Well, yesterday was an odd day for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Jordan Staal was one of my favorite
Penguins. I loved his game, his size, his clutch play, and I think he is only going to get better. The kid came in as the second overall pick in the draft, and forced the Penguins to keep him in his first year. Since then, the 6'4" 220 lb Staal has been a prominnet figure in the Penguins great reversal of fortune since his first year. He is the first pick ever made by Ray Shero, and the lanky kid from Thunder Bay put up 120 goals and 248 points, and played to a plus 53 in the regular season in those six years. He added 23 goals and 36 points in the playoffs in that time frame, including the series turning short handed goal in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals in 2009. Yesterday, Staal made his movement from Pittsburgh inevitable by turning down a 6 year 60 million dollar deal with Pittsburgh. Given the fact that it was pretty obvious Staal was likely to leave Pittsburgh, give Shero credit for maximizing the return on Staal. Coming back to Pittsburgh was Brandon Sutter who was picked 11th overall in the 2007 draft, and has played three seasons already at 22 years old, and has netted on 17, 14, and 19 goals on some bad mediocre Carolina teams. He is a very good third line center, who is a great penalty killer, a threat short handed, and a guy who can score some too. In addition, the Penguins got defensive prospect Brian Doumalin in the deal. Doumalin, who is a 6'3" left shooting defenseman was picked in the second round of the 2009 draft, 51st overall. He won the NCAA championship and established himself as a top defenseman in the NCAA as a freshman. He is a big, highly regarded prospect who is described as a playmaker with great vision, and a great skater who is repsonsible in his own end. Could be a top 4 defenseman in the NHL, and should make the show in 2-3 years. In addition, the Penguins got the 8th pick in the draft as part of moving Staal, and to me made a curious move there. They drafted Derrick Pouliot a defenseman from Portland in the WHL. He is a another highly regarded offensive defenseman who can skate, and has excellent offensive skills. Pouliot was ranked 12th among North American skaters by NHL Central Scouting, and the 5'11" 186 lb defenseman was 4th among NHL defensemen with 59 points last season. I love how Shero stockpiles defensemen and turns them into wingers like Neal and Kunitz, but frankly I was shocked that he did not take Filip Forsberg, a top five prospect at left wing given the glut of young defensemen and lack of quality forwards in the system. I suspect that the addition of Pouliot and later, Olli Maata another young defenseman, means that Shero will be using current and future defensemen as trade bait to bolster other areas of the lineup. He was talking a lot today to Phoenix about the rights to Ray Whitney, and Keith Yandle, as well as to Nashville and Ottawa. Olli Maata, taken 22nd from London of the OHL was projected as a top 12 pick, and starred for Finland in the World Junior Championships. He has good size and is projected as a top end NHL defensman, and power play quarterback. The 6'2" 202 lb Maata was ranked 8th among North American skaters by NHL Central scouting, and he led all OHL rookie defensemen with 32 regular season points after being taken first overall in the CHL draft. Maata's play propelled the OHL's London Knights to the OHL championship, and the runner up in the Memorial Cup this past May. Maata was teammates with Penguins prospect Scott Harrington. He tied for team lead with 23 points in 17 playoff games.
In short, Shero turned Jordan Staal, who only has one year left on his current deal at 4M per year, and who turned down 60 million dollars to stay into Sutter, a strong 3rd line center picked 11th overall, the 8th pick in this draft(Pouliat), and Doumalin, picked in the 2nd round in 2009 (51st overall). The Penguins could have taken a shot this season with Staal to win another Cup with him in the lineup, and likely lose him as UFA for nothing or maximize a return and make a run without him. Sutter is not as good as Staal, but he is very good, has upside, and is a hair under 2M per year cheaper now, and about 4.5M cheaper next year. Doumalin and Pouliat who were part of the trade create an opportunity for Shero to move some young defensemen for other pieces of the puzzle on this team. I have heard that Shero intends to be a serious contender to pick up Zach Parise on July 1st as a UFA, or trade earlier for his rights. Parise and Crosby are friends who played together at Shattuck St. Mary's. He sure would like great parked right next to Crosby on the wing, no? I could also see Pittsburgh making a move for Ryan Suter, or a trade for Bobby Ryan, or both. Look for Martin to be gone in the next week, along with some other players or prospects in preparation for that run.
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