I don’t pretend to know anything about hockey beyond what I learn from NHL 09. Primarily what I’ve learned from NHL 09 is that most people online, unless they’re really good, have one method of scoring. It’s all they know. If you stop them at this method they will be lost and will be forced to adjust and then, as Sun Tzu might have said, you will have totally pwned that n00b.

But that doesn’t help me much with learning actual hockey stuff. Which is why I read blogs. To that end, Chi City Hockey has an interesting proposal today: The Hawks should ignore potential pickup Mats Sundin and instead go after Penguins third-line center Jordan Staal:

His name? Jordan Staal. His age? 20. Explosive? You better believe it. Potential? Sky high. His talent? 2nd-line center now, with 1st-line center in his sights down the line. But why would any team in their right minds be looking to move a guy like this? Most teams wouldn’t. Unless you are the Pittsburgh Penguins and have the likes of Sidney Crosby (age 21) and Evgeni Malkin (age 22) centering your top two lines (not to mention, making almost $9 mil each per year).

Of course, the question is whether the Hawks want to trade for Staal this year and attempt to re-sign him in the offseason, or wait until the offseason to sign him away from the Penguins outright. That all depends: Do the Blackhawks want to trade Cristobal Huet or Nikolai Khabibulin? Should they? Do they want to lose a veteran (albeit superfluous) goaltender for one year of a player they might not be able to re-sign? Are the Blackhawks that good?

I, as you might have guessed, have no idea. But my NHL 09 dynasty is totally kicking ass. Take that for what it’s worth.