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Dallas trades James Neal and Matt Niskanen to Pittsburgh for Alex Goligoski

James Neal

Dallas Stars left wing James Neal skates through the crease against the Boston Bruins during the first period of an NHL hockey game in Boston on Thursday, Feb. 3, 2011. (AP Photo/Winslow Townson)

AP

It started as speculation early this morning that Pittsburgh and Dallas were discussing a trade involving Stars forward James Neal and Pittsburgh defenseman Alex Goligoski. Speculation became reality this afternoon as the teams pulled off a three-player deal with Neal and defenseman Matt Niskanen headed to Pittsburgh in exchange for Goligoski.

The snap reaction on this trade is that Dallas got robbed. Badly. Neal is the key part of this deal. He’s 23 years-old and stuck in a bit of a down season with the suddenly slumping Stars. With 21 goals and 18 assists his 39 points don’t rank out all too high with the other players on Dallas, but if you put that production into the Pittsburgh lineup Neal is third on the team in points and behind only Crosby in goals scored.

In Neal’s first two seasons he’s scored 24 and 27 goals respectively and finished those seasons with 37 and 55 points. He’s young, he’s talented, he’s big (6'2" 208 pounds) and he can fill the net. When Sidney Crosby returns from his concussion, having a gift-wrapped running mate to play on his left side like James Neal is going to give him the sort of talented winger the Penguins have been looking for since Crosby emerged on the scene in Pittsburgh.

Pittsburgh getting Matt Niskanen in the deal as well is more of a boost for the Stars as they’re able to lose his contract off the books while bringing in a better defenseman in Goligoski. Niskanen is an average depth defenseman who’s still young and can grow. Getting him in Pittsburgh to learn from the likes of Kris Letang and Brooks Orpik will help him grow up.

In Goligoski, the Stars get the power play specialist and play maker on the blue line they haven’t had since Sergei Zubov left for Russia. Goligoski was prone to mistakes in Pittsburgh which the fans were a bit too hard on him about, but he’s going to be a fine addition in Dallas and provide them something they haven’t had in a while from the blue line. When Stephane Robidas and Trevor Daley are your big point producers as defensemen you’ve got a big problem. Goligoski will fix that.

Still, even though the deal answers a need for Dallas the question here is whether or not the price was too high. Giving up a young and still evolving and improving forward like James Neal just doesn’t feel right at all and handing him over to Pittsburgh to eventually be Crosby’s running mate seems unfair to the rest of the league.

The only potential saving grace here for Dallas is if they dished Neal and Niskanen off to help save money to potentially get Brad Richards signed to a long term deal. With Dallas’ ownership situation still unsettled and now one of Richards’ main guys being tossed aside, you have to wonder if this deal is a prudent course of action.