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They've won back-to-back nights and lucky for them, they can keep the stretch going with another game, three games and three nights in the preseason. We'll get into that scheduling a little bit later. But what we're going to talk about is the Penguin Stars. They made their debut and they shined in Sudbury, Ontario on Sunday night. How did they look in their debuts? If you saw the game, you know how they looked, hat trick, two goals for the two top players on the Penguins couldn't get much better than that. And then let's make a turn and talk about some of these injuries because they're starting to mount with only one week remaining before the start of the regular season. How concerned are we with the three injuries that have occurred and should there be some changes to the NHL schedule because of these and a couple others around the league? And then we'll close things out as we do most Tuesdays with our weekly pens poll. Let's get started. And let's start things off by talking about the big guns because, you know, there have been good reports. Oh, they look good. They're fine. They've been playing well. We have that clip of Sydney Crosby destroying Evgeny Malkin in the net front during a training camp practice. And that's all fun and good. But it's always exciting seeing them step on the ice against a separate team in preseason action like they did on Sunday night against the Ottawa senators in Kraft Hockeyville in Sudbury on Terrio. The Penguins took that performance, let it into back to back preseason victories, outscoring their opponents 10 to three the last two evenings. But if you look at Sunday, the story was obviously Evgeny Malkin hat trick plus an assist as well as Sydney Crosby adding in two goals. Let's start with Malkin on this one. Not only did he score four points, but he created multiple opportunities, could have had a couple more points on the score sheet. What did you make of Gino's debut on Sunday in Hockeyville? Much in the way that I try not to take too much weight into, you know, the first preseason game, I'll try not to take too much weight into this one either, just, yeah. Good to see that the legs are there. He's ready to get started right away, doesn't matter what the situation is. This is one of those specialty preseason games, so maybe the, I don't want to say the effort still isn't there, but maybe the competitive nature of things still isn't there, but it's a bit more of a special occasion, it is a bit more of a, you know what? Let's try and put on a nice show for the unfamiliar crowd, a crowd that these teams usually aren't in front of. So I think there was still a little bit more to it, at least, in terms of willingness to really put forth a good show. Maybe, again, not so much in the compete or intensity level, but it got intense still. There was still a lot of heat in that game, and I've got any welcome going out with three goals putting on a show in front of, like I said, the unfamiliar crowd, and an awesome looking rank is special for anyone involved, and cool stuff to see, always. Yeah, three goals in three different ways, not talking about, you know, power play, empty net, but he did have an empty net goal. He did have a power play goal, which, and I can't believe I'm going to say this, they literally passed the puck into the net, or what? How many times have we said, shoot, I think there was a time last season, and you might have been at this practice where Mike Sullivan stopped a power play drill and said, stop trying to pass the puck into the damn net. I don't think he's going to hear the end of it for a couple of weeks because I'm getting him off and tries to send a cross ice pass, it deflects high in the air and just happens to land behind who was in net for them. Why can't I remember? It wasn't Corpusolo. Forsberg. There's Forsberg, Anton Forsberg. I always get the, the Senator's goaltender's mixed up, but it got behind Forsberg. That was the first goal. And then obviously at we mentioned the second goal, he just kind of drives to the net, makes a nice forehand back end move around a defender and just beats Forsberg and the third one was an empty netter. It's good to see him score in three completely different ways, but it's good to see him score in general. You know, I know everybody has kind of gotten on of Genny Malkin for his performance. He did take a step back last season, but it's nice to see him get out on the right foot in hockeyville. And like you mentioned, Genny Malkin loves playing in these kind of specialty preseason games. He looked pretty good last year and the Nova Scotia showdown, but I'll always remember that first United States craft hockeyville because of course it was won by my hometown in Johnstown. Crosby wasn't there, which was a little bit of disappointment, but Malkin put on an absolute show in that one. He loves these specialty games. He kind of comes to play whenever there is a different fan base, especially in the preseason. I was nice to see him get off to a good start. And the big thing you mentioned, legs are looking fresh because that is the big thing from a Genny Malkin last year is there were times where his legs, they kind of look like they got away from him and looked like he was kind of a step behind. It's the first preseason game, so you can't take much into account from that. But it's nice to know that he's looking like he could get off to a hot start. Yeah, he could. It definitely looks like he could so long as that intensity level from him maintains into the start of the regular season so long as he turns, I mean, like we mentioned, a lucky bounce here and there as long as those turn into legitimate chances and actual opportunities and he's taking advantage of his luck, couldn't be a good start for a Genny Malkin in the regular season. And that would help because it's a tough, tough schedule to start the year. Yeah, 100% is let's move over and talk about Sidney Crosby a little bit. Now Mike Sullivan earlier in the day on Sunday, compared him to the Beatles whenever he's in Canada, or what your huge Beatles fan and everybody that was alive during that time is aware of how big the Beatles were just in general. But when Sid goes to Canada, something special happens. Now it helps that he gets to do this in Sudbury and then the season starts and then guess what? They're back in Canada again for an entire road trip. How did you think he looked on Sunday because NHL network ranked him earlier that evening as the 11th best player going into the 2024, 25 season 11, not top 10, number 11, he then goes out and puts up two goals on NHL network to kind of say, you know, not that he saw it or he cares about it, but to kind of, you know, narrative wise kind of say that was a wrong move on your part, NHL network. I mean, the one thing you do to remember is never take too much stock into those rankings unless you want, but yeah, it's 11 is too low of a ranking for him specifically. Everyone knows he's better than that and he went out and proved it again preseason game, the intensity may not have been there, the compete level may not have been there for everyone, but in a game that got intense, I mean, the one of the, you know, just an awful chirp coming from Brady Kichuck in the mega mind thing. Poor Sam Poland. He was already having a bad game and then, you know, that entire thing happens rough game and rough preseason for pool and so far. Yeah, but it's so there was some intensity there, but quite a chirp to throw out from the bench, but for Crosby coming in and much like you're right, you know, always going to Canada and, and Mike Sullivan is right, it's, it is like the Beatles because of the way Sidney Crosby's always carried himself as a player and as a person as a, as a, as a Canadian and, you know, bring multiples, multiple Olympic gold medals, believe there's a world junior in there. Don't quote me on that. I'd always forget Crosby's junior career, but doing so much for the country of, for his home country of Canada and for hockey in general, it's, I'd say that's a well deserved comparison and then he went up and proved why he gets that sort of recognition, not only for the fans in that it said Murray, but during the game. And then proving that he still has it 11 to be too low of a rank and he'll just go on and do his thing and prove it to be too low of a rank during the regular season too. Yeah, they haven't released 10 through one. I believe that comes next week just ahead of the start of the regular season, but I'll tell you right now, I understand there's a lot of talented players in the NHL and the NHL is flushed with high end talent, not just talented players, but superstars at the current moment. But I have a hard time believing he is not in the top 10 at the very least and I understand that's kind of mincing words here with 11 versus top 10. But to be honest, I have a hard time believing he's not top five in the National Hockey League. And I'm sure any general manager, coach, team player, if you ask him, hey, you need to win one game who you take and Crosby is going to be within their first five answers. 100% every single day. So I thought it was hilarious that that came out and I said, wow, 11 is a is an interesting number. And then he goes out there and puts up two goals again in a preseason game. So you don't take too much stock into it, but nice to see Sid and especially the way he's scoring goals there, he's going to the front of that. He's redirecting pucks. He's doing Sydney Crosby things in his debut, which you love to see going into year 20. So not much to take out of it, but a nice performance by both Crosby and Mulcan to kick off their preseason as they should. Both be in action. They're both scheduled to be on the roster for tonight's preseason game against the Detroit Red Wings back at PPG Paints Arena. This episode is brought to you by all state. Some people just know they could save hundreds on car insurance by checking all state 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 all state first for quote that could save you hundreds. You're in good hands with all state savings vary terms apply all state fire and casualty insurance company and affiliates Northbrook, Illinois. Let's move over and talk a little bit about some injuries, which is not what you want to be talking about before the season even starts, right? I mean, to me, it's starting to get a little concerning when you look at the number of injuries and who's getting injured. Blake Lozot was hitting the head with a puck in Sudbury on Sunday night. He was on the bench on suspecting because of course that arena was configured a little bit differently than typical NHL arenas, but he gets hit in the head with a puck. He's still being evaluated. He had a doctor's appointment yesterday, unsure of his status going forward. And then Alex Nadelkovich last night, lower body injury leaves the game after five minutes. He stopped the game by shoving the net off its moorings and then leaving the ice and going down the tunnel and not being seen from again again, lower body injury, uncertain of his status was being evaluated according to Mike Sullivan after the game. Last night we'll find out more potentially today, more than likely tomorrow or the following day because sometimes it takes a while for them to get evaluated. But how much of these injuries do you put on the preseason schedule? The Penguins have seven preseason games this year and five in six days during this stretch. I don't know how much stock I put the games themselves into these injuries, but I mean we'll get into the discussion. It's a bit ridiculous how many injuries are currently throughout the NHL right now during these preseason games and it's less than the Blake Lazat one's unfortunate, just the way that there was an odd, there's an awkward setup or different setup with that rank unsuspecting of something like that and I remember watching that game thing. It is so wild seeing a professional game get played at one of the ranks where the benches are on opposite sides, that deep in the zone and an unfortunate outcome hopefully isn't anything serious. I mean, for what it's worth, you can play through scars on your face, but it just depends on exactly what happened here and anything extra. I didn't see any of that game, so I can't get too deep into the weeds about what happened. Like you said though, I mean, stopping play on your own by one way or the other and I guess we don't really know if he was limped or helped down the runway, but lower body possibly non-contact. That's a tough thing to see right away. We don't know what the outcome will be there. So like I said, we'll get into our opinions on the preseason soon, but as of right now I think I would say, I mean, these injuries are occurring in the preseason. That's, I'm going to place a little bit of blame on the preseason itself. Yeah, on Nadelkovich, it did look like a non-contact injury. Now gold tenders, it's a little bit different because they're going down and getting back up several times throughout a game, but there wasn't any contact really with him in the net. There wasn't any awkward saves from what I saw because I saw it live and you had told me already because I watched it about a half hour behind everybody because I was finishing up some stuff around the house and you text me and said, Oh, well, Nadelkovich going down is not good. And I was like, well, I didn't start the game yet. So I'll keep an eye out for that. Didn't see anything that I was like, Oh, there it was. And then all of a sudden the net goes off and I'm like, wait, did he just leave and, you know, obviously those who were watching on the penguins website, it was the red wings coverage where they would just go to replays in the middle of play. They didn't know that Nadelkovich had left the game for a solid 15 minutes. So you could tell that he was going off the ice whenever he knocked it off its mornings. But from what it appears to be a non-contact injury, that's never a good thing with lower body injuries. You're just hoping that maybe it's something tweaked again. This is all speculative. We'll have to wait and see what Mike Sullivan says as of right now. He's still being evaluated, but you hate to see a goaltender go down, especially a goaltender like Nadelkovich who was coming back for his second season in Pittsburgh that the penguins. Let's face it might need to be a one A at some point this season because of how Tristan Jari's last couple of years have went. So you obviously hope for a speedy recovery there. Your Blancfist looked great in relief against an NHL roster that the Detroit Red Wings throughout there. So maybe that's the next, you know, next logical step for the penguins is go with the young guy early in the season. But that's a discussion for whenever we find out the actual timetable for Nadelkovich's injury as far as the preseason again, not much injuries happen no matter what type of game you're playing and it's unfortunate that it happened. But seven games is ridiculous. Eight games is 10% of the regular season. You don't need to be playing an extra 10% of an 82 game schedule just in the preseason. Now I understand most if not all of these players are not playing in all seven games. But I honestly think the penguins and the individual teams are better off holding practices and air squad scrimmages because these players that you're trying to develop or you're trying to get a good grasp of what they are before you send them back to their respective team, whether it be the minors or juniors or college. They see more and they get more work and practice than they will in a preseason game. So because of that and because of the fact that you look at some of these injuries around the league, Drew Dowdy going down, he's going to be out for several months. Patrick line a season might be over depending on how that turns out. We're hoping it's not the ACL. If it is, he's probably done for the season after what he's been through just to get to Montreal. It's horrible. But with these injuries and the fact that seven is already a ridiculous number, I think a lot of people are all in agreement that the preseason needs to be reduced. And there's still even more more to that. I mean, there was almost knee land there. Yeah. The Maple Leafs dodged a bullet there. He's okay. So far, they get hurt in that same game, though, they're now former captain. It was day to day, but in nothing serious. But again, it's something that happened at all. It's the way the list of injuries is growing across the NHL from the Dowdy situation is just unfortunate. It hate to see just an absolute accident like that. But I mean, knee land, there's already been all kinds of actual discussion being had about should Cedric Perry have even stuck his knee out the way he did. Why were those two on the ice at the same time in the first place? There's all kinds of discussions that are happening about it. And absolutely, it should come at the outcome of reducing the preseason. I mean, these guys play 82 games, which is a ton. I don't even know if you need to play 82 regular season games, to be so honest. But eight, seven to eight preseason games, half of that, give me three to four. And then you should, if you can't figure out your team at three to four preseason games, plus all the practice you already do, scrimmaging you already do with yourselves, then maybe you shouldn't be in the coaching, it shouldn't be coaching. There's all kinds of time to figure out your lineup heading into a season without any preseason games. We sit here all summer seeing the players that each team gets and start building lineups in our head. That's essentially what is going to end up happening. The predictions that me and you give well before preseason starts or training camp starts are pretty much what the lineup is going to look like. You know who is an NHL player before anyone steps foot on the ice. Now you do need time and some ice time to see if people improve or you know, or decline. And that's what a couple of preseason games will do. You don't need seven to eight. If you want to do three preseason games and two of them are specialty like going to Sudbury, going to Johnstown, going to I think the big Utah and St. Louis did a game in Iowa. Just do those, just do those, that's fine. Maybe you get one home game, like figure out a way that it's here's some specialty preseason games in unfamiliar territories and then you get one home game and then back to the season because you don't need all this. There's too many star players getting hurt. Again, injuries happen in the regular season, at least those games mean something. At least they kind of got hurt trying a bit more. These guys also don't get paid for preseason. Your daddy just got hurt for nothing. I mean, millions of dollars are coming to them, but you get the idea of technically they're not getting paid for those games. Mm hmm. Yeah. I think preferably three. You said three to four. I had three to four down here too, but preferably three. I mean, switch off because we know why it's not going to, right? It's going to take some, I mean, this preseason might be the straw that broke the camel's back with line A and dowdy and obviously those are the two major ones potentially knee lander. That was a scary situation, but we know why they're not going to because it's money because they're trying to add as many home games, opportunities for ticket sales as possible because this is a gate driven league. So they're going to keep these preseason games, even though they shouldn't. I think if you go down to three and then you split it in half, hey, this year you have two home games next year, you have two away games. That's the only fair way to do it. I think they should do it that way simply because again, nobody needs all of these preseason games. They don't need them to figure out what they have in these players. If you're trying to figure out what you have in prospects, guess what? Do prospects challenges like Buffalo does? You learn a lot about those players and what they look like against competition that's right around them. So I agree with you. I think you need to reduce it down to three or four. I just think it's unnecessary. And even, you know, I mentioned at the top of this, the penguins are playing five in six days. That's with the reschedule, but at the same time that changed it from five and seven days. So how different is it really because of the game that got postponed, dude, the penguins having playing trouble? So it just feels like it's unnecessary, the amount of preseason games you have, and it does feel like a money thing. And that's the NHL. They're always going to go with the almighty dollar first, but as far as player safety as far as just the need and the necessity of it, I just, I don't think that you need that many. No, it's, I mean, whenever a game, if a preseason game gets postponed for travel issues or we're seeing down south right now, all the hurricane damages and all, all those gains getting postponed, just cancel those. You don't need to play those. They're preseason. It's, it's gate driven. First of all, you ever been to a preseason game? No one's there. Yeah. You're not making, you're not losing out on too much money. And if you have to cancel it, if that ends up being the case, like you mentioned, give your fans vouchers to come back later in the season, because guess what, you might not make as much money on that ticket, but you're still going to make all the money on concessions, which is ridiculous. Unless you go to Utah, you're still going to make all that money on merchandising, which again, is a lot of money even in Utah. They, they came out with a one year edition sweater to make all their fans open up their wallet. So I think that's kind of a makeup, but you know, I just think that seven is either way, even if you spread it out, seven is a ridiculous number of preseason games that it needs to be reduced. That's the hockey hunger, you get the hockey hungry towns, they'll sell those out, like Toronto will sell out their preseason, no doubt. Montreal same thing, but at the same time, I mean, mostly because when it comes to teams like Toronto Montreal, that their regular season ticket prices obscene. Yeah, are they? So they really need those extra three nights. So I think at least, no, but what you can do, but like they lower the prices for the preseason and then it's a little bit more of a family function for that situation. So I get why like those teams will still have gate. Absolutely. Yeah. But penguins, hockey town for sure, those preseason games don't sell well. Detroit used to give out a free game for kids. Remember that? Yeah. Free game. Tonight is pucks and paws for the first time, which tells you they're really just trying to get anybody into that arena as they can in a preseason game. If my dogs did well around other dogs, I'd be going. Last night in Detroit, it's they literally have the moniker of hockey town. They printed on the ice back in the day. Yeah, they had a lot of empty seats last night, a lot of empty seats. It was a rescheduled game, but yeah, it's no one's going to these games. Well, let's not try and act like people care thoroughly about preseason. Yeah. Um, let's, let's move over and talk about kind of the biggest injury of the mall, which is an injury that didn't occur in a preseason game because it occurred before the preseason even began. And that's Eric Carlson. We are eight days shy of the beginning of the regular season and he has yet to skate with the team at all. He's rehabbing an upper body injury. He's been day to day now for two weeks. Here's what Mike Sullivan had to say yesterday on the status of Eric Carlson, quote, he did not skate today. He was rehabbing off the ice. He's going through the process. Some of it's going to entail on the ice. Some of it's going to be off of the ice. We'll let you know when his status changes. Again, that's Mike Sullivan addressing Eric Carlson's status to reporters yesterday in Pittsburgh. Or while his status hasn't changed in two weeks, he's remains day to day. Does it concern you though that he hasn't practiced with the team one week shy of the opening of the regular season? Again, I don't, I don't think it's concerning me and part of why it's not is because the amount of injuries that are piling up in the preseason. I almost don't want to see Eric Carlson get a preseason game in if, especially if he is hampered with something and they said he should be good to go for the start of the regular season. Okay, well, if that's the case, hold him until then, like do what every team does for the playoffs. I know it's not the same situation obviously, but hold him out, keep him off your cap. Once the games matter, bring him back because seeing the way guys are getting hurt in the preseason, the last thing you want is whatever is ailing Carlson to get re-aggravated during a meaningless game. So I'm not overly concerned yet. I think they're doing their due diligence, they're all, they keep saying this is all part of the process. Again, if it means he misses all the preseason games, so what I'm not worried about it seeing what's going on here, bubble wrap the stars for, for the time being really it's, it's a, just something to monitor if, if he needs, if he needs the first three, four games of the regular season to kind of get up to speed, so be it as long as he is fully healthy and able to still perform. I can't even remember what they said if it was lower upper body now, I know they lower. Okay. Oh, wait. See, yeah, they said it when it first, never they first. It's an upper body injury. Sorry. Okay. You're good. I just don't think they've come back to it, but it just fascinating to sit around and wait just, I'm not overly concerned yet. I do want to see him skate with his teammates eventually though, just when it comes to the preseason stuff, not worried as for skating with his team, that'd be nice to see soon. Yeah. I am concerned. I'm starting to get concerned and it's not because he hasn't played in the preseason game. As I mentioned, I don't care about preseason games. I don't think they do as much for the players as practice does. That's what concerns me. Not ruin the season concern, not ruin his season concern, but more of a he's bound to start a little bit slow for the season concerned, right? The thing let's have preseason games in three of the next four days. I have a hard time believing when he hasn't practiced with the team, they're going to just throw them out there for a preseason game. So he's probably not going to get a lot of reps leading up to game one, which Mike Sullivan last week said, you know, there's not as much concern that he's going to miss game one. We'll see because he hasn't had that practice. Now he could have practice after the preseason schedule concludes over the weekend and in the beginning of next week, but still how much time, how many reps is he going to get? Because I know that he's probably playing with Marcus Patterson. I know that he's probably playing in a system that he's comfortable with, not just being year two in Pittsburgh, but being under David Quinn now. But at the same time, there are a lot of new faces on this team, especially in the bottom six, that you need to build a little bit of a rapport with. I feel like this is starting to become a, if he gets off to a slow start, it wouldn't be surprising type of thing with Eric Carlson. He's been day to day. He's been skating, but he hasn't been with skating. He hasn't skated with the team in two weeks. Match that with the fact that the Penguins do not have an easy schedule to start the season 12 games in the month of October, including two back to backs, first of which is the first and second game of the season, Wednesday and Thursday of next week. They also throw in the Western Canada road trip, which is not always an easy thing early in the season. Do he's just going to have to hop on a moving train and the Penguins themselves can't afford a slow start for their team. And if their star defenseman is off to a slow start, it's going to make it harder for the Penguins to get off to a hot start as a whole. I mean, you look at last year, they were eighth in the Metropolitan Division by November 1st, not a good start. The year prior to that, they were seventh in the Metropolitan Division by November 1st, not a good start in both of those seasons. Where did the Penguins end up missing the playoffs? Now by one point two years ago and by three points last year, I understand that they made it close in the end, but slow starts, those points early in the season can end up costing you in the long run. That's why I'm starting to get a little concerned because if he's going to miss all this time and he's not going to get a lot of reps with his team, he's probably more than likely going to start slow. And that can only lead to a struggle for the Penguins on the back end. Yeah, absolutely. I can see how a slow start might, that might be of concern for sure. And all 82 games matter. You might need those points early in the season to have banked in for that stretch. And yeah, you don't want to, not at any point do you want to be that low in the standings. So it might be a slow start. But again, just I'm hoping for the best and hoping that this process is just part of the process and he should be up to speed relatively quickly. You hope so too, whenever he is a superstar talent like that, that yeah, there might be a slow start, but with who it is, that might only be a game or two to three. Yeah. Yeah, there's a, there's a large possibility that I'm overreacting and he'll be fine and he'll get off to a hot start like he was expected to do right coming into year two. We had high expectations, but if he struggles for those first 12 games, because he's trying to get his feet underneath them, he's trying to build a chemistry with guys like Kevin Hayes, guys like Cody Glass or Blake Lazad or whoever it ends up being, you know, it could affect the Penguins when it comes to wins and losses. And if, you know, how many times this summer did we look back and say, man, if only they would have gotten at least one point out of that Anaheim game or they could have actually scored on that five on three in that Anaheim game, which was in the first week of last season. They could have changed the entire year. You're hoping one of those instances don't happen again here in those 12 games that happen between October 9th and October 31st. So again, I might be overreacting, but leading up to this point, we consistently said it's not concerning yet. It's not concerning yet. Today is the day that I'm starting to say, looking around at what we're looking at, I'm starting to get a little concerned. Hopefully it's concerned just on my part and it's concerned that is completely unwarranted, but that remains to be seen. We got to see Carlson get on the ice. We got to see him practice with his teammates. And we got to see, you know, how the next week plays out before the opener on October 9th. Let's finish off this show with our weekly Pence poll, a fun one today because I always want to get people's opinion on what they've seen so far in the preseason, where two weeks into this thing, more if you add on the prospects challenge up in Buffalo. The question was, which penguins player has surprised you the most throughout this preseason? Cody Glass was the winner in this one. 43% of the votes. Owen Pickering, first rounder from a couple of years prior had 30% of the vote. Tristan Brows had 15% of the vote and other had 12. We had a handful of names thrown out there. Philip Larson was thrown out by Matt Cole on Twitter, Jeff Taylor, friend of the show. I got to tell you, Jeff, there are two hazes on the Pittsburgh penguins. I had imagined he's talking about Kevin, but it could have also been about Avery. I'm going to say probably Kevin, but also Avery Hayes has looked good in spurts as well. And then overwhelming majority of the other responses were second round pick 18 year old defenseman, Harrison Brunick, Jared, Matt, David, Kelsey, Sir Matt's of the hockey news even responded and said the 18 year old who played with the regulars on Sunday is looking pretty good. So Horwatt, when I say all of these names, which penguins player has surprised you the most this preseason? I'll piggyback off of the Harrison Brunick answer just because really I haven't seen enough to give a full fledged answer, but from what I've been seeing, he's looked like pretty at home, pretty steady in terms of being an 18 year old in his first big time training camp and is still sticking around, maybe getting a chance at one of those quick stints in NHL to see what they have. Again, that's a doubtful situation, but still a possibility, especially if Eric Carlson is not healthy and ready to go. We'll see where the things fly. I like that the penguins have another defensive prospect that can possibly go into something looking good early on in his tenure. Looking useful early on as tenure and setting up a good base to build on, especially since so far, he seems to be doing more than what Owen Pickering was able to do in his first couple of years in the in the system. Well and training camps, Owen Pickering wasn't healthy, but Harrison Brunick still I'd say for the most part. Well, yeah, I mean, Harrison Brunick, I think is having as good of a training camp as you can have directly after being drafted. He's 18 years old and the kid, like I mentioned, did not look out of place on Sunday. And guess what? He earned the opportunity to be on the roster again tonight when it is mostly NHL regulars again for the Pittsburgh Penguins. So clearly the penguins are taking notice of his performance as well. I think it's great to see him go out there and do that. And like you mentioned, build the base, build the foundation from which to grow upon when you're going through the system because I think most people expect him to go back to Cam Loops of the WHL, I think that's a foregone conclusion. But he's outlasted guys like Sergei Merschoff, who were big this offseason who got sent down yesterday to Wilkes-Bears-Gren. He outlasted Tanner Howe, who had dealt with a couple injuries in Pittsburgh is now dealing with an injury back in Regina as he was getting ready for the season up there. So hopefully a speedy recovery for the other penguins second rounder of this year. But Brunick has stuck around late into the preseason and is getting opportunities with the top guys. I don't think that that is something that should be taken lightly. It's not something that should be overreacted too, but it's certainly a nice feather in the cap for Brunick. But I'm going to go with Cody Glass, the overwhelming majority winner of this poll coming into the preseason. I didn't really know what to expect from Cody Glass. I didn't know how the penguins felt about Cody Glass again. They traded for him, but it was one of those cap dump trades on the other side where the predators just wanted that salary off the books. And the penguins said, "Hey, you tossed us a draft pick and we'll take the salary off the books." But they also got a player that I think could be really good for them this year. Again, preseason performance is preseason performance, but he has the legs. He's always around the puck and he's had a couple of opportunities to score. I like what I've seen from Cody Glass and coming into training camp, I should say. It was, is it Paul Yarvey? Is it Postenin? Is it Potomarev? Is it Koivunin? I didn't really think much about Cody Glass in that third line right wing spot, but I'm starting to think he's kind of the perfect guy to put there. Now, Paul Yarvey is having an outstanding training camp and an outstanding preseason. He was the best player on the ice for the penguins all night last night. He was a, I believe a plus three. He tacked on an assist, but he was all over the ice last night creating for the penguins. So it might go to Paul Yarvey and that is just, but I like what I've seen from Cody Glass and I'm very excited to see how his season progresses from here because he's off to a really good start and black and gold. Yeah, to be tough to start, you know, lining up how things are going to go for this team. It's a good problem to have whenever all of these players are impressing that training camp and in the preseason, just a matter of putting out the best options. And so far, everyone's giving like, solving some tough decisions to make and that's exactly what you want to see from these, from these names specifically at this point of the preseason as well. Yeah. And I think that's where I want to close things off is with Tristan Bros. He got 15% of the vote here. He's been really impressive every time he's been out there on the ice collecting a lot of points at the prospects challenge. I believe he notched multiple points in his preseason debut. He didn't get any last night, but I thought his first period was very good. He was also pretty good in the third period as well. He's not a guy that I expected coming into this season to get any NHL playing time. I thought that, hey, he's going to have to adjust to the professional game before he's able to kind of climb the ranks, but I can tell you right now, if I'm putting out an organizational depth chart, he's impressed me more than pool and so I might put him above pool and of course you have to see how things progress when the regular season starts, who's playing well, that all determines who's going to get a call up if injuries do happen. But I think Bros is somebody that has opened my eyes a lot in this preseason again. It is preseason, but it's certainly putting him on a much higher level than I expected to put him to start his first professional season. So I've liked what I've seen from Bros, loved what I've seen from Cody Glass and also what we've seen from Harrison Brunick, a good shout out to Matt Meager, David Cole, sorry, Matt Cole, I might've messed this up. I think it's David Cole, Matt Meager, Kelsey Sirmats and Jared on Twitter. So I don't have the last names here. I'm just doing that off of memory. The only one I know is certainly Kelsey, but I think it's definitely Matt Meager too because he interacts a lot. But all these players performing well in the preseason, never bad thing like you mentioned or what, but that's going to do it for this episode of the tip of the iceberg. Thank you guys so much for tuning into this one. Remember, you can find us on YouTube at tip of the iceberg. Make sure you like this video, share, subscribe, all that fun stuff, or you can find us anywhere you get your podcast from. We'll see you guys next time. (upbeat music) (upbeat music)
