Pittsburgh Penguins Update 2 Days Before Draft

This is a Big Week in Pittsburgh As the Pens and the City ready for the upcoming draft.   But before all of that officially starts, the Star’s will come out and the NHL will announce the winners of the Biggest Awards the Sport has On Wednesday Night.      Then it is off to Pittsburgh, and the Draft.

While all of that goes on, there are Trade rumors swirling about Jordan Staal.     That said, it sounded like GM Ray Shero wanted to squash as much of the Jordan Staal talk as he could.   Shero Stated:

"“People read the newspapers and so maybe they think he’s available,” Shero said. “That stuff is all speculation. I have made it clear to every team that has asked. I don’t want to trade Jordan. I’m not listening to offers. I want Jordan here. I want him here for a long time, and that’s what I’m going to try to do.” (Triblive.com)"

As far as what Jordan Staal wants, Shero also said that Jordan has expressed to him that he wants to stay in Pittsburgh.       So that said, I think Ray Shero may listen to some deals, but they are really going to have to knock his socks off.   Still, knowing they are working on a Crosby Deal, and  they need to  try to tie up the Possible League MVP in Evgeni Malkin makes the Staal decision all the more difficult.

Shero  has mentioned the fact that he plans to trade a couple defenseman.     There is one I am sure he would like to trade and that is Paul Martin, though making $5 million a season for the next few years is probably not going to make it easy. Also, Michalek is also a possibility.

As mentioned prior, Evgeni Malkin is in line to win the League MVP tonight and if he doesn’t I think it would be a BIT of a surprise.     Here in Pittsburgh, a SHOCKER.      Especially  knowing that it is based on regular season play.    Malkin’s 50 goals and over 100 points was one of the biggest reasons if not the biggest reason this team did as well as it did this past season.     He will also take home the Trophy for Highest Points total.      Lots of Hardware for what is right now the best player in ALL OF HOCKEY.

The Draft is coming up fast and furious and I have been watching as many National Mock drafts as I can to gauge who I see the Penguins taking.      We did our own here at Fansided.com, and although at the time I was playing GM, I took what many out there was saying to be a great 2 way Hockey Player in Nicholas Kerdiles.     I just went through5 more Mock Drafts, and his name after showing up in 3 prior, did not show up in 4 of the 5.     I am never in seen a Draft this wide open after the first few picks.

I will be putting out a summary later today of all of the Mock Draft updates, and what will be my best guess to whom the Pens will be drafting first.

If you would like to follow me on Twitter you can @sportsmonger and on Sports Monger Radio  every Friday at 11pm.     Don’t miss the Special Episode of The Penslabyrinth.com Pens Lab Report this Friday at 11pm as we discuss all of the Penguins Hockey Draft information, not to mention, I will have a run down of all of the  Draft Picks to that point.