More Staal Trade Rumors

As the draft approaches there are more Staal trade rumours running rampant.  The latest rumor is coming from Chicago.  The rumor is that Chicago is willing to offer defensive guru Dave Bolland, and at least Brandon Saad in return for Jordan Staal.  There is some talk that the Hawks are very interested and flexible, possibily willing to include defenseman Nick Leddy or Niklas Hjalmarsson in the deal.  I would assume we would need to package somebody else with Staal to get Bolland, Leddy, and Saad.  Bolland is a great third line center who showed great playoff grit and shutdown capability in the Hawks run to Cup a year ago, and he can add some offense as well with 19 goals and 18 assists in the 2011-12 season.  He is a 3.4M player with two more years on his deal.  He does not have the offensive upside of Staal, but does play shutdown defense, with a 40 point per year offensive capability.  Prototypical third line center for this Penguins team.  Nick Leddy is a 21 year old defenseman who had 34 assists last year, to go along with 3 goals, and is signed at 1.1M per year with one more year left prior to being an RFA.  Leddy was also a -12, but is only 21 years old.  Leddy and Bolland would roughly equal Staal's cap hit, and would replace the defensive aspect of the third line center, and add another good young defenseman to the Pittsburgh core. This would give them more deal capability.  If they could also wrangle Brandon Saad, who is signed for several more years at 894K, and adds some young offensive ability at the wing, this could become quite tempting for Pittsburgh.  To give you an idea about Saad, he played a few games as a first year pro at the NHL level, and did not look out of place at all.  During his first season at Saginaw of the OHL he had 34 goals, and 42 assists and played to a plus 35 in his first regular season.  He added 8 more goals and 9 assists in 12 playoff games.  This deal  addresses several areas of need, stays cap friendly, and moves Staal to the West, where he is only an issue if we make the Finals.  Some people have Hjalmarsson as the other defenseman in the mix v Leddy, and I like him as a big player at 6'3" and 207 lbs with shutdown capability but he adds 3.5M in cap hit for the next two years.  A package of Bolland, Saad, and Hjalmarsson is very attractive, but would necessitate some salary movement the other way.  The upside is that Hjalmarsson is a big shut down guy who played to a plus 9 while adding a goal and 14 assists, which is just what the Penguins need.  Leddy on the other hand, had offensive capability, but was -12.  At 21 years old, there is great room for him to improve though.  Again, I am not a proponent of moving Staal, but if we HAVE to do it, I like getting him out of the East, and I like adding Bolland, Saad, and to me Hjalmarsson, all young players., all of whom would address immediate needs.  Adding the big defenseman would necessitate the movement of another player either in this deal or another, but I expect Pittsburgh to move Martin to a defense oriented team for a minimal return in a salary dump, which would more than allow for this deal to happen.  Interesting to think about.  Saad being a Pittsburgh kid would give the Penguins a very strong marketing angle in addition to an exciting top 6 winger prospect for the system.