More Staal Speculation...

[Cr@zy871]

The Nashville Predators have their work cut out for them this offseason, with only a dozen current NHL players locked in for 2012-13. GM David Poile is going to be busy, trying to re-sign current UFAs (Ryan Suter, Hal Gill, Paul Gaustad etc) and RFAs (Shea Weber, Sergei Kostitsyn, Jack MacLellan), while plugging holes left by those bound for elsewhere. For example, Alexander Radulov.

Many believe the Predators and Russian winger are headed for a parting of ways. In which case, GM David Poile would like to get something in return. Perhaps a 23-year-old center from Pittsburgh, as proposed by John Manasso of the Fox Sports Tennessee.

"... Could the Preds swing a deal with Pittsburgh -- whose general manager Ray Shero worked under Poile as the Preds' assistant GM -- with Radulov for Jordan Staal, who becomes an unrestricted free agent at the end of 2012-13 and fits Nashville's style? Pittsburgh might not be able to afford Staal, who plays behind Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin as the Pens' No. 3 center but would be Nashville's No. 1? ..."

This proposition seems a bit far-fetched -- and not only because Radulov is a restricted free agent this summer.

If the Penguins feel pressured to trade Staal for salary cap reasons -- a situation they would rather avoid -- they can be expected to pursue someone, or something (first-round draft pick), other than a 25-year-old who has played all of nine regular season games in the NHL since 2007-08.

-

This was on ESPN's insider today. I believe that Radulov has the potential to be a top talent in this league... His problem, along with other Russian born players, is that there is no consistency in his game (takes nights off). Maybe being friends with Geno, and seeing how hard/motivated he worked this season would drive him to compete on a regular basis. The Russian connection would definitely be nice!

I am not 100% sold on Radulov, but I couldn't say I would be upset if this took place. We could potentially have a pretty nasty top 6.

Kunitz-Malkin-Radulov
Dupuis-Crosby-Neal

Please don't burn me too hard

[shafnutz05]

no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no

Spoiler:

Not opposed to trade ideas, but I don't want Radulov ANYWHERE near this team.

[offsides]

no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no

Spoiler:

Not opposed to trade ideas, but I don't want Radulov ANYWHERE near this team.

I'll add a couple more.

That guy is a real NO NO.

[no name]

no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no

Spoiler:

Not opposed to trade ideas, but I don't want Radulov ANYWHERE near this team.

I'll add a couple more.

That guy is a real NO NO.

Spoiler:

no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no

[interstorm]

is this supposed to be journalism or opinion?

i guess it doesn't matter since either one stinks!!!

[Pavel Bure]

Yeah no effin way

[jmh470]

I so very wish that someone would pay me to "speculate" like this.

[Froggy]

Spoiler:

[It'sagreatdayforhockey!]

Yes! Yes! Yes!

(Plus some picks/prospects to make the deal fair.)

[Jasmine]

The drunken Russian who was suspended by his own team during the playoffs for STAAL???? OMG
But then again, look how that drunk Max Talbot played with a change of scenery. Talbot will no doubt revert to his old self sooner rather than later though.
I say NOOOOOOOOOOO to Radulov!

[columbia]

He seems like a real character guy, so sure.

[Henry Hank]

If the goal is to make the Pens even less fit to win in the playoffs, sure, why not. Maybe he'd help them win the President's Trophy so they could pull off getting upset by an eighth seed.

[NashvilleCat]

Radulov is an RFA who could go back to Russia at any time. He went out partying during the playoffs and hung his time out to dry. There is no way they make this move even if the Preds could somehow sign and trade Radulov.

And why would the Preds take on another fairly high salary? They're $10mm under the cap because they can't afford to spend. Their priorities will be to try and keep Suter and Weber - and one of them will most likely be gone. If the Preds have anything of value to offer in exchange it would be grinders and defensemen. Not an overpaid, partying, floater.

[Nizzy]

That's it i'm done.

espn insider
staal for rfa/ufa who has attitude problems who might not even play in this country
random comments like malkin and him being friends with no evidence at all

ill see you guys in sept just have nothing else to give

2012-2013 Lets go pens!

[CERV96]

no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no

Spoiler:

Not opposed to trade ideas, but I don't want Radulov ANYWHERE near this team.

[npv708]

That's complete bs...

Radulov never takes a night off...

[MRandall25]

That's complete bs...

Radulov never takes a night off...

Bazing

[IronDukes37]

......

[shafnutz05]

c'mon guys, you're all looking at this from the wrong direction
imagine Steigy tryin' to say Radulov

"...is it rad-U-lof or RRRA-doo-lov, I can never get it right Bob"

I didn't even think about that...good riddance Stall

[Oneonta Penguin]

Whoever gets Radulov is going to regret it. I wouldn't even think of trading Staal for him. No chance.

Even if he wasn't moody and didn't have that mentality that if he didn't get his way, he just bolts back to Russia, but the deal would make no sense for Pittsburgh considering you would have to resign Radulov to a sizable contract. PASS

[Matthew Monstar]

Why is it Radulov for Staal?

I'd buy into this if it were Suter for Staal perhaps

[thehockeyguru]

Why is it Radulov for Staal?

I'd buy into this if it were Suter for Staal perhaps

Why? Suter is a UFA.

[Cr@zy871]

That's it i'm done.

espn insider
staal for rfa/ufa who has attitude problems who might not even play in this country
random comments like malkin and him being friends with no evidence at all

ill see you guys in sept just have nothing else to give

2012-2013 Lets go pens!

Before the Pens played Nashville towards the end of the regular season, the Pens had an article with an interview with Radulov were he said that he and Malkin were friends. They grew up close to each other and played against each other. It also stated that he an Malkin would exchange phone calls when he was in Russia. It also said that Malkin was very eager to see Radulov and the two chatted for a while before the game. I'm not just making random comments.

As the media gathered around Radulov when he came out of the locker room to speak, Pens center Evgeni Malkin walked by and the two had a friendly exchange before the interview began. Radulov went into more detail on his relationship with Malkin, his teammate on the Russian national team.

"He’s a good friend of mine because we are the same age. We were playing against each other as kids, so I’ve known him a long, long time. We have a good relationship. While he was playing here and I was playing there, we’d call each other sometimes. In the summer, I saw him a lot. He’s great. He’s really great. Last season, he had injuries. He missed a lot of the season. But this year, he’s been on fire. He is a fantastic player is what I can say."

From the Pens website gamday report 3/22/12

[sil]

Shero would have to be fired on the spot.

[Daniel87]

That's it i'm done.

espn insider
staal for rfa/ufa who has attitude problems who might not even play in this country
random comments like malkin and him being friends with no evidence at all

ill see you guys in sept just have nothing else to give

2012-2013 Lets go pens!

Before the Pens played Nashville towards the end of the regular season, the Pens had an article with an interview with Radulov were he said that he and Malkin were friends. They grew up close to each other and played against each other. It also stated that he an Malkin would exchange phone calls when he was in Russia. It also said that Malkin was very eager to see Radulov and the two chatted for a while before the game. I'm not just making random comments.

As the media gathered around Radulov when he came out of the locker room to speak, Pens center Evgeni Malkin walked by and the two had a friendly exchange before the interview began. Radulov went into more detail on his relationship with Malkin, his teammate on the Russian national team.

"He’s a good friend of mine because we are the same age. We were playing against each other as kids, so I’ve known him a long, long time. We have a good relationship. While he was playing here and I was playing there, we’d call each other sometimes. In the summer, I saw him a lot. He’s great. He’s really great. Last season, he had injuries. He missed a lot of the season. But this year, he’s been on fire. He is a fantastic player is what I can say."

From the Pens website gamday report 3/22/12

Radulov and Malkin being friends does not make this rumor any less absurd.