King Henry I said:
I don't see the Hurricanes trading Jack Johnson to move up to the #2 pick. He's their top prospect and they very well could be the defending cup champions by this point. No need to trade him.
I respect your opinion... I just have had a feeling about this for awhile and made sure we put this idea into our draft.
To argue your point though...
1)Yes JJ is their top prospect, but Staal would be their top prospect too if the deal went down.
2)Yes, the could be defending champs at this point... and they would have done it WITHOUT Jack Johnson and WITH a Staal. I know I would bo looking at getting another one of those names.
Seriously, NHL franchises do crazy things to keep the FRANCHISE PLAYERS happy. Look at the Bruins inking Murray to a crazy contract before signing Thornton on --and till that point he only wanted 1 yr. Crosby and Staal are the franchise players -what wouldn't these teams do to address that?
This is a deal that makes sense for both teams in alot of ways... Pittsburgh would have to add on to make it happen --but it very well could. Carolina -stacked up front- could address their D in free agency this summer with a load of options there.