Speculation on Staal and Potential Tradability

The Rangers have still not approached Mark Staal with an extension. Larry Brooks of the New York Post previously cited pending arbitration hearings/ RFA negotiations as concerns needing to be dealt leading to the lull in conversation. All of these issues resolved, there's still no news on the Staal front. One could posit that this is the result of potential shopping of the Blueshirts stalwart defensemen.<br /><br />One of the obvious and much rumored destinations is Carolina, to bring the Staal trio to completion. What makes Carolina an excellent trade partner is that they have 8 natural centers listed on their roster. It would be possible for the Rangers to send Staal over and in return receive a package of prospect in Elias Lindholm, who has big offensive potential, and a consistent scorer in Jiri Tlusty. <br /><br />A snapshot on Carolina's defense: Carolina defensemen were a combined -29 on the regular season, with Tim Gleason posting a -7 and first pair D-man Justin Faulk, Ron Hainsey and Ryan Murphy each posting a -9.<br /><br />Carolina's need for defense evident and surplus in centers makes them a good trade partner, although a prospect defensemen may need to be packaged as well.<br /><br />Here's a wild one...<br /><br />Calgary, another team deep in centers. Mikael Backlund would be a great addition as a young up and coming scorer. For a team desperate enough at defense that Deryk Engelland was able to land the deal that he did, there would be ample interest. While Staal's contract is big, and Backlund is only commanding 1.5 million, Calgary still has an impressive 17+ million in cap space available. The only issue here is that, of the 6 defensemen on the roster, none of them are making less than 2 million, which is a tough amount to have languish on your bench. Additionally, there is not a lot of offensive depth to speak of in Calgary, but nevertheless, it's an interesting proposition.<br /><br />There has been speculation from Staal trades, to the impending attempted signing of Kevin Hayes, or the currently quieted rumor of an attempt at Evander Kane. The Kevin Hayes deal will be big, with plenty of potential suitors. There will be a minor upswing in activity after Hayes picks a team and signs on the dotted line. Either way, one thing is sure, the Rangers are not done making moves.