Hockey - Teenager Staal to Earn his Spot

The eighteen-year-old Jordan Staal has been one of the most sensational players of the NHL season. The young center announced that he will stay with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Already when the season started, its club was expecting that the player would stay in Pittsburgh. If the second selection of the June draft would have decided to leave, it would have prevented the first year of Staal's three-year entry-level contract from kicking in.

Coach Michel Therrien even moved up Staal to the Penguins' No. 2 line last week after fellow rookie Evgeni Malkin shifted to the top line with Sidney Crosby. Staal recorded four goals and an assist in nine games. He also played more than 17 minutes in the Penguins' 8-2 victory at Philadelphia on Saturday. His long reach and stick-handling have allowed him one of the most-used penalty killers on a team that is off to a 6-3 start. The Penguins began last season by losing their first nine games.

The 6-foot-4 Staal's is also the younger brother of Stanley Cup-winning forward Eric Staal of the Carolina Hurricanes. Before the announcement he figured he had a good chance of staying. But he didn't want to get his hopes up, and he wasn't told until less than two hours before practice on Monday. If Staal was sent back to his junior team, he could not have rejoined them until Peterborough's season was totally completed. He also could not have been sent to one of their minor league teams.

But the Penguins decided to keep Staal and Malkin preventing them to become restricted free agents after the season of 2008-09. The Penguins can retain both by matching any offers to them.

What is worth noting is that when Staal, Letang and the 19-year-old Crosby scored goals against the Rangers on Oct. 12th, it was the first time in 24 years three teenagers scored in the same game for an NHL team.