, a Chari Brian Rust, even Chad Ruudel, who is no longer on the Penguins. He's with the New York Rangers, getting up to snuff, fine tuned with the Pittsburgh Penguins on the ice yesterday at UPMC LeMue complex as well as Vasily Ponomara, the player that I think a lot of us are very excited to see how he performs. He was somebody that came over last year in the Jake Gensil trade and somebody that was probably going to get an opportunity at the NHL level late last season, if not for the injury that he sustained in his first handful of games with the workspace grant and Penguins. So intrigued to see what he looks like in the prospects challenge. Again, running theme here early with some of these guys getting in early because they're going to have some game action before the other names like an Achari, like a Brian Rust, but good to see a lot of these guys back in the facility. Good to see a lot of these guys getting ready for the season and good to see that the dead portion of the off season, the dead portion of the NHL calendar has come and gone. It's August 28th. Players are back. Notice the one player that wasn't on that list that we'll talk about here shortly is Sydney Crosby, everybody saying that, you know, there's still no Crosby news. There's still no Crosby news. It's not going to happen before he gets back to Pittsburgh. So you can at least rest your laurels on that and rest your anticipation on that that he is not going to sign that extension until he is back in Pittsburgh with some of these guys out there on the ice. So as far as the schedule going forward for the Penguins, you're going to see a lot more pens get back into the building back onto the ice in these impromptu and unofficial skates which will be fun, but as far as official opportunities, prospect challenge between September 13th and 16th up in Buffalo, a lot of really good young players that will be participating in that training camp will begin shortly after that. And the preseason opener September 21st, less than 25 days away from the Penguins playing. We'll say a modicum of real hockey. It's preseason hockey. The rosters will be a little different, but less than 25 days away till we start watching some preseason hockey between the Penguins. And that will also be against the Buffalo savers excited to see a lot of these guys back excited to see McGrady in his first press briefing and excited for the 2024 25 Pittsburgh Penguins. I mentioned Sydney Crosby there. And before we go into the questions, which, like I mentioned before, let me know in the comments section, any questions you may have if you're tuned in live here at the tip of the iceberg, the Penguins, they haven't finished top 10 in goals. Since the 2020, 21 season, that was the bubble year where they won the made up Eastern division. And then they went into playoffs and they lost the New York Islanders. Since then they've been outside of the top 10. They need a little bit more goal scoring really from everywhere. Doesn't help whenever you lose a 40 goal scorer like Jake Genssel. And because of that, TSN's Frank Corrado wants Sydney Crosby to fill that gap. Here's what he had to say on TSN SportsCenter, quote, he does not have Jake Genssel and he didn't have him from the trade deadline on last year. And that's fine. But he might have to be a little more of a shooter. Maybe Sydney Crosby puts a little more onus into his own game, being a shooter. And if he's putting more volume at the net, chances are he's scoring a little more too. It's interesting that quote, because whenever you see the headline, analysts believes, Sydney Crosby needs to score more. You say, well, he had 42 goals last year. I don't know what more you're asking from a guy that's 37, 38 years old. When you read that, some of it holds true. If he shoots more, it's likely he's going to score more. But when you look at what he did last season, I don't not sure how much more you can expect, right? I already mentioned the 42 goals. That is the most that he had scored since the 2016, 17 season. Not to mention on top of that 10 power play goals, which was the most that he had scored since the 2018, 19 season. And all of this reigns back to Carado saying, maybe Crosby needs to put a little bit more time into his own game, which I would venture to guess there is nobody or very least, you can count on one hand, the amount of people that put more time in than Sydney Crosby on their own game. But as far as being a shooter and opening up his own opportunities and scoring more goals, next year, Crosby had 278 shots on goal, which was his most since the 2009, 2010 season. So I'll ask again to Frank Carado, what more do you want from Sydney Crosby? How much more should you expect from Sydney Crosby at the age of 38? Whenever I look at this team, and I agree, their offense needs to be much better. Their offense needs to be tenfold better. They need more scoring. They need to finish higher than 15th higher than 12th shoot. It'd be nice if they finished top 10 and a lot of that's going to be the power play. But at the end of the day, at a very base level, they need more offense. I'm not putting that onus on Crosby, especially saying, well, he needs to kind of transition into a more selfish sniper type of player. He's going into year 20. That's not who he is. That's not who he's ever been. Can he do it? He's scored 50 goals in this league before. He scored 40 plus goals last year. So I wouldn't be surprised if we went out there and led the Penguins in goal scoring. But as far as elevating the team, you need more from guys like Ricardo Cal. You need more from guys like, you know, if he makes the team, you're going to need a pretty significant jump from Rucker Magruder in his first season. You're going to need maybe some elevated numbers, some higher goal scoring totals from guys like Valteri Pustenin, who had a large sample size, not a cup of coffee, 50 plus games last year and five goals. You need elevated numbers from him. You need, especially position wise, some elevated numbers from that third line center role. Ella was good. Great defensively, decent offensively. You need a little bit more point production from that. You're hoping to get that out of Kevin Hayes. Maybe you get that out of Cody Glass. The point being, I mean, I could throw it on Eric Carlson too. Goal scoring from his position needs to be higher than it was last year. But again, point being the onus of elevating the team's goal total is not on Crosby. The onus of filling the gap that Jake Genssel leaves behind as a perennial 30 goal scorer and a almost perennial 40 goal scorer, somebody who always is on or around that mark, filling that gap is not on Crosby. Yes. It's a team effort. Yes. He's going to have a hand in it. Yes. The power play is going to be a major reason for that and Crosby is a major piece of that power play. But when you're looking simply at where you're going to find these goals, you need it from a Drew O'Connor who was great last year for the Penguins, but you want to see him take another step forward, which you saw at the end of last season. And that's what's encouraging to me specifically about O'Connor on an aside is he had career numbers last year. There are none easy way over top. But at the end of the year, you saw it start to click in the offensive zone. You saw it start to click with Sidney Crosby when he got more consistent playing time with him, knowing how to kind of control and use all of his assets to score goals. So you're going to need that to carry over. You're going to need it from him. You're going to need it from Pustan and you're going to need it from a lot of other people. I have a hard time sitting here saying that the Penguins need Sidney Crosby going into year 20 at the age of 38 to get more selfish, to focus on himself a little bit more, put a little bit more onus into his own game is the direct quote and become more of a shooter. It's not who Crosby is. It's not what Crosby's become a Mount Rushmore of hockey type player because of Crosby has been one of the best players at adapting to his situation with his skill set and with what's around him. Do I think that he'll adapt and shoot the puck a little bit more? Yeah. Because that's what he did last season because Gensil, need I remind you, was injured before the trade deadline. He also was without Ricardo Kell, who was really good on his line for portions of the season. He also was without Brian Rust for portions of the season. He adapts. He does. So if he needs to score more, yeah, we'll probably score more. But I don't think sitting here and saying, hey, expect him to shoot the puck more. When last year he had 278 shots on goal, I don't think that one, that one fits with the narrative. I don't think that one fits with what I'm looking for out of Sydney Crosby. And with that, I do want to get some of these responses that you guys put into the comment section here from our pinned comment on the live stream. Will Sidney Crosby score over under 33 and a half goals, which is the over under goal total on fan dual as part of the video that Colorado put out? I'm saying over. He's done so in eight of his 19 seasons. And I do think that despite the fact that I went on this long rampage about asking crowds be to do more, I do think he does end up still following in what he did last year and being more of a target person. And I think he goes over 33 and a half. I mentioned eight of his 19 seasons. Over 33 and a half. And that is discounting the fact that he missed a large portion of a lot of those seasons. So I'm going to say over, let me look into the comment section here and see what some other people say. Brandon Rickner says over. I'm wondering if anybody says under J.R. says 45 plus that would be something J.R. also says Gino 30 plus, which would be something as well. A football goat big on Rucker McGrarty says 40 plus, I think he met points. That's what he threw in there. So I think most of us all agree, 33 and a half goals. It's easy for Crosby. He's going to go over that one. So with that in mind, Frank Corrado, don't mean to continue to go after you, but I will say this, if the Penguins are going to be successful this year, it's going to come or if they're not going to be not successful, but if the Penguins are going to fill the gap against the left, which was the precipice of this entire conversation, it's going to come from other, other factors and other players. I'm going to take a quick break, collect all the questions that you guys have in the comments section. And when we come back, I will answer as many of them as humanly possible. For right now, we'll be right back after this quick break. When you need meal time inspiration, it's worth shopping Kroger for thousands of appetizing ingredients that inspire countless mouthwatering meals. No matter what tasty choice you make, you'll enjoy our everyday low prices plus extra ways to save like digital coupons worth over $600 each week and up to $1 off per gallon at the pump with points so you can get big flavors and big savings Kroger fresh for everyone fuel restrictions apply. Safety or driver assistance features are no substitute for the driver's responsibility to operate the vehicle in a safe manner. Safety the vehicle owners manual for important feature limitations and information. Welcome back to the tip of the iceberg live quick break there because I'm amped up. I'm excited to talk penguins hockey because we are almost to September and you know what that means as we talked about earlier, it means players getting back into Pittsburgh that means training camp schedules are on the way not necessarily out yet but on the way which I'm very excited for and that means hockey is right around the corner which I absolutely love. Speaking of training camp schedules, Matt P says over hopefully the penguins will be releasing the training camp schedules soon so I can drive the six hours to watch them practice shout out Matt P driving six hours to watch the pens practice this year. I might join you cranberry is about five hours away from me I might be going up first or second week trying to catch the penguins for a couple days of practice trying to get my eyes on some of these guys especially some of these newcomers I mean Rucker McGrury definitely Sergei Merschov has me very excited but also you'll Blungfist how does he respond to there's a new hot shot young goaltender in the penguin system that's over North America how do they coexist how does he respond does he you know amplify his game that much more and I think that's one thing I'm very excited for so mad if you're out there it might see you there I'm very excited for for training camp this season let's go over to team crusade who jumped in here and said did Rucker McGrury's acquisition eliminate Nick Robertson's chance to come to Pittsburgh if not where would they both fit in the lineup it certainly doesn't make it easier for the Penguins to acquire Robertson but I wouldn't say it's entirely off the table again based on what I'm looking at simply just looking at the roster because the Penguins are in a mode right now of they need to acquire as much talent as humanly possible and if they do go out and get Nick Robertson who is still refusing to say that he's going to go back and play for the Toronto Maple Leafs and there still seems to be a lot of tension between his camp and the Maple Leafs organization if that is the case and the Penguins are able to go out and get Nick Robertson which I do think isn't eliminated simply because of the Rucker McGrury edition if they're able to get it I think it's McGrury Robertson and O'Connor on that left side with I mean you have bunting too it does make it difficult it does make it difficult but I think if they end up going out and doing that it turns a bovillier into more of you know a Finney Hinnestroza type player that's going to get thrown on waivers or sit there as that 13th forward I think you have to then move on from one of your centers that way you can get Blake Lazade into the lineup because I think they really want Lazade into lineup but I think that's what you look at is your top four on the left side as far as left wings are concerned you have Robertson you have Rucker McGrury who as the season progresses could potentially move over to center that is an option but again young player you kind of want to limit his limit his exposure a little bit and putting them on the wing helps them especially at 20 years old when he hasn't stepped foot on a professional ice surface yet all college all you know world juniors stuff like that so I do see that left side is potentially you know Rucker Robertson Michael Bunting and Drew O'Connor it is a very very stacked one it is a stockpiled one it is a log jam as we like to say on the show but that's at the end of the day that's everything you want gunner Murphy asks if Rucker McGrory plays with Sydney Crosby significantly this year could we see a Calder trophy run from him yeah I mean to make the answer short yes I do think that if he plays alongside Crosby from game one to game 82 there's a huge chance that he ends up being a Calder favorite especially in a year where listen I'm excited to see what the two guys out in San Jose do but at the very end of the day you saw it with Logan Cooley in Arizona even if they're innately talented even if they're insanely skilled Logan Cooley didn't stand up as much as a guy like if I'm remembering the name right a Brock Faber who was on a little bit of a better team in Minnesota so I think that could be a similar situation here where because Rucker McGrory comes in and he's playing next to Crosby and he's playing on a team that has playoff aspirations versus a San Jose Sharks team with Will Smith who's really talented he's going to be in that conversation with guys like I mean shoot Yaroslav Ascarov might be in that I have to look at his eligibility but could potentially be in that mix as well because he hasn't had a lot of NHL experience but specifically Maclin celebration who is going to be the favorite going into the season because they're going to be on a team that's not going to get a lot of opportunity late in the season to be on national television the penguins have an opportunity there to get a guy like McGrory if he starts with Crosby if he plays the whole season after he performs he could be in that call order conversation 100% firm 77 says do you think Jari will push to keep his net or will the battle for the crease be between Jari Ned and Joel Blancfist this year Jari I think obviously is going to push to keep his net I find it very hard to believe that the penguins would supplant Jari with Blancfist unless the trade is made or figured out but right now doesn't seem like that's on the table seems like everybody's kind of pencils down when it comes to gold tenders and the National Hockey League Ascarov was a bit of an anomaly similar to what Rucker McGrory was hence the reason those were the two biggest trades made and the two biggest moves made in August I think Jari is going to push to keep his net and I think early in the season specifically in training camp it is going to be back and forth I think that while Jari has that contract that makes you think okay they're automatically going to give him that first opportunity to get back between the pipes the fact that they brought back Ned and the contract that they signed him to two years two and a half million dollars that is not insignificant not to mention the fact that Ned did not give up the net at all in the last 13 games played including and we harp on this a lot and I understand but including a meaningless game against the New York Islanders they didn't throw Jari back in there to say hey let's you know get the flow back let's give you a chance to end on a high note jars I know it's been a rough couple weeks as you haven't gotten in the net now they went back with Ned nothing on the line except for Jeff Carter's you know retirement game which was unbeknownst to everybody except for the Penguins the fact that they did that and the fact that they signed one of that contract I think it's going to be a battle from day one of camp do I think Jari pushes to get the net back yes do I think he ever gets it back as fully as he did maybe when it was him and Casey to Smith I I don't think so unless he goes out there and performs stands on his head and Ned fades back which again I find it hard to believe Ned's coming in with a lot of confidence Ned's coming off a good season where it was a prove it contract and he proved it and he earned that next deal unless that happens I don't see Jari becoming the undoubted number one again this season for Pittsburgh let's go to team crusade again who says if we have a similar season as we did last year could you see us trading Crosby to a contender or even Patterson Crosby no it's not happening right I know the fact that he hasn't signed the contract he didn't on July 1st which was the first expectation he didn't on August 7th 8/7 which was the second expectation I fully expect Sidney Crosby to be under contract whenever he gets back into town in Pittsburgh probably closer to the start of training camp because I feel like at this point one the penguins want him in town they want to be able to do what they did with McGrory and say we'll go straight from the contract signing table to two hours later sitting on a podium as Crosby talks about finishing his career in Pittsburgh I think Crosby wants to finish in Pittsburgh I think the penguins need him to finish in Pittsburgh so I don't think even if they have a similar season the last year that Crosby's on the block at all Patterson's a different story you know Marcus Patterson as of right now does not have a contract pack past this season he's a player that if the penguins want to succeed in the short term they're gonna need Marcus Patterson but at the same time if they're having a similar season the last year and it looks like they're gonna be either a bubble team or have to do some serious work because let's not forget when the trade deadline came the penguins were far out of it they weren't right around it they were far out of it because of how poorly they played leading into the trade deadline and even the week after the trade deadline if they're in a similar situation in Patterson isn't inked to a new deal I could see him being on the trade block and that might be the biggest trade piece the penguins have all season long to go out there and restock the cabinet which is what Kyle Dubas has been doing all off season the only move that is kind of spit in the face of that is Rucker McGrory but even that you're bringing in a 20 year old so it doesn't really spit in the face of it as much as it stands in both worlds as I talked about last week when talking about McGrory that rotten egg says do you think we'll see Isaac Belavo in Wilkesbury this season that would be the natural progression but what I'm looking at in Wilkesbury is a very very crowded left side if I'm not mistaken and I'm gonna double check this right now because I don't want to give you guys faulty information Isaac Belavo is a left sided defenseman or at the very least a left shot defenseman which I don't know why it's not showing up right now yeah he's a lefty you look at the penguins minor league system the lefties that they have the guy from San Jose that they brought in last week that if the name's not in front of me I'm not getting it right now Nikolai Philip crawls a lefty Owen Pickering is there he's a lefty you think about John Ludwig who might spend some time in the AHL if he makes it through waivers he's a lefty so unless Isaac can switch to that right side it's gonna be very hard for him to get playing time but you would think after last year that first professional year spending a lot of time in the ECHL with the Wheeling Nailers spending a couple of games up in the A with the Wilkesbury Scranton penguins you would think natural progression wise that's where he should be headed but again they brought in a lot of names they have a lot of lefties it's gonna be hard for him to crack the roster on the left side if you can make that transition to playing both sides which listen if you do that that's going to be successful for you in the future because Mike Sullivan loves guys that are versatile like that but if you can't make that transition to the right then he's gonna have a hard time getting AHL ice time. Gunnar Murphy says if Raquel is sold off as a trade piece later in the season who do you or would you feel comfortable with Pustinan as Mulcan's right wing I'm very bullish on Valtteri Pustinan and I would say that I am very much excited about his season this year 52 games played he had over 20 points last year but only five goals that's the one thing that you look at and he say well he didn't get a lot of opportunities to shoot the puck he was in more of a facilitator role he was in that bottom six where listen I love Lars Eller he's not setting guys up for one-timers and wide open looks very often right if you put him with Mulcan I have a hard time believing he's not gonna get more looks and if he gets more looks he's gonna score more goals that's how good that kid shot is so if he gets the opportunity if Raquel is sold off which I don't rule out as a possibility I look at Ricard Raquel as a player that his ceiling 25 to 30 goal score a good top six piece for a playoff caliber team but again where are the penguins at right now they don't want to say rebuild they're making moves that make it seem like they're saying rebuild Raquel has a contract that is hard to move if you can get a sell high mode and you get a team that wants to get them and they're not on his no trade list I have a hard time believing they wouldn't pull the trigger on a trade like that if it is advantageous for them and if the return is something that fits what they're looking for so if he's sold off I would be 100% comfortable with Valteri Pustin on the right wing with Evgeny Mulcan and even if you're throwing a rutker on the left side it might be a little early for that I think I like the make of that line but that's a lot of youth a lot of inexperience alongside Mulcan when you want somebody that's gonna be able to open some lanes for Mulcan as well I like Michael Bunting there so if it's Bunting Mulcan Pustin in at some points of the season a okay with that let's go to Brandon Rickner's question who says based based on Murashov's play this year in the AHL do you think Dubas potentially puts a big package together for Blancfist he had comparable if not better numbers than Asgarov last season who fetched a lot I'll say this about the difference between Joe Blancfist and Yaroslav Asgarov. Asgarov for a long time has been considered one of the best if not the best goaltending prospects in the National Hockey League he had that buzz around him from the jump whenever he was drafted by the Nashville Predators I think that is a lot of what went into the amount that they got back for him and by they I mean the Predators and I also think a lot of that was San Jose saying we're fully stocked we want to make sure we get this guy because that's the one thing they didn't didn't have was a blue chip goaltender that is NHL ready yet young enough to where you can build that future around him he fit exactly with San Jose needed so I think that played into the return as well San Jose was shelling out the world to make sure that they were able to get this kid so now they have a really good young core with Asgarov in that celebration coming over at the forward side of things as well as Will Smith there's a lot of good young players over there they wanted that goaltender that's a huge piece to get they overpaid to get them a little bit but again when it's that type of goaltending prospect that's why it fetched a lot so as far as if Murashov plays really well this year do I think Dubas would move on from Blunckfist I don't think he should right the Penguins moved on from Cali Clang in order to get Ricard Raquel but I don't think you should be trading away young talent especially goaltenders which remember goaltending is already fickle in the NHL you add on top of that goaltending development it's hard to judge obviously Murashov extremely impressive in Russia extremely impressive in Russia and so far everything over on North America has followed suit he has looked very good even these practice sessions that he's doing right now before training camp he's looked very good as well but even if he has a great year like Blunckfist did last season I don't think you should be going and trading away your best goaltending prospects really you're only two great goaltending prospects whenever there is still so much uncertain about the NHL goaltenders do they trust Jari to finish out that contract or are they gonna trade try to trade him nadelkovich is not young right he signed that to your deal that'd be a great one a one b with a young goaltender deal but I think you let it play out and I don't think you pull the plug on either of them if one of them supersedes the other this season 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 and 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 got your happy price price line 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 Peter swistock asks I know yes a pool yarv is getting lots lost in the shuffle knowing that he probably won't make the lineup does he play in the a hl if he makes it through waivers he will if he makes it through waivers then I think he starts the season in the a hl I find it hard to believe that he's going to be buried there you know it might be you know based on whether or not the penguins have injuries and need to fill a role but watching what he did last year I've a hard time believing the penguins don't want to try to at least put him in a decent position going into training camp and I think that he's a guy that fits the mold that their bottom six needs obviously his finishing has been an issue his entire career but he does everything else leading up to that point exactly the way mike sullivan wants it to be done so while they did kind of reinvent the wheel and reinvent the bottom six I have a hard time believing yes a pool yarvie won't get some opportunities in camp to put himself in a decent spot on the depth chart I don't think he makes the team out of camp if I was putting it together today but I think he's right there and if he makes it through waivers 100% the penguins should keep him stashed in the a hl I don't know if there's going to be a trade that's going to be advantageous enough for them to pull the trigger on it so I would be perfectly fine I know it's it stinks for him a little bit but if they're able to put him in the a hl until they need him that would be great for the penguins mac bronson asks did you watch rucker mcgrody's press conference excuse me on dk pittsburgh sports the penguins also put it out on their twitter so if you don't know what i'm talking about seven-minute video rucker mcgrody introductory press conference is up there on the penguins and apparently on dk pittsburgh sports as well I did watch it just before jumping on here I mean the kid had everything right to say uh appreciated everything that the when a pig jets did for him essentially answered the question as in you know they handled this professionally they being the when a pig jets but he's looking forward to his time in pittsburgh which I think is the only thing you could say and that aspect and he just seems overall very excited to be with the penguins those were my takeaways from him and we'll talk about it more tomorrow when I have my co-host Nick Horawat with me but uh very again it just builds the anticipation a little bit more seeing him you know answer all the questions the right way which you expect from a a guy that is you know a michigan man whatever that means uh but also a guy that has been in a leadership role in a lot of the places and a lot of the stops that he's been you expect him to be able to answer those questions especially you know when do you have the time to prepare for it and when you know these questions are going to come so yeah obviously very excited for rucker mcgrody and I thought he answered everything the right way today firm 77 throws another question here as I uh continue to look ask your questions if you have them i'll try to answer as many of these questions as possible before heading out here today firm 77 says all the hype the past year plus from yegar yes mcgrody is more nh already but do you see yegar living up to his potential with the jets I do I do the one thing about braid and yegar is a couple years ago he was nowhere near the level of prospect that he is today but he has consistently been able to grow year over year and not just grow a little bit and not just grow physically but grow in his game in such a massive way his draft year the one thing he really wanted to do was make sure that he was better as a 200 foot center he wanted to be better in the defensive zone and that's why he dropped a little bit and that's why the opinion on him dropped a little bit but he added that aspect to his game and aspect that right now you're looking at the nhl and that is massive for young players to be able to come in and be that good 200 feet the entire way you look at a guy like Patrice Bergeron who made a living off of that and they should rename the selkie after him because that was what he was able to do plus goal scoring plus point production and tremendous top-of-the-line defense he was a captain he was a number one center for many years yegar added that to his game the goal scoring numbers went down and the penguins took advantage of that drafting him in the lottery still but at 14th overall and then you look at last season he pulled it all together the offensive numbers went back up the defensive you know performance was still there and he changed and got that much better last season as well i have no reason to suspect that it's going to change any differently now especially since he's going back to moose jaw team that's looking to defend their whl championship so yeah i would be surprised if he didn't live up to his potential right now i think his potential is middle six maybe second line center and everything that he's showing up to this point has proven that he can continue to grow and potentially become that let's go over to Brandon rickner who says with a lot of fringe prospects that could leap into the line up to the potential injuries but could make an impact with the opportunity could we be buyers and sellers at the trade deadline ah yes the pittsburgh pirates method of this year that certainly did not work but i could see it for the penguins it kind of fits the mold i could see them adding a piece but again it would have to be similar to the rucker mcgrarty situation or similar to the kevin more so the kevin hay situation and the cody glass situation where there's a player on another team they're coming in cheap they're looking for a fresh start and they can help this team but it's not going to break the bank i could see the penguins adding small pieces here and there could i see them being sellers yeah i talked about marcus peterson earlier talked about ricard rickell earlier if those guys have good seasons it makes sense for the penguins to go out and see what they can get for him let's go to evan who says what is mcgrarty's best attribute example skating shot physicality i'll tell you what it's not and it's not skating that's the one thing that he was asked about today and i believe it was by rob rossy and he said yeah i'm gonna i'm gonna work on the skating that's the one thing that everybody points to he's not the greatest skater he does you know play a style to where it makes up for it a little bit but the end of the day he's gonna need to improve so it's not skating the one thing that i'll say that is probably his best is the fact that he plays with that edge and it helps him he has a great shot so you can put that up there too but it's kind of the physicality that you're you're talking about here evan it's the fact that he likes to get into the muck he likes to get into the physicality and i think that's going to lend itself to him being pretty successful in the nhl jay wants to know is there any new info on cross b in the contract talks no there isn't and as i mentioned earlier in the show there's not going to be until he gets back to pittsburgh which might be in the next week or so but i think if you're going to have that cross b extension which i think is gonna happen i expect it to happen at the beginning of training camp mack also asks if you were the gm today what are three moves that you would make uh one of them would be trading a center uh that's you know nolichari or larseler i just think you have a surplus and there's certainly players in this organization that i think could take those opportunities and could be good obviously you look at you have crawls being maulkin up at the top that's not gonna change you have haze you have lizat you have uh vassili panna marev you have sandpool in i think some of these guys deserve an opportunity and i think they're ready to make an impact this season so i think one move would be trading one of those centers selfishly the other move would be offer sheeting nick robertson you might have to if the number goes higher you might have to look into reacquiring one of your draft picks from this from next season to be able to make that happen but i would offer sheet nick robertson i would trade away a center and the third one that's the third one's tough because it feels like they're a lot of the way like built for this season and it feels like they're not really going to make any more additions other than maybe robertson it feels like the other ones are going to be trades away so maybe with that in mind if you can get a deal done to trade required requel and again you're taking a big risk there because that hurts severely hurts the short-term future of the penguins that hurts this year that takes away from the top six you have to replace them and you're taking a gamble on a guy like pustin and being ready on a guy like you know koi vunen potentially being ready or even putting a guy like pull yarvey back up there but if you can get a move and move on from from a guy like requel and open up that cap space i would say you do that as well let's see if there's any other questions here but let's go to brian and then let's answer a couple more yeah we got two more here so let's go to brian first says field the bottom six will be in a good place with many capable players feel that even if a bottom six guy has to move to the top due to injury the real question has to be the top six this season do you agree yeah when i look at the top six center is obvious with crosby and maulkin the question is going to be how ready is rucker mcgroydy because you have drew a corner that can play top six he proved it last season you have michael bunting who should be staple gunned to have genny maulkin point blank no questions ask he should be staple gun there required rekels there brian rust is there i don't think there's a lot of questions i think the top top six is pretty good the biggest thing is going to be will mcgroydy or o'con or be good enough to elevate that top six but as you look at the last couple seasons i mean last year maybe not because riley smith and recartor kel were disappointing but i think biggest issue was last year power play and the year before that bottom six scoring can they get that secondary scoring because they really haven't crosby can lead a line maulkin can lead a line who's going to lead that bottom six i think that's what they're going to need and as you mentioned they have a lot of capable players down there can they put the pieces together to be able to get more success and to get more numbers and to get more production out of those the next question the last question we'll answer before going for today is extreme hypothetical which i absolutely love these what would happen if somebody like haze didn't make the team after training camp do players get sent to the a hl is it dependent on the players contract it's dependent on a lot of things i believe let me double check here penguins pukpedia who was always on our side kevin haze i don't think is plus 35 yet i'm hoping he's not let's see kevin haze is only 32 so he doesn't have a plus 35 contract he's going to make the roster so that's not a question but if somebody of his stature were to not make the roster typically if they're over 35 you can't send them down because if it's not advantageous you can't you have to carry their entire cap it's a plus 35 contract that's what happens but typically you'd have to send them through waivers and if nobody picks them up then they can go down but usually you don't see players with that type of cap hit end up getting sent down simply for one because typically they're not bad enough to get sent down and two these general managers have some egos here and they typically don't like to send down the guys that they bring in with high and heavy cap hits so you'd have to send them through waivers that's dependent on i believe age and games played in the national hockey league or contract as well you have certain guys like jacks a nivani who's waiver eligible that might play into that decision but that's typically what happens with that last one here kyle d do we have dates for training camp yet no we do not we'll keep an eye out for that and we will mention it the first chance we get whenever that comes out but no we do not have training camp dates yet the dates we do have prospect challenge in buffalo september thirteenth to the sixteenth rucker morgue will be included we learned that earlier today in a lot of exciting young players serge mershev own pickering uh Tristan bros vili koi vunen i believe is going to be on that roster as well so a lot of talented players heading to buffalo in sept uh the middle of september training cap will start shortly after that but that's gonna do it for this episode of tip of the iceberg live thank you guys so much for tuning into this one we'll be back tomorrow with a full episode of the tip of the iceberg with myself nick balski as well as my co-host nikor wat until then we'll see you guys next time
