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It is a great day for hockey in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The penguins taking on the New York Rangers later this evening to kick off the 2024-25 NHL season. I'm very excited for this game. We're obviously going to preview that as part of today's live stream. We're also going to talk about some of the positive injury news that the penguins got yesterday in practice as well as today. At their morning skate, we'll close out the preseason with our three stars of the preseason as we always do every single Wednesday. We'll answer all of your questions in the lead-up and the build-up to tonight's penguins opener. But before we get started, I want to make sure that everybody has a couple of notes here from our content. First and foremost, if you didn't catch yesterday's interview with the radio voice of the Pittsburgh Penguins Joe Brand, I suggest you go back and listen to that. It was a fantastic sit-down discussion with Joe and his journey to Pittsburgh and why you should be really excited to hear his calls on the Penguins radio network. And then let's fast forward to the future. I know everybody's joined on this live stream right now on tip of the iceberg on YouTube, which shout out to everybody who is live with us right now. But we'll be live again today. Later this evening, Penguins versus Rangers watch along, starting at 7.30 p.m. Eastern. I'll be there watching the game, experiencing the game alongside with you as well as a handful of guests that will be joining me throughout the evening. So make sure you check out the Penguins versus Rangers watch along. Later this evening only on our YouTube channel at the tip of the iceberg. But let's get into the meat of today's episode, which is really just getting excited and amped up for the opening of this season. Like I mentioned, it's been 175 days since the Penguins closed out last year on Long Island. That's Jeff Carter's farewell game. It's feel felt like a very long time and it has been a very long time. So excited to see how the Penguins respond whenever the puck drops at 7.30 on TNT, which quick shout out, it is not going to be on Sportsnet. It's going to be on TNT tonight. So if you weren't already aware of that, now you are. But let's start off with a bit of injury news, which was obviously the title of this episode and positive injury news for the first time. Seemingly all season long, Brian Rust with a lower body injury, as well as Alex Nadelkovich, who also had a lower body injury, skated with the team on Tuesday. Now Nadelkovich's was with the other injured players he left before the formal practice began. But Brian Rust, he stuck around. He skated with the team in a non-contact capacity, practiced on the second power play unit. So some good news for those two players. Rust of course is day to day with that lower body injury, but nice to see him out on the ice yesterday. Nice to see him out on the ice again today for the Penguins morning skate. So with Brian Rust, it appears that it's something that he could be returning from in short order. As far as Alex Nadelkovich is concerned, he is still considered weak to weak with that lower body injury. But nice to see him already back on the ice. I mean, when you look at the Penguins roster and we'll get to the lineup and what you might expect to see later this evening, when you look at the lineup, they need Brian Rust. And that is going to be the biggest question mark with the top six all season long. Can Brian Rust stay healthy to be that number one option next to Sydney Crosby? If you look around, he's probably the guy skill set wise that is far and away. The best winger the Penguins have at their disposal going into this year, certainly in the offensive side of the puck. But this has always been a bugaboo of his. Can he stay healthy? It was unfortunate that he went down in the preseason. It's unfortunate that he will not be playing later this evening, but it seems as if he might be ready to go here in the next week or so to make his season debut. Nadelkovich, on the other hand, he's probably going to miss maybe another week, potentially. Again, that's speculation on my part, but the fact that he hasn't joined the team at practice yet tells you that he's a little bit further out, which means we're going to get to see a little bit of Joel Blungfist early on in this season, which is exciting because everybody is very excited about the young goaltender in Blungfist. He had a tremendous year at the American Hockey League level, and he's going to get to make his NHL debut here in the next week or so. How many games does he end up playing? I mean, if you look at what Mike Sullivan had to say yesterday following the team's practice, he continued to repeat the same sentiment. We have a lot of games in not a lot of time to start out this year. I believe they have 12 games in the first 17 days of the season, and it's going to keep them very busy, including a back-to-back tonight and tomorrow. So obviously we go 175 days without Penguins hockey. Now we're going to get to get hockey on back-to-back nights, but good news on the injury front with Rust and Adelkovich as well as Eric Carlson. Now he's been practicing with the team in full capacity for the last handful of days, so it should come as no surprise that he is going to be ready. He should be out there tonight as the Penguins take on the Rangers. No ill will, no games lost for Eric Carlson dealing with that upper-body injury that kept him out for the majority of the preseason in all seven. Pre-season games. So with that, good news, we're going to look at Penguins versus the New York Rangers. This is going to be an interesting game because last year, the Penguins played the Rangers tough. And if you go back to 2022, the Penguins played that Rangers team tough. It just seems like this is a rivalry that is in the similar light of pens versus caps. And no matter where the two teams are at, it's always going to be a battle. It's always going to be a close game. So I would expect nothing different tonight for the season opener before we get over and talk about what we expect from the Penguins and talk a little bit about their projected lineup. I want to talk a little bit about what you should expect from the Rangers. I'm not going to preview all 82 games because most of the time by the time I do it, you're already ready for the game. And then the day after the game, nothing I talk about matters. But for the opener against the reigning president's trophy champions, I feel like it is apropos to come out here and talk a little bit about what you should expect. First and foremost, there's going to be an old friend returning to PPG paints arena. Riley Smith will make his New York Rangers debut. Now Smith was traded to the Rangers by the Pittsburgh Penguins earlier this summer in exchange for a fifth round pick and a second round pick. He had 40 points in 76 games with Pittsburgh last season. But everybody that watched last year knows it just it didn't fit, which is unfortunate because I was extremely excited about the move. I thought Kyle Dubas got a steal whenever he got Smith for just a third round pick. And for some reason or other, there have been stories, there have been rumors, but for one reason or other, it just didn't work. Him and Pittsburgh, it wasn't a match made in heaven. Even though early in the year last year, it looked to be a match made in heaven. Him and Evgeny Mulcan get off to a hot start. And then after about a dozen games, it fell off and it just never came back. So he gets a fresh start with the New York Rangers. He's going to be playing high in their lineup. So they expect a lot from the veteran forward going into his first year with the Rangers. We'll see if he's going to be able to kind of bite the Penguins in the butt a little bit, which happens to be something that happens every single time the Penguins play one of their former players. So Riley Smith makes his debut. The other big story for the New York Rangers going into this one, goaltender Igor Shastarkin, he might be under contract now. But those contract talks are going to be very, very interesting going forward because he reportedly turned down an $88 million offer from the New York Rangers. And typically we don't talk much about contracts for other teams, but this is one of the Penguins' biggest rivals going into this season. This is obviously the talk of the Metropolitan Division. If they lose that goaltender, a Vesna Trophy goaltender, which I don't think they will, I think it's going to be similar to the Jeremy Swamin thing where eventually they get their guy, especially because of how important this position is just in total first and foremost. And secondly, historically, how important that position has been to the New York Rangers. Look at how long they had Henrik Lundfist as the centerpiece of that team. You would have to imagine they're looking to make Shastarkin the centerpiece moving forward. So keep an eye out for that. Obviously, that's not something that's going to spill over onto the ice tonight. Something that Will is kind of a sense of desperation in New York. The Broadway blue search are getting a little bit desperate. At least that's what it sounds like when Jacob Truba is talking about this season. The Rangers captain is calling this year the pseudo-last dance for the New York Rangers, at least their core of players, their older core of players of guys like Mika's Abenajad, guys like Artemi Panarin, guys like Chris Crider, guys like himself. So is it the last dance? I mean, that much is kind of on Chris Drury and that much is not something I really care to get into, but that tells you where they're at going into this season. A sense of desperation from a team that won a president's trophy and went six games into the Eastern Conference final last year. So will they want to get off to a hot start? You got a bet. Well, the Penguins want to get off to a hot start 100%. Slow starts have plagued them the past two seasons. And at the end of the year, they missed by 1.2 years ago. They missed by three points last year and you can always look back. And that's what we've been doing all summer long. That's what a lot of people have been doing. When you look back, you look at those slow starts, the first handful of weeks, the first month of the season where you give up some of these games, where you give up points in the standings. Last year, it was the Anaheim game, a five on three with two minutes left in the game in a tie game. You should not lose that game and regulation. They get that extra point. They get those extra two points. Maybe you're looking at a different story at the end of the season. So that is what the Penguins are looking to avoid this year is getting off to that slow start. And it starts tonight with a tough challenge. I mean, we talked about the Rangers, but if you look at the Penguins projected lineup, I think that on paper, it is looking better than it did last year, even with Brian rust expected to be out of the lineup. If you're watching us live on YouTube, you can check out this projected lineup on the graphic here. If not, I'll read it down for you. First line is expected to be Drew O'Connor, Sydney Crosby and Anthony Beauvilla. When I look at that line, I like the fact that they're going with O'Connor back with Crosby. Beauvilla is going to be an interesting story because as we get to lower in this lineup, I really like the bottom six. So when Brian rust comes back, there's only one place for Brian rust to go. But where does that leave Anthony Beauvilla? Right? We'll talk about it. I really like the third line. And I just don't see Beauvilla kicking out anybody that's currently playing on the fourth line, unless it's one player that I thought had a pretty good preseason. Like I said, we'll get to it. Second line, not much to discuss here. Michael Bunting, Evgeny Malkin and Ricard Raquel. It's the carbon copy of last year's second line in the end of the season. And really, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Ricard Raquel had a pretty solid preseason scored a couple of goals. Looks like his shoulder is back to full health, which is going to be a huge thing for him and for the team going into the season, Bunting and Malkin together. Again, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. I'm not, I wouldn't be surprised if we saw Bunting move up with Crosby at some time this season, but you need to start him with Malkin because that was working tremendously at the end of last season. Third line here, Rucker McGrody, Lars Eller, Yesapul Yarvey, that line dominated in the preseason finale on Friday evening. Now, keywords there, preseason finale, they dominated in a game against the Columbus Blue Jackets that the end of the day does not count. Can they carry that over? Quite possibly. I like how it's constructed. Lars Eller is seemingly a defense heavy forward, but you saw him kind of over exceed expectations last year in the offensive zone. And that was with a rotating door of wingers on either side of his line. Now, I'm not saying that this is going to be the third line throughout the entire season, because it's not there's going to be changes. This is not going to be the lineup that is set in stone from now until April, but this is the lineup they're starting with. And I think there is a better chance that they actually get to keep this line for, you know, the foreseeable future, because I like McGrody. And as Kyle Dubas said yesterday or two days ago, it would be, he said he's not up here to not play. They're going to play him. And I just don't see them moving him up just yet in the lineup. And I also don't see them putting him on the fourth line. So McGrody's not going anywhere. And as we'll talk about Yes, a pull yarvey earned this spot. Maybe Yes, a pull yarvey bumps up if Brian Russ isn't ready by tomorrow and Anthony Beauvilla doesn't play well. Now, again, it might be too early to say that, but he has performed well enough that putting him in the top six does not seem out of the equation. I really like this third line. I'm really excited to see how it works. And like I said, it's kind of a nice meld between styles. Pull yarvey is an analytic darling. He is good in the defensive zone. He is smart in the defensive zone. He is physical. He has a long reach. He has a big body. And as we've seen, his skating is much better than it was at the end of last season. So you bring him with Ella with that defensive mind and Rucker McGrody who, yeah, we haven't seen him much in the defensive zone. He is certainly not inept in the defensive zone, but I wouldn't go as far as to say that he is a guy that you can rely on every single time. That's why it's good that he's with Ella and pull yarvey McGrody. I mean, I'm excited. I'm excited to see him make his NHL debut later tonight. He will become the, according to Penguins PR, I should say, the ninth youngest player in the Sydney Crosby era to make his NHL debut at 20 years, 193 days old. So excited to see what he can do. But overall, I think that this third line has a lot of potential. And if they find their footing, it's a huge thing that could help the Penguins exceed their total expectations. Fourth line, Hayes glass, a Chari. It's a fourth line that has higher offensive upside than it did last year, but also a fourth line that you can rely upon for those defensive starts. So I like that line. And again, if Bovillier gets kicked out of that first line, because Brian Rust is healthy, it's probably Cody glass that gets bounced out of the lineup. But at the same time, I really liked what I saw from Cody glass. And then you would have to move probably a Kevin Hayes over to center. You're keeping Nolichari on the wing as much as you possibly can. But you know, this lineup, the one thing I like about it is the depth is there. It was there last year, but I think the depth is more bonafide and you get more out of it than you did last year. There's no Janssen Harkins in this lineup. There's no Redeemza Horna level players in this lineup. Everybody is kind of a step above. And with the exception of Rucker McGrody, everybody is established as an NHLer at this point in their career. And McGrody won't be surprised if he establishes himself early. Let's quickly go through the defense here. Patterson Carlson, Grizzlyk Latang, Ryan Graves and Jack St. Ivan. He no surprises here. Matt Grizzlyk makes his Penguins debut. He's going to be a centerpiece for this Pittsburgh Penguins blue line. If he is able to bounce back and play like he was able to play early in his career with the Boston Bruins, the Penguins defense looks much better than it did last year. It looks much better than it did two years ago. I wouldn't go as far as to say it looks better than it did in 2022 simply because I liked that defense with John Marino and Mike Matheson and Marcus Patterson and Brian Dumlin, who was playing at a higher level than he was in his last season. So I'd say it's the best of the previous two seasons for certain. And then of course, you have Tristan Jari, Joel Blunkfist, as your goaltender is Jari expected to start tonight and then Valteri Pustin and Ryan Shea as your extra skater. So that's the lineup. I'm excited to see what Cody Glass has to bring. That's a player that going into training camp. I said, you know, I'm not sure where he fits in this lineup. Right now he's going to be the fourth line center, but you have two forwards coming back. He might be the odd man out. He might be the guy that depending on the salary cap and if they need to send somebody down, he might be the guy that ends up getting chopped and getting put on waivers. But again, he had a really good training camp. He has a really large cap hit. So actually I backtrack that statement. I don't know if they would be able to put that two million dollars on on waivers and send it down. I don't think that they'd be willing to do that. And then Matt Grizzlyke, I obviously talked about already, but that's the lineup that you can expect later tonight. Penguins take it on the Rangers and then what's up next for them? Because we've been talking so long about October 9th, October 9th, day one, October 9th, New York Rangers. There's also 82 or 81 other games that we got to get to after this one now that we break the damn open on the season later the night. So what is up next for them this week? A tour of the original six. I guess they go from tonight at home against New York to on the road tomorrow night against the Detroit Red Wings. And then this weekend they'll take on the Toronto Maple Leafs. And then early next week they take on the Montreal Canadiens. So a road trip following up a home opener for the Pittsburgh Penguins to start this season. So with that said, I want to put a final stamp on the Penguins preseason as we get set for the regular season to begin in just under or sorry, just over game starts at 7 30. So just over five hours from now. And I'm going to give you my three stars of the pretty season in its totality. Number three of Genny Malkin. He played in three games, had a hat trick in one of those games finished with three goals and one assist, but it was more than just his scoring because one of those goals was an empty netter. One of them was across ice pass. They got deflected, went up and beat Anton Forsberg in the hockeyville game. But his line was just buzzing all preseason long. Him, Bunting and Raquel. And I believe there was somebody else that was on that line during one of those games. But that line just looked like it's picking up exactly where it left off, which is a huge thing for the Pittsburgh Penguins and on the power play, which is going to be a topic of conversation all season long. It looked like he was making quicker decisions. It looked like he was getting to his spots and not holding on to the puck too much. He was finding the open guy. He was making the easy pass. He wasn't trying to force it. So I liked what I saw from of Genny Malkin in the preseason. He's going to become the third star of the preseason. Number two, it's a name that didn't make the roster, but it's a name that certainly captured everybody's imagination over the past two weeks. Defenseman Harrison Brunick, four games played, zero goals, one assist. This kid showed that he is a lot closer to becoming a professional defenseman than a lot of 18 year olds would be right after they get drafted, especially as a second round pick. I mean, when you go back and look now at the Jake Genssel trade, you traded away Jake Genssel for Billy Covenan, who's looked very good this preseason. Visily Pahnomarev, who looked good before being injured this season, Cruz Lucius, who we cannot forget is a pretty good player in the NCAA. And now Harrison Brunick, they took with the 44th overall pick, which was of course the pick they got in this Genssel trade. So you add in a young 18 year old defenseman that made it to the very last day of the NHL preseason before officially being sent back to the WHL and the Kamloose blazers. He turned some heads. He impressed a lot of people, both in the organization and in the fan base. And he may have a real shot at making the roster next year at 19 years old. A lot can and will change between now and then. I know the right side of the Penguins defense looks like it's pretty solidified for the next couple of seasons, with Latang having a few years left on his deal. Eric Carlson has a few years left on his deal, and Jack St. Ivy just looks like an animal. And he's obviously on that third pairing right side, but Harrison Brunick is a player that, you know, this is just the beginning. This is just the base that he is set. And it is a very, very impressive preseason that he had to set that base. So he is the second star of the preseason. The number one star, of course, the man, the myth, the legend, the bison king, yes, a pulley RV, four games played, four goals, four assists, the most points in a preseason for a Pittsburgh Penguin since Jake Genssel in 2019. He was the MVP of the preseason. But as he tells it, it doesn't matter. You have to move on and you have to continue to improve. That's what pulley RV is going to look to do. He's going to start on the Penguins third line. But again, like I mentioned earlier, I wouldn't be surprised to see this guy make his way into the top six for a handful of games. If not, for maybe more than a handful of games at some point this season, he certainly solidified his role on the NHL squad. And now the question is going to be, can he follow it up? Because preseason's nice, but you have to be able to do it when the games count, when the stats count, and when the lights get the brightest, which they'll get the brightest starting tonight as the Penguins take on the New York Rangers. But we're going to take a quick break here when we return answering all of your questions to get you set for tonight's opening night matchup between the pens and the New York Rangers. We'll be right back. This episode is brought to you by State Farm. You might say all kinds of stuff when things go wrong, but these are the words you really need to remember. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. They've got options to fit your unique insurance needs, meaning you can talk to your agent to choose the coverage you need, have coverage options to protect the things you value most, file a claim right on the State Farm mobile app, and even reach a real person when you need to talk to someone. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. At Sierra, discover great deals on top brand workout gear, like high quality bikes, which might lead to another discovery. Getting back in the saddle isn't always comfortable. Good news is, Sierra has massage guns. And shape wipes too. Discover top brands at unexpectedly low prices. Sierra, let's get moving. Welcome back to the tip of the iceberg live on this opening day of the Pittsburgh Penguins 2024/25 season. We talked a little bit about what you can expect from the New York Rangers. We talked a little bit about the good news, which is Brian Rust returning to practice in a non-contact capacity yesterday. Alex Nodelkovich back on the ice, Eric Carlson, expected to play tonight, despite missing the entirety of the preseason. So it's a great day for hockey. And I love saying it. I'll say it again and again. We post it every single game day at tip of the iceberg on YouTube. And it's also a great day to answer all of your questions. So if you have more questions here live on YouTube at tip of the iceberg, toss them in the chat. We'll get to them. We'll get to all of them today, because we got plenty of time. Let's start with Brandon Rickner, who says, our watch along is going to be a thing going forward or just for tonight. They are going to be a thing going forward. I'm not going to be doing them every single night, because that is as a lot. And also I have other jobs and other stuff and other obligations. But I'm going to try to do watch alongs this year as frequently as I can on there. Obviously going to be, I'll let you know going into it. I'll plan it in advance. It's not just going to be like, Oh, yeah, we're going to do a watch along in two minutes. I will let everybody know when the watch longs are. And hopefully everybody enjoys it tonight. Like I mentioned, a couple guests, other podcasters for the Pittsburgh Penguins, two guys that you've heard on this show and this platform before. So it should be fun to have those guys on and watch the Penguins as they get this season started. Logan Rose says, would you like to see Valteri posted in, get a chance on the first line with Sid? Do you think his wicked shot would shine with a guy like Sid that makes everybody he plays with better? I think Pustanin is a very good fit with Sidney Crosby. The problem is I don't know if the Penguins right now view him as a guy that should play over an Anthony Beauvilla, which I don't like because I'd rather go with the younger guy that has more upside, but they're going with the more bonafide guy because they don't want to put a lot of guys in the lineup who don't, you know, have that track record behind them. They're already going with McGrory who's making his debut. So I think that they're trying to ease up with the amount of players that don't have a track record that get into the lineup each time before they're able to kind of parcel out where everybody fits. But I do think that Pusti should get a chance on the first line. Whether or not he does, that depends on how certain players perform up there. If Anthony Beauvilla hits his stride, he could stay up on the first line. If Drew Conner continues to perform the way he performed late last year, they would keep him up there with Sidney Crosby. So a lot of it depends upon how the players who are with Sid are performing as well as how the bottom six is performing because we've seen in the past, if that bottom six struggles, if they can't get anything going, they might drop down somebody like a Brian Rust. Probably not the whole way to the third line, but they might drop him down to the second. If Raquel is playing well and they think that he could work down in the bottom six and they could punch up a guy like Paul Yarvey, a guy like Pustin, and I can see them doing that as well. So whether or not he'll get a chance, I think that is an option that they believe is realistic. And I do think that he would work really well with Sidney Crosby, giving him more opportunities to unleash in your words, Logan, that wicked shot that he has. Let's go over to Austin, who says, where does this baby pens group compare to the 2016 group with so many contributors? Does the current crop have anything like that? It seems like it's improved from recent years. That is the one thing that I don't see Kyle Dubas getting enough credit for. He has revitalized the penguins prospect pool tenfold. Now again, it's a low bar to clear. The penguins prospect pool was abysmal when he took over just 15, 16, 17 months ago, whatever it ended up being. But you look at the names that are going to be playing in Wilkes-Barr this year, you look at guys like Ponomarev, you look at guys like Coivannen, you look at guys that I know it wasn't his draft pick, but the way that he's developed in a guy like Tristan Brows, who I guess you got to give credit to, I believe that was a hex stall draft pick. Guys like Owen Pickering, who was also a hex stall draft pick, you have to give credit where credit is due. That minor league system is flushed with young talent. The question becomes, are they going to be like that 2016 group in which at the same time they were already to make the jump? And when they make the jump, they fit in perfectly, right? It doesn't happen very often. It happened last year, fortunately for the penguins with a guy like Jaxie and Ivne where he made the jump and he looked like he fit right away. There were very little hiccups with Jaxie and Ivne late last season and that's great. The 2016 group, you're talking about guys like Rust, guys like Connor Sherry that were able to come up and immediately contribute on the third line and quickly move their way up into the top six. I don't know if the penguins have quite that level down there. I like bros. I think he has made tremendous strides in the past year and just in training camp alone to open some eyes outside of the organization in the organization. They probably already had an idea that he was going to be like this. I don't think they're quite 2016 group as much as I'd love to say it, but I do think that they have the makings of a group that is similar to where a lot of these players have a lot of promise. I don't know if that promise is going to reveal itself this year, but certainly in the near future, meaning maybe next year, certainly the year after that, you're going to get a large infusion of youth to the penguins lineup. Let's go over to Gunnar Murphy, excuse me, says, "Do you see Kevin Hayes as a better fit at wing or center?" For Kevin Hayes, I don't really have a preference, right? Nolichari, we all said last year, he needs to be moved to wing. He needs to be moved to wing. Kevin Hayes has proven that him being at center doesn't take away from his offensive game. That was the problem with Nolichari last year, as he was brought in to be that fourth line center and he was also unable to kind of get that offensive game rolling because he was at that position. Now he moves over to wing, again, preseason, but he's of course four goals in the preseason. You love to see it. At least, it's a good sign of things to come early. I don't think that's the case with Kevin Hayes, so I really don't have a preference on where Kevin Hayes plays. I expected him when he was initially signed to slot in as that third line center to bump Lars Eller down to the fourth line. The Penguins believe that Lars Eller is still their best bet at third line center, which he was perfectly fine in that role last year, but as far as Hayes is concerned, I don't have a preference. I think that he'll be the same player, whether he's on the wing or at center. Pittsburgh Heather says there are currently 16 forwards on the Penguins roster, including Matt Nieto, Blake Lazat, and Brian Rust. If Nieto stays on LTIR, what two forwards go when Lazat and Rust are ready? That one's difficult. I think that I don't want to say it. I think Rucker McGurray is probably the easiest to send down because these waivers exempt. But if he performs well, then you're really in a tough situation. I think Valteri Pustin and Cody Glass are two names that you have to think about. The one problem with Cody Glass is that contract is really big. That contract is really big to send down to the American Hockey League level. So I think it's Pustin and honestly, I think that would be the only one that they end up sending down because... Let's make sure we're back here. Let me know in the comments section right now if you can hear me. It looked like my internet kind of crapped out for a second. Anybody? All right. I mean, we'll continue to go. And if anything happens or if you can't hear me, I'll try to hope it fixes itself faster. But I think that it's probably just one player and I think it's probably Valteri Pustin, which is unfortunate because I would like to see Valteri Pustin and play the entire season at the NHL level. It just feels like right now there are way too many cooks in the kitchen and he seems like he's the odd man out based on pre-season performance. Evan wants to know what do I think Brunick and Tanner Howes ceiling are, i.e. which line would they play on at their best and approximate amount of points? Well, Brunick, I'm not going to give you an approximate amount of points because it's always a kind of a tough decision with defenseman. He's a guy that, you know, you would think young, look at his skating, look at his offensive ability. Oh, he's a he's a Chris Latang replacement, which let's not put that on his shoulders at the age of 18, okay? But he is solid in the defensive zone. He is really good in the defensive zone. Great anticipation, great off the defensive rush. I just feel like this is a kid that if all things continue to progress the way that we saw them progress this off season, he's a guy you can probably count on to be a top four defenseman, potentially a top two defenseman. Tanner Howes, I have less of a read on because we didn't get to see very much of Tanner Howes and even now we're not seeing much of Tanner Howes. He's dealing with an injury when he got injured back in Regina with the WHL. I would say you're looking at probably a guy that's middle six for Tanner Howes and that's where he stands right now. Probably a guy that you're looking at to hopefully be a 45 to 50 point contributor at some time in his career. But again, things change. Development is very fluid. It changes from year to year. It changes sometimes from month to month, depending on how players perform. So again, that's where I see those two, but Brunick especially, he showed that he should be considered at best, potentially a top four defenseman for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Let's go over to Peter who says, do you think Yes, a pull yard? He gets another contract in Pittsburgh. And who do you think scores the first goal tonight? Okay, let's start with first goal tonight. I haven't really put too much thought into it yet because obviously a lot going on today. Live stream one live stream to also a third live stream for all Steelers talk to talk a little bit of football later this afternoon. But who do I think scores the first goal for the Pittsburgh Penguins? I'm going to give it to Ricard Ricall. He needs to have a big year. It looks like his shoulder is much better than it was last year. It looks like he's kind of found his game a little bit more. It looks like he's going to be a big part of the power play potentially. I'm going to go with Ricard Ricall. Ricky Rax scores the first goal. And as far as Valteri Pustin in his concern, sorry. Yes, a pull yard. He is concerned. I don't think he gets another contract with the Penguins because I think if he performs the way that he did in preseason, I think they'll try to move him. He's on the final year of his current deal. He signed a two year deal. He is a name that if he performs will be talked about. He will, it will be talked about across the NHL. So it's a name that you would expect is going to get a lot of recognition in the trade market. If he starts to perform, I would imagine that the Penguins, if the iron is hot and the Penguins aren't right, if pull yard, he's playing well and yet the Penguins are still outside of a playoff spot when it comes to January, February leading up to the trade deadline, I would expect he gets traded and not signed to a new contract. But if the Penguins perform well, maybe they hold on to him and maybe they do sign to do a contract. I just at this point in time, I wouldn't pencil him in as somebody getting another contract with the Penguins. Evan wants to know about a little bit of extra content. Am I going to start doing post game recaps again? That I'm not. That ended up becoming too much, especially watching the game and immediately doing recaps the night of or immediately the next morning, which if I waited any longer, they would one be outdated and two not be worthwhile when it comes to numbers and stuff like that. So I'm trying to replace post game recaps with watch alongs during the game as well as a power rankings episode, a bonus episode for power rankings every Monday. I'm trying to bring different content, but the recaps just ended up being too much late last season, which is why it kind of fell off. It was hard to keep up with every single night. So there will not be recaps going into this season. Unfortunately, let's start with Tanger. Tanger wants to know how do I think tonight's game is going to go with these new lines hashtag one more cup with I'd love to see one more cup. I'd love to see two more cups for Crosby and Malka. Let him get up there to five would be phenomenal. But how do I think tonight's game goes? I think there's going to be a little bit of tentativeness for both teams as every game is to start the season. So the first period is probably going to be a little bit choppy. You'd have to expect, especially with guys like Eric Carlson who has not played at all in game action this season. It's going to be a little bit choppy. It's going to be a little bit of ugly hockey in the first game. And I think or first period, I should say. And I think it opens up in the second and third, but I also feel like this is a game that the Penguins do not want to go chance for chance with with the New York Rangers. You know, Chris Crider always seems to get a break away when the Penguins play the Rangers. They're going to want to try to avoid that. So I think this is a game that's going to end maybe three to two, three to one, three to two, maybe a two to one game. I think it's going to be low scoring. I think it's going to be slow starting for both teams. I think it'll pick up a little bit, but both teams are going to be a little bit tentative to give up those odd man rushes. And it might get a little chippy. I mean, Penguins Rangers, Matt Rempe may be in the lineup. I don't know what they're doing with Matt Rempe. If he's an everyday guy at this point, or if he's just a guy they bring in whenever the team needs a spark. So if he's in the lineup, it's going to get chippy. Michael Bunting has already been at it with his, uh, his tendencies, I think we'll call them. And I think the Pittsburgh Penguins are going to get under their skin just as the Rangers always seem to get under the Penguin Skin. So it's going to get chippy, but I think it's going to be a low scoring affair. I'd say three to two, uh, two to one, something like that. Whether you're ordering wings for the game, whipping up a seven layer dip or ordering pizza, there's something about football that makes you want to eat. In this football season, Uber Eats has the best deals on game day food. No matter what you're craving from two for one pizza to buy one, get one wings. Uber Eats will be dropping new deals each week, all season long. Uber Eats, official on-demand delivery partner of the NFL. Order now, terms and conditions apply. See out for details. Lenny L says, I predict graves will be pinched less than 10 games into the season. What are your thoughts? Hmm. Ryan Graves, I was hoping would come in and perform well during the preseason. That didn't happen. That didn't happen for the Pittsburgh Penguins. He came in and he looked exactly if not worse than he did last year. Now again, this preseason is trying to get his legs underneath him. He came into camp in great shape. That's what Kyle Dubas is raving about. He really took the off season to heart. He did great in the off season to get himself prepared for camp. What I saw on the ice was not impressive. I will say I like who he's paired up with. I like him with Jackson Ivan. I think that is the best chance that Ryan Graves has to find success early in this season. Do I think that he gets benched 10 games in or less than 10 games in? No, I think they like having Ryan Shea. I think they like having that card of the Shea, say, not even paring that lurked so well late last season. They like having that in their back pocket. And that's the reason that Shea stayed up and Sebastian Ajo was placed on waivers and eventually sent down to the American hockey league. But I don't think that they're going to cut bait 10 games in. Now, if he was starting on the first pairing like he did last year and he struggled, yeah, you could see a demotion in the lineup. But I don't think he gets benched less than 10 games into the season. I think that there's a chance that it happens at some point. I think that that's exactly why Ryan Shea is the seventh defenseman. But I don't see a time that he gets benched that early. If he gets benched, you know, Christopher said here, if Graves gets benched 10 games in seasons over for him, he has to recover. That's what the penguins are banking on, specifically probably because they couldn't get rid of him, even if they tried this off season. But they're banking on year two of six being a much better season for Ryan Graves. Let's go to the next question here, which is that of I just saw it. I just saw and I can't see it. Alex, listen, sometimes screen small. I don't know why I can't read, but let's go to Alex Rowan who says, with the changes to the power play, do I think Eric Carlson gets a large uptick in production? I'm predicting that simply because I think the power play is going to be much better. It can't get much worse than it was last year. I think bringing David Quinn in, I think the fact that he is the guy that is kind of reshaping along with Mike Sullivan, it's not just a one man thing. So we can't place all the blame on Quinn. If it goes wrong, we can't give all the praise to Quinn. If it goes right, it's Quinn, it's Sullivan, and I'm sure the players considering their stature had a hand in this as well. I am predicting that Eric Carlson will have a large uptick. I believe I had him. Let me make sure I get the actual figure right because I have my bold predictions typed in this document. I have Eric Carlson scoring over 70 points this season. He scored, I believe 56 last year, which was a disappointment and certainly was a departure from the 100 plus points that he scored the year prior. I think he scores more this year, not just because of the power play. I do expect the power play to be better, but I'm also saying he's going to score more because I think he's going to be more comfortable. I think he's going to take more control and more ownership of the Penguins in the offensive zone, both at five on five and on the power play. And I think because of that match with the comfort that he has now with Marcus Patterson leading into the season, I think you see much more on the offensive side of the ice from Eric Carlson this year. Brandon N says, do I expect Igor chance tonight to get under his skin if the Penguins score in the first five minutes? Which again, I said it's going to be choppy. I'm thinking it's probably going to go that way. But if the Penguins score in the first five minutes, I fully expect an Igor chant. And honestly, if they score at all, I expect an Igor chant because Penguins fans, they love it. Pittsburgh fans love it. I mean, go back to Quato and what they did to him in the 2013 wild card game. Pittsburgh fans loved a chant at opposing players, especially if it looks like it's working. It worked really well. And in games three and four of the 2022 playoffs, they believe chanted out of last year when he played in Pittsburgh, even though I think he only did it once. Because I know the first game, excuse me, first game between the Rangers. Let me take a drink. The first game, that's better. The first game between the Rangers and the Penguins last year was a Jonathan quick shout out. I think he played in the second game, which was a seven or six to three win for the Rangers. Even though the Penguins played really good at the end, they just kind of got blown up in the beginning. If the Penguins take the lead in this one and they score early, yes, I expect, uh, I expect Igor chance or at least I'll be disappointed if I don't hear Igor chance. I won't be in the building, but I'm pleading with those that will be, you know, get that going a little bit, get that going. Let's go to Zach attack who says, hi, what would happen if the Penguins turn out like they did last season changes more changes? I mean, we've seen it throughout this offseason. There were changes. We saw it when Kyle Dubas came in, even though he wasn't the one that missed the playoffs, he made changes. There has been a lot of turnover in the first two off seasons of Kyle Dubas's tenure. A lot of these guys were signed to one year contracts. Show me deals. If they don't show them, they're one going to be traded if they possibly can to get anything back or two, they're just going to be showing the door. You know, a guy like Anthony Beauvilla, you don't perform. You're gone. It's as simple as that. Guys like yes, a pull your fee. You don't perform. You're gone. The younger guys, obviously, are going to have a lot more rope. Guys like Raccoon McGordy, they're not gone. That's a guy that they're banking on for the future. But some of these other guys, I mean, you can toss Matt Grizzlyk into that group as well. You can toss Cody Glass into that group as well. You can toss Lars Aller will be at the end of his contract, but you can toss a guy like Nolichari into that group. You can toss Cody Glass into that group. They don't perform. They're going to be gone and the Penguins are going to try to build it back up next year with another crop of one year contracts to fill the void of the spots that aren't taken up by the young up and comers, right? At that point, if Pusanin's still here and Pusanin takes a role, it's one less role they got to worry about, but they'll fill the void whoever, whatever spots they don't have filled with these young guys that are already and are proven to be ready. That's what they're, they're going to fill it with, which is one year contracts. Let's go over to Jeremy Nelson, who says, sorry, I'm just looking to make sure I get all of the other ones. Um, there we go. Jeremy Nelson says, does Rutgers get a goal in his first NHL game? I'd love to see it. I'd love to see it. Mr. Moose says I'm calling it now. Magrudy gets goal in his first NHL game tonight. Listen, I would love to see it a little bit of Jake Gensil, Mario Lemieux action. It'd be great. It'd be great. Uh, he is playing on the third line. The Penguins third line does have a lot more offensive upside than it has in years past, but I will say the Rangers also have a very good third line. The Rangers have very good forward depth. And I think that because of the fact that this is going to be a tight checking game, I think goals are going to be at a premium. I'm relying on the stars for tonight's goals. I think that you look at tomorrow's game where it's a little bit more open. And that's the way the Detroit Red Wings play. I think if you look at next week against the Canadians, I think that could potentially also be a spot for his first goal. Cause I think I could see some depth scoring in that one. Those are the two games I would, I would highlight. I'm not going to go as far to say is he's going to score in his first NHL game. But damn what I love to see it. Let's go to Fortnite fan who says, I also predict Ricard Raquel to get the first goal tonight. Shout out. I says, I also think most expect him to bounce back after last season. What are your goal expectations or goals and expectations for Ricard Raquel? I expect him to be right back up there with where he was two seasons ago, his first full year with the Pittsburgh Penguins. And when he scored 28 goals, he was a X factor on the power play. I mean, he tied for the Penguins lead and power play goals that year. That's what a lot of people forget. The reason the Penguins power play fell it off last season. One of them, there's a lot of them, but one of them, they couldn't get the same production out of Ricard Raquel on that left half wall 11 power play goals two years back. I believe you had two last year. If he's able to bounce back and he's shown that in preseason, scored a couple of goals from that left half wall already. If he's able to bounce back, I see him right back up there in the 25 to 30 goal mark. And I see him being an X factor once again on the Penguins power play. Let's go over to Christopher Hart, who says, what do you do with Nieto when he comes back? That one's tough. If he comes back, I wouldn't rule out the fact that he spends all year potentially on a L T I R, but the fact that he is already skating with the injured group, but already skating kind of leans towards the fact that he will make his return to the Penguins this year. He's on L T I R to start the season. The problem that I have with this is who gets sent down, right? I mean, I'm glad I don't have to make the decision. I wish I was paid the money as much as the guys that who make that decision. But I think that it ends up being based on whoever's playing the least again, I think. I felt Harry Pustin right now as a guy that you could see being on the chopping block and by chopping block, I just mean waivers. And hopefully he clears and gets down to the AHL. A guy like McGrory, if he's not performing and they feel like he needs a reset, he needs to bounce down and kind of get his feet underneath them at a lower level, that could be an option. If again, if that is the case, it all depends on who's playing poorly at the time or who needs to be replaced at the time or who needs a reset at the time. The expected return for him isn't until mid to late November, early December. So you don't have, you know, to make that decision right away, you're going to have a couple months to see and get the feel for who's performing well, who fits, you know, but I wouldn't rule out a guy like Anthony Beauvilla. They brought him in on a one year deal. They brought him in on a show me deal. He's starting on the first line. He's being given a golden opportunity. If he squanders it, this is a guy that could fall out of the lineup rather quickly. It's kind of a domed Simone scenario where if you're not with Crosby, it's going to be hard for you to find a spot in the bottom six with the type of game that you're going to be playing. So I'm not quite as much, not quite as bad or as extreme as a guy like Dominic Simone, but you know, I would put Beauvilla into that group as well. If he's not performing well, he could be a guy that, you know, finds his way to waivers or maybe finds his way onto the trade block because, I mean, it's certainly no stranger to him, you know, three times last year. It was a lot of movement for Anthony Beauvilla. He's hoping to settle down, but if he doesn't in Pittsburgh, you know, it could be on his way out once again. Let's go over to Bonehead, who says personally, still wish Dubas could have pulled a trade for Nikolai Eelers, but I'm still hoping. I was right there with you, Bonehead, me and Horwatt had talked about, man, if they could just swing the trade to get both Eelers and McGrordy. And at that point, it was, it was kind of a, kind of a pipe dream. They went out and got one of the two, and they went out and got one of the two that are maybe not the highest level right now, but certainly something that's going to give you a lot going into the future and McGrordy. I was excited about that deal, but I thought maybe, you know, if you try to swing for the fences, you can bring in both Eelers and McGrordy. Eelers of course goes into the top six immediately, and McGrordy is right where we expected him to be. So, I would have loved to see it too, Bonehead. We just, we didn't get it, and you're still hoping, and listen, I love that you're holding out hope, keep holding out hope, because who knows how the Winnipeg Jets season is going. And obviously, Dubas has that line of communication now with the trade from Yeager and McGrordy. Bonehead also says watching a little Freudian slip here by, by Bonehead, says watching Adam Graves get the first goal, or watch Adam Graves get the first goal. LOL, that would be something. If Ryan Graves did, that would be something, but I know that Freudian slip you had there. Obviously, Adam Graves, notorious New York Rangers player who broke Mario Lemieux's hand in the playoffs in the early 90s, but definitely a name that has popped up every once in a while. The Burry Graves sign will go down in the annals of Pittsburgh Penguin's history. But yeah, if Ryan Graves scores the first goal, I mean, I'll be live on the watch along. I will probably have to leave the screen. I will probably be in flabbergasted. You know, that is the best word that I can use because it is a crazy word, and that would be a crazy incident of Ryan Graves scoring the first goal. We'll close it off with this one from Bonehead, kind of a hat trick of bonehead comments here. Nick, what do you honestly think about Tristan Jari? I think Tristan Jari could be and can be a really good national hockey league goaltender. I don't think that I trust him to be that when it matters most though. You know, obviously, it's a new season. This is prime Tristan Jari time, October, November, December. He is an all-star he has shown in his history and his career that in October, November and December, he can be one of the best goal tenders in the league. That doesn't matter if you're not good in March, April, May, and what the team hopes is June. He hasn't been good in the second half of the season. He hasn't been able to be good for an entire season except for one year. He does have that injury history that I wouldn't say. I won't go as far as to say he's injury prone, but he does have an injury history. My overall opinion on him is I think that the Penguins would be better off getting a different goaltender. Now, again, could that be one of these young guys that come up? Perhaps, but I think that's a lot of weight to put on them and we're still a little further off from them taking over as that number one or one B type of situation. I'll be excited to see what Blancfest has in store early this year. That could change everybody's opinion if he comes out and performs well. And maybe you do have the opportunity to go to Nadelkovich Blancfest as a duo if you get a suitor for Tristan Jari, but I don't think that Jari is the future for the Pittsburgh Penguins. He is the right now though, and he does have the capabilities at times to be a very good goaltender. I just don't have faith that he'll be able to do that specifically through an entire playoff run, which is at the end of the day, the end goal for the Pittsburgh Penguins as long as Sydney Crosby is around is to go on a playoff run. I just don't have that faith interest in Jari, and I won't have that faith until I see him do it in the second half of the season. But that is going to do it for this episode of tip of the iceberg live. Thank you so much to everybody that has tuned in live this afternoon. And I'm hoping some of you at the very least join me live later this evening for a watch along of the Pittsburgh Penguins versus the New York Rangers. Once again, that'll go live at 730 p.m. Eastern. We'll have a couple of guests. We'll answer as many questions as we can and we'll react in live in time with the Pittsburgh Penguins and the New York Rangers. Excited for that. Excited that hockey is back. It's a great day for hockey. We'll see you guys next time.
