jordan staal upside?

[JagrBomb]

is this guy ever gonna get a chance with crosby and malkin at centre? sure we all know he can kill penalties but we all know that doesnt help us fantasy junkies, unless hes scoring shg like in his rookie season. perhaps moving to right wing to play with dupuis and crosby? eric is the most talented of the brothers and i believe his upside is around the 100 mark, so would it be fair to assume jordan could possibly hit....70?

[Clinkers]

Beacause of is situation, 3rd center, I would said max 50.
If Malkin gets traded next year because of $$ then it would be much higher, closer to his brother Eric.

[HockeyHobo]

He\'s certainly a ewasted talent being stuck on the 3rd line but until the log jam clears in fromt of him OR he\'s the one traded he\'s not going to hit his potential points total.

[ultrawhiteness]

yup, good for pittsburgh, bad for us.

i would label is upside as 80.

however, on that team, with malkin and crosby, i would agree that 50-60 is as high as he\'ll ever likely get to.

[Cartman]

Staal is still really young and what he has accomplished to date with his overall game will make him that much more of an awesome NHL player, but like most people here have said, his situation in Pitts couldnt be any worse for us fantasy owners. I think he would be lucky to put up more than 60-70 until the big two in Pitts get changed. If and when they do move Malkin in a few years, Staal will slot in at the #2 and stay there fore a long time. There, he may become a 80-90 pt player but I doubt fantasy owners will be patient enough to wait the 3 or 5 years for him to get there. Heck, most fantasy leagues dont last that long.

Me - I plan on keeping him. No sense in trading low when I think he will continue to get better.

[Dennis4022]

It won´t be easy for the pens to sign Malone, Fleury, Malkin and Hossa, so i think Staal could be traded this summer.

He will always be behind Malkin and Crosby, and Therrien won´t move him to wing.

Right now Jordan is a great 3rd row center and very important in the pens pk, but that won´t help any fanatsy squad.

I see Staal scoring around 80 points, maybe more, but not as long as he´s with the pens.

BTW Malkin won´t be traded. NO WAY!

[YearOfTheFish]

Dennis4022 wrote:

It won´t be easy for the pens to sign Malone, Fleury, Malkin and Hossa, so i think Staal could be traded this summer.

It\'s way more likely that Hossa is out rather than Staal.

[Cartman]

Dennis4022 wrote:

BTW Malkin won´t be traded. NO WAY!

If you are correct, Pittsburgh will have two guys signed for over 17 million (Crosby has 8.7, no way Malkin signs for less than 8.5 - probably more). Even at a very generous cap of 55 mil, that is 30% of your salary given out to two players. You can bet that in 2 years, Fluery, Whitney (and or Letang) will each want at least 5 mil. That leaves 27 mil for the rest of the team. The Pens will have some tough choices in less than 2 summers from now, and I dont see them hanging onto two franchise guys like that when they can get a HUGE return on one. If the Pens dont give Malkin the max, some team will offer it.

[mister_mcgoo]

yeah the key to the Staal question will hinge on what the Pens plan to do contractually in the next year or two...there\'s no way they can maintain the status quo, even assuming the cap continues to expand, theres just no way. So it will boil down to whether they move Malkin or not or keep him and move Staal and others. Staal is definitely a 2nd line center on any other team

[FlyersJoe]

The cap will continue to go up each year 4 to 5 million for the next several years. This year it will at least go to $56m. It remains to be seen whether the Pens will spend to the cap as it grows.

Staal is still young and realistically could find himself on to be a staple on either the first or second line in the coming years. He will force himself out of a 3rd line role, one way or another.

Who stays or goes, ultimately, I think, will depend on Malkin. I get the impression Malkin may eventually want to be \'the man\' on another franchise and force a trade. If he should decide to stay with the Pens. I think Staal will eventually want to spread his wings and make a name for himself, especially if he is relegated to 3rd line duties.