ESPN Rumblings: Staal's joining forces

[CarolinaPanthers8789]

A couple of us thought that the Canes might make a run at Jordan Staal and apparently so does ESPN Hockey expert Pierre LeBrun.

http://espn.go.com/blog/nhl/post/_/id/17612/rumblings-staal-brothers-put-together-market-for-tim-thomas

Keep an eye on the Carolina Hurricanes when it comes to how things play out on theJordan Staal front with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

As I wrote recently, the Penguins' top priority is to sign Sidney Crosby and Staal to contract extensions this summer -- both centers are UFA-eligible on July 1, 2013 -- but if they can't get both done in a cap-sensible manner, it could open the door for Staal to be dealt.

Several teams have already expressed an interest regarding Staal, but I believe the Hurricanes will be aggressive in trying to trade for him, with the idea to have him on same team as his brother, Hurricanes captain Eric Staal.

If the Penguins decide to open the trade market on Jordan Staal, Pittsburgh could get more out of Carolina in a traditional hockey deal than from other teams.

Why? While other teams might point to the fact that Staal has only one year left on his deal and won't want to give up too much for a pending 2013 UFA, the Hurricanes may be willing to take more of a long-term gamble that, given the sibling tie-in, they could re-sign Staal.

Either way, the Hurricanes are going to be an interesting team this summer. I believe they're going to add to their payroll and want to upgrade with one or two forwards.

Note: If the Canes can acquire Jordan Staal, they would have three of the four Staal's in the organization (Eric, Jordan, and Jared).