Staal Saga Ends, Shero Makes Waves at 2012 Draft

Friday started with Pens fans still reeling from the Staal contract rejection news.  Would he be traded?  Would he be signed?  What could the Pens even get for him?  When would all of it happen?  How was his wedding going?

Oh the NHL Draft...more drama than a family  reunion.
Wait a second...

Well, the answers came flying in quickly on the first day of the 2012 NHL Entry Draft, during his wedding.  The draft was simple and ordinary through the first seven picks as only small side deals were made, none involving 1^st rounders.  But then came the Carolina Hurricanes with the 8th pick, quickly followed by the flashing sign of “Trade Alert” on the screen behind Gary Bettman.  The crowd oooed and awwwed before even hearing the trade, and then a bombshell came down.

Carolina receives: Jordan Staal

Pittsburgh receives: The #8 pick overall, Brandon Sutter, and Brian Dumoulin

Within 5 days, the Staal saga turned from far-fetched rumor, to a contract offer, to a contract rejection, to a statement he didn’t want to negotiate right now, to a plane ticket out to Carolina.  Goodbye Jordan, thanks for the memories – especially in 2009, and I hope it didn't ruin your wedding (since he found out during the reception while with half the Pens).

I'll miss your PK, your defensive abilities, your shot...
but most of all, I'll miss your "WOOOOO!!"

The Pens used the #8 pick to draft defenseman Derrick Pouliot (weird, another defenseman) and continued on their regular path after shocking the crowd.  At #22 the Pens took, oh you guessed it, another defenseman in Olli Maatta, and that was it for their draft.

But Ray Shero was not done making waves, rumors started flying again as the draft neared an end.  Shero was getting awfully friendly with the Coyotes table.  The Coyotes were talking about moving Keith Yandle, could this be the move?  No, it wouldn’t be.  Instead, Shero threw out an aftershock by completing the following deal.

Phoenix receives: Zbynek Michalek

Pittsburgh receives: Harrison Ruopp, Marc Cheverie, and a 3^rd round pick (81^st overall)

Who?

Saturday morning and afternoon went quietly, and now we have a new team heading into the week before free agency starts on July 1^st.

One step at a time though, how do we feel about how Day 1 went?  Here are my thoughts:

A moment that Jordan will never have to worry about again.
Also, Marc Staal's new re-occuring nightmare.

Staal Trade:

I flat out love this deal.  Ray Shero had no business getting a decent return on Jordan Staal after the past week’s events as I wrote on Thursday.  Carolina had all of the leverage, Jordan Staal had a lot of leverage, and Ray Shero had very little.  To that, Shero said “eff this” and did everything his way, somehow still getting a great return for Staal.

Logically, Staal said he only wanted to extend with Carolina, and he didn’t want to negotiate with Pittsburgh right now.  Carolina could have waited as long as they wanted to for this trade.  They could have waited a year and signed Staal as a UFA – his intentions were clear.  But somehow, Shero managed to pick up three assets for a player who was already leaving.  Good for you Ray Shero.

I am a big Brandon Sutter fan.  This started in his first full season, largely because the girl I was dating then was a Hurricanes fan so I watched them a lot, but I’ve been a huge fan of him since then.  He is a very smart two-way center.  Sutter is great positionally, shows a high amount of discipline, and still has some offensive touch.  In my head, he has always been Jordan Staal with less shot power and less size (though 6’3, Sutter only weighs 180ish).  He’s not a gritty guy, but he knows where to be at all times and he will intercept a lot of passes and create turnovers.  He’s a perfect true 3^rd line center for the Penguins, though he could generally be a 2^nd line center on many teams.

Has Staal ever done this?  No, no he hasn't.  Point Sutter.

Brian Dumoulin fits the mold of a Ray Shero defenseman lately.  He is a bigger guy at 6’3-6’4, but a very fluid skater and offensively minded.  He is a two time NCAA champion with Boston College and should slide right into WBS at the AHL level this year.

The first round pick was used to take Derrick Pouliot.  Pouliot is a smaller defenseman, only 6’0, but of course is offensively skilled.  He is a solid puck mover and can QB the powerplay in the future perhaps.  It is likely he won’t turn pro for another year though and he has some positioning issues.

In the end, after the interviews, we now know that Staal eventually wanted to play with his brother and the 10 year deal scared him away.  He fully intended to test free agency at this point and wanted to play with Eric eventually. Shero did the best he could with what he had.

Trade Winner:  Carolina.  Let’s be honest, Staal is the best player in this deal and Carolina is immediately better.  Pittsburgh is immediately worse for this deal.  Carolina wins the trade.

Trade Winner under the circumstances: Even.  The Pens simply could not have done any better than they did here.

And then there were two...

1^st Round Pick:

With their original pick in the 1^st round, the Pens selected Olli Maatta at #22 overall (Insert joke about player with aa in his name being a Penguins roster requirement).  Maatta is considered a skilled two way defenseman that is very reliable in his own end first.  He can add some offensive prowess, but his strengths are in the defensive zone.  One thing to note about him – he has spent some time playing with Pens prospect Scott Harrington as well.  Maatta was expected to go higher and this was a great value (and in my opinion, need) pick for Shero.

Michalek Trade

As of right now, I do not like this trade but that depends on what it turns into.  This was clearly a salary dump.  Michalek wasn’t incredibly comfortable in Pittsburgh after this year, Phoenix missed him, and it all worked out to a trade where the Pens picked up no NHL salary in return.

Michalek was the Penguins only true defensive defenseman who was a minutes-eater.  Orpik is not a shutdown defenseman necessarily and is on the decline.  For this reason, I am slightly concerned about trading him away without knowing what we will have in the future to replace him.  He got a bad reputation in Pittsburgh as he was often-injured and struggled at times, but he was also a key reason that the Pens survived the Crosby and Malkin injuries a year ago.  I certainly did not want to see Michalek go.

Thanks for taking the abuse, Z.

Ruopp is a youngster at the age of 19 who still has improvements to make if he wants to be an NHLer.  He is a very tough defenseman, both in terms of hitting and fighting, with pretty much no offensive upside.  I don’t expect much of him, especially given the Pens depth with young defensemen.

Marc Cheverie is a goalie that was drafted by Florida in the 7^th round in 2006.  He is currently in the ECHL and grew up in Cole Harbour with Sidney Crosby.  He adds depth for WBS and Wheeling, but that’s all that needs to be said about him.

The 3^rd round pick was used to take Oscar Sundqvist from Sweden.  He will likely spend another year in Sweden and fill out more before coming to the US.  He’s 6’3 and has an aggressive game, but is too far from the NHL to predict well or scout out for me.

Winner: Phoenix.  They gained a strong defensive defenseman and gave up a lot of nothing.  The Pens may have wanted to dump salary, but there is no question the Coyotes won the deal, especially without knowing what happens with extra room under the salary cap.

So that was it for transactions and the 1^st round pick (I won’t go through all of the picks because frankly, there are better sites for you to read about that on).

The feeling you get when you realize Martin still makes $5 mil
and Staal and Michalek are gone.

How did the Pens fare? Plain and simple, this team is worse than it was going into Friday. The current day roster gave up Jordan Staal and Zbynek Michalek for a return of Brandon Sutter. That is something everyone needs to remember and understand before the free agency frenzy begins. This team is absolutely worse than what it was.

With that being said, now the rumors have begun.  Shero appears to be after both Ryan Suter and Zach Parise.  Parise has a link to Crosby.  Suter has a link to Parise.  The Pens will likely make a hard push on July 1^st for both.  I, along with all of you, hope that it works out.  I hope we get Suter more than Parise because defense is a much bigger issue than scoring on this team.  Parise may be flashy, but the biggest weakness is the defense – Suter is far more valuable to this roster.

But, if the Pens get left in the dust on Suter AND Parise, what happens?  And don’t just argue this by telling me Shero will get it done; actually take the time to think about it.  The free agent market is awful this summer.  Here is a list of your top free agents.  After Parise and Suter, the only guys I would like on that list are P.A. Parenteau, Bryan Allen, Jason Garrison, and that’s it.  Don't forget 29 other GMs are in on this too.

With Craig Adams, Sutter, and Parise, the Pens may
finally surpass most teams in literacy.

If Shero finds a good use for the cap room he just created, then the Pens will ultimately look back at the 2012 Draft as a win.  But it’s not a win until that has happened, so stay tuned for a wild July 1st, and hope to everything you believe in that the Pens get who they want.  Because if not...