Penguins lock up their Staal

by James Mirtle on Jan 8, 2009 1:37 PM CST Comment 10 comments

The Pittsburgh Penguins have agreed to terms with center Jordan Staal on a new four-year contract, it was announced today by Executive Vice President and General Manager Ray Shero.

The new contract goes into effect at the start of the 2009-10 season and will run through 2012-13. Staal, 20, will play the remainder of this season under the terms of his entry-level contract. He has played 204 games with the Penguins over three NHL seasons, scoring 52 goals and 39 assists for 91 points, along with 98 penalty minutes.

>> team release

Staal gets a four-year, $16-million deal, a contract he's going to have to grow into. He's only 20, but has yet to really breakout, and is on pace for 22 goals and 42 points this season.

He's behind the development pace for a lot of players drafted behind him in the 2006 draft, and gets a lot of special teams ice time without doing all that much with it. (Although he's a decent penalty killer.)

At this point, I'd take either Eric or Marc over him, but Jordan hasn't hit his peak. Pittsburgh needs to find a way to get him better linemates at even strength or trade him for something of value.

Too many centres and not enough quality wingers hasn't been a recipe for success this season.

UPDATE Pens blogger extraordinaire Seth Rorabaugh has some more insight into the deal.

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It’s a cheap investment that has a chance of yielding a high return.

In response to your wingers comment, the Penguins announced after the deal that they will promote him to the top line as Sid’s wing. They used him in this capacity in the last game against the Thrashers as well. Should be interesting…

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by FrankD on Jan 8, 2009 2:03 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

I think that’s a solid idea. Crosby’s being held back by his linemates this season (and the same can be said for Staal).

by James Mirtle on Jan 8, 2009 2:29 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

I thought it was a bit much

to be stuck paying $4M to a player who has never managed 50 points in a season, so I double-checked Avery’s numbers. He’s never hit 40. We can at least be sure that Staal’s contract is far from the worst in the league.

The only other forwards I found at ‘$4M + never scored 50’ are Dustin Penner, Scott Hartnell(?) and Mike Fisher. Kidding aside, I don’t honestly think it’s a bad contract, but like it or not I’m adding it to my list of examples not to rush 18-year-olds into the NHL.

I've been looking at the sky

by Back In Black on Jan 8, 2009 2:59 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

Avery had 48 points in 2006-07.

by James Mirtle on Jan 8, 2009 3:46 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Now add this year points and divide by 2 ;-)

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by FrankD on Jan 8, 2009 3:55 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Oops

I missed the split between LA and NY. I’m confident his contract is still (far) worse than Staal’s…

I've been looking at the sky

by Back In Black on Jan 8, 2009 9:34 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Black, I don’t think any 18 year old skilled enough to score 29 goals got “rushed”.

In three-four years time revisit this and we’ll see if the Penguins got a good deal. The early stages will favor Staal, but he could be a value towards the end of the contract. Especially if he’s the guy who moves to wing for Sid or Geno.

by Hooks Orpik on Jan 8, 2009 4:09 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

I did say you didn't have to like it.

I’m not saying he didn’t have the skills to compete at 18. He proved that. But he was barely more than a kid, with lots of maturing and learning still to go, and he’s (predictably) struggled since. Now Pittsburgh’s going to be paying $4M to a guy who’s never hit 50 points – as I said, it’s not very distinguished company. It’s bad salary cap economics to be paying guys the big bucks before they deliver. Anybody interested in trading for those other three guys?

IIRC, he’s been tried on Crosby’s wing before. This may be the time it clicks – I believe he’s good enough to earn his dough, and maybe more – but he hasn’t proved it yet.

I've been looking at the sky

by Back In Black on Jan 8, 2009 9:55 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Affordable deal

But it’s not going to dissuade those in panic-mode for using him as trade bait.

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by Donny Rivette on Jan 8, 2009 6:25 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

crazy

Why is Ray Shero following the Jay Feaster Method for ruining a franchise?
Penguins fans should look to the Ottawa Senators to see the team arc:
Big stars, Close to the Cup, Players get dealt for Cap reasons, No depth, Rapid decline into cr@pitude.

by Dr Van Nostrum on Jan 8, 2009 11:13 PM CST reply actions 0 recs