TIMBERWOLVES ACQUIRE MARC STAAL

Thunder Bay, Ont.- It has been said many times since this franchise moved to Thunder Bay five seasons ago... "When will you bring the Staals home?" That question has been attempted to be answered by the Timberwolves since day one. "We've made an offer or more for everyone of those brothers," said general manager, Blake Wendt. "The price has been obviously very high."
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But on Thursday, Wendt pulled the trigger with the newly moved, Keflavik Whalers and acquired Marc Staal in exchange for the newly picked-up Nathan Horton.
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"We've been in contact with the Havana/Keflavik club for a very long time. Long before the management took over. We've been pursuing both Marc and Eric for what seems like the day I took over this club," said Wendt at an impromptu press conference at Canadian National Gardens. "For the obvious reason of this being their hometown and arguably why Thunder Bay is on the hockey map, these are some really really good hockey players. In Marc we're getting the only defenseman of the quartet. But also one of the more elite blueliners in the entire league. He's is everything we wanted and needed on our backend. He punishes the opposition, is a strong bodied, no nonsense brut back there. He's also a very cerebral player. Knows when to pinch and make a big hit, and knows when to not get out of position. He does it all. Blocks shots, clears lanes for his goalie, carries the puck well and has a hard, accurate shot. The bonus is he's born and raised here in Thunder Bay. We're thrilled to have Marc Staal back home and will being wearing the blue and white of the Thunder Bay Timberwolves for years to come."
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Staal is a restricted free agent who is due to be re-signed before May 21st. He is expected to get a raise from $765,000/per year to $1,555,000/per year. Terms the finanically tight Timberwolves are alot more comfortable with then the $4,070,000/per year that was due to Erik Johnson who was dealt to Victoria on Wednesday in exchange for Nathan Horton. Horton was never formally introduced by the Timberwolves before being dealt for Staal.
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"Finances are a big deal to this organization," said Wendt. "To ignore them short-term is going to cripple your club long term. We have some ugly contracts that we have to either swallow or cut loose. This deal here is huge for us in so many ways."
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As mentioned, Thunder Bay must submit to the league who they are re-signing by May 21st. Those due are Marian Gaborik, Taylor Pyatt, Rick Nash, Milan Lucic, Ales Hemsky, Anton Volchenkov, Henrik Lundqvist, Keith Ballard and Marc Staal.