Hockey Trade Rumors

Surely, the Pittsburgh Penguins are done shopping.

Maybe not.

It was certainly assumed by many that the acquisition of winger Brenden Morrow would rule the Pittsburgh Penguins out of the Jarome Iginla bidding.

Not so, a source told ESPN.com Monday.

Even with Monday’s acquisition of blue-liner Douglas Murray, the Penguins still have the cap room to stay in the mix on Iginla, and plan to do so. Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles, along with Pittsburgh, are believed to be Iginla’s four teams of choice, with the Flames captain controlling the process with a no-trade clause.

You certainly wouldn’t want to bet against the Bruins at this point on Iginla, given the urgency they feel now to match what fellow Eastern powerhouse Pittsburgh has done over the past few days.

But the point is, the Penguins want to remain active on the trade front if something makes sense, and that includes keeping tabs on the Iginla situation.

You certainly get the sense Pittsburgh views this as an all-in year, given the play of its team plus the fact the salary cap is high this year. It’s a chance to go for it.

When you consider that the Penguins will need to eventually sign Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang to extensions (both have one more season left on their deals), plus the fact the salary cap is going down next season, it makes perfect sense for the Pens to be going for it now.

Of interest, too, is how the Penguins bulked up with Morrow and Murray, two playoff warriors who can muscle up with the best of them. You don’t think the possibility of playing Boston in the second or third round came to mind in making those deals? I’d say so.

http://espn.go.com/blog/nhl/post/_/id/22914/rumblings-hold-on-pens-arent-done-dealing