Analysis on the acquisition of Douglas Murray, Bylsma on Bennett’s role & Morrow talks joining a Cup contender

BYLSMA ON THE ADDITION OF DOUGLAS MURRAY & MORE With three straight early playoff exits, a knock on the Penguins is that they are not tough enough to play against. The Penguins feel they addressed some of that upfront yesterday with the addition of Brenden Morrow to the top-9, but the biggest addition might end up being the 6-foot-3, 245-pound defenseman Douglas Murray. One thing scouts have constantly contended dating back to the Tampa Bay playoff series in 2011, is that you can drive to net easily against the Penguins and cause havoc. Some of those issues have been personnel issues, which Murray should address, and system wise the Penguins have made improvements of late, keeping teams to the outside

Trade Deadline Buzz: Five Western Conference teams GM’s are watching closely

TRADE DEADLINE REPORT The trade market is stagnant, mostly due to how tight things are out west. Just six points separate the Colorado Avalanche who are 15th in the conference and the San Jose Sharks who are 8th in the conference. General Managers are not yet ready to sell off rental players and the prices are outrageous even for depth players. The market could stay like this all the way up until 48 hours before the April 3rd trade deadline. Here are five Western Conference Teams General Managers are keeping a close eye on: Calgary Flames (11-11-4, 26 pts), 14th in conference Trade Deadline Buzz: It’s no secret what the Calgary Flames should do; “Rebuild”. Everyone knows it except Flames

Iginla to LA?

NHL RUMOR THURSDAY *On TSN’s Insider Trading tonight, featuring NHL insiders Pierre LeBrun and Bob McKenzie, they listed the Los Angeles Kings as one of the top teams likely to be in the sweepstakes for Jarome Iginla. The Kings are interesting because all of the chatter this past summer and even at last years trade deadline among a few NHL sources surrounding Iginla, is that the Kings were the one team he had his sights set on joining were he to waive his no trade clause. There’s a good chance the Kings remain the destination Iginla wants to go. He will get to dictate everything.

Will Penguins scoring prowess dictate trade deadline plans for other top East contenders?

PENGUINS GETTING ATTENTION OF OTHERS? The Penguins are far from perfect team. They have issues on the penalty kill, are inconsistent defensively and they don’t exactly get great goaltending from Marc Andre Fleury. That said, the Penguins are scary good offensively and chatter in league circles is the Penguins scoring prowess is getting the attention of at least one top Eastern Conference contender who are said to feel the need to bolster their scoring punch as the Penguins have the look of a team that could go on a run and just outscore everybody, regardless of how good of a team they are going up against defensively.