No offense, but how much have you even watched Staal play?
- Emperor Filonius

Enough to know he's overrated.

Enough to know he's overrated.
- Starbuck

Then why does your blogger seem to want him so badly?

Then why does your blogger seem to want him so badly?
- Emperor Filonius

Here is something a lot of people don't or can't understand, A blogger or a couple of fans do not represent the whole fan base.
That being said I would love to have Staal on the Oilers and I feel he is a top 5 if not top 3 defensive forward. I am not sure if he is a #1 center but definitely a premier #2 imo close to or on par with Kesler. One thought I do have is how would Staal have fared on a last place team being rushed into the league, i'm sure he would still be effective but his stats would be less than they are now and his development would probably be a couple years behind
Point wise Gagner and Staal are comparable for their first 4 years and Staal has played on a playoff team every year as opposed to Gagner on a lottery team.

Wow... So much hate for poor ole Sam. I noticed one guy bringing up the fact that Sam is a career minus 43... Really? No kidding. He has played on a sh1t team for the last 5 years. Do you think Staal would have had the same plus/minus as he does now, if he were playing for the Oilers for the last 5 seasons? Give me a (frank)ing break.

Bottom line is that Sam is being severely underrated... No, he isn't as good as Staal, but he's a good second line center, and I'm glad he's an Oiler. I look forward to seeing him as an Oiler as he continues to improve every aspect of his game... And I really look forward to seeing him play with talent. Stick him on a line with two of Hall/Eberle/RNH/Yakupov and look the (frank) out, suckahhhhsssss

No offense, but how much have you even watched Staal play?
- Emperor Filonius

So can you answer the question. Why no nominations if he is The Awesomes as you say he is? He is injury prone and never put up more than 50 points in a season. Don't seems The Awesomes to me.

Compare the career of Sam Gagner to this point to Stephen Weiss' career at the same age.

Absolutely scary how similar they are.

I think I speak for the rest of the fan base when I say Edmonton would be ecstatic if Ganger is a Stephen Weiss.
- mochoson

I just posted about that the other day. It's entirely possible. I'd be happy with Stephen Weiss lite.

Let me just say this about the whole Staal subject. His supposed trade return is all about the contract. There is precisely one scenario in which the penguins would actively try to trade Staal: if they knew he wasn't going to resign with the Pens and they wanted to get something for him. As the summer and the season goes on and Staal is not re-signed, I sincerely doubt the 29 other team's offers would be that much higher in value than Gagner + Paajarvi. Point being, to look at this as a "trade in a vaccuum" - not considering contracts, cap situations, and player wants - is as NHL12esque as Cloutier's proposal.