Some spicy rumors to start your draft Friday:
These come from Darren Dreger via Chris Nichols of Today's Slapshot
Dreger keeps hearing rumblings of what could be a 'pretty significant trade' between #Pens and #stlblues. http://t.co/8e8iYvFNcr
— Chris Nichols (@NicholsOnHockey) June 26, 2015
“Maybe Pittsburgh. I think that there’s a strong appetite inside the Penguins’ organization to just change things up a little bit. And by a little bit, it could be a pretty significant trade. I keep hearing rumblings that – we know Rutherford is looking for a top-6 forward. We know that. Well, is T.J. Oshie from the St. Louis Blues a top-6? On a deep team like Pittsburgh, I think it’s a bit of a stretch. But if he can play in their top-6, good for him.“But I keep hearing rumblings that if all else fails, Pittsburgh and St. Louis might do something just to shake things up a little bit for both clubs. So maybe we see Oshie to the Pittsburgh Penguins with a young prospect like Ty Rattie, as an example, and then coming back the other way is Brandon Sutter of the St. Louis Blues. I mean, those are some of the rumblings that kind of dropped in my lap last night.
“And look, I think we have to qualify everything here. Of course, our goal is to be right 100 percent of the time, but there’s so much speculation swirling about from managers, agents, you name it……
Sounds great on the surface. We'll see. TJ Oshie isn't the star the casual fans think he is from the Olympics but he is a very good hockey player that is sound on both ends of the ice. He's in that 20-25 goal range while putting up 55-60 points on average for an 82 game season. Those are top line numbers in the modern NHL.
I wrote about Ty Rattie and the Penguins in mid November of last year, you can find that here
I also wrote the other day on how St. Louis could be ripe for the picking considering their recent trading history with Doug Armstrong. You can find that here
UPDATE 1:15 PM
#stlblues and #penguins have had trade talks and it's believed Oshie's name has been involved. Nothing imminent.
— Jeremy Rutherford (@jprutherford) June 26, 2015
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At the same time Mike Colligan did chip in with his take this morning
For first year in a long time, PIT front office is dealing from a place of weakness due to perceived weakness, uncertainty, and even urgency
— Mike Colligan (@MikeColligan) June 26, 2015
Brandon Sutter good example: very light offers due to other teams knowing his weaknesses or knowing #Pens desire/need to move him? Both?
— Mike Colligan (@MikeColligan) June 26, 2015
#Pens GM Rutherford is under big challenge to improve roster over next 10 days. Deserves credit if he can pull it off without overpaying.
— Mike Colligan (@MikeColligan) June 26, 2015
Mike is very smart and picks his spots when he speaks on Twitter. If you don't already know Mike was the man who wrote about a potential Pittsburgh Penguins sale months before the news was released.
Those two tweets ring an alarm bell that perhaps Jim Rutherford has no hesitations about overpaying. It obviously remains to be seen but he is the guy who has said he "doesn't always has to win a trade". Something to ponder.
A potential Penguins third line center is off of the market
Carl Soderberg deal with Colorado is done. 5 years, 4.75 AAV.
— Craig Custance (@CraigCustance) June 26, 2015
Dave Molinari is hinting at Pittsburgh being interested in Jeff SKinner
Another scoring winger is on the Penguins' radar: http://t.co/dIDVvfbB8h
— Dave Molinari (@MolinariPG) June 26, 2015
I wrote about Jeff Skinner and how even Alex Semin compares favorably to him here
If any big Pittsburgh related items drop today you can expect an update either in this space or in the form of a brand new blog. Stay tuned today should be fun (or devestating).
Thanks for reading!
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