- Reporting live from under my blanket, I'm Susan Curtis with Dunkin' at Home. Breaking news, pumpkin spice, iced, and hot coffees are back. I'll pass it to Mr. Curtis with his blanket for the full story. - That is so right, Susan. You know, it's never too early to get in a spicy mood. I'm talking cinnamon-y goodness that's so tasty. People don't want to leave their blankets either. Back to you. - Mm, no, back to you. - Ah, all you. - The home with Dunkin' Pumpkin Spice is where you want to be. - This episode is brought to you by Allstate. Some people just know they could save hundreds on car insurance by checking Allstate first. Like, you know to check you have the tickets in you while at first before you drive two hours to the big game. Seriously, you had one job. Now the closest you'll get to the 50-yard line is parking lot D. Yeah, checking first is smart. So check Allstate first for a quote that could save you hundreds. You're in good hands with Allstate. Savings vary, terms apply, Allstate Fire and Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates, Northbrook, Illinois. (upbeat music) - Hello everybody and welcome to the tip of the iceberg podcast. Your home for Pittsburgh Penguins, News and Analysis. You can find us on YouTube at tip of the iceberg or anywhere you get your podcast from. I'm your host, Nick Belsky. Joined as always by Nick Corwatt and this is the first tip of the iceberg podcast post. Sydney Crosby signing his contract extension. So of course, that's where we're gonna lead things off today, breaking down his extension, what it means for the Penguins and going into a little bit more detail than I did yesterday on the breaking news episode of Tip of the Iceberg. And then of course, you know, the Pittsburgh Penguins prospects, they went out there and they showed out at Buffalo Harbor Center over the weekend, going undefeated and having a very successful weekend at the prospects challenge will break down everything we saw over the weekend up in Buffalo. And then we'll get you ready for training camp 'cause it kicks off tomorrow. Today is creative day at the Pittsburgh Penguins. So we'll see a bunch of fun little vignettes and videos that come out from that. But tomorrow, rubber meets the road, Penguins get on the ice. It's gonna be a lot of players, a lot to sift through. It will give you the players that we're keeping an eye on, of course, outside of the obvious names of the Crosby, the Malkin, the Latangs, who you should be watching out for if you head up to UPMC Lemu Complex over the next couple of weeks. Let's get started. And let's start things off where I think everybody is starting things off this morning, whether you're a Penguins show, whether you're a national show, every hockey related podcast, radio show, television show is starting things off with Sir Sidney Crosby. He finally sides his contract extension. He's been eligible since July 1st, but yesterday he inks his new deal two year extension, $8.7 million AAV. That's of course, tacked on to the one remaining year of his current 12 year contract that he has left. So three more years signed through 2026, 27. I gave my initial thoughts yesterday. Horwatt, I wanna give you the floor here. Your initial thoughts on this deal finally getting done. Well, it finally happened. I think that is step one for everybody. It finally was signed before we even get into the nuances and the numbers of it all. It's just good that the deal was finally signed and all of the media can finally stop or they'll still keep going, whatever they wanna do, discussing the prospect and the idea of him finding a new team to compete for a cup with. I'll tell you what, it's clearly not gonna happen. It doesn't matter what kind of state the Penguins are in, Sydney Crosby will be staying here for the long haul. And at, I think two years was a bit more of a surprise to me, but whenever we had the discussion of why wouldn't he take it in a LeBron style, one to two years at a time to see how he's feeling and sign a new deal then, we'll see how that all goes. But at 8.7, I mean, we were all sitting here saying at least 10, right? Maybe nine to 10, maybe even to 11 because that's the kind of money he could make. Here or anywhere, but staying at 8.7, he is truly one of a kind. I, it's hilarious thinking that from 2008, 2009, the year they won their first Stanley Cup until the year he retires, maybe, we don't know yet, it will have been an 8.7 million dollar cap at the entire wedding. A, that superstition is unbelievably hilarious, but also B, I always felt like in the back of my head that I think I may have even said it on an old episode, 8.7 should be the ground floor for this deal, that it should only kind of go up from there even with his age. He's still one of the most productive players in the league. He's definitely still the best player in the Penguins organization. And you pay him as such, you can pay him whatever you want. 8.7 should be the floor. Turned out, that's his ceiling. And maybe not necessarily his ceiling, but you get that he's so committed to that number and committed to letting his front office build a winner around him. And that, that was said a couple of times by Kyle Dubas by Sidney Crozmy himself on someone's porch, by the way, that keeping that number at a team friendly number, that he didn't say it, but I'm gonna say it, should force Kyle Dubas' hand to put together a strong team next year. It's a little late to do it this year for myriad of reasons. But going into next season with quite a few other players likely coming off the books, there's no reason why Kyle Dubas shouldn't go out and trade for a good piece or gone. Go for the big free agent in the off season. Whoever it may be, just go for it. And obviously, that's a commitment to make in the free agent side of it. Like an eight year commitment you're looking at for maybe one season, but you have the money, just gone and go for it, especially since they got their best player locked in at again, once again, a team friendly deal for what's going to end up being 19 years of his career criminally underpaid. - Yeah, I think that is the headline of all of this, is he continues to be criminally underpaid, but at the same time, is it criminal whenever he's the one that's signing the contracts? Especially at this point, because everybody in their mother said, yeah, well, he's due a raise and at this point, you would think he's going to take the raise, considering the Penguins are really at the end of their Stanley Cup window, if not already being closed. And he said, no, you know what? I want to just jar that window up a little bit more, just whatever I can do and by taking 8.7, that's exactly what he did. But you mentioned the flexibility, what that opens the door for. We'll get to that in just a second, but before that, couple facts and figures about Sydney Crosby's new contract here and really just Sydney Crosby, in general, the first season, you mentioned it, that he signed at $8.7 million, was 2008, 2009. That $8.7 million counted for 15% of the Penguins salary cap in that season. Going into this season, it will count as 9% of the cap. And that is only going to go down over the two years that he just signed, because as we all know, the NHL salary cap is expected to continue to make leaps and bounds as the league continues to make more and more money coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic. So that 9% I'd be hilarious if those two years, it went down to 8.7%. It would be something that Crosby I feel like had orchestrated, but as of right now, this season, 9% of the Penguins salary cap is Sydney Crosby. Another fact and figure here, going into this season, Sydney Crosby has the 44th highest salary cap hit in the NHL, 44, which means there are going to be 43 players that are paid more than Sydney Crosby this year. Last year, Crosby finished ninth in MVP voting. Again, 44th is only going to go down because Leon Dreyseidel got his extension kicking in next year. You'd have to imagine other players are going to start to make more and more money, even Lucas Raymond, earlier today, signed for $8 million. So players are going to jump Crosby by the time this deal is done, which means there's a chance that by the time he retires, he could one still be producing at an MVP level again. Could, being a strong and operative word here, but he will be under 50th as far as the highest paid players in the National Hockey League. And the last number that I'll throw out at you, Horawat, and that leads to the conversation we're going to have next. The Penguins are projected to have $19 million still in salary cap space going into next season, which goes into what you said about Kyle Dubas. Crosby wants you to bring a team around him and it's going to give an opportunity to compete, taking $8.7 million, leaves $19 million in cap space, not to mention, outside of Marcus Patterson, there's not really anybody that's going to take up big salary cap hits within the organization. So that gives you an opportunity to maybe go outside the Penguins organization and go big game hunting a little bit depending on where that number goes by the end of this season. - Yeah, you're talking about, the Penguins have to maybe sign Marcus Patterson. And that $19 million also accounts for the two contracts that are coming off of the books that aren't even on their team right now, Jack Johnson and-- - Jack Petry. - Jack Petry, thank you. I believe they, no, they come off different times. I'm trying to load it up. I'm just kind of shooting from the hip at the moment. But those numbers were coming off too. There's going to be a ton of cap flexibility for the Penguins and for Kyle Dubas to go out. And like I said, go big game hunting here to maybe sign someone that maybe it's way too early to spit ball for that sort of thing. But just whatever, whoever the big free agent may be going to next season, be in on the conversation. If nothing else, you force other teams to pay a higher price and be in those conversations because if you land up, you have the space to do it. There's all kind of maneuvering that can happen. And especially if you think of the young group of players that are fighting for NHL roles this year, it's going to get interesting whenever what they're going to need to get paid down the line. But I'm fascinated by what kind of maneuvering Kyle Dubas can do with that much cap flexibility going into next season. He signed these short term deals this past season for these past off season for a reason. He's going to have that space to, like he's been wanting to do, build the Penguins in his image. And from the beginning, Sidney Crosby's been part of that image. I don't think whatever ownership group is up top, whatever GM is in there, whatever president of hockey operations is in there, or head coach for that matter, no one is telling you to create a team without Sidney Crosby as the focal point. - Yeah, yeah, I think that's pretty obvious. I mean, you look at the Penguins, Sidney Crosby is the Penguins organization. So they're not building anything without Crosby being first and foremost. Now, the last thing we'll say about the Crosby contract before we move on, 'cause there's plenty to discuss this week as we are getting so close within 25 days of the opening of the National Hockey League season and the Penguins taking on the New York Rangers on October 9th for their opener. You mentioned earlier this morning on an article for Breakaway on SI that this might not be Sidney Crosby's last contract. What are your thoughts on that? What do you mean by that? - In a way, kind of how we discuss the LeBron James thing, where if he's feeling good at the end of this deal, by all means, sign for another year. If he's feeling good at the end of that one, another one. I'm not going that far ahead. I'm just saying as long as the production isn't deteriorating, as long as he's fending off father time as much as possible, at the end of the 20, 26, 27 season, he may be 39 going on 40 into that summer. There's no reason why. If he thinks he could still do it, if the Penguins think they can still do it, like I said, regardless of the state that the Penguins are in, winning or losing, rebuilding or bad. At that point of his career, again, he might even still be able to request an $8.7 million contract. More than likely, you might be able to get him at 870,000. - I wouldn't say more than likely. I would say there is a possibility that Crosby goes out and does something crazy like that. - Yes, but-- - That's also below league minimum. Let's just put that in the world now. That is below current league minimum, so. - Okay, I just forget how the CBA works. I forget if you can do that because he started earlier than that CBA. That being said, still, it's something to watch for. If he is still able to produce at a high level, like I said, he's coming off of a 42 goal season, we think he can have a hundred points this upcoming year. We genuinely think that. He was six shy of it at the age of 36, or I'm getting my numbers confused. - Yeah, he was 36. - Yep, he was six shy of it last year at the age of 36. Going into 37, if the power play can shape itself up and sort of keep himself in shape, and again, fend off that father time effect, there's no reason why he couldn't notch 100. There isn't. If he's able to do that, 100 points at 8.7 million dollars, sounds really good. Now going into the season's following, again, just if he's still feels good. He doesn't want his contract or his play to be a burden on the team. Again, one of a kind guy. He doesn't want that to be a burden on the team or their salary cap situation, but if he feels that he can still cut it, can still perform, maybe take a pay cut by then, by all means he could sign another deal for maybe a year at a time still. That's sort of what I meant by it. Just by the time 27 rolls around, if he still feels he can do it, there's no reason why the penguins shouldn't have him on again. - Okay, I got two things. I like your thinking here. I like it a lot. Two things. One, if you pay him at the age of 48.7 million dollars and he doesn't perform up to snuff, you're just paying him back for all the years that he took way less money. So I would have no issue with that at all. And I'm sure most penguins fans and penguins scribes would not have an issue with that at all. Secondly, I don't like the LeBron comparison. I told you that last week. So I will change it up for you. And for everybody out there that also does not like the LeBron comparison. 'Cause one, Crosby's not going anywhere. LeBron does that in case he needs to pull the ejector cord. - Yes. - How about following in Mark Andre Flurry's footsteps who a couple of years ago signed a two year contract, wanted a multi year contract 'cause he didn't want to have the questions after that first year. And then this past off season signed a one year deal with the Minnesota wild to say, this will be my last year. And guess what? Mark Andre Flurry this season will turn 40. So it lines up with Mark Andre Flurry as well. And I think that is comparison that more people would like to get behind. - That's, you know what, totally fair. I like that. I just, yeah, yeah, I totally like that. I feel like LeBron just kind of came in as the one who's obviously doing it. - Yeah. - And then but Mark Andre Flurry is, we thought last year was his farewell tour. The penguins are giving him paintings, doing all these ceremonies. There's the big, you know, he hit two big achievements. Here's Mark Andre Flurry night. And like we asked state of hockey, just what is his legacy in Minnesota? He didn't play his whole career there, but he's, you know, it's the state of hockey. And he is one of the greatest goalies of all time, regardless of opinions. Just looking at the numbers, that's what he is. It's just like, it's that sort of thing where it's, now this is his farewell tour. If Sydney Crosby comes out after the 26, 27 season, it goes, I'm signing a one year deal, 1 million, 0.87, to keep it affordable and keep it over the, over the league men. It could, it'd be like the Mariano Rivera farewell tour. - It would be, if you would keep throwing more. - Yeah, more comparisons out there from all the fours. Yeah, it would be like Rivera, but I feel like at the same time, Crosby would not come out an hour. He would never outwardly admit that this is my last year, because that would be, in his eyes, a distraction to the team's success. So I don't think he would ever come out and say that, but I could see him doing that with the knowledge of this will be my last season, a select you will know this will be my last season. And you might be able to read the tea leaves, but it's never gonna be said explicitly. But I, again, - You'll be able to read the tea leaves in reference his last game at, I almost said the Wacovia Center. Oh boy. - She's. - At, in Philly and they're giving him a presentation. Like, when that's happening, you know, you know, this is it. - That would be so. - When the flyers are giving him his flowers. - That would be so non-filly of them. I almost don't want them to do that. I almost want them to be like, yeah, no, we're the only team in the league that is not gonna do anything for you, Sid. - We're gonna do it in the back hallway with no media around, okay, come on. - Gritty's gonna hand you a plaque. You're gonna shake his hand and you're gonna walk away. That's gonna be it. But at the end of the day, that is a problem, that is a conversation for a couple of years down the road, fun to bounce back and forth with here. But the big news of the day is Sidney Crosby signs a two-year extension. He is under contract for three more seasons and Penguins fans, they get to watch one of the greatest to ever do it for another three years. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) - Let's talk about the prospects challenge, 'cause when we talk about having a successful weekend, I think that is understating the facts. The Penguins go a perfect three and oh, and essentially win the tournament. There's not really a big to do about who's winning the tournament, who's getting the championship. But the Penguins for the second consecutive season have the best record of all six teams that are at the prospects challenge. They had a six to three win over the Boston Bruins on Friday, a four to two win over the Ottawa senators on Saturday and an eight to five win over the Buffalo Sabres yesterday evening. Again, second straight year with their best record, a really solid weekend of hockey for the Penguins prospects. And I think when I look at this, there's obviously a lot of the discussion about which players stepped up, which players had breakouts, which players kind of stole the show. I think there's two that in my eyes, outside of a lot of really good, honorable mentions, Sergei Merschov and Avery Hayes both had very good weekends. Merschov, of course, it was his first competitive action in North America. We talked leading up to this that every time he stepped on the ice, he became the story. I think it's fair to say that he did the same thing over the weekend. Now he wasn't perfect by no means, but again, the Penguins were three and oh, Merschov played six of the nine periods between the pipes for the Penguins, including the only player, the only goaltender I should say, to get a full game. I think that the Penguins see a lot of things coming up for Merschov very quickly, considering how much they wanted to see of him at this prospects challenge. And the last thing I'll say about the goaltending is I really do feel for Taylor Gautier. I mean, the guy was the ECHL goalie of the year. And now he is surpassed by the 20 year old, 21 year old Russian goaltender Sergei Merschov. - Yeah, it's unfortunate. Who knows, maybe he still has an NHL career ahead of him. - Maybe? - Just, it just doesn't look like he's gonna be here with the way Blomquist performed last year and the way Merschov performed this year. And the two NHL goal tenders that are already on the roster that could be around for a little bit longer. It's unfortunate, but I mean, it's tough when you are a goalie and there's only two spots on an NHL roster really, sometimes three, depending on the team. And that goes per team. Just, that's the way the cookie crumbles. It's unfortunate for him, but for the Penguins, they have a good problem to have here. - Yeah. - Couple of NHL goalies on the roster, couple of budding NHL goal, or future NHL goalies, right behind them. And Merschov stealing the show is for, for a late round pick, huge. And they clearly wanted to see a lot from them and judging by, I didn't see a ton of the prospect challenge against, but judging by what Twitter was saying, by what you're saying, and by how the score outcomes looked, he's impressing, he's been given the push and he is taking his opportunities. - Yeah, and again, you mentioned it. It's a tough position because if you're the fifth best goal tender in the Penguins organization, you're an ECHL start in goal tender. If you're the fifth best center in the Penguins organization, you're moving over to the wing and you're playing in the NHL pretty much the entire season. So it's a tough position to crack. And Taylor Gotei is a guy who stepped up to the challenge last year. Again, hope that he gets some AHL opportunities, hope that he gets some opportunities to prove that he can move up and in rank. But it is tough one year behind two studs, like Joel Blancfist and Sergey Merschov. The other name I mentioned was Avery Hayes and this was really deja vu because last year at the prospects challenge, everybody said, wow. Avery Hayes, sneaky, solid weekend. Nothing sneaky about his weekend, including a five point performance on Monday night where he had a hat trick and two assists for the Penguins to clinch that final game against Buffalo. Avery Hayes is a name that you are going to hear a lot more about this year. Last year, he had about 20 some odd games at the AHL level this year. I think you're gonna see a lot more of that and he's a name that, you know, everybody wanted to see the Maguerties, the Ponomarevs, the Koi Vunins, the Owen Pickering's on the back end, Emil Piene Niami and Merschov. Avery Hayes was on the first line and he was not a passenger on that first line. He was somebody who was driving play a lot for the Penguins and he's somebody that I'm very excited to see how he can build off of this, right? Last year, we said, and every year, we say, all right, who had a good prospects challenge? What can they do once the big boys get on the ice because they're not gonna go, you know, toe to toe a lot with the Crosby's and the Malkins, but in those intersquad scrimmages, they're gonna have some shifts against him. How does Avery Hayes kind of build off of what he started in Buffalo over this weekend? - Yeah, watching him build on, like you said, what he just started in Buffalo is gonna be huge. I'm trying to nail down what kind of contract he's got rolling with him right now because there's some work to be had there if he is to become a legitimate option for the NHL roster. Again, maybe not this year, but he's 21, can play a full season in the NHL and then maybe earn his way into an NHL deal for next season. Again, this team is building for the future and is, I don't wanna say that one of the more underrated prospect pools in the league because they are still ranked pretty low and rightfully so in a lot of cases. And I think maybe I look at them as underrated because I focus on them quite a bit. We're always discussing prospects between the two of us. I spent a lot of time digging into who is good and bad in the Pangless prospect pool without really looking into a bunch of others. So the way I see it is, the Pangless like the top guys they got, and if these new names can keep kind of forcing their way into the conversation. Again, I'm not saying the Pangless can be a great team with this core of prospects, but they can be a solid NHL team if that core of prospects develops correctly, develops nicely. And with $19 million in cap space, Kyle Dewis built a nice team around them of other more proven NHLers. - Yeah, speaking of Avery Hayes's contract, just to clean that one up, he has one year left on an American hockey league contract with the Wokesburg, Grant and Panglins. So, and he signed a two year deal before last season, so we'll see if he's able to kind of earn himself that next deal because he's going into a contract year. I mentioned there were a couple honorable mentions, Rucker Magruderi and Vasili Potomarev, who were Hayes's line mates on the Pangless top line. Magruderi, of course, went out there and did what we wanted him to do. Like show that you are one of the best players on the ice this weekend. He did that from front to back. And the one thing that was evident from the drop of the puck on Friday, his first shift. He had, I think, three body checks. And on the four check and forced a couple turnovers, his four check in game is going to earn him a lot of acclaim from Mike Sullivan, but so too with Vasili Potomarev. That's a name that, you know, obviously we knew because he came over in the Genssel deal, which is a high profile. And every, you know, everybody that follows the Panglins is going to look at that name and say, all right, what can you do now? But I thought he looked really good, especially all in a line together with Magruderi and with Hayes and Potomarev's four checking as well was something that, man, if these two can continue to build together, you know, in the case that Magruderi doesn't make the NHL team out of camp, that's gonna be a scary duo whenever they're together, if they're together in the American Hockey League again. Eileen towards Magruderi being somebody who makes the roster, but, you know, you never know what's gonna happen, what's gonna play out over the next two weeks, but both of them looked good. And the last honorable mention that I have, Tristan Brose, this is a name that kind of, after he was drafted, he kind of faded into the back. He had a rough year at the University of Minnesota, which is why our friend, State of Hoppe, who was on the show last week, doesn't like to talk about it very much. He ends up leaving, going to Denver, winning a national championship, creating a lot of buzz around him last year with the season that he had. Science's contract with Pittsburgh and he looked, you know, we talk about Magruderi needing to look like one of the best players out there, Tristan Brose, every time he stepped on the ice, the talent jumps off of the screen at you. He has a heavy one timer, it connected on Friday for a beautiful goal against the Bruins. He just missed the net on Monday on a similar shot in the same area on the power plays, but this is a guy that is going to be extremely entertaining all season long. I'm very excited to see what Brose has in store. And again, I think he's a long shot to make his NHL debut this season. I think a lot would have to go right for him, but he is certainly somebody who has elevated his stature within the organization tenfold over the last six or seven months. - I could see that NHL debut this season. - Maybe a cup of coffee, but yeah. - Yeah, it would be injury replacement. It would be the Penguins are in injury trouble with high end, the guys, not necessarily the depth. It is starting the season in the AHL, starting with an impressive camp preseason and then starting the season in the AHL and continuing that impressive run and then injury troubles happen, because it's the Penguins and that's bound to happen. Knock on wood, there you go. - They're due for an injury-riddled season almost. So keeping guys like Tristan Brose at the ready and a bunch of other names that we'll discuss in a few minutes at the ready. If he is impressing enough, I could see like you're saying a quick cup of coffee NHL debut this season to see what he's got under him, especially if he impresses through camp, through preseason and through the start of the AHL season. - Yeah, and again, a lot of things got to go right for him, but I am excited to see what he has and the development that he's able to have because when you look at it, it will expire this year. I mean, he's down there. You would imagine one or both of Pahnomarev and Koy Vounen are down there. You have Pickering, who will be down there. Belavo was interesting. He did not play on Monday, but he was very interesting on Friday. That was a game where, you know, like I called him a loud defenseman on Twitter. It's because he's similar to, and I don't want to make this comparison as in the players are the same, but similar to Carlson, you will hear his name and you will see him a lot. He's not a defenseman that's gonna fade into the back and just be the Marcus Pedersen. Hey, haven't heard much about him? Well, that's a good thing. He is somebody who's gonna jump up into the play. He's somebody who likes the puck on his stick. He had a loud, loud performance on Friday. A couple of penalties, but it's, he's a name that I'm intrigued to see. Where are they put him to start this year? He spent a lot of time in the ECHL last year. Do they give him that opportunity in the A? I think that's something to follow along with as well. Let's move over and close this out. Talking about players like in Isaac Belavo, maybe a little bit higher, stature maybe a little bit more of an opportunity at the ECHL level one training camp opens tomorrow. Again, today is creative day. So we'll see some nice vignettes. We'll see some nice videos, some sneak peeks of stuff we'll see throughout the season on the various platforms that the Penguins have, but tomorrow the rubber meets the road. Pens are out there, training camp begins, formal team activities, no more informal skates that we've seen over the last week or so. Horwatt, before we go, give me one player that you're keying in on over the next few weeks, and we're gonna stay away from the Crosby's 'cause everybody's gonna watch the Crosby's, the Malkins, the Latangs, the O'Connor's, the Rusts. What is one player that maybe not everybody knows to look for that you think you're gonna look for over the next few weeks at Penguins camp? - I have two, I'll keep one of them quick. Valteri Pusen is one to watch mostly because with the additions that Kyle do is made for the Penguins roster this season, all of a sudden his spot doesn't seem guaranteed. As guaranteed as it looked toward the end of last year, suddenly there's some new names just in the way. But another name to keep an eye on, and could be one of the names going up against Valteri Pusen in here, is fellow country man, Jesse Poliorvi, mostly because I forgot he was kind of on this team for a while, but also has NHL ability and might be able to pull through with something if he has a good camp and if he has a good preseason because he has good uses. It's just a matter of finally made, hopefully at this point, being fully healthy and ready to go at the NHL level and with the Penguins organization. Those are kind of the two names and they kind of go hand and hand a little bit in. Maybe they had guaranteed spots until this off season happened. - Yeah, with Poliorvi, he didn't have a training camp last year. Now he had plenty of time to ramp up before signing that PTO and eventual contract with the Penguins, but this is the first time that he had an off season. Again, maybe not completely healthy going into the off season, but he had an off season where he wasn't fully rehabbing the injury and he could actually rest a little bit and then ramp up as normal NHLers would ramp up. So what does that do for his game? I think that's gonna be a big question that needs answered over the next couple of weeks. And like you, I'm excited to see what those answers are. So name that I will throw out there because of a similar reason, because his placement in the Penguins roster, on the Penguins organization, on the depth chart, is very unknown, his Cody glass. He was one of these, well, the team that he's on is trying to get rid of his cap pit because they wanna be able to maneuver under the cap. Penguins take 'em on alongside, along with, I should say, a draft pick. So what happens for a fresh start for Cody glass? He's, what, 25 years old? So you would think he's got plenty of leg left. What does that look like in Pittsburgh? What does this fresh start do for Cody glass? And what is his placement within the organization? Where do they see him? Do they see him as a center? Do they see him as a winger? If so, do they see him as somebody who is on the outside looking in or on the inside looking out at a roster spot as camp opens? And we'll know some of those answers as early as tomorrow. Who's he practicing with? I know that Mike Sullivan likes to say and he will say it again tomorrow. I promise you this. Don't look into my lines on the first day of training camp, please. But there are certain threads that continue throughout camp that you see to begin forming on day one. I wanna see if there are any of those threads for Cody glass or if he's somebody that they're saying, "Listen, we don't know." Like, we have an idea, but we really don't know until he gets out there on the ice with some of these guys where we think he's gonna fit best. I'm excited to see where the Penguins think he fits. I'm excited to see how he responds to being traded once again and coming to this organization, an organization that Crosby said it yesterday on the back porch of some random person and probably the North Hills. There's a lot of competition, probably more competition than Crosby has seen since he came to Pittsburgh 19 years ago. Where does Cody glass fit into that? And how does he respond to getting that opportunity? I'm keeping my eyes on Cody glass over the next couple of weeks. Pre-season games, practices, all of it. I'm gonna be zeroing in on Cody glass more so than I am on a lot of other players. I think it was Mars PA, by the way, I think, to narrow down the neighborhood. Not to dogs, those people, but anyway. He's a true utility guy. Cody glass can play probably anywhere. It's a matter of what Mike Sullivan wants to do with him right away. Is he even in the NHL roster? Is he a center, is he a wanger? Top six, bottom six. The true utility guy that can probably filter in wherever you wanna put him and it's just a matter of performing. Yeah, see the Sean Rodriguez of the 2024-25 Pittsburgh Penguins, we shall wait and see. But on that note, that is all for this episode of the tip of the iceberg. Thank you guys so much for tuning into this one. Remember, you can find us on YouTube. Make sure you like, share, subscribe on YouTube at tip of the iceberg, or you can find us anywhere you get your podcast from again. Subscribe, leave us a five-store review. We love nothing more than to get all of that under the belt as the 2024-25 season. We keep saying it's getting close, pens, formal practice, tomorrow. It's getting very close. But that's gonna do it for this episode. Thank you guys so much for tuning in and we will see you next time. (upbeat music) (upbeat music)
