Hurricanes make waves by acquiring Jordan Staal
The Hurricanes made huge waves without making a selection on the first day of the draft, acquiring center Jordan Staal from the Pittsburgh Penguins.
This could give the Hurricanes a Staal brother centering the top two lines because older brother Eric Staal is Carolina's captain. The deal meant that the Hurricanes gave up their first-round selection along with center Brandon Sutter and prospect Brian Dumoulin, a defenseman.
However, already a line with the Staal brothers has been mentioned as a possibility, with Eric Staal playing on a wing.
General manager Jim Rutherford has never shied away from making draft-day deals, and he had been quite public about the team's quest to add an impact forward either through a trade or free agency.
Jordan Staal, 23, has played parts of six NHL seasons and is coming off a season in which he had a career-high 50 points. The Hurricanes view him as an elite player.
Still, Sutter had improved his game considerably, and he had been the key for the team's most dependable defensive tandem. Rutherford said it was a painful decision to give up Sutter, who has been groomed in the organization, was an alternate captain and whose offensive skills had shown signs of progress. However, perhaps there were concerns about when Sutter's offensive production would top off.
The Hurricanes had been looking to make a pre-draft trade, though Rutherford suggested in the days leading to the draft that a deal might not work out.
It figured that the organization's string of immediate impact first-round selections was going to end anyway. The last two drafts produced center Jeff Skinner (the 2010-11 NHL Rookie of the Year) and defenseman Justin Faulk (member of the 2011-12 all-rookie team).
