Carolina Hurricanes acquire Jordan Staal from Pittsburgh Penguins in blockbuster trade -NHL Update
It all happened so fast for the Pittsburgh Penguins as they were forced into the first blockbuster trade of the 2012 National Hockey League (NHL) offseason, which definitely surprised most circles around the sport.
Reports had emerged that top-notch forward, Jordan Staal, refused to sign a 10-year extension with the Pittsburgh Penguins just a day earlier and now has been traded to the Carolina Hurricanes in-exchange for a No.8 pick in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft, Brandon
Sutter and Brian Dumoulin.
Carolina certainly had to give up a lot as well to acquire one of the best forwards of the league and are certainly eccentric about the prospect of having him play for them next hockey season.
"When you are acquiring an elite player, you have to give a lot for it, and we did," Carolina general manager, Jim Rutherford, said. "We paid Pittsburgh a good price. We love Brandon Sutter. He’s been a very good player for us and he’s a great career ahead
of him. Dumoulin is another one, coming out of Boston College -- a good, young defenseman. This was certainly a very fair hockey deal."
Jordan Staal will be joining brother, Eric Staal, which will definitely make for an unstoppable duo as both players are some of the best at what they do. Carolina has been yearning for that ‘changing factor’ as they failed to make the playoffs for two seasons
straight and it finally seems they have gotten their prayers answered.
Pittsburgh Penguins general manager, Ray Shero, had expressed the desire to keep him on the team and have Staal sign a contract extension as soon as possible but unfortunately; things just did not work out his way.
"My feeling on Jordan Staal is I didn’t want to trade him," Shero said. "I said that, and my goal was to try and get him to sign a contract extension with the Penguins and how far could we go with this three-center model that we had remained to be seen,
but I’d like to that.
Staal had his best career year this past 2011-2012 NHL regular season with 50 points (25 goals, 25 assists) in only 62 games played. Carolina Hurricanes definitely have acquired one of the best and should utilise him to the max.
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