Agent: “Jordan Staal will not request a trade from the Penguins”

“Jordan Staal has not and will not request a trade from the Pittsburgh Penguins, ” Staal’s agent Paul Krepelka told Inside Pittsburgh Sports.com this afternoon when asked about the growing speculation centering around Staal.

 Staal did not discuss his future with Penguin management during his exit meeting last week and Krepelka called speculation of Staal informing the Penguins of his desire to be traded to Carolina (if the Penguins were to decide to trade him) laughable. “It’s complete nonsense, ” Krepelka said.

One reason Staal’s camp doesn’t want to see Staal traded this summer is that they see Staal in a Penguins uniform keeping his value at it’s highest point in the event that Staal hits the open market in July 2013, one individual said today.

While the rumor mill surrounding Staal is only going to heat up, one thing to keep in mind is that the Penguins are four to five weeks away from laying out their off-season plans as the team is just in the pre-liminary stages of their off-season evaluations.

The No. 1 discussion inside the organization will center around whether the three center model is still the best way to build a team around and not just from a financial standpoint, sources say.