Apparently The Pens Are Going After Every Player On The Market

I've been saying for weeks that the Pens need to make some moves to spruce up the roster. According to our good friend Eklund and his hockeybuzz.com site, I just may get my wish and get an entire new roster!

According to his latest trade rumor list the Penguins are interested in every old veteran on the market.

Here's the list:

Erik Cole - please for the love of God no.
Mark Recchi - Aside from the leadership quality he brings, he's not going to help the offense.
Christian Backman - Eh, physical guy. Not going to help out on offense at all.
Denis Gauthier - Solid physical gritty guy. Would welcome him in.
Keith Tkachuk - Another veteran presence guy. Could work, but I dunno.
Bill Guerin - Would prefer him out of the other vets on this list. Gritty guy who can still be effective in the late stages of his career.
Dan Hinote - Meh
Ville Koistinen - Solid puck moving defenseman, but we already have Sergei Gonchar, Ryan Whitney, Kris Letang and Alex Goligoski. We don't really need a 5th offense d-man.
Marian Gaborik - If he wasn't so injury prone, I would be excited about this "rumor"
Steve Eminger - umm...why?

Here's the list of players he has listed as guys potentially leaving town:

Petr Sykora - makes no sense to me other than him being in a contract year.
Jordan Staal - I came to terms with him being the first of the young guns to go.
Miroslav Satan - Take him...please
Ruslan Fedotenko - Just didn't pan out. Solid effort every shift, but the experiment is over.
Hal Gill - I've lost my voice countless times yelling at him in both person and in my living room. He never knows where he is on the ice. He refuses to hit people despite his size. He can't handle the puck to save his life. Need I go on?

So let's do the math. We're apparently interested in getting 10 guys, and only entertaining giving up 5 off the current roster. That means if these deals are to happen, that more picks and prospects are going to leave town. Essentially, Eklund is saying the Pens are going to nuke the farm and the parent club to make something happen this year.

I really don't know where he gets these rumors from. I mean, I know he has some connections to guys around the league, but I think they just screw with him so that people like me and the fine people at hockeybuzzhogwash.com have something to write about every day.

Up next for the Pens are the Columbus Blue Jackets. Steve Mason has been incredible so far this season, but has been feeling the effects of mono and has had a rough go of it in his last couple starts. Here's to hoping that trend continues and the Pens putting a big two points in the standings.