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Speed slower above 40 gigabytes of detail. 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. Make sure you like, you share, and you subscribe, or you can find us anywhere. You get your podcast from busy show today as we get closer and closer one week away from the opening of the 2024-25 NHL regular season. Got plenty to talk about considering the preseason. Penguins just finished a stretch of three games in three days. We'll dive into what I saw in all three of those games. Talk a little bit about rookie defenseman Harrison Brunick, a little bit about another Penguins draft pick that is not playing so hot, and then we'll dive into three stars and some injury updates from Cranberry earlier today. Let's start with a recap because it's been a busy week for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Now they did they were supposed to, I should say. They were supposed to have a day off on Monday, but because of travel issues, it ended up being five preseason games in six days. They played three in the last three. They have today off. They had practice at UPMC, Lemieux Complex in Cranberry, and then they have a back-to-back on Thursday and Friday to close out the preseason slate. Let's start by talking about Hockeyville on a Sudbury Sunday night. The Penguins take down the Ottawa Senators by a final score of five to two. They got off to a slow start and whenever you saw that, especially against the Senators, it kind of just looked like every game against the Senators has looked over the past two, three seasons. The Senators come in with a lot of young, fast talent and the Penguins, they couldn't keep up early on it. Again, it looked like these Penns vs. Cens match-ups that we've seen for the last handful of years, but then picked it up. Second period were a little bit better. Started getting the puck in the back of the net, beating Anton Forsberg. Third period continued to do more of the same, and instead of taking a lead and sitting on the lead, they actually went out there and they added to it, which is a nice thing to see, even though it is just preseason. But the big boys filled the back of the net for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Sydney Crosby scores two goals. Evgeny Malkin scores a hat trick and tax on and assists for all five goals for the Pittsburgh Penguins. A good night for the big boys in their NHL preseason debut, or I should say their season debut in the preseason here. And I wanted to highlight a couple of performances when it comes to prospects in this game. First and foremost, a name that we're going to talk about extensively on today's show. Harrison Brunick looked really good. I thought it was awesome that the Penguins were giving him that opportunity on Sunday to go out there, him and Pickering, to go out there with a majority NHL lineup on the Penn side against a majority NHL lineup on the Ottawa Senator's side. And not only did, I'll say both Pickering and Brunick look like they could hack it, but they looked like they were comfortable at that position against that level of play again. It's preseason. It's not necessarily what you would see in a week's time or in two weeks time, but it's still going up against NHLers. And in a heated contest like we saw on Sunday, Brunick certainly looked like he fit right in and Pickering, I think looked good as well. The other name that I want to mention here is Sam Poolan. This is a big year for Sam Poolan. The 2019 first round pick has only played in six NHL games to this point in his career. And it was kind of looked at coming into camp as a maker break season for Sam Poolan. Are you going to become an everyday NHLer this year? Are you going to continue to just be that tweener that is really good at the AHL level? Struggles with injuries and doesn't quite get enough opportunity and doesn't quite hack it when he gets called up to the big leagues. He didn't look great on Sunday. It's one bad game. It shouldn't be the end all be all for Sam Poolan this year, but with the amount of competition that we're seeing in the Penguins Organization that we will continue to see within the Penguins Organization. That's the type of performance that's going to make you lose points and also could potentially move you down the organizational depth chart. He was out muscled on several occasions, which if you know anything about Sam Poolan, that's supposed to be his bread and butter. That's supposed to be the thing that he can rely on when it comes to playing down low in the offensive zone, but he was out muscled. He was pushed off pucks. He was pushed off his skates on a couple of occasions when it wasn't a big body check. He was just, he was just out muscled. And that's not what you want to see from Sam Poolan. Then of course, everything that happened in the third period when things got chippy. Poolan didn't want to fight. He was going up against somebody that did want to fight and he eventually got ragged old enough that he dropped one glove and they wrestled down to the ground and the ice and he ends up going off the ice and that's the end we see of Sam Poolan that night. Not a great one. I'd like to see him getting another opportunity here in the next two days. If not, he's definitely not making the opening night roster. So he's going to get placed on waivers. Maybe it's the end. Maybe he gets claimed by another team. I would have to imagine that if he gets placed on waivers, he ends up clearing, especially at this point of the season and he ends up starting the year with the Wilkes-Barrish Grant and Penguins. Again, not the end all be all. He can go back to Wilkes-Barr and do what he did last year, which is earn his call ups. He performed very well last year when he was healthy down at the AHL level. He can go down there, do it again and potentially make his way back up the organizational depth chart, but I think he's lost a couple of spaces over the course of this preseason. Then Monday night, the Penguins sent out their BTM against the Detroit Red Wings 8 squad. It was mainly AHLers for the Penguins, mainly NHLers for the Detroit Red Wings. Dylan Larkin was in that game. Alex Debrinkett, Patrick Kane, Vladimir Terrasenko, Moritz Cider, Lucas Raymond, all on the ice for the Detroit Red Wings. And all the Penguins, their AHLers, stood tall. They had a really solid performance. Now, the big story coming out of that game, Alex Nadelkovich's injury. And we'll get into all the injury updates that we got from Penguins Camp a little bit later in the show, but he goes down 13 minutes into the game and it wasn't due to any major collision with him in the net. It wasn't right after he makes a save. It was kind of something that you have to go back and say, well, what actually happened? When did he get injured? Because all we saw was him force the net off its moorings and then leave the ice. As of right now, he is weak to weak. We'll talk about a little that a little bit more, but Blancfist comes in, Yo Blancfist, and he was stellar once again. He had a rough start to the preseason in Buffalo when he gave up five goals in the first six minutes of the second period in Buffalo. But after that, he came in for the second half of a game, 11 saves and 11 shots. And then he came in on Monday and he looked really good. A lot of 10 bell saves, really solid with the puck, really solid on his angles and shuts down the big boys from the Detroit Red Wings while the Penguins drew a corner, shows some playmaking ability, gets a goal and an assist. Know that Chari fills the back of the net with two goals, which is almost as many as he had all of last season. So that would be a welcomed addition to the bottom six is a Chari getting some scoring prowess. But again, preseason, I continue to harp on that fact. We like looking at some of these individual performances, but it was a good night for the penguins in Motown. McGroid, he gets a nice assist on one of those Chari goals. And then pull yarvey, we'll talk about him. I'll just say pull yarvey for a little bit later. And then the last game of the week, penguins lose two to one to the Red Wings B team while putting out their A team. You hate to see that, but at the same time, the Penguins got goalie by Ville Huso. Huso had a lot of injury issues last year. He's hoping to have a better year this season. And he looked really good. I mean, either that or, you know, the history, Penguins make goalies look really good. But I think they dominated the majority of that game as you should, whenever it's something like that. But, you know, it was really a game of the old and new. The old was the second line looking really good in this one. Michael Bunting, Evgeny Malkin, and Ricard Ricall. They looked to have picked up right where they left off last season. And that's a great sign if you're a Pittsburgh Penguins fan. And then the other thing, Harrison Brunick again, Owen Pickering looked pretty good, was able to kind of float into the background for large portions of the game, which is what you want to see from a defenseman, especially a defenseman that, you know, you're hoping can adjust to the professional game. But Brunick was not in the background at all. Harrison Brunick was by far the name to watch last night. I think him and Evgeny Malkin were the two best players for the Penguins on the ice last night. And it's back-to-back performances for a guy like Harrison Brunick, who, if you look around, he's the only junior player left in Penguins game. The rest of them have all been sent back. Tanner Howe, unfortunate. We're hoping for a speedy recovery for him. He went back to Regina, and he got injured in the second game, or first game, one of the preseason games that he was playing up there. And he has an undisclosed injury. So we're hoping for the best for him, but Brunick was picked right around him. And he is still with the Penguins. And according to Seth Roerba, he is playing this morning and practicing this morning with the main practice group, which listen, I've talked extensively about how I think the preseason is too long. I think that they have too many games. And that's why they, for the most part, have kept so many names on this roster and haven't made a lot of roster cuts yet. But if Brunick after the last couple of days is still practicing with the main group, maybe there's something to it here. I was talking with a friend of the show, Doug Gladkey of four checking TV last night via text message throughout that game. We were both baffled at how good this kid continues to look. And he said, maybe he earns that nine game sample size. And it might be the opportunity for him. I mean, he's a right shot defense man. And coming into preseason, the right side was pretty much set. It was Eric Carlson, Chris Latang, and one of Jackson Ivani or Sebastian Ajo. Now, Jackson Ivani has also been very good. We've talked about that in the past. He's practically earned that spot because he's been so solid throughout all of camp. But with Eric Carlson having yet to practice now, Carlson expects to play in the opener. Mike Sullivan has said nothing but expecting Carlson to play in the opener. But if he's not ready, why not give Brunick an opportunity? I mean, who was he playing with last night? Marcus Patterson, who did he create one of the best scoring chances of the game with last night? Marcus Patterson. So I'm not saying that it's a likely scenario, but the door is most definitely open. And all of the things might have fallen into the perfect place for Harrison Brunick to get a couple of NHL games. Now, is he going to be able to play as well as he has over in the preseason? Once the regular season starts and the president's trophy winners from last year come into town on October 9th, and you take on the New York Rangers and you're going up against our Temi Panerin and the opener. Is he going to be able to continue this pace of play? I don't know. But nothing that he has shown in the last couple of weeks has said that he wouldn't. So I've been very impressed with him and maybe just maybe he sticks around for a couple more weeks and he sticks around through most of October as he gets that nine game sample size before they decide to send it back to the WHL again. A lot of that is incumbent upon where is Eric Carlson. But if you don't want to rush him back because he hasn't practiced with the team yet, the team isn't practicing the next two days. They have preseason games. So Carlson would only have four days of practice before ramping up and getting ready to go play the first game of the NHL season. Maybe you try to protect him a little bit more and you give Brunick that opportunity. It might not be the full nine game sample size, but maybe you give him the first two. Maybe you give him the first five. The reason we point out nine is because once he plays that 10th game, he has to stay on the NHL roster for the season. I think that is definitely out of the question. I know that is definitely not happening, but there is a conversation to be had about whether or not he deserves to get that first cup of coffee at the age of 18, which is ridiculous for a defense man, but whether or not he deserves to get that first cup of coffee in the NHL this month. Now, those are three games that a lot of standout players. And that's what we do in preseason. We look at individual performances. We don't look at team performances, but it's nice to see them get on the winning track, even though it's preseason with a two and one record here over the last three days up next for them. Like I mentioned earlier, closing out the preseason schedule at Columbus tomorrow versus Columbus on Friday with a back to back a home and home. And then four days off and the regular season begins. So we're right up against it. We're right up against it. And unfortunately for the penguins, they're right up against it with a whole batch of injuries. This again, according to Seth Roarabaugh says the penguins sent out a bunch of injuries here. Brian Russ didn't practice today. It was a maintenance day. So nothing to worry about there. Vasili Potamara, who left last night's game due to an injury is day to day with an upper body injury, Blake Lazat, who was hit in the head with a puck at hockeyville has been diagnosed with a concussion further updates will be provided when appropriate. And the big one, Alex Nadellkovich week to week with a lower body injury. So Nadellkovich will not be ready for the start of the NHL season, which brings into question. Who's your backup on day one? Tristan Jari will now undoubtedly start on Wednesday against the New York Rangers, but are you going to have him play back to back games to open up the season? Are you going to have him play the first potentially five, six games of the year with the delkovich on the shelf? Now again, who knows how long week to week actually is. We obviously had no update on Eric Carlson. He's been day to day for the past two weeks. So it's a touch and go situation. The fact that it was a non-contact injury does make me a little bit worried about Alex Nadellkovich. But at the same time, it seems as if he's going to miss a couple of games at the very least to start the season. So who's backup? If I'm given a vote, I'm voting for Joel Blancfist. I think that even though he had a rough start, even though he gave up those five goals in six minutes against the Buffalo Sabres, he's bounced back and look really good over his last two outings. Like I mentioned, 11 saves on 11 shots in his second outing. And then on Monday night, when he came in for the delkovich, stellar, fantastic, amazing performance from Joel Blancfist. When you look at the schedule to start the season at home against Washington next Wednesday, at Detroit next Thursday, Blancfist just looked really good against that team specifically. Does he get his NHL debut against that team in the second game of the season? That's where I have my vote. That's something to keep your eyes on over the next seven days, because the Penguins could be without one of their two starting goal tenders. And it might be the perfect opportunity for Blancfist to get his first taste of NHL hockey in the regular season. Let's move over to the three stars of the week before getting to all of your questions. Thank you guys so much for tuning in live on the tip of the iceberg. But here are my three stars of the week for the third week of the NHL preseason. Number three, go on with a guy that was number one last week. I'm going to go with Yessa Pooleyarvey. He played in one game over this past week, didn't score a goal, but he did notch and assist on Monday evening against the Detroit Red Wings. Now, why is that make him the third star of the week? Crosby had two goals. You could have put him in here. Oh, and Pickering looked good. You could have put him in here. Joe Blancfist looked good. You could have put him in here. There were a lot of candidates this week for the three stars of the week. But I put pull yarvey in here because that was his second preseason game this year. And for the second time, he was the best Pittsburgh Penguin on the ice. He didn't score a goal and assist like Drew O'Connor did. He could have also been in here. He didn't score two goals like Nolichari did, but he was the best player on the ice in Mondays, five to one victory for the Penguins. He was physical. His skating stride looked very good. And he created numerous chances for the Penguins. You could tell that he was a step above a lot of the players that the Penguins throughout there on Monday. And because he was a guy that came into camp with his spot in question, I think he has unequivocally answered that. And he should be given the opportunity to start the season with the NHL club. So third star of the week goes to yes, a pull yarvey. Second star of the week, we're going with the guy that we've talked ad nauseam about throughout this entire episode. Harrison Brunick, two games played, got an assist, but this kid has just really impressed, not just me, not just the Penguins, but really everybody. He has been all over Penguin social media. He has grabbed the attention and grabbed the imagination of everybody that is looking at this kid and saying, wow, the Penguins, they might not have a deep prospect pool specifically at the defensive position. But Brunick is certainly one that is going to be a highlight for years to come. He's looked really good. 18 years old, and he already looks like he's comfortable playing up with the big boys. He got that opportunity on Sunday. He got that opportunity on Tuesday. And now he's still getting that opportunity on Wednesday. Will he get some chances on Thursday and Friday in those preseason games? Potentially. Will he get those chances when the regular season starts and he could have a nine game sample size potentially, but he certainly looks like he fits well. And man, he looked good with Marcus Patterson too. He's not just an offensive force, although he does have that touch to his game, but he has been very confident and steady in the defensive zone, killing penalties for the Penguins as well. I've been very impressed with the 18 year old, and I'm excited to see if they give him that opportunity once the regular season begins. And the first star of this week, two games played hat trick, plus an assist. Let's go with Evgeny Malkin had his legs from early on in that first preseason game up in Sudbury. His power play goal was literally passed into the nets, which you don't see, which is something we always complain about that the Penguins power play over passes. And they try to pass the puck into the net. Well, he passed the puck across the ice. It deflects it up and goes in behind Anton Forsberg. I still can't believe that goal went in. It's the antithesis of everything we want to see, because it just kind of allows them to think, Oh, maybe we can score that way. In a serious note, the power play has looked good. He's connected with his line mates. They were the best line on the ice last night as well. So I was very impressed. And I have been very impressed with what I've seen from Evgeny Malkin. So there's the three stars of the week for this week. Yes, a pull yarvey for the second straight week makes his way onto this list. Harrison Brunick goes at number two and Evgeny Malkin rounds things out at number one. So that's a wrap for the recap, the preview of next week, the three stars. Let's finish things off like we always do on Wednesday with all of your questions. I'm going to take a quick break. And when we come back, we're going to answer all of them. 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Welcome back to the tip of the iceberg live your home for Pittsburgh Penguins news and analysis. We talked a lot in that first 20 minutes about Harrison Brunick. I'm sure there's a couple other questions about Brunick here in the comment section, but let's get to those right now and start with Sarah who says, why doesn't Sully just put Drew Connor on Sid's line? I know he wants other younger guys to have some experience, but they need to get ready. Funny enough, O'Connor is younger than Beauvilla, who is right now spending the majority of time with Sidney Crosby. I think Sullivan just wants to get some chemistry built up between a guy like Anthony Beauvilla and a guy like Sidney Crosby, because Beauvilla comes in after playing for three separate organizations last year, you want him to come in, you want him to settle in, and you want to have options to play up there next to Sidney Crosby. We'll get into McGrory because that question was asked several times below, but I think that they're putting Beauvilla with Crosby in this preseason just because they know what it looks like when OC is with Sidney Crosby, and they know that that's a card that they can play at any time. They want to make sure that Crosby gets a little bit more time and a little bit more chemistry built with a guy like Anthony Beauvilla. Chicken Ola King says wasn't Brunick drafted with the pick from the Jake package? I believe that is correct. He was drafted 44th overall. The Penguins had two picks right back next to each other. One of them was theirs. One of them was via the Jake Genssel package. I can't find it right away, but it was one of those two picks either him or Tanner Howe, who is pretty good as well, just was sent back to the WHO already, but yes, Brunick was taken in the second round. Again, one of the two picks either way, they were like two picks apart. Let's go over to Jay, who says with Lezot diagnosed with a concussion, what might the fourth line look like? Would this affect an Eller or a Chari trade or perhaps postpone it? I think a lot of that talk has died down just simply because a lot of the center options for the Penguins have kind of faded into the back because you saw Nolichari is over on the wing. You saw Kevin Hayes playing a lot of time on the wing this preseason. You saw Sam Pooley and take a couple steps back. So because of that, it felt like the trade was kind of pushed onto the back burner. And I think that the fact that Lezot is now out with a concussion, we don't know how long that's going to be. Concussions are hard to predict. I would say that that's even more on the back burner as of right now. So what would the fourth line look like? I would imagine one of Kevin Hayes or Lars Eller becomes that fourth line center. The other one obviously becoming the third line center. A Chari is going to stay on the right wing. That's where they want him this year. That's where he suited best this year. And then on that left wing, I mean, you're looking at guys like potentially, I don't want to say O'Connor. I think O'Connor is a third line option. But you're looking at some of these other fringe NHL guys, a guy like Pooley, a RV that might end up being on that line. So Poston can play third line right wing or maybe McGrory plays third line right wing and it puts Pooley RV down there. But I think it's one of these fringe guys that have all been in competition. Get that opportunity. If Lezot is out and does end up missing some games. Jay has a second one here, which is, do you think McGrory will get one preseason look with Gino or Crosby? Seems like they're really making him earn it. Whereas a guy like Koivunen has gotten some reps with Gino, although it was just in a scrimmage. Yeah, it feels like because I haven't seen McGrory really ever connected with Gino and Crosby when it comes to what they were doing on the ice. We've connected that a lot of times, whether it was on this show or multiple shows, people online, they want to see McGrory to get an opportunity in the top six. But it seems like the Penguins are trying to be very tentative with his development here and they really want to bring him along slowly so they don't push him into the fire a little bit before he's ready. He's been practicing primarily with the bottom six. So I don't think that that changes in the next two games. I think the next two preseason games, if McGrory gets in, which I would expect him to, because he's played a lot of hockey. They've certainly made sure to get him in lineups, whether that be with the A team or with the B team. He's been kind of one of the guys that has bounced between both. I would imagine he gets some opportunities here in the next couple of games, but I don't think that either of them, any of them are going to come with Gino or Crosby. Brandon has another question along these lines, says what's with McGrory not getting any looks in the top six every preseason game he's at the top of the team in terms of offensive analytics. Do we really need to see Bo Villier for 60 minutes next to Sid? You do. You do because McGrory is a young guy and as much as everybody's excited for him, I'm excited for him. And I think that he has a very high ceiling, especially in this rookie year. They're slow playing him, but at the same time, there's a chance he doesn't start at the NHL level this season. There's a chance he goes down to the American hockey league level, gets his feet wet against professionals down there, and then makes the jump up to the NHL. I think that that would be within the first month. If it does happen, but I think there is a chance that it does nonetheless, we do need to see Bo Villier get opportunities there because like it or not, they brought him in to be an integral, maybe not integral, but they brought him in to be a part of this team from game one to game 82. And on that left side, part of that is that you need to be able to move people up and down the lineup. I like Drew O'Connor on the first line. I think that he's a player that is going to once again surpasses career highs. But I also think that Drew O'Connor is probably best fitted for a third line role. If you, if Bo Villier can find success next to Crosby, and you can allow O'Connor to be in that third line role and go up against other third lines, I think he produces a lot more. And I think that elevates your bottom six much more than it has been in recent season. So that's why I think Bo Villier is getting a lot of time. And that's why we need to see Bo Villier get a lot of time. Whereas McGrody, you have time. He signed a three year ELC. He's 20 years old. He's going to be in the NHL this season. You have some time to bring him along and make him into a bonafide top six player. You don't have to rush that process. Pittsburgh Heather wants to know, what do the defense pairs look like? Is it grislic, latang, peterson, Carlson, grave, St. Ivy, went all healthy. Yes. As of right now, with Eric Carlson's health kind of influx. Again, I wouldn't mind seeing Harrison Brunick just plug and play next to Marcus Patterson. I've liked what I've seen from Matt Grislic. It hasn't been perfect, but I think it looks as if he's fitting it well. It looks as if the chemistry is there between him and latang. So early on, early expectations, early thoughts, that's a pairing that has worked so far. Grave St. Ivy. Again, it's going to be a roller coaster with Ryan Graves. Everything I've seen from St. Ivy makes it look like he's as good as he was late last season, which is a great thing for the penguins to have another young defenseman, defensive defenseman, specifically somebody who can play the penalty kill on that right side. And then Patterson and Brunick, I mean, they looked good last night. They looked really good last night. If Carlson isn't ready to go, I haven't liked what I've seen from trying to think Sebastian Ahoe. So I would run it back. I would give a Brunick that opportunity. But when all healthy, yes, that's what I would expect that the defense looks like. Let's go over to Flux CC, who says the bottom six right wing battle is starting to get a tiny bit of separation. Pull your RV over glass overpustin in. Do you agree or do you disagree? I think pull your RV has looked the best between the three of these guys. I would say Cody Glass probably is a close second. Pustin hasn't had the best of pre seasons. He hasn't had the worst of pre seasons either. He's played well, but just not as well as some of these other guys. I would imagine they still put glass up there. Like I mentioned, if Lazade is out, I would imagine pull your V's the one that bumps down to the fourth line and glass is probably the guy that you see start on October 9th on that right side. I've liked what I've seen from from all three of these guys. But again, I agree with you when it comes to performance throughout the pre season and the preseason games. It is pull your RV glass pustin in, but I think it is close between the three of them. And then there's a bit of a chasm underneath. Let's go over to Shane, who says with the way the rookies and younger players are impressing like Brunick, like St. I have any like pull your V who is still fairly young. Do you think they could let them play this season and move some older bottom line players? I think that is the goal to an extent. It's not going to be a hey, we're going to trade all of our older players. But I think one or two end up being on the trade block because they want to make way for some of these young guys, if their performance persists again, it's preseason games. You have to take it with a little bit of a grain of salt. So maybe it doesn't translate when the NHL regular season kicks in. But Brunick has looked good. St. Ivan has looked good. Pull your V has looked good. Do they deserve opportunities once the regular season begins? Yeah, especially a guy like St. Ivan, I think St. Ivan, because of what he's done in this training camp, I think he should be on the NHL roster until he's either traded or doesn't sign another contract. I don't think he should go back to the American hockey league. Brunick, they're not going to move anybody for it because he only has a nine game sample size and they're not keeping him the entire season. I know they did that with Ole Mata about a decade ago, but because of who's on the right side, they're not going to do it with Harrison Brunick. So they're not going to move anybody in favor of Brunick. But again, that opportunity might be opened up if Carlson isn't ready. And as far as Paul Yarvie's concerned, again, you're moving one, maybe two guys, and that's Ella or a Chari. And again, those trades feel like they've been put on the back burner with how the last couple of weeks have played out. Pittsburgh Heather says, "Is Pustoden caught in a wash here or caught in the wash here?" Yeah, a little bit. Like I mentioned, he hasn't performed poorly. There's just other guys that have outperformed them. Paul Yarvie, Cody Glass, Blake Lazat hasn't, but Blake Lazat's not going to get sent down in favor of Valteri Puston. So he's kind of in No Man's Land here. So it might be a situation where does he deserve to be on the NHL roster? Probably. But again, we've been saying this since the outset of camp, there are more players that likely deserve an opportunity in the NHL this year than there are roster spots. And Puston is just a player that might not have earned a roster spot at this point in time. Let's go to Icon who says, "Which players in the competition for a spot in the bottom six don't slash can't penalty kill?" I wouldn't say any of them can't penalty kill because Mike Sullivan will always force people to penalty kill and they might not be great at it, but they'll learn and you have to. If you want to make the NHL, we just had that discussion about Pustoden and doesn't scream penalty killer, right? Pull Yarvi, not much penalty kill. He can. He can, but I wouldn't put him out there for the penalty kill. Whereas a guy like Cody Glass, more than likely, a guy like Blake Lazat, definitely Nolichari is the best penalty killer the Penguins got. Kevin Hayes kills penalties. Lars Aller obviously killed penalties. He was the best or second best him and Achari were the best penalty killers last year. So there's a lot of guys in this bottom six competition that can penalty kill. I guess if you want to throw in, I mean, O'Connor can, if you want to throw in Beauvilla is a bottom six option, I don't know how much penalty killing I could see him doing. Although it's something that you come from the Islanders, you have that defensive background. You have to. And that's probably why Sullivan likes him. It's probably why Sullivan has him in the top six, but I wouldn't see him being one of their first penalty killing options this season. Bradley Vision asks, and this was asked a couple times. Bradley was the first one to ask it. So we'll go with him. Says if the Bruins can't get a deal done with Jeremy Swamin, should the Penguins take a swing with Jari going the other way? That is a fantasy hockey scenario because Jeremy Swamin is young, talented, and it's going to be worth a boatload of money. That contract is not going to be cheap. But at the end of the day, I don't think the Penguins are going to be in on any goalie for goalie one for one swap. And I don't think that the Bruins would be interested in taking on Tristan Jari in his current state with his current contract in favor of a really exciting young player that they're trying to get a deal done with, whether or not they're doing it in the right way, whether or not they're doing it in an effective way. That's a discussion for another day, a different podcast. Excuse me. But I don't think the Penguins would end up being in that scenario. I just don't think that they would end up being in that. And they certainly wouldn't be in that with a one-for-one trade with Tristan Jari. This episode is brought to you by Carmax. Searching for your next car? Tense settle. Thrive. At Carmax, it's easy to shop online or in person. With upfront pricing and tools designed to help, finding a car you love has never been easier. 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But as far as will they trade a Valteri Postonin to get something for them, will they trade a Yesa Pull Yarvi to get something for them? I don't think that that's something that's going to be in his wheelhouse right now because I don't think that's going to be available to him because other teams are going to know you're shopping this player, which means you don't intend to put him on your NHL roster, which means he's going to be on waivers. Why would I give you an asset when I could wait and just put in a waiver claim? Now, you might not get the player, but you're not giving up anything to get a player that the Penguins are already, you know, in a low leverage situation trying to sneak through waivers. So I don't think that'll be the case. I don't think that they'll end up going out and trying to trade one of their young guys just simply because you know, they have to go on waivers, a pull in a pull Yarvi, a Postonin, whoever of those three guys ends up being put on waivers. That's kind of the people you're talking about here. I just don't see the Penguins being able to pull that off because other teams are going to know, hey, you don't have any leverage here. If I wait a couple days, they're going to be on waivers and I'll have a one in 31 shot of being able to pick this player up for free. Pittsburgh Heather says, "Do you see Eller, Achari, and Etc are being available for trade closer to the deadline or will Dubas wave some veterans before the opening night in hopes of cap space?" We answered that second one just before, "As far as will Eller, Achari, Etc be available to the deadline?" I would say by initial reaction is yes, depending upon where the Penguins are at at that point in time. If they're a contending team, if they're a team in the top three of the Metropolitan Division, they're probably not going to trade anybody. It's likely that they won't trade anybody, but if they are in the similar position that they've been in the last two seasons, yeah, Eller could possibly be one of the biggest pieces that they could look to trade. Pedersen is another name that will be very interesting. Will he have a contract by that time or will he still be on the final year of his current contract? He's probably another name that would be out there in discussions. Achari, Kevin Hayes, even if he has a good season. So if they get close to the deadline and they're in a similar position to where they were last year when they traded Jake Genssel, I can definitely see those veterans being available, but as far as waving them before the opening of the season, just to make room for some young guys, I don't see that happening. Pittsburgh fan 412 says, "What happens when Eric Carlson is healthy? Do you scratch Graves if he's struggling still?" No, it's not. I mean, if he's struggling still, you have to figure some answer out, but Eric Carlson being healthy doesn't have an effect on Ryan Graves. They play two different sides. Graves is right now, slotted in as the third pairing left shot defenseman. Eric Carlson, when he comes back as the first pairing right shot defenseman. It'll bump out. Brunick, if he's still here, it'll bump out. Ajo, if he gets the opportunity to get in, it'll bump out a Ryan Shay or a John Ludwig who I think John Ludwig is starting to get to the bottom of that pack with his performance over the last couple of games, but it'll bump one of those guys out. It won't have any effect on Ryan Graves and certainly not early in the season when you're expecting Eric Carlson to come back and be fully healthy. Pittsburgh Heather says, I'll go to the second one because she added a second question. Pittsburgh Heather says, "Will Matt Nieto miss the entirety of the season? If not, where does he fit?" I don't, you would have to imagine he does. I mean, he's going to start the year on LTIR. And if all things are going well with the penguins, there's no need to bring him off LTIR. Again, that's a little shady, but the LTIR rule has been used in that light in multiple occasions across the league. We don't need to go into the history of that. Does he come back this year? Again, I don't, I don't know. Back to back knee surgeries. He hasn't played in over a year. There's going to be a ramp up. I think that starts to come into question around January. And if the penguins need somebody else, if they need somebody on that fourth line, if they need a penalty killer, if injuries happen, yeah, that's where he fits. He's a fourth liner and nothing more. He's a fourth liner and a penalty killer and nothing more. Essentially, if you end up moving on for Machari, you can replace him with Matt Nieto. But again, I'm not sure where he's at. He isn't skating, obviously. And it's going to be a couple months before this even becomes an issue for the Pittsburgh Penguins. But as of right now, he's on LTIR. They didn't say he's going to miss the whole season. They haven't closed the door on that. So, we don't know, but I would find it hard to believe that he's going to end up coming up and playing for the Penguins this year with the amount of competition there is with players that have quite frankly just looked better than what he can provide, especially coming off of a missed year and multiple knee surgeries. Brandon Rickner says is Patterson, our new Jake Gensl this season? And do they wait nearly as long as we did last season to move our best UFA in the seat if the season is going south? Can we still be competitive next year if we do? It gets a lot harder because Patterson is your best defensive defenseman, bar none. But I think it's similar to Jake Gensl in that you're going to wait as long as you did. It's going to be a trade deadline move if you move on for Marcus Patterson. Because I think Kyle Dubas in his current position while he wants to rebuild and stock the cabinet with draft picks and prospects that are close to NHL ready like he did last year with Cuyven and Ponomarev and obviously bringing in a guy like McGrordy who is more NHL ready, which is why that trade happened. Even though he's in that mode, you give this team as long as you can to prove that they're going to make the playoffs. And if they are going to make the playoffs, you don't trade away Marcus Patterson because I feel like Patterson's not a guy that is going to leave if the penguins show that they could still be good over the next couple of seasons. I feel like he's a player that wants to stay in Pittsburgh. It's just my personal opinion. And I think that Dubas will give the penguins and Patterson as long as possible to prove that they're a playoff team this year and they're a playoff team with a little bit of aspirations once they get there before they pull the trigger on that. So if it happens, I think it'll happen later in the season. Gunnar Murphy says thoughts on BOCO imama could see he see some NHL time this year. 100% 100% if they have some injuries and they're going into a matchup against the Rangers, they're going into a matchup against the Bruins. BOCO imama is coming up. Do I think he's going to play over a dozen games? Probably not. But he is a guy that to me looked pretty good on Sunday. I could see him getting some NHL time this year. Again, he would have to surpass a lot of names that are fighting for that position. It's all on really performance. Once the season begins and who's performing well in Wilkesbury because that's how the penguins have done it historically, whoever's playing the best, whatever they need to call up is the guy that's going to get the call up. So if he's playing better than some of these other players, I think he could be called up. And if the players that get injured at the NHL level, a guy like a Nolichari, a guy like a Lars Ellar, but Ellar plays center. So it makes it a little bit different. But a guy like a Chari, a guy like Lezot if he's out for extended periods of time and him almost playing well, you can definitely see him. I would definitely see him making some NHL getting some NHL ice time, I should say. Let's go over to Gunnar Murphy, who says what impact does Blake Lezot make this year? Good penalty killer. He's going to bring some energy to that bottom six, the bottom six that there were times last year that just looked lifeless. I think that's the best way to put it. There were games where it was just all right, well, they didn't give up a goal. I think that's the best you could hope for with these guys. Lezot's going to bring a little bit more of that Brandon Tanev energy. I'm not saying he's one for one Brandon Tanev, but in the similar build, right? He's an energy guy. He's going to create a little bit of offense, not a whole lot of offense, but he's going to kill penalties for you. And I think he's a guy that Penguins fans are going to end up liking. The Penguins obviously thought a lot of him. He was one of the few players that got multi year contract in the offseason. So I think what he brings to this team is a little bit of physicality. He's a spark plug for the bottom line and he's going to kill penalties really well for them. Let's go over to Flux CC who says with the track record so far. Are you taking the over or under on two injuries still to come before opening night? It's crazy. They played three games and three nights. They didn't have the same lineup. So it's not like everybody was playing three games and three nights. And yet they lost a player three consecutive nights. They lost Lazat on Sunday, Nadelkovich on Monday, and Panamare on Tuesday. The way it's going, you might want to just cancel the last two games against this Columbus Bluejack and say, we'll see you on Wednesday against the Rangers, but I'll knock on wood and try to be optimistic and say under Flux. I'll try to be optimistic on this show. Let's finish it off with the Great Wall who says among former or current Penguins players, who does Harrison Brunick most remind you of Jesse Marshall compared him a little bit to John Marino just in such that he looks as good as Marino looked at the beginning of that rookie breakout season. I think they're a little bit different simply because I think Brunick has a little bit more of a higher offensive potential than what John Marino brought. But at the same time, John Marino in that first year had those flashes where you said, man, if he could just do this a little bit more, he's not just a defensive defenseman. He could be a half decent offensive defenseman. That didn't come to pass before he was traded over to the Devils. And I don't think that's come to pass in his time with New Jersey. But I kind of see that with Harrison Brunick. I mean, outside of that, he's kind of a different mold. He does have that offensive skill set, but he is really good. And when you watch him, when the other teams coming out on a rush, he's really good at stick checking. He's really good at taking away space. He's really good with a, I don't want to call it a twitch, but the ability to just kind of get on top of a player that's coming in and shut things down. He did it last night on it was going to be a three on one. It was going to be a partial three on one, I should say, because one of the Penguins defenders was getting back into the zone. But he just took the he took the the puck carrier out of the play and it just shut everything down and they turned the puck over and went the other direction. So I would agree with Jesse. And again, Jesse wasn't making the one for one comparison. He was just saying performance based, there's a lot to like about what you've seen from Brunick, similar to how there was a lot to like about what you saw early on from a John Marino. So if the Penguins can get that and kind of get a do over in that instance, because they gave away Marino and it was, you know, we know how the trade fall out kind of went the last two years. But if they get a do over with somebody like that, I think they'll be very, very happy. And the fact that Brunick is not a high school player, he is a junior or not a high school player, not a college player. He's a junior player means they're going to get him at a younger age as well. 18 years old right now and looking really good for the Pittsburgh Penguins. But that's going to do it for this episode of tip of the iceberg live. We want to make sure that you're tuning in to full episodes of the tip of the iceberg over the next week, because we have a couple of really fun interviews for you guys to get you set for the start of the 2024 25 NHL regular season. But that is it for this one. Make sure you like, share, subscribe on our YouTube channel at tip of the iceberg, or you can find us anywhere you get your podcasts from. We'll see you guys next time.
