SAN JOSE, Calif. -- If it wasn't for the tremendous start by fellow rookie Evgeni Malkin, Penguins center Jordan Staal would be getting a heap more attention.

Staal, the team's first-round pick in the June draft who turned 18 Sept. 9, had five goals (three of them short-handed) and six points through 10 games before the Penguins' game late last night against the San Jose Sharks at HP Pavilion.

He was a big story when the Penguins decided to keep him on their roster instead of sending him back to junior hockey beyond a nine-game window, which means his entry-level contract kicked in for this season.

But not as big a story as Malkin, who had at least one goal in each of his first six games. That's all right with Staal.

"I'm really kind of enjoying being low key," he said. "I'll take it as long as I'm playing well."

If not for Malkin, Staal would be the Penguins' top hope for the Calder Trophy as the league's rookie of the year. Again, though, he's happy to be in the background.

"It's a long shot right now," he said of any candidacy for the Calder. "There's still a long way to go. Evgeni's playing really well, and I'm sure he's going to keep playing that way."

Other than Malkin, Staal isn't even sure who is eligible for the rookie award. Most of the top players he knew in junior hockey haven't made it to the NHL, and he's not one to check rosters and stats.

"If anything, I'm the last person to know anything about any other players in the NHL," he said. "I really don't know much about who's doing what. I just go out and play hockey. I don't really know a whole lot of players in the league."

San Jose center Patrick Marleau is nine years older than Staal, but he was six days younger than Staal his rookie season in the NHL, 1997-98, so he has an idea what it's like to be barely 18 and playing in the league.

"It's so exciting to get to play in the NHL at that age, and I was fortunate enough to play with guys -- and against guys -- I looked up to when I was growing up," Marleau said. "It's a dream come true. Every day, you're facing somebody who you had a hockey card of or you watched them on the TV the year before."

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Marleau's first goal Oct. 19 of his rookie season, at age 18 years, 1 month, 4 days, made him the second-youngest player to score in the NHL since World War II. Staal beat that by a day, scoring his first goal Oct. 12 against the New York Rangers at age 18 years, 1 month, 3 days.

Chicago's Grant Mulvey was 18 years, 1 month, 2 days, when he netted his first Oct. 19, 1974.

Marleau had some simple advice for Staal.

"Just enjoy it and work hard," he said, "and someday you'll be the old guy on the team, like me."

Russians file another suit

The Edmonton Oilers, who have a minor-league affiliation agreement with the Penguins this season, assigned left winger Alexei Mikhnov to the Penguins' top minor-league club, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League.

Mikhnov, Edmonton's first choice in the 2000 NHL draft, spent the past nine seasons in Russia and played one game with the Oilers last month. His Russian team, Yaroslavl, has filed a lawsuit against Edmonton and the NHL, similar to the action taken by Metallurg Magnitogorsk over the Penguins' signing of Malkin.

Nabokov on Malkin

San Jose goaltender Evgeni Nabokov played with Malkin in Magnitogorsk and on the Russian Olympic team this year in Italy. He says, despite the six-game scoring streak Malkin took into the game last night, the Penguins rookie has only scratched the surface.

"I think he's going to get better," said Nabokov, 31, who had the night off last night in the Sharks' alternating goalie rotation (it was Vesa Toskala's turn). "The biggest compliment I can give him is that he's a good two-way player. He just has to learn about the system."

Slap shots

The game was the 15th of the season for the Sharks, but the 11th for the Penguins. ... San Jose coach Ron Wilson said he didn't consider changing his goaltender rotation to play Nabokov just because Nabokov is familiar with Malkin. "How familiar would he be, really, with him?" Wilson said "And wouldn't the forward be familiar with the goalie, too?" ... Former Penguins employee and Pittsburgh native Paul Fink is now manager of hockey technology for the Sharks.