Penguins Still Searching For Top Winger

Penguins Still Searching For Top Winger

[Music] hello everybody and welcome to tip of the iceberg podcast your home for Pittsburgh Penguins news and Analysis you can find us on YouTube at tip of the iceberg or anywhere you get your podcast from well we’re hoping everybody enjoys a nice and safe Fourth of July today but we got plenty of penguins talk to kick off your festivities first a look at the best remaining options for Top Line Winger for the Pittsburgh Penguins because that is seemingly the last hole they need to fill this off season of course they can do other things but that is the one glaring need for the Pittsburgh Penguins moving forward and then are they any better off on defense because it looks like the Pittsburgh Penguins may be done on their blue line are they better than they were last year do they have a higher ceiling and how high is that ceiling we’ll discuss that and then oh this is going to be a fun one we check on one of the longest trade trees in NHL history that is now hanging on by a thread going to be a fun show let’s get this started and let’s start things off with the best remaining options for the Pittsburgh Penguins because as we know they still need somebody to play with Sydney Crosby I don’t mind drew o’ Conor I thought he was fine last season in that role but I think everybody is in agreement that they need to find an upgrade over Drew o Conor there to allow oconor to bump down to the third line and to give Sydney Crosby somebody else to play with Vladimir tereno is off the board he was the name that on Monday afternoon Josh ooe of the athletic puts out that the Penguins had extended an offer to Vladimir teras senko seemingly he became one of the Penguin’s top options he certainly became the fan base’s top option to play alongside Crosby but instead he signs a two-year 4.75 million contract with the Detroit Red Wings horwat were you how upset were you when you saw teras senko was off the board I don’t know if I was upset I definitely wasn’t surprised um the Penguins don’t have a ton of cap space to work with he’s he’s gonna have a Vladimir tank would likely have a cup tax to come with him he already had one in St Louis and then is coming off of his second uh with the Florida Panthers so I think the I think I knew the number was always going to be high I was shocked I was more shocked to see that they had offered him something to be to be blunt I was more surprised that than I was uh him signing elsewhere it’s I mean plus he’s one of those weird players that yeah he’s a good player and probably still has a ton of skill skill probably still can’t play alongside Sydney Crosby where’s the portion of the fan base that’s going to complain about his age that’s the other situation with someone like him that um even whenever he was uh sent to Florida it always struck me as a I mean what does he still have in the tank because of he been around forever he is uh nearing that those the back nine of his career if he’s not already in it uh but then he turned out to be a pretty useful piece for Florida in both uh the few regular season games they had with him and in the playoffs especially so he proved to still have plenty left in the tank uh but who knows going forward I think there may have been and I think there still might be at least in my personal opinion better options for the Penguins for that position would terce Sanko have been fun absolutely yeah I think he’s one of those players that brings a ton to the table brings that brings something that the penguins have never had and that is a second solid Russian player uh to maybe I mean not that if Genny Malin you know hasn’t felt at home but uh to maybe add a new layer to ofy malin’s game it’s been a long time since they’ve had a uh another solid rushan in the lineup genuinely it may have been gonar like that’s how long I think it has been that was the one that was in my head I was like well gonar and then we discussed the couple that have come and gone bnov was there for the preseason and two reg kov for three games last year but again none of it is the same as what gonar was able to bring so it would have brought that element but again it’s not the end of the world that they didn’t land uh teraso because as we’ll discussed there are other names that I think would be better more crowd favorite options more crowd favorite options okay well let’s get into a couple of the options that are remaining free agency wise it’s slim pickings now if you’re looking for somebody to play on the top line especially there’s plenty of guys that you could give that Anthony boiler role to hey Reclamation project in the bottom six has some upside has some scoring but the penguins look like they’re full up on those options they can always bring somebody else in Allah what they did last year with Andreas jansson late in the summer but you look at the free agents the two names that have been brought up and they were talked about yesterday on the tip of the iceberg live stream a reunion with Daniel sprong seems to be popular among the Penguins fan base and bringing in Jacob Verana who’s become a little bit of a suitcase due to his office uh issues as well is available on the free agent Market those are the two guys that kind of stand out to me of a very weak group otherwise in the free agency pool right now trade-wise there’s a couple more options but again what is Kyle dubis going to be willing to trade after essentially putting out the Declaration that this is a building franchise now but these are the options that are still out there that a lot of people are talking about Patrick l of the Columbus Blue Jackets hasn’t been a lot of movement or a lot of rumors on him as of late Nikolai eers of the Winnipeg Jets which is going to be the most pricey when it comes to acquisition cost Nicholas Robertson of the Toronto mapel Leafs is an interesting one especially with his former ties to Kyle dubis and then there’s Trevor zis out there another name that is kind of floated to the background but still prominent this off off season and where this offseason is going to go once the energy of free agency dies down so which of those I believe there’s six options there that we rattled off which of those six options would work best in your eyes of all those I’m avoiding the free agents pretty quickly uh Jacob R I just don’t know enough and I think the numbers and skills sort of faded over the last few seasons obviously there have been some problems but you know it’s if he can’t produce on the ice it’s not what the penguins are looking for moment uh Daniel sprong is an interesting one I just yeah it’s it’s faded because of you know so many things so many years but also it’s what where does he play in the lineup though like I know he’s put up numbers and did in Seattle but he scored that many goals that one year in Seattle on the fourth line and does that translate back in Pittsburgh on the top line it’s hard to tell unlikely too and that’s why I immediately turned to the trade market because I mean trist and jar is still on this roster and might not be for too much longer and that’s a face that can catch you quite a good return quite a decent return depending on where he goes I know TR and jar popped up in my head for Winnipeg last episode that won’t happen um but maybe uh Columbus for Patrick Lon I forget who Columbus has in goal right now um M Linc who’s on the trade block well there you go um they have to work out something different then uh I think yeah the Columbus is always an option I keep forgetting about Trevor zeris back there uh and I know I’ve said eers before but that’s tough to trade jari for that specifically but if you could find a different deal for a guy like elers and then maybe you pull that trigger I’m on the on the train of Lon eers mostly um and then I could see zigras peeking out but that one would be a little tougher yeah as far as the Nikolai eers one I you can make the salary cap work pretty easily because the Penguins now have a surplus at center right lar Zeller to the Winnipeg Jets maybe a little bit of retention and you get eers down at what $4 million retaining 33% of that that could work but again Kyle dubis is saying it’s a rebuild the one way that I could see him pulling the trigger on a guy like ncol Nikolai eers because I mean all of these trade options outside of Nick Robertson who’s a restricted free agent the other three trade options all have two years left which works with the timeline right so the the term works with the timeline the money line is going to be a little bit more difficult because he has that 8.7 million price tag but also you know the Columbus Blue Jackets seem to be he seems to be the one that is most likely on the way out the other two you could see those teams potentially just retaining on those players shoot the Winnipeg Jets did that last season with everybody that they seemingly had on the trade block but when I look at eers the one big factor there is they’re also trying to potentially offload ruer mcity 20 years old gold medalist for World Juniors stud at Michigan wants to make the jump to the NHL the Penguins right now they have those opportunities available right and if mcity stays this year in the NHL and the penguins are saying well once you’re done at Michigan this year you’re guaranteed a spot and you’re guaranteed your ELC to close out the season I don’t know what they could say with him but at 20 years old I’m willing to trade away some fut future assets to get Nikolai eers for the next couple years and bring in a guy the caliber of record mordi because we talked about the Jake gensel trade and bringing in those players that automatically became Top 10 Prospects in the Penguins pool you bring in recer MCG he is 1 a 1B with Braden joerger immediately and he is more likely to be ready sooner than br jger and can you imagine going into the future I know that you might have to trade a first round pick but shoot you can do what the Penguins did and the other way earlier this week with the Riley Smith trade trade out one of those picks from a couple years down the line because if you trade away say a 2027 first round pick guess what you’re able to do by 2027 probably end up trading away some better players and you can potentially recoup and that gives you plenty of time to recoup one of those first round picks at that point Brian rust won’t have a no movement clause and who knows where the penguins are going to be by 2025 and 2026 but that’s why I think of them the best option if you can get record mcord included is the Nikolai eers one outside of that Nicholas Robertson’s a little bit of a risk because he hasn’t really proven to be a Bonafide Top Line Winger but I do think that he has the potential there and I think it’s worth taking a risk on him especially because the acquisition cost isn’t going to be that high yeah I like the idea of bringing in Nicholas Robertson um but maybe not as that first line player just as a as an option for the team as a player who can come in and take a new scenery and uh prove himself because he’s been needing to and there’s the Fami obvious familiarity with Kyle dubis already I think that’s a good option again just as in a different conversation not in this specific one not in this specific first line Winger role but just as a player the penguin should look to add I think that one outside of the context of C Crosby is a good addition for the yeah and that brings to light another Avenue here for Kyle dubis and that is you know we’ve been saying you’d like to and you would really have to bring in somebody to bump Drew o Conor down but at the same time if he’s looking at this as in you know I don’t want to just acquire a Topline Winger to acquire a Topline Winger I don’t want to expound like expend the assets on it then it’s not like Drew o Conor didn’t hold his own on that first line and maybe you do bring in a Nicholas Roberts and maybe eventually you know Nick Robertson does get an opportunity alongside Sydney Crosby because we’ve seen players with lower ceilings succeed with Sydney Crosby Dominic Simone that’s the only reason he had a career as long as he did is because he succeeded with Sydney Crosby I mean you talked about Pascal D who has a much higher skill level than Dominic Simone but he was looked at as you know part of one of the best first lines in hockey for a couple seasons in Pascal D so you know I don’t hate that option either but I still feel like even though the penguins are rebuilding team and some times it’s going to be hard to to think that way I still think they they need to go out there and get somebody of a higher level to go into their top six and that’ll have a trickle down effect on the rest of the lineup but I still feel like one of those other options specifically i’ I’ve fallen in love with the eers thing I know it’s outside the realm of possibility it’s a long shot at this point but I’ve fallen in love with that eers mity package and whatever it takes to get him whether that’s you know trading away I wouldn’t trade away Braden jger but shy of that I would trade away probably you know kiin or ponomarov if if it meant bringing Nikolai eers in for two years and getting rer mcor as well yeah that’s that’s fair I the issue is is that the Penguins want to build that Prospect system they do uh and you know I was think long shot yeah I was thinking like maybe you’d say Pickering but also he’s the top defensive prospect at the moment and yeah we need to see what everyone else still does um I was a little more surprised to hear you say one of the forwards I could see see maybe a Cruz Lucius depending on how he looks at development camp or other forwards that are escaping they’re not going to trade any of the recent draft picks just because they just got them yeah um maybe p and Ney because they don’t really know what’s going on there again they just have to see him still development Camp is next week so or sorry this weekend yeah um two days so we’ll see where things go from there if maybe we also the penguins look at that and go all these guys are worth the future they’re going to stick around there’s plenty of options because every day it seems the prospect pool does grow a little bit yeah and that’s why I say you know one of the forwards because forward out forward in record mcity just takes their place and in a higher higher standing in the Penguins Prospect system so it’s going to be interesting obviously the penguins are not done this offseason there’s several moves it’s going to be hard to forecast what moves Kyle dubis makes at this point he also threw out there that he could be looking for something similar to a Kevin hay trade I am still digging to find somebody that fits the mold of a Kevin Hayes type trade for a Topline Winger I that is that is going to be a hard one to to seed out across the other 31 NHL teams but we’ll keep our eyes open and if we see somebody that could potentially fit that mold we’ll let you guys know on this platform but let’s move over and talk a little bit about the Penguins defense because we’ve talked a lot about the forwards the defense on the other hand seems like they might be dumb while they still have some work to do in other areas of the organization the defense looks pretty set right if you look at it on paper right now pon Carlson is your top pair grizzli leang is probably your second pair Ryan Graves Jack St ivany is probably your third pair and then you have three extras at the NHL level right now and John ludvig who’s bouncing back from an injury Sebastian AO who was acquired two days ago and Ryan Shay who was brought back surprisingly a couple of days ago as well horwat your thoughts on this we’ll call it a new defense even though there’s only two new names uh it feels like a new defense though because of the work they did beyond the NHL level there is some names that could know Vive her spots in um Matt Hollowell if he really step things up um Owen Pickering maybe if again if Prospect Camp goes well preseason again maybe that’s more of a minor league option but yeah a name to keep an eye on Philip crawl was signed a little bit ago you gotta remember him he’s still around uh there are names that are going to be fighting for spots and looking for NHL time and it yeah it’s mostly the same defense and may end up being the exact same going into maybe not the exact same may end up being fairly similar going into puck drop but it feels like there’s a lot of new new blood there I mean po Joseph is gone um that’s it but with the names that have come in it feels like there’s going to be a bit more of nuance a bit more let’s see what’s going on let’s see what happens and I like the Sebastian AO pickup a bunch two years by the way so even if uh things don’t work out this season even let’s let’s say things don’t work out with Matt grizli he’s only here for a year Spas noo got two so there’s some faith in what he can do it feels a little like a Reclamation but also like a like a genuine option for the lineup mhm I had three initial thoughts whenever I write this down I have three things that flood my mind whenever I look at this lineup on paper on the defensive side of things one you mentioned it’s going to be very similar to last year I think there was going to be one glaring similarity and it’s G there it is going to be that they are not good in the net front once again I mean you brought in a 5 foot n Defender and that was essentially it I mean Sebastian noo maybe but he’s not known as being a big netfront guy so you’re still going to have that same issue as last season two I automatically am expecting a better year from Eric Carlson and Chris lat Tang so that’s going to elevate the level of this defense no matter what I I think Chris lat Tang if he can stay healthy you can see what you saw early last season which him play some of the best 200 foot hockey that he has played or the very least in his own Zone the best that he has played and then Eric Carlson I I think there’s just you know you bring in David Quinn your second year in the system you have a little bit more you know chemistry with a guy like Marcus petson I think bringing in grizzli gives them the Penguins I should say the option of of keeping peton with Carlson and bouncing grizzli and Graves whoever’s doing better with Chris leang so I I think that gives Carlson more of Lee way to keep Pon on his wing so I think that’ll create you know a much higher level of play from Eric Carlson next year and the last one is Graves I think when he starts the season with Jack C ivany lesser roll on the third pairing and playing with Jack S ivany I think is a very good fit for his talent and what he does best which is lug the puck right that is what he does really good is lug the puck and try to get shots towards the net whether they get through or not we know he’s Captain shinpad that’s a different story but I think that is setting him up for success in year two and I also think the floor is so low at this point going into the season that you’re going to be surprised at how much better he is this year now again I might have you know rosecolor glasses on Ryan GR I was one of the people you know pounding on the table for them to sign Ryan Graves and it backfired one of the things I was most wrong about in my entire life I do think that he’s gonna have a much better season in year two and I think a lot of the reason is because he is in a much better position to succeed on that third pairing with the St ivany yeah he’s got more room to grow he’s got time to settle in now he’s had his time to settle in see where it goes I I mean I know you’re saying they’re not a playoff team I’m looking at the whole team as you know with rosecolor glasses so I’m kind of on your side with this of there should be upsides there should be upswings and improvements going into next season because they’re professionals they know that they know they’re not stupid they know what they did last season they know they need to improve and certain ones will be able to and you have to hope Ryan Graves is one of them yeah and obviously you have guys like Marcus Pon who’s going into a contract year if he doesn’t have a contract before the year starts he has a lot to prove to try to make that money next year but you got a lot of guys that have a chip on their shoulder especially on that left side pson playing for a contract grizzli looking for some Reclamation Ryan Graves looking for some Reclamation even go down to John ludvig who was given opportunities last year but he just couldn’t stay healthy and stay in the lineup he’s goingon to be hungry to be able to prove something this year in his second year at the NHL level with the Penguins so that that brings me to my last Point here and the last question I want to ask you is do you think with these nine names that we have in front of us right now do you think it’ll be a better unit than it was last season overall I think so um I think it’ll be a wiser unit again let’s also not take out like yeah you have those nine names you got a new coach too got a new defensive coach so there is more to uh more to this group being better than just the names on paper there is the coaching behind them there is the mindset that might that they may have going into this season of we have a new coach there’s a reason for it every time a a coach gets fired or coach gets let go at least one player will say part of it is on us okay well now the the defensive core for the Penguins might be thinking that um we lost Todd Reen I wonder why well mostly the power play but also he was our coach is there something we did wrong there something we need to work on for most of them absolutely yeah it’s he’s gonna maybe wake up Eric Carlson a little bit he’s gonna wake up Crystal Tang a little bit and continue coaching Jack St ivany into his full potential and whoever comes out of the battles for those final spots whenever I say like I think Sebastian AO might put up a good fight you know John lvic is gonna be hungry you know the the long shots like Philip crawl and Ma Hollow Hollowell are gonna be hungry as well who knows what they can bring it’s gonna be a lot of pushing and Mike Sullivan loves a good competition especially on the blue line so I’d say overall even if the names are the same there’s going to be a lot of improvement and it should be a much better uh defensive Court going into next season I think where the ceiling is at is higher than where they finished last season no doubt yes the problem that I have is there are a lot of gambles on this blue line right Matt grizzli is is a huge one now again as far as the the business of hockey and the salary cap of hockey he’s not that huge 2.75 million for one year you can scrap it after the year y fine Ryan Graves can he bounce back I I’m expecting him to but can he that that is still a question it remains to be seen and Jack ivany is still a little bit of a gamble I like him you like him everybody seemingly liked Jack ivany and he was thrown into the fire late last season he worked out he played well but can he do that for a full season at the NHL level can he withstand the rigers of a massive NHL schedule which we didn’t even talk about the schedule includes a seven game Road Trip what is that what is it including the West Coast road trip that is that is crazy but again all goes to the fact that you’re trying to get younger and part of that is Jack St Ivan is gonna have to put up with a lot of things that he’s never seen before certainly not at that level so there are a lot of questions here I think that there’s potential for it to be better but again I’m cautiously optimistic because there are a lot of gambles going on here by Kyle dubis and the Pittsburgh Penguins yeah there are and considering the place they’re in they might be worth the gambles they might be worth those attempts mhm um that also makes for a fun season and also if Things Fall Apart and the Penguins if the defense is starting to falter and the penguins are still in a pretty decent position they’ll have plenty of options to go to to turn to it’s not like this is these are the names that’s it there’s no one else to turn to we’re looking at Taylor fun next no you’re not you’re going to look at some pretty solid options behind behind them and if those options don’t fail all right we’re turning to the prospects everybody get ready the future is now so I I’d say even if certain things are going bad um there will be just troves of possible NHL ready Talent right in the rear view yeah it’s going to be a season where I think it’s going to be more inclined to happen on the offensive side of things because I think there’s more one more options right we talked about pamar we talked about po we can talk about Coy Vin there’s more options to come up and potentially steal spots but and you look at that defensive side Phil car is going to be an interesting name to to monitor this year I know he he’s the guy that you’ve been trying to shoehorn into every episode since they acquired him I’m gonna I mean I’m incourage to see you continue that Trend once the season begins I hope you continue that Trend and the last thing I’ll say is uh when it comes to whether or not the Penguins will be better than next year or next year than they were last year does Ryan graes realized that he’s 65 220 like can he do that that’s going to be a big part of it like I want to see Ryan Graves realized that he is a very large human and can use that to his Advantage uh he didn’t do it last year I’d like to see him do it a little bit more I I’m not asking the guy to change his entire game because he’s never going to become you know Brook zoric with better skating like he’s not going to be that guy but can we at the very least recognize the fact that you are a a human Shrek essentially with better hair so uh it’s it’s going to be an interesting season for the defense it might be a very very frustrating one or listen all could work out and I think the potential is there for that to be a very good defense Corp because Ryan Graves at his best is a top four guy Matt grizli at his best is a top four guy Marcus pson at his best is a top pairing guy and that’s your entire left side then you have two guys on the right that are future Hall of Famers and a young guy that everybody’s very high on so there there is potential for this to be very good we’ll just have to wait and see if they can live up to that potential in the 2024 25 season let’s close things out uh with a very fun little discussion here po Joseph signs with the St Louis Blues for I believe it was one year 950k obviously the move in the back end of that is the Penguins bringing in Sebastian AO two years 775k but with po Joseph’s departure is the end of the Phil kessle branch of one of the longest tenured trade trees in NHL history running from 2001 until 2024 and potential to go beyond 2024 it is now down to as we’ll pull up the trade tree here for everybody watching on YouTube at tip of the iceberg it is now down to Eric Carlson a 2026 third round pick and minor Leaguer Dylan hamaliuk who is right now unsigned so he could be gone in the matter M of a couple of months and it could be down to a 2026 third round pick and just Eric Carlson we’ll bring up the trade tree here and it all dates back to 2001 when Jeff Norton of all people was traded for Bobby doues that Branch didn’t last long and Johan Hedberg that then went to Alex golosi in a Vancouver second round pick that went to then of course Matt ninan and James Neil which went to Patrick hornist and Nick sping which then created the bulk majority of this tree because Nick sping of course included in the Phil kessle trade horist traded for Mike Mat and Colton seier kessle then traded for Galchenyuk and Joseph Galchenyuk turns into Jason zooker which Clips off at that point mat turns into Ryan paling and Jeff Petri in a trade that all of us are still having nightmares about but then Jeff Petri kept this thing alive when he was part of the Eric Carlson trade last August for Dylan huk who is still technically under control by the Pittsburgh P on Eric Carlson a 2026 San Jose third round pick and REM pitlick was part of that as well but pitlick was traded for a conditional seventh and the conditions were not met so his branch is cut off as well crazy trade tree starting back in 2001 including I would say at least two Hall of Famers right Phil kessle potentially Eric Carlson is there potentially and a couple of very important pieces for a couple Stanley Cup runs from the Pittsburgh pack Peng on yeah it’s no doubt looking at some of the names on here I mean it’s some of the biggest names in recent memory too for Penguins fans I mean you mentioned yeah like there’s Hall of Famers like Phil kessle and Eric Carlson but Jason Zucker ended up being a really fun player for a couple years Patrick hornquist ended up becoming huge piece of Stanley Cup runs like you mentioned um if you really get into it James Neil was fun to have around for a couple Seasons even Matt ninan whenever he popped off for his in his last season here a ton of fun and the the run that Johan Hedberg went on in his rookie season was one of those memorable ones uh it’s just looking at some of the names on here they’re big names they’re popular names they are hockey names too I mean like yeah maybe Alex Galchenyuk didn’t work in Pittsburgh and a lot of the recent stuff hasn’t been great that’s a former top I forget what pick he was but a former early early early first round pick that found his way into this uh Jeff Petri is an NHL vet of many games and for worth po Joseph at one point was The Penguin’s top defensive prospect so the names on like there’s no small names on this list Nick spings kind of got a history in hockey um when you get into the minute details of things whenever you start really seeing the little names that are here but for the most part these are these are mostly some pretty big prominent names not only in for the Penguins but just in hockey in general I mean the one name he didn’t mention there Alex golgoski was a great NHL for a very long time right yeah he was yeah yeah that’s another one there’s a lot of names on here it’s a very interesting trade tree that I’m happy continues I thought it came to an end I completely forgot about mat turning into pet Tre turning into Carlson but here we stand with Carlson and a third round pick I’m not sure that penguins are going to retain hamal this off season the question that I have here before we wrap this one up and also before this gets completely outdated and somebody gets traded what is the craziest part of this trade Tree in your eyes oh it’s tough it’s tough uh as I kind of look at it I’d say the craziest part might be I mean not all the details are into it but just the Eric Carlson trade itself yeah Jeff yes Jeff Petri is involved but I mean Casey the Smith was involved in it too and he’s not going to be in this but it was a huge trade that brought so much to the Penguins this past season uh sorry that had so much leave the Penguins this past season because it was Kyle dubis coming in because there’s the whole story behind it it’s Kyle dubis coming in he’s got a mess on his hands and has and wanted Eric Carlson and Toronto and now he’s got a team that has the assets to make it happen and it’s a team that Carlson wants to go to and what does he do he somehow ships out all of the bad contracts most of the bad contracts um for a player that going into a second year should be way better other than that the Phil Kess one’s obvious and uh yeah I’d say it sticks on to the Eric Carlson deal itself yeah it’s not officially a part of this trade tree because the the branch was clipped but you know who was involved in that Phil kessle trade initially was Caspar Captain then the Penguins brought him back and had him back on the roster as well so that’s a weird little addition to this as well I think the funniest and most interesting part of this trade tree is the guy it all starts with if I said Jeff Norton to most hoey fans you mentioned a lot of these names are names that just average hockey fans are going to know or average Penguins fans are going to know nobody knows really Jeff Norton unless you’re one of the order generation and a big fan of hockey or you’ve studied the plaque outside of PPG Paints Arena because he is one of the two New York Islanders Defenders on the Mario Lemieux statue outside PPG Paints Arena the fact that that guy is heading up this extensive and crazy tread trade tree is what I think is the most interesting part of this and the craziest part of this as well is obviously Jeff Norton and Rich pylon Pon whatever you want to say uh but Mario lemie splitting down between those two and then now we look at Norton as as part of this part of Penguin’s history as well I forgot about that part the the statue if maybe you do know Jeff Norton because he was a journeyman in the NHL between the uh late 80s into very early 2000s 15 years in the NHL 799 career games so close to 800 um am I getting the points right I am 384 total points in his career he’s a playmaker 52 total goals um that helps whenever you play defense and I’m not checking that part out but 15 years in the NHL over one two three four five six seven eight teams three games in Boston only 32 in Pittsburgh and yet here he is starting this for the Penguins um just an insane start for it he doesn’t have a picture on hockey reference so much how much more do you need yeah I mean essentially the Penguins traded Jeff Norton for Eric Carlson over the years and couple of cups in the way yeah over yeah over 20 years later but still hey it’s it’s what you do it’s that old you know if I have a paperclip and can get to a house by just exchanging one thing for one thing and that’s essentially what the Penguins did and they w a couple St cups on the way with some of these players being key contributors you mentioned you know Patrick warfist obviously Phil kessle obviously and they’re hoping you know Eric Carlson even though they’ve just entered a rebuild but I thought it was fun to look back on that because one of the big branches was cut off obviously we thought the Phil kessle Branch would have led to another 20 years but instead the return for Phil kessle was Alex scalak that didn’t work quickly and he was gone and poo Joseph who now walks for absolutely nothing in free agency to the St Louis Blues obviously it might be a while before we revisit this trade tree hopefully I mean Eric Carlson has I believe three years remaining on his current deal and obviously the Penguins need to do something with that 2026 third round pick whether that is make the selection and see where that player’s career goes or if they use it as part of a trade who comes back in return so uh it’ll be a nice little sidebar to keep an eye on a nice little fun entertaining offseason piece to keep an eye on but uh I thought it was interesting and we should bring it back up because we had a couple conversations over text throughout the week whenever po Joseph’s uh potential to leave uh started to spring up on Sunday but that is going to do it for this episode of the tip of the iceberg thank you guys so much for tuning in to this one remember you can find us on YouTube at tip of the iceberg or anywhere you get your podcast from we’ll see you guys next time [Music]

In this edition of Tip of the Ice-Burgh, Nick and Nick discuss the remaining options for the Pittsburgh Penguins search for a top winger (1:09). They also look at the Penguins’ reconstructed defense and debate whether it will be better or worse than last season (14:49).
They end the episode by discussing one of the lengthiest active trade trees in the NHL and why it holds massive significance for the Pittsburgh Penguins (26:03). Tune In!

The top podcast for the most avid Penguins fans! Tune in as Nick Belsky and Nick Horwat bring you all of the Pittsburgh Penguins top news and analysis! New episodes of “Tip of the Ice-Burgh” EVERY Tuesday & Thursday

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