Surgical stapler and staple cartridge for the same

A staple cartridge for use with a surgical stapler, comprising:

• a plurality of staples;
• and
• a cartridge body, comprising:
• a tissue contact platform,
• a plurality of staple cavities, wherein each of the staple cavities comprises an opening formed in the tissue contact platform, the staples positioned in each of the staple cavities and being configured to extend out of the opening when deployed, and wherein the plurality of staple cavities are arranged in rows along a longitudinal direction of the staple cartridge, and
• a retaining pin assembly slidably disposed in an end of the cartridge body proximate to the outside and operably connected to a closure drive mechanism of the surgical stapler, such that the retaining pin assembly is extendable distally out of a retaining pin hole opened on the tissue contact platform along a longitudinal direction of the surgical stapler when the closure drive mechanism is actuated, wherein the retaining pin assembly comprises a pin rod extending along a longitudinal direction of the retaining pin assembly, and the pin rod has a round cross section;
• wherein, in the longitudinal direction of the staple cartridge, an outermost edge of an outermost staple cavity in at least one row of the staple cavities is aligned with or extends beyond a longitudinal axis of the pin rod;
• and
• wherein the pin rod of the retaining pin assembly is either:
• offset relative to a longitudinal centerline of the staple cartridge, or
• centered relative to the longitudinal centerline of the staple cartridge while a longitudinal centerline of a plurality of rows of the staple cavities is offset relative to the longitudinal centerline of the staple cartridge.