Saturday, June 23, 2012

Getting All the Staals (Almost)

Meet the happiest Carolina Hurricane, Eric Staal.  In the NHL Draft held last night, the Pittsburgh Penguins swung a deal with the Carolina Hurricanes that saw Brandon Sutter, Brian Dumolin, and the eight overall draft pick this year, which became Derrick Pouliot of the Portland Winterhawks head to Pittsburgh.  Going to Carolina?  Jordan Staal, who you will remember to be one of Eric's younger brothers.  This deal ended up being a win-win trade for both teams.  For Pittsburgh, they clear a little cap space (they cleared a little more by trading Zbynek Michalek to Phoenix, possibly opening the door to either Simon Despres of Joe Morrow (another Winterhawk) while still getting a good center in Sutter, who will slide into the third line that Staal previously occupied.  For Carolina, Jordan Staal gives the Hurricanes an instant number one center and conceivably, play on the same line as Eric Staal and Jeff Skinner.  Pittsburgh could make a run at Zach Parise or Bobby Ryan with the money saved in the trades while Carolina gets a much needed boost at center, where Jordan Staal could be the superstar that he always wanted to be while possibly getting Eric a chance at another 100 point season.

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