Staal

The Staal trade is more complicated than it appears. Staal  turned down a huge ten year offer from the Pens and then went public with his refusal. Then he stated he wanted to go only to Carolina. That destroyed his trade value and forced the Pens' hand. In a year he would be unrestricted and would be worthless to the Pens. The rumors in Pittsburgh are that Shero, the GM, was furious. Staal had publicly undercut them and had made his value to them considerably less.  Staal was Shero's first Pen pick and these guys take their relationships seriously. So, after composing himself, he did a deal with Carolina, replaced his brilliant third line center with a real--if lesser--third line center, picked up a promising defense-man and got a high draft choice.

The question is, Why did Carolina do it? They likely had Staal next year for nothing. It is possible they did it to establish his value to them. If this year he does not reveal himself as a first line center then maybe they would be able to negotiate a reasonable deal. But it was an expensive decision. The Pens got fair value for him and it did not have to go that way. (When the trade was announced in the Pittsburgh stadium where the draft was held, the fans--who loved Staal--cheered.)