Staal to Columbus?

Interesting, but still just speculation (thanks to LGP.com message board for the find)!!

Supposedly big things are going down with the Columbus Blue Jackets and a meeting was recently held with all the big wigs. This blurb was taken from Puck-rakers, The Columbus Dispatch Blue Jackets blog:

One can presume that hockey operations folks passed along to ownership the trade offers/possibilities they have on the table, not only to keep them apprised of the situation but to seek permission to expand the payroll during these tough economic times.

The article goes on to list players who Columbus may have an interest in and Jordan Staal is included on that list (what a surprise - there's more rumors about his being traded than Sid and Geno's All-Star votes combined), but here's the other interesting tidbit - it says that Staal and Therrien do not get along which is why he may want to leave. This is a first time for this one. I'm not sure I ever heard that the two were at odds with each other.

Pittsburgh: The Blue Jackets would love to get Jordan Staal from the Penguins. And Staal might like to get away from the Penguins, if only because of coach Michel Therien. The two do not get along. But the Pens won't part with Staal for a second-round draft pick. They want a scoring winger, which is something the Blue Jackets can't part with.

I only post speculation and rumors on this blog because I find them interesting and it gives us fans something to discuss (not to mention helps us get our minds off of the current state of our team). In no way am I believing anything regarding trades at this time until I hear Ray Shero himself announce it because how many things have we heard that just haven't come to be?

In fact, Shero recently said it himself (from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette):

"I would not want to make a trade right now that I wouldn't have made the first 20 games. To do something because we're losing some games isn't what I'm looking at."

"There's not a lot of movement right now," Shero said, "so you stick with it a little bit and not do something you wouldn't do when things are going well."

So let's just bide our time and be patient because I'm sure big changes are ahead - just not right now (unless you count Kemp to Montreal for a draft pick a big change).