Some offseason news

So today we get a little info on the offseason chaos. First up we find out that Ryan Malone isn't interested in a trade with Columbus and would rather test free agency on July 1st. Malone says that him and his agent will not talk to anyone until July 1st. Probably deciding this after seeing how several teams were interested in negotiating with him, which would mean more of a choice for him and more money in his pocket. This is bad news for the Penguins because now they will not get a draft pick and/or another player out of this. You can read articles about this on the Trib and Post-Gazette.

According to the Trib, the Hossa talks are heating up. Hossa is on vacation right now in the Bahamas (must be nice!) and when he returns he will get his first good look at the contract the Pens have offered. He is expected to return later this week. Obviously the Pens' objective is to sign him to a long-term contract, but if for whatever reason an agreement is not made, the Pens are open to the idea of trading his rights before he can become an unrestricted free agent on July 1st. All negotiations up to this point have been with Hossa's agent Ritchie Winter. The deal is again mentioned as being a seven year deal worth near $50 million. The length of the deal remains a talking point between them but the Pens are not likely to offer much more than his current salary of $7 million. Ray Shero is not commenting on any offseason dealings.

Also according to the Trib, signing Brooks Orpik to a new deal is number 2 on the Pens' list. Talks with his agent, Lewis Gross, are expected to commence later this week. He is expected to command near $4 million annually. It's said he would like to stay in Pittsburgh and would probably give the Pens a hometown discount if he can get additional years on a new contract.

You can read about all of that on the Trib here.

Seth over at Empty Netters posted today how the Penguins were drafted, listing by round. The majority of their roster was drafted in the first three rounds.

We just found this today, it's dated Monday June 16th, but Puck Daddy sports blog has a post entitled 'Sign Hossa, lose Malkin and blame Sidney Crosby?' This was intriguing so going on to read it, they don't agree the Pens should sign Hossa and think Crosby has something to do with them wanting to resign him. Basically stating what Sidney Crosby wants, Sidney Crosby gets. Now while this may be true in the sense that certain people may want to please the "golden child," we don't think Sidney has lobbied them, nor would he put himself ahead of the team. But what do we know? Then again, what do they know? You can read this blog post here.

We even have some Steelers stuff today, and to us it's pretty exciting. It's an article from the Trib on Rashard Mendenhall, the Steelers' first round pick. They are pretty excited on what he can do and he should be an immediate effect on the team. We said earlier we were excited about Limas Sweed's potential, we're just as excited about Mendenhall's. Can't wait to see him run this year. You can read the article here. And we recommend you do.

Random YouTube of the day...It's more a song than an actual video but how could we resist this song entitled "Sign Hossa!?" Exactly. We loved this guy's Stanley Cup song too. Awesome. Sign Hossa HEY! Sign Hossa HEY!