Could Pittsburgh and Toronto make a deal?

Building on a rumour brought up on OTR about the Pens seeking blueline help to replace the injured Gonchar, could the LEafs send one of their offensive d-men, say Kaberle or Kubina (albeit with their permission) to Pittsburgh? No doubt either of these two would immediately improve Pittsburgh's injury plagued blueline (with Gonchar and Whitney out). Now, there's only one player, that is still unlikely considered expendable, Toronto should look at getting,and that is Jordan Staal. Now, while he still helps Pittsburgh out, after this season he becomes an RFA and this could cause trouble for Pittsburgh. There's a lot of teams that could pay him $5-6 million or more should Pittsburgh not re-sign him and allow the offer sheets come in. Or they could always take him to arbitration and avoid losing him to an offer sheet but at the same time risk losing him after that for nothing.

Satan (3.5), Sykora (2.5), Fedotenko (2.25), Gill (2.075) and Sydor (2.5) are all UFA's next year, plus a few others (Pesonen, Taffe and Scuderi) none of whom are making over $875K. While this will create a large amount of available money (plus likelihood of cap increasing as always) they'll have to consider re-signing some of these players or replacing them.

What do you think? Is this trade possible? Likely? Mutually beneficial? Insane?

While I don't think Pittsburgh wants to get rid of Staal, they might have to consider the possibility. And Kaberle's steal of a deal @ 4.25 that takes him to the 2011-12 season would be a great contract for Pittsburgh. This would give Toronto a #1 center, a role Staal will never see in the 'Burgh.

Wow. That's actually not far-fetched dude.
your last point about Staal being the #1 center might be enough to entice him, assuming the leafs rebuild comes along smoothly and somewhat quickly, he could be on a winning team and see serious ice time.

And you're absolutely right in Kaberle's contract would be a steal for Pitts and he would be great on their blueline. It all comes down to Fletcher and Shero agreeing I suppose, and Kaberle waiving his NTC. Interesting proposal...

Hard to think that Kaberle wouldn't be interested in going to Pittsburgh - not many people would turn that down, am I right? But still, you never know. He's had chances to leave before and yet he's still a Leaf.

Plus, it's almost certain Staal would be a #1 in Toronto. And they'd still be re-building and give them a shot at a top5 at least next year, and that could be Hedman or Tavares. Staal and Tavares would be a dangerous line.

Good trade proposal.

Minor detail: I believe Jordan Staal with be a RFA, not a UFA.

Whoops, sorry, I knew he was an RFA not a UFA, just typo. Hence the whole offer sheet talk.

504Heater wrote:Good trade proposal.

Minor detail: I believe Jordan Staal with be a RFA, not a UFA.

It seems to be the obvious deal to make. Maybe...

Either team doesn't think it is worth it (my bet would be Toronto doesn't).

Kaberle won't waive? I don't think him waiving is a given by any means

Pittsburgh feels they can re-sign Staal, or they don't mind the draft picks in return.

With Gonachar and Whitney gone for most of the season, and maybe for all of the season, I think Pittsburgh is going to wait a couple weeks and see how things go before pulling the trigger. After this past weekend, the PP sure looked bad against Ottawa. I think they DO need help on D.

Aetherial wrote:

504Heater wrote:Good trade proposal.

Minor detail: I believe Jordan Staal with be a RFA, not a UFA.

It seems to be the obvious deal to make. Maybe...

Either team doesn't think it is worth it (my bet would be Toronto doesn't).

Kaberle won't waive? I don't think him waiving is a given by any means

Pittsburgh feels they can re-sign Staal, or they don't mind the draft picks in return.

With Gonachar and Whitney gone for most of the season, and maybe for all of the season, I think Pittsburgh is going to wait a couple weeks and see how things go before pulling the trigger. After this past weekend, the PP sure looked bad against Ottawa. I think they DO need help on D.

I don't know.. It would be hard for Toronto to not take that deal... I understand that Kaberle is a great asset for Toronto, but he's about their only one (other than Toskala) I think the leafs need to go into absolute rebuild mode.. and that would be a really good start... If they were to pick up the first or even the second or third pick overall, they would all of a sudden have a decent offence, if they can surround them with enough role players...

smash88 wrote:

Aetherial wrote:

504Heater wrote:Good trade proposal.

Minor detail: I believe Jordan Staal with be a RFA, not a UFA.

It seems to be the obvious deal to make. Maybe...

Either team doesn't think it is worth it (my bet would be Toronto doesn't).

Kaberle won't waive? I don't think him waiving is a given by any means

Pittsburgh feels they can re-sign Staal, or they don't mind the draft picks in return.

With Gonachar and Whitney gone for most of the season, and maybe for all of the season, I think Pittsburgh is going to wait a couple weeks and see how things go before pulling the trigger. After this past weekend, the PP sure looked bad against Ottawa. I think they DO need help on D.

I don't know.. It would be hard for Toronto to not take that deal... I understand that Kaberle is a great asset for Toronto, but he's about their only one (other than Toskala) I think the leafs need to go into absolute rebuild mode.. and that would be a really good start... If they were to pick up the first or even the second or third pick overall, they would all of a sudden have a decent offence, if they can surround them with enough role players...

You are preaching to the choir here...

I have been advocating the Leafs SELL players since McCabe was having his monster year... then I wanted Tucker gone during his monster year. They ended up signing both, and getting diddly in return. They could have had a LOT in both cases.

This past summer, I really wanted Toskala, Kubina, Kaberle and Antropov gone. Toskala, Kaberle, Kubina could all fetch a very nice return, and Antropov is worth something.

They were/are going to suck anyway, so why not really, actually build for the future.

Instead, they will all do their best to make sure we DON'T get the number 1 pick... and Fletcher spent the off-season trading away draft picks.

I know your Senators must frustrate you sometimes, but the stupidity of the Leafs organization has to make it the most frustrating one to be a fan of.

Kaberle, Kubina, Toskala, and I guess Antropov are your "assets". Toskala would look awesome as a Senator, but the Leafs will want too much for him (from us).

If Pogge is the real deal, then at some point you make a deal for Toskala.

Kaberle has a great deal, and is one of the better offensive defenceman in the league or at least the East. He's got a great contract and might be someone the Leafs want to keep around when they have a team around him. But he could fetch a great return, and ideally Staal is the guy they should want, next to Rick Nash.

Imagine in 2-3 years: Nash-Staal-Tavares?

Kubina would also get a good return... his contract looks good now.

Antropov may not get much points this year, and could hurt his value if not moved quickly.

But the Leafs won't have anyone good after this year... do they plan on drafting Tavares and going after RFA's and UFA's to build around him? Makes sense, and if that's what they plan on doing, sell those guys now.

Aetherial wrote:

smash88 wrote:

Aetherial wrote:

504Heater wrote:Good trade proposal.

Minor detail: I believe Jordan Staal with be a RFA, not a UFA.

It seems to be the obvious deal to make. Maybe...

Either team doesn't think it is worth it (my bet would be Toronto doesn't).

Kaberle won't waive? I don't think him waiving is a given by any means

Pittsburgh feels they can re-sign Staal, or they don't mind the draft picks in return.

With Gonachar and Whitney gone for most of the season, and maybe for all of the season, I think Pittsburgh is going to wait a couple weeks and see how things go before pulling the trigger. After this past weekend, the PP sure looked bad against Ottawa. I think they DO need help on D.

I don't know.. It would be hard for Toronto to not take that deal... I understand that Kaberle is a great asset for Toronto, but he's about their only one (other than Toskala) I think the leafs need to go into absolute rebuild mode.. and that would be a really good start... If they were to pick up the first or even the second or third pick overall, they would all of a sudden have a decent offence, if they can surround them with enough role players...

You are preaching to the choir here...

I have been advocating the Leafs SELL players since McCabe was having his monster year... then I wanted Tucker gone during his monster year. They ended up signing both, and getting diddly in return. They could have had a LOT in both cases.

This past summer, I really wanted Toskala, Kubina, Kaberle and Antropov gone. Toskala, Kaberle, Kubina could all fetch a very nice return, and Antropov is worth something.

They were/are going to suck anyway, so why not really, actually build for the future.

Instead, they will all do their best to make sure we DON'T get the number 1 pick... and Fletcher spent the off-season trading away draft picks.

I know your Senators must frustrate you sometimes, but the stupidity of the Leafs organization has to make it the most frustrating one to be a fan of.

Yeah I hear you there... Ottawa's had some pretty good management but the Muckler years I really wasn't impressed with.. Just the Gerber signing alone...