NHL Rumors: Penguins Having Second Thoughts About Trading Young Defenceman

Earlier in training camp, there were reports of the Pittsburgh Penguins attempting to move rookie Pierre-Olivier Joseph to any team that was interested. The team ended up holding onto him. Originally, the thought was that no team was interested, but Frank Seravalli reported that several teams made offers for Joseph, but the Penguins weren't ready to move him.

Since Joseph became waiver-eligible this season, they had to keep him on their roster or risk losing him to another team. And when the Penguins are trying to trade him, that would have just been a waste to lose him for nothing.

The Penguins were forced to send Ty Smith down to the AHL instead since he is exempt from waivers this season. After spending the last two seasons playing in the NHL for the New Jersey Devils, the former first round pick was a casualty of the situation in Pittsburgh. They would rather have him be in the NHL, but he will be getting top minutes in the AHL for now. He shouldn't stay down in the minors for long, but the Penguins need to decide what they are going to do. At the very least, the team has to make a choice by next season which of their young defenders they're keeping around.