PITTSBURGH -- Day 1 of the NHL draft is going to be tough to top on Day 2. The Penguins jolted the Consol Energy Center crowd by trading center Jordan Staal to the Hurricanes. Then they started speculation that they will make a play for Zach Parise or Ryan Suter in free agency by dumping Zbynek Michalek's salary in a late deal with the Coyotes.
"Today, we did clear some cap space with the Staal trade and Michalek trade," Penguins GM Ray Shero said. "We'll see where that's going to lead us."
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- Senior NHL writer for ESPN The Magazine
- Wrote for Atlanta Journal-Constitution
- Wrote for The Sporting News
ABOUT THIS BLOG
Craig Custance
Craig Custance joined ESPN in September 2011 as an NHL reporter for ESPN the Magazine, ESPN Insider and ESPN.com. A graduate of Michigan State University, he lived for nearly a decade in Georgia working for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution where he spent time covering the late Atlanta Thrashers. He was the only Thrashers beat writer to get the team to the playoffs.
From 2008-11 he was the national hockey writer for the Sporting News, writing regularly in print and online. A member of the PHWA, he's a proud voter for the major NHL awards and can occasionally defend his selections.
Like hockey, he left Atlanta to return north where he currently lives in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, with his wife Cassie and their three kids.
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