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Is Jordan Staal in the Penguins’ future plans ??
by Tony on 11/05/08 at 02:04 PM ET
Comments (13)
Way back during the 2006-2007 NHL season, Pittsburgh Penguins fans certainly had visions of offensive domination for years to come.
Sidney Crosby had 36 goals and 120 points, plus the Hart, Art Ross and Pearson trophies. Evgeni Malkin had 33 goals and 85 points, quickly establishing him as one of the league’s most feared snipers.
And then there was Jordan Staal. He burst on the scene in impressive fashion, scoring his NHL first goal short-handed in Madison Square Garden. He ended up scoring seven of his 29 goals short-handed, tying the NHL rookie record and led the NHL in that category. He also led the NHL in shooting percentage with 22.1%.
Those totals decreased significantly last season for Staal. His goal totals went down to only 12, none of which were short-handed. His shooting percentage went down to 6.6%.
Fast-forwarding to this year, Staal’s performance to date could very well be best described by the prophet Joe Pesci, who said in JFK, “It’s a mystery wrapped in a riddle around an enigma !!”.
It wasn’t until the Penguins’ last game, their 12th of the season, that Staal finally got the goose egg off his scoresheet, but that was only after a gracious feed to an empty net from Malkin in the waning seconds versus St. Louis.
It should also be a concern for Penguins fans that Staal’s bread and butter, his defense, has taken a hit as well. Several times in this early season he’s appeared to be a step slow, relatively speaking, being caught flat-footed and resulted in him taking lazy penalties.
In all fairness to Staal, he just turned 20. Really, it’s quite the compliment that a 20 year old has such lofty expectations. Frankly, his teammate Crosby may very well have caused unfair expectations for the youngsters in today’s NHL, even for someone like Staal, who was the 2nd overall pick in ‘06.
However, it’s Staal’s contract that has forced the Penguins, notably GM Ray Shero, to take a long hard look at Staal and try to determine if he is going to warrant the certain long-term big payday that is going to come, whether that’s from the Penguins or someone else. Staal will be the tricky Restricted Free Agent (RFA) this coming offseason, and you can be sure that he will attract plenty of attention if Shero and the Penguins don’t re-sign him by that time. RFA offer sheets in recent years have caused some heated discussions amongst NHL pundits and teams. The most notable to have occured recently were Ryan Kessler, who was offered $1.2 million to stay with Vancouver, but signed an offer sheet with Philly for $1.7 million. The Canucks had no choice but to sign Kessler for the higher price, or lose him for a draft pick. The most recent example, and maybe the best example of what might happen with Staal, is concerning the Sabres’ Thomas Vanek. Vanek was reportedly being offered a contract worth $4.5 million from Buffalo, but signed a 7 year, $50 million offer sheet with Edmonton. Buffalo soon thereafter matched the Oilers’ offer.
Would Staal command a $7 million annual salary from the Penguins ?? I highly doubt it. However, if the Penguins don’t re-sign Staal before he becomes an RFA, and allow other teams to bid on him, his price could skyrocket, so much so that he outgrows the Penguins’ budget.
So that brings us to the next angle: Considering that Crosby now has played with about 122 wingers in his 3+ seasons in the NHL, as well as losing Marian Hossa in the offseason, does Shero use the pending RFA status for Staal as a reason for trading him to a team for that coveted “scoring winger” ?? Or, do Shero and the Penguins believe that Staal will eventually become the dominant forward that he showed signs of in ‘06 ?? Moreover, can the Penguins afford to sign Staal for the long-term, given their near-max contracts for Crosby and Malkin, as well as big contracts to Fleury, Whitney and Orpik ??
Conventional wisdom would say that the Penguins be patient with Staal, and not be prone to “Naslund-itis”, when they thought Markus Naslund wouldn’t amount to much. Penguins fans know all too well what happened after that. He was traded for Alex Stojanov, who scored all of two goals for the Penguins before being released. The problem is that Shero and the Penguins don’t exactly have a lot of time to be patient, and will have to compensate Staal at a pretty penny very soon. Both Shero and Staal’s agent acknowledge that contract talks haven’t yet started, but expect to in the coming months. We shall see.
That’s why Shero makes the big bucks, the question is whether he’ll dish out the big bucks to Staal, or whether he’ll let someone else dish it.
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Tags: NHL-Hockey, Pittsburgh+Penguins,
Comments
tony f, quit reading LGP for ideas and write something original. You’re probably three weeks too late with Pen’s fans and hockey fans in general questioning Staal. Can’t you write about something different with the Pens? Even the reasons why they aren’t playing so hot were scraping the bottom of the barrel. These columns are just condensing eight page threads on LGP. Write about Rob Scuderi or something. Or how nasty Biz Nasty is. Your posts read like a message board post.
Posted by billbob from pittsburgh on 11/05/08 at 03:18 PM ET
“Write about Rob Scuderi or something. Or how nasty Biz Nasty is. “
Only then you wouldn’t complain?
Posted by nrbreitkreuz on 11/05/08 at 03:42 PM ET
Billbob you’re an idiot, if this was like an LGP post, then where are the the “trade staal for ovechkin” comments? LGP is the biggest group of idiots on earth, and Tony’s post didn’t even remotely resemble theirs.
Anyway, back to Tony’s post.
Unless the Pens can sign Staal before the trade deadline, he will be traded. It probably won’t be this blockbuster deal that everyone is stewing about, simply because I don’t think Staal is really worth that much at this point, and Shero doesn’t want to give up too much. m
There is no way Shero will let him go into RFA, because an offer sheet with even slightly more money than the Pens were offering him will be more than they can afford, and other teams know that.
Also, Empty Netters has a great article on Staal today.
Posted by Kevin from Pittsburgh on 11/05/08 at 04:08 PM ET
Kevin, it wasn’t EN, but Shelly Anderson’s column in today’s PG, which by the way I thought was a pretty “soff” article on him. Kinda gives him a pass, if you know what I mean.
Billbob, you’re right, I read those posts on LGP’s board every day. And you’re also right, this topic has been hashed and rehashed over there a while ago. So just so I get it right, because obviously you are this precinct’s Blog Police, are you saying the rule is that if it’s on LGP, then it’s off limits for anyone else on the Internets ?? LGP has the copyright on Penguins’ topics ??
Sheesh, I might as well pack up….. Lighten up, Francis…..
Posted by Tony F from Virginia Beach, VA on 11/05/08 at 04:27 PM ET
any GM with .5 a brain would be crazy to give up anything significant for Staal [the way he is playing right now]
if he’s offered up a RFA contract from some other club between 2.6 and 3.9 million per [going by the 08-09 RFA compensation numbers….they’ll probably be slightly different when/if the cap rises/drops]....Shero would get a 1st & 3rd round pick. Over 3.9 up to 5.2 and then it becomes a 1st, 2nd + 3rd round pick. That could be a better option to replace losing Espo + the ‘08 1st rounder, instead of settling for a ‘project’ winger in return.
Posted by dr. turkleton from PIT on 11/05/08 at 05:04 PM ET
ya im like the blog police or something. i got the badge and what not.
but come on, this is a little old dont you think? what’s the point of this? just so people know you’re position on jordan staal like it matter or something?
as soon as i see the name “jordan staal”, you know 5 things are coming - 1) should or shouldnt be traded 2) defensive center 3) terrible shot, 4) only 20, 5) scored a lot as a rookie.
are you adding anything new? its one of those topics that when people post it anywhere; blog, message board, blog-message board, wherever, they just like hearing themselves talk (or reading what they write?) .
there are 50 other things you could write about with the pens.
please scrap the idea to write about how the pens would be better if they still had hossa. dont do it.
Posted by billbob from pittsburgh on 11/05/08 at 11:05 PM ET
The fact that Staal’s situation has been discussed on other websites is fairly irrelevant to me, frankly.
My article simply threw the several different aspects of his situation along with my thoughts in there. If those thoughts look similar to those offered on the other message boards, oh well, life goes on.
If that’s not satisfactory to you then, please, don’t read it.
Posted by Tony F from Virginia Beach, VA on 11/06/08 at 08:25 AM ET
Forget him Tony, it was a good article, keep it up.
Posted by Kevin from Pittsburgh on 11/06/08 at 09:55 AM ET
I wrote about this on my blog yesterday.
Jordan Staal turned 20 less than two months ago. Even if he was invited to a bachelor party in the US today, he will STILL be unable to drink legally. He’s still the youngest regular player on this team. Is he Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin? No, and he probably never will be. But defensively he’s good at worst and outstanding at best. There aren’t too many guys on this team that you can say that about.
So while the Pens may be able to get a winger or two if they move Staal, I’d suggest they don’t. His poor play recently may even allow them to sign him at a discount.
In three years they could look back at the contract he signed this coming summer and see how they got a great deal on a potential Selke trophy winner. At worst they could see how they spent a reasonably small amount on a player with a lot of undeveloped potential.
The players they could get for Staal would likely end up making more money next season than Staal would so, even if you’re looking at this from a purely monetary viewpoint, it doesn’t make sense to trade Jordan Staal.
Of course things could change. Staal could start racking up the points and demand six million dollars next year. If that’s the case, I hope Tampa Bay still has cap space. But at this point in time I think it would be ridiculous to think about moving Jordan Staal.
Posted by PenguinsExperience on 11/06/08 at 11:55 AM ET
I agree with alot of things said above that people talk too much about this subject. He is a great role player on the team and doing just that, playing his role.
I just finished watching the Pens/Red Wings game and had to come back to this post.. and yes it was one game, but he showed alot with 3 goals (game tying goal) and an assist (game-winning goal assist).. he stepped up and played a big game tonight.
I look for this to be Staal’s stepping stone into a big season with the Penguins, whether it be his role as a defensive center or stepping up in big games to make big plays.
GO PENS!
Posted by Doug S from The Cuse on 11/11/08 at 09:54 PM ET
You know why he got the HT tonight, he read my article !!
J/K, great to see Jordan get on track tonight, what a helluva game….
Posted by Tony F from Virginia Beach, VA on 11/11/08 at 10:00 PM ET
Tony, if thats the case… keep writing articles so he keeps playing like that!
Posted by Doug S from The Cuse on 11/11/08 at 10:02 PM ET
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Normally I would agree that they should take their time with him, but they don’t really need a third (potentially) scoring center. They need wingers. They should trade him for a quality scoring winger. I think he will bounce back and have an incredible career, but with Sid and Geno already occupying the 1st and 2nd line center spots, and center being Staal’s natural position, I say Shero should make a move (although I am not nearly convinced he will).
Posted by NHLJeff from Pens fan in Chicago, IL on 11/05/08 at 02:48 PM ET