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[URL]http://sports.yahoo.com/news/penguins-deal-c-jordan-staal-004702939--nhl.html;_ylt=Agf6lU5W4faoONCRXZ2aOwZ7vLYF[/URL]
in return they got another center, Brandon Sutter, who was the 11th overall pick in 2007 and has had decent numbers that past couple years. They also got a defenseman and the #8 draft pick which they used to select an offensive defensemen, Derrick Pouliot.
The biggest news about this trade is that it gives us cap space (up to $14.5 million after sending Michalek back to Phoenix for a 3rd rounder and a couple of prospects). That means we are legit players to go after Zach Parise in free agency starting on July 1 (only a week away!). Talk about the perfect winger for Crosby...imagine Malkin centering Neal and Kunitz, Crosby centering Parise and Dupuis, and Sutter centering Kennedy and Cooke. Maybe Shero goes after Ryan Suter instead since they have a history together in Nashville (I absolutely LOVE the Suter/Weber defensive pairing for the Preds), but we do already seem to have embarrassment of riches along the blue line in our system.
It's a good gift for Jordan on his wedding day (instead of being a 3rd line center, he's now a top line center playing next to his brother Eric, who will likely be moving onto Jordan's wing...perhaps Jared could complete that Staal line when he makes it up to the NHL, since he is already in Carolina's minor league system).
Brandon Sutter is a perfect 3rd line center for us. He's got size, grit, penalty killing ability, and he's no slouch putting the puck in the net either. Dumoulin recently won an NCAA championship with Boston and also seems to offer a solid combination of size and skill. The 8th pick was used on defensemen Derrick Pouliot (an undersized, smooth-skating, puck-moving defensemen in the Brian Campbell mold...possibly even a Letang type), and the having Olli Maatta fall into our lap at #22 (even higher ranked than Pouliot by many because of greater size and defensive prowess in addition to his solid offensive game) was a coup. Very interesting that we took a Portland (WHL) defenseman and a London (OHL) defenseman with our top two picks in the last draft (Joe Morrow and Scott Harrington), and tonight we took yet another Portland (WHL) defenseman and a London (OHL) defenseman with our top two picks in this draft as well (Pouliot and Maatta). Pouliot has played with Morrow, and Maatta has played with Harrington already. Instead chemistry and potential future blue line pairings. At first I was upset that we didn't take Filip Forsberg at #8 (it didn't help that the freakin' Caps got him a couple of picks later), but Shero is really doing a tremendous job piling up assets in our system. Shero has a lot of flexibility to play around with now, when it looked like his hands would be tied with trying to fit Crosby/Malkin/Staal under our cap moving forward.
[COLOR="#00FF00"]Good assessment, Ruthless. They need to set Paul Martin free. I wonder what impact that would have on the salary cap, have heard he has alot of guaranteed money, and wonder if his contract is too big to generate trade interest.
In the burgh from MN, for a month taking care of mother in law and her affairs in wake of a medical issue. Hope to see the Bucs while here.[/COLOR]
[QUOTE=DukieBoy;513993][COLOR=#00FF00]They need to set Paul Martin free. I wonder what impact that would have on the salary cap, have heard he has alot of guaranteed money, [/COLOR][/QUOTE]
Couldn't agree more about letting him go, but I believe your correct in that he has a lot of guaranteed money, so they're pretty much stuck with him.
Don't know what to think about the Staal situation. I guess since he never intended to stay this was a good move by Shero. I don't blame Staal, he's stuck on the third line here unless someone gets injured and in Carolina he's given the opportunity to play pro hockey with at least one of his brothers, and maybe 1 or 2 more in the future. Good luck to Jordan and thanks for the memories.
Martin has completed 2 years out of the 5 year, $25 million contract we signed him to in 2010. He's due $4 million this season, and $5 million in each of the final 2 seasons of his contract (but still averages out to a $5 million per year cap hit, since the NHL calculates salary cap hits differently than the NFL does; since contracts are guaranteed, a hockey players cap hit is static throughout the duration of the contract...it cannot be altered year-to-year like when football players restructure their contracts in order to massage their team's current cap situation).
For a team that is needy along its blueline, and not up against the cap (I'm sure that there are more than a few of those out there in the NHL landscape), there are worse things than paying $14 million for 3 years worth of Paul Martin and having him take up $5 million of cap room over the next 3 years (it's not as if it were a Rick DiPietro contract that seemingly goes on for decades). In order to get the cap space, I'd be willing to give him up for marginal prospects or conditional mid-to-late round draft picks next year. We'd be left with Letang, Orpik, Niskanen (if we can work out a new deal with him...and both sides appear interested in that), Engelland, Lovejoy, Depres, Strait, Bortuzzo, and the other guy that we got in the Staal trade, Brian Dumoulin, who is leaving Boston College after 3 seasons and 2 championships to turn pro. Not to mention having our blueliners of the future already in the pipeline (Morrow/Pouliot in Portland and Harrington/Maatta in London).
Getting rid of Martin gets us nearly $20 million under the cap (a pipe dream a short while ago when we were going to be up against it for the foreseeable future if we signed Crosby and Staal to long-term extensions), meaning that we are in play for BOTH Zach Parise (a close friend of Crosby who would finally give Crosby a legit scoring winger to play with like Malkin now has in Neal) and Ryan Suter (has a relationship with Ray Shero from their days together in Nashville; if Suter signs elsewhere, he might carry "franchise savior" type of expectations, but in Pittsburgh, he'd be another cog in the quest for a Cup, which I think suits his style better; after years of playing alongside the awesome Shea Weber, he could potentially play with awesome Kris Letang...pretty awesome).
If those signings indeed came to pass (I will have insane butterflies in my stomach on July 1, hoping beyond hope that Detroit doesn't swoop in and offer these guys the world, as expected), I would applaud the day we traded Jordan Staal (a guy neither I, nor Ray Shero, wanted to lose) as the transaction that had the single biggest impact on the future of this team. I especially like the leadership we'd be getting as well. Zach Parise is the captain of the Devils, Ryan Suter is an alternate captain for the Preds, and Brandon Sutter was named an alternate captain of the Canes after his rookie season when he was only 21 years old.
If the Pens land Parise and Suter, then consider me on board with this being a season of destiny for both the Steelers and the Pens after the draft the Steelers had.
Looks like Jordan Staal signed that 10 year, $60 million deal that Shero was offering him after all...If it were 9 years, $54 million or 11 years, $66 million, I could live with it, but this just seems like a direct slap in the Penguins face right now. If we land Parise today, though, which never would have been possible if Staal took the long-term deal from us, then I will be ecstatic and not bitter. Sutter + Parise + Pouliot + Dumoulin >>>> Staal. I'll take a gritty, penalty killing 3rd line center, the best winger Sid ever had, and a couple of solid defensive prospects over a guy who was miscast as a 3rd line center here any day.
[QUOTE]Hurricanes lock up Jordan Staal for 10-years, $60 million
Joe Yerdon
Jul 1, 2012, 11:32 AM EDT
It didn’t take long for the Carolina Hurricanes and Jordan Staal to work out a long-term deal. TSN’s Bob McKenzie breaks the news of Staal signing a 10-year, $60 million deal with the team, good for a cap hit of $6 million per year.
If that offer sounds vaguely familiar for Staal it’s because it’s similar (or exactly the same) to the one Penguins GM Ray Shero made to Staal two weeks ago. A day after news broke that Shero was “livid” with Staal for turning it down, the Penguins sent him to the Hurricanes in a package that gave Pittsburgh the 8th overall selection in the draft (Derrick Pouliot) along with Brandon Sutter and Brian Dumoulin.
“We are very pleased that Jordan has chosen to commit to the Hurricanes organization and to make North Carolina his home,” said Rutherford. “At 23 years old he is just starting to come into his prime, and he now represents a cornerstone of our franchise for the long term.”
Now Jordan will play alongside his brother Eric Staal in Carolina and be the second-highest paid member of the family in Raleigh and set up to be the team’s No. 2 center.[/QUOTE]
[URL]http://prohockeytalk.nbcsports.com/2012/07/01/hurricanes-lock-up-jordan-staal-for-10-years-60-million/[/URL]
Sutter Visits Pittsburgh for First Time
Wednesday, 07.25.2012 / 1:47 PM
Features By Michelle Crechiolo
While much of the hockey world converged on Pittsburgh for the 2012 NHL Draft on June 22, Brandon Sutter was hundreds of miles away in his home province of Alberta attending his friend’s 23rd birthday party.
While relaxing in the sunshine on the deck, Sutter received a call that changed his life.
It was Hurricanes vice president of hockey operations Ron Francis, calling to tell Sutter that he’d been traded to Pittsburgh along with Brian Dumoulin and the eighth-overall pick of the 2012 NHL Draft (Derrick Pouliot) as part of the deal that sent Jordan Staal to Carolina – the biggest Penguins trade of the past decade.
At that moment, the party was over for Sutter.
“It was a tough couple of hours,” said Sutter, who had never been traded before in his hockey career. “It’s such a weird thing. You don’t expect it. It’s a new feel for sure.”
But after just a couple of days, Sutter recovered from the initial shock and began feeling excited about his new situation. And now that a whole month has passed? He’s “really, really pumped” about his new team – especially after arriving in Pittsburgh this week for his introduction to the Penguins.
“It’s definitely an awesome facility,” Sutter said Wednesday of CONSOL Energy Center, the arena he’ll now call home. “It’s something I’ve never seen before. The building is top-notch and it’s a pretty cool city. I’m just excited to be here. I’m trying to find my footing a little bit and get to know my way around and meet some people. So far, so good.”
Sutter, 23, spends his summers in Sylvan Lake, Alberta and works out with all his buddies in the nearby city of Red Deer, where he played junior hockey. His trek to Pennsylvania started with a flight from Sylvan Lake to Carolina, where he packed all of his belongings into his car and made the roughly nine-hour drive up to Pittsburgh.
“Thankfully I was still renting all my furniture and stuff, so I just had to get my clothes and all that,” Sutter joked. “So now I just have to look for a place to go. I’m here a couple days. I’m going to look around and see if I can find a place right away. If not, then I’ll find a place I can get into in a month’s time. We’ll see how it goes.”
Upon arriving at the arena this morning, Sutter met with Penguins general manager Ray Shero in person for the first time since the trade (head coach Dan Bylsma is on vacation, but Sutter’s spoken to him on the phone).
“It was a normal conversation,” Sutter said of talking with Shero. “They said they’re excited to have me. More or less we talked about the summer. I think he’s excited and I’m excited.”
Sutter won’t be sitting down to video sessions and chalk talk this week, because his first visit is all about getting comfortable – not overwhelmed. He’ll have plenty of time to learn the Penguins’ on-ice tendencies in training camp, and besides, his role won’t differ greatly from the one he played in Carolina.
Sutter is a strong, two-way center that will slot in well as the third center behind Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. Sutter excels as a shutdown defender and on the penalty kill, which he will likely do with Pittsburgh. He also hopes to provide some offensive punch from the third line and supply scoring depth from that part of the lineup.
“It’s similar to what I was playing before, but I’m playing on a deeper team,” he said. “That’s exciting. The opportunity that you have here playing that role is huge. It comes with a lot of responsibility. I’m really looking forward to it. It should be a lot of fun.”
At the arena this morning, Sutter also got introduced to Penguins forward Matt Cooke – who isn’t the first new teammate to welcome him to the organization.
“I’ve talked to (Sidney Crosby) a couple times,” Sutter said. “A lot of it is just where to live and stuff like that to help get me settled. He was positive about the team and organization. It’s a world-class facility and sounds like a lot of good people are working here. It’s a good place to be. … Everyone’s been really welcoming.
“I think it’s no secret they’ve got a pretty special group. Now I feel I’m part of that now, and that’s exciting. I don’t even know what to say. I’ve had to play against this team enough, I think it’s nice to be on the other side of it now.”
There’s still a lot of time before the 2012-13 season gets underway, but Sutter is anxious to get on the ice with his new teammates and get going.
“When you’re playing with a couple of the best players in the world and a lot of good players supporting that, it’s exciting,” he said. “It’s a team that’s won recently. Every year they’re the team to beat. To be a part of that now is awesome. I want to help with that and win some games here. I’m really looking forward to it.”
[IMG]http://3.cdn.nhle.com/penguins/images/upload/2012/07/suttervisit725127.jpg[/IMG]
[URL]http://penguins.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=638636&navid=DL|PIT|home[/URL]