Wish Upon a Shooting Star: Penguins trade for Neal
Posted 10:34 AM ET | Comments 0
Ray Shero finally joined the trade deadline party by doing business with the Dallas Stars. News surfaced amongst various twitters yesterday that the Penguins and Stars were in talks regarding a possible deal. By late afternoon the deal had been confirmed. The trade is as follows....
To Pittsburgh:
LW James Neal
D Matt Niskanen
To Dallas:
D Alex Goligoski
*******************************
The need for an offensive winger has been the status quo in Pittsburgh for a few seasons now. However, going into yesterday it was more than just a suggestion, it was a necessity. Various injuries have left the team with little to no offensive threat, Jordan Staal being the exception. While the Penguins were putting in the effort, the bottom line was that they were not scoring enough to win games.
Meanwhile in Dallas, the Stars were in need of a shakeup. Once flirting with Detroit for second in the Western Conference, they are now fighting for their playoff lives. Perhaps this was Nieuwendyk making a trade for the sake of making a move.
What went down yesterday could not only benefit both sides this season, but also for ensuing seasons. Neal and Goligoski are both fairly young, twenty-three and twenty-five respectively.
Neal seems to fill the role of scoring when assessing just statistics to determine his effectiveness. Neal emerged with twenty-four goals in his rookie season, twenty-seven in his sophomore campaign, and is currently on pace for twenty-eight. The Penguins lineup is full of versatile wingers, but none of them are as offensively gifted as Neal is. His services will be under contract through the 2011-12 season, coming at a very manageable cap hit as well.
For Dallas, the thought that they could use a defenseman- an offensive one at that- is not that far fetched. His current point total would place him first amongst Stars defensemen in that category. His game will be used on the Stars power play; moving the puck and taking select shots.
*********************************
Penguins fans have been anxiously waiting to see what Ray Shero would do. Now that the move has been made it is time to see how it turns out.
To Pittsburgh:
LW James Neal
D Matt Niskanen
To Dallas:
D Alex Goligoski
*******************************
The need for an offensive winger has been the status quo in Pittsburgh for a few seasons now. However, going into yesterday it was more than just a suggestion, it was a necessity. Various injuries have left the team with little to no offensive threat, Jordan Staal being the exception. While the Penguins were putting in the effort, the bottom line was that they were not scoring enough to win games.
Meanwhile in Dallas, the Stars were in need of a shakeup. Once flirting with Detroit for second in the Western Conference, they are now fighting for their playoff lives. Perhaps this was Nieuwendyk making a trade for the sake of making a move.
What went down yesterday could not only benefit both sides this season, but also for ensuing seasons. Neal and Goligoski are both fairly young, twenty-three and twenty-five respectively.
Neal seems to fill the role of scoring when assessing just statistics to determine his effectiveness. Neal emerged with twenty-four goals in his rookie season, twenty-seven in his sophomore campaign, and is currently on pace for twenty-eight. The Penguins lineup is full of versatile wingers, but none of them are as offensively gifted as Neal is. His services will be under contract through the 2011-12 season, coming at a very manageable cap hit as well.
For Dallas, the thought that they could use a defenseman- an offensive one at that- is not that far fetched. His current point total would place him first amongst Stars defensemen in that category. His game will be used on the Stars power play; moving the puck and taking select shots.
*********************************
Penguins fans have been anxiously waiting to see what Ray Shero would do. Now that the move has been made it is time to see how it turns out.