Jordan Staal is a hometown favorite, and expected to become an all-star caliber player.  Would the Pens trade Staal. 

Many fans last year did not expect Colby Armstrong to be dealt, he was also a fan favorite and he was close to Sidney Crosby.  I don’t think Staal is untouchable, however I cannot see a deal the Pens can make that will imporve their slim chances at making another Stanly Cup Finals Run. 

Ray Shero so far has looked like a savior.  The Hossa Deal last year proved he can make the tough decisions.  The Chris Kunitz deal this year showed he can make trades that give immediate returns.  I am not sure if he wants to press his luck and deal away Staal and his potential for just a small chance of getting to the big show again this year.

Kunitz has been tagged a “top six forward” by Penguins GM Ray Shero and he seems pretty pleased about the deal.  He did not specifically say that the deal was  to get someone to team up with Sid.

The deal net the Pens a solid Winger and Tangradi, a Philadelphia native, who is a highly touted prospect who has 87 points (38 goals, 49 assists) in 52 games with the Ontario Hockey League’s Belleville Bulls this season. Anaheim drafted him 42nd overall in 2007.

The Penguins have a great deal of depth currently at the blue line with the return of Sergi Gonchar.  Whitney has not played up to expectations this year.  With the emergence of Kris Letang and withand Alex Goligoski and his development this year, it gave The Pens one extra defense man to try to get a top forward like Chris Kunitz.  Kunitz, 29, scored 16 goals and recorded 19 assists to go with 55 penalty minutes in 62 games this season with the Ducks. He was part of their 2007 Stanley Cup winning team and this season was their leader with 148 hits.

Kunitz is expected to play tonight at Chicago.

It’s believed that Ducks GM Brian Burke has been holding trade discussions with a number of teams, including the Florida Panthers, Atlanta Thrashers, Chicago Blackhawks and Caroline Hurricanes.

Since the Ducks only need to cut $880,000 from next year’s payroll, the likeliest player to be traded is defenseman Sean O’Donnell, who earns $1.25 million this season and $1.25 million next season, with forward Todd Marchant a close second.

Of course, if Burke is worried about not having enough cap room to re-sign pending restricted free agent forward Corey Perry, defenseman Mathieu Schneider and forward Andy McDonald could become casualties. Shedding Schneider’s $5.75 million annual salary would immediately create room for defenseman Scott Niedermayer and Perry under the cap. Speculation is that the New Jersey Devils are interested in Schneider if he becomes available.

But what happens if unrestricted free agent forward Teemu Selanne says he’s ready to come back to the Ducks?

However, Youngman speculates that Selanne “wouldn’t make any outrageous demands,” and so it’s unlikely the Ducks would have any salary cap problems upon his return.

As for when Selanne may return, Kevin Paul Dupont of The Boston Globe reports that the smooth skating Finn will decide if he’ll return to the club between January 1st and the February 26 trade deadline, while Youngman believes he may wait until the January 27 All-Star Game to decide, and could return for the last 30 to 40 games of the season.

Should the Ducks need to make more payroll cuts, there are other options.

According to Greg Logan of Newsday, the New York Islanders need to bolster their offense and could use someone like Ducks forwards Chris Kunitz or McDonald.

Ducks defenseman Francois Beauchemin might also interest the Islanders, though they would probably have to part with a “decent player and a draft pick” in exchange.