New New York Rangers GM Jeff Gorton watched Saturday as his Eastern Conference contemporary, Dale Tallon of the Panthers, went all-in ahead of Monday's NHL trade deadline, acquiring three players to fill out his already talented roster. Not content to stay on the sidelines for long and determined to alter the fundamental makeup of a team that's been among the best in the league over the past few seasons, but that hasn't been able to make the final big leap to Cup-winner, Gorton made a big move of his own on Sunday, acquiring Eric Staal from the Carolina Hurricanes for two second-round picks and prospect Aleksi Saarela, as first reported by Darren Dreger of TSN.
The Hurricanes will retain 50 percent of Staal's salary and cap hit as part of the deal, according to ESPN's Pierre LeBrun. Staal is playing out 2015-16 in the final year of a seven-year, $57.5 million deal that carries an $8.25 million cap hit and pays him $9.5 million in salary.
Staal, 31, immediately upgrades the Rangers' top-six and turns them into a top Cup contender out of the East. His acquisition will see him leave a team where he played with brother Jordan Staal and land with a team that holds the rights to his other brother, Marc.
While Eric is no longer the player he was when he first signed that seven-year deal with the Hurricanes, he remains an extremely talented center with strong leadership skills. This season, a down year by his lofty standards, Staal has 10 goals and 33 points. The upgrade of skill and the usual trade boost that will come along with joining New York should result in an increase in production.
The Hurricanes remain close to a playoff spot, but GM Ron Francis clearly understands that it's time to plan for the future. Moving Staal for less than a first-round pick hurts, but with the increased value placed on early draft picks, two seconds is a nice consolation.
The opposite is true for Gorton and New York. Avoiding the loss of another first-round pick was big for the franchise's prospect pool, but again trading draft assets for a veteran has left them with little in the way of opportunity to add to their already light farm system.
Saarela, the prospect headed to Carolina as part of the deal, was one of the Rangers' better prospects. He's not overly talented, but he plays with plenty of compete and has a high hockey IQ.
It will be difficult to judge this trade fully until the rest of the postseason plays out and the Hurricanes make their draft selections and bump Saarela up to the big club - assuming they do - but it's obvious that Gorton, sick of watching Glen Sather's teams compete, but ultimately fall short of a Cup victory, is thinking big for this year.