The Confluence
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Jordan Staal’s rising power
by Tony on 11/17/08 at 04:06 PM ET
Comments (3)
From SI.com’s Darren Eliot;
Much is written about the Pittsburgh Penguins with good reason. They have electric young talent in current NHL scoring leader Evgeni Malkin, the face of the league in Sidney Crosby, and an excellent young goaltender in Marc-Andre Fleury. Oh yeah, and the Pens are the defending Eastern Conference Champions, owned by Hall of Fame icon Mario Lemieux.
In other words, the Penguins don’t lack for story lines. And with an 11-4-2 start despite missing top defensemen Sergei Gonchar and Ryan Whitney, young players Kris Letang and rookie Alex Goligoski have received valuable minutes they otherwise wouldn’t. Plus, GM Ray Shero just added veteran blueliner Philippe Boucher to the mix by sending Darryl Sydor to the Dallas Stars.
With all that, the Penguin who intrigues me is Jordan Staal. At 6’ 4” and 220 pounds, Staal is man-sized, yet he’s just 20-years old. Despite his youthfulness, he’s already in his third NHL campaign. Personnel, in part, defines his role, with Malkin and Crosby also being centermen. But that doesn’t tell the whole story. Staal plays over 20 minutes a game, just a couple of minutes less than Pittsburgh’s big two and more than Anaheim’s Ryan Getzlaf and Boston’s Marc Savard.
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Tags: NHL-Hockey, Pittsburgh+Penguins,
Comments
Id rather have im on crosby’s line permanently with satan
Posted by DrW from Detroit on 11/17/08 at 09:10 PM ET
They tried the winger experiment already this season, and it didn’t work. That was while Staal was still in his slump though, so it might be worth another try. But considering one of the things getting pens wins right now is secondary scoring, I would rather have him centering a third line that is grinding, scoring, and playing good defense.
Posted by Kevin from Pittsburgh on 11/18/08 at 09:56 AM ET
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For some reason, every time I see Jordan Staal get one his shorthanded goals or “highlight” type goals it reminds me of a Lemieux goal. Just the way he uses his body to get around people and his long reach to change the angle of his shots and to get around the goalie. Obviously he doesn’t play anything like Lemieux or have the skill of him either, but at times I kinda get chills thinking that the big guy is back.
If Staal is OK with being the 3rd line center I would love to see him stay with the pens for a long time. He just keeps getting better at defensive play and now his offensive touch is returning. If he could get better at faceoffs he would be a shutdown force who still produces goals from the third line, and a huge asset to the pens.
Posted by Kevin from Pittsburgh on 11/17/08 at 08:00 PM ET