Jordan Staal Speculation: Would Penguins Be Wise to Trade Him for No. 1 Pick?

After an unceremonious exit in the first round of the playoffs to the Philadelphia Flyers, the Pittsburgh Penguins now look ahead to the offseason. 

With an expiring Collective Bargaining Agreement looming, there is uncertainty in terms of how the Penguins will be able to retain Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Jordan Staal along with guys like James Neal, Marc-Andre Fleury, Brooks Orpik and Kris Letang, who will all be commanding top dollar.

Keeping the three centers will be an unbelievably difficult task even with the current CBA. If the players' association wins the negotiations, that will make it an even more arduous task to keep the big three.

Penguins GM Ray Shero expressed concerns after the playoff loss to the Flyers about being able to keep Crosby, Malkin, and Staal. Via Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

"

Common sense, I’d love to keep all three of them. They’re great players. They’re not even in their prime yet. But we’ll have to wait to see. We’ve had these players for a number of years now. We had success for a couple of years now. Went to the finals, won the (Stanley) Cup. But at the same time, there’s a salary cap in place now. And when these guys get into the second and third contracts, you might run into problems trying to keep all three. I’m certainly on record, I’d love to keep all three but in a practical world with a salary cap, that remains to be seen.

"

So what do Shero and the Penguins do?

Would it be smart to move one of the three before their contracts expire? Staal and Crosby become unrestricted free agents next summer and Malkin hits the market in 2013-14. 

Considering the fact that Malkin and Crosby are superior to Staal in terms of talent and because they both have unmovable clauses, trading Staal becomes the ideal transaction for the Penguins.

Staal is currently making $4 million per season and will definitely ask for an increase in salary when his contract expires. He has become one of the best two-way centers in the league and is an extremely valuable player on the power play, even strength and the penalty kill. Staal does it all.

So why let him walk for nothing?

Obviously, if he's willing to take less money and stay on the Penguins that's a completely different story. But the Penguins can't bank their future hoping that Staal takes less money. The Cleveland Cavaliers tried that with LeBron James and it didn't quite work out.

The Penguins must trade Jordan Staal by draft day. 

It'll be extremely awkward and strange to hear the announcement of Staal's trade at Consol Energy Center, which will be the site of this year's draft. Penguins fans might not like it at first, but think about the possibilities for a second.

There are plenty of lottery teams right now that would be interested in Staal. One of them might be the Edmonton Oilers. Glenn Healey suggested via the Edmonton Journal that the Penguins could trade Staal to the Oilers for the No. 1 overall pick.

Using that No. 1 overall pick, the Penguins can get an NHL ready player like Nail Yakupov to start on their third-line. He will be an inexpensive and talented option. The Penguins will be able to keep Malkin and Crosby and there is no doubt that Yakupov and Malkin would hit it off immediately since they are both Russian.

Plus, the prospects of Dan Potash interviewing Yakopov between periods will get Pens fans anxious for hockey season to start again.

The Penguins will most likely have to ship their first round pick to Edmonton along with Staal. Staal would be an unbelievable fit in Edmonton and he'd have a bigger role. The notion of playing alongside Jordan Eberle and Taylor Hall may be a huge reason why Staal signs an extension with the Oilers.

That'll probably be the only way the Oilers accept the trade anyway. They're not going to give up a No. 1 overall pick for a rental player. And perhaps Staal wouldn't want to play in a secluded city like Edmonton.

Maybe he'd want to reunite with his brother, Eric, in Carolina. The Hurricanes currently have the No. 8 overall pick this season. The Penguins could use that to draft a defenseman to bolster their blue line with younger blood after their defense completely failed them in the playoffs this year.

It's highly likely that the Pens would be able to get the No. 8 pick straight up for Staal. This means that the Penguins will have two draft picks in this year's draft, which would set them up nicely for the future.

No, it won't be a popular move, but in the long run it might be the only rational thing to do. It won't be a surprise to see both Crosby and Malkin make over $10 million each after they sign new contracts. That in and of itself could take up a quarter of the salary cap. Throw in the monster contracts that Paul Martin, Zbynek Michalek, Marc-Andre Fleury, James Neal and others have and all of a sudden the Pens will be pushing the cap.

It makes more sense to trade less valuable pieces of the core for younger, inexpensive talent. 

There are four guys the Penguins should consider untouchable: Letang, Fleury, Crosby and Malkin. In order for them to remain untouchable, other players must be moved.

That being said, they can't just walk away during free agency. It's important for the Penguins to get at least some first-round draft picks in return, which is why trading Staal by the end of next month wouldn't be such a bad idea.