Because when it rains, it monsoons/hurricanes/tidal waves/nuclear fallout, I glanced over this little gem of a rumor as I'm sure all of you others who venture to Pensblog did. Just wanted to hear everyone's thoughts on it. Jump with me below (off this bridge).

So we know that both Sid and Jordan will be UFAs come end of next year. Should this be true, the decision to sign one of them would have to be made. My vote would go to Jordan Staal. Now before you burn me at the internet stake and ban me for life, my fellow Pens fans, hear me out.

1. Sid costs more: Right now, Jordan is making $4mil. While he's really hitting his potential now and will be over the next couple years, I don't see his salary jumping higher than $5mil, maybe $5.5mil. Sid on the other hand, while he's be injured, will most likely cost at least as much as he's making right now. With how the cap fluctuates each year, I think the cheaper player is the safer option. But obviously the value of a player is based on his production relative to his cap hit, which leads to my next point...

2. Staal being the better value player: No denying Sid is one of the best players in the world, and when it comes to offense Jordan will never be on Sid's level of production. That said, let's honestly get something out of the way here. Sid sucks on defense. Bash me all you want for saying he sucks at something, but rarely will you see him backchecking deep like Geno and Staal, and even when he does, I've watched too many stupid, blind passes moving the puck out of his zone. So while Staal will never hit 100+ points in a season, he's making big strides where he may be able to hit 60-70 with a legit set of wingers on the second line. Not to mention you're going to always have that Selke-level defense (barring one of his lapses like right now).

3. Injury history: You can't deny this plays a part. And its a terrible thing to consider, but it is what it is. Sid was out for another few months after taking an incidental elbow to the head. Its true when people say he's one significant hit away from...well...you know. Some of us have mentioned he's not playing as aggressive as he used to, going into corners and grinding in battles. If we sign Sid again, it will be to a somewhat long term contract (not Lecavalier length, but probably 5-6 years). At that length and price, you can't say it doesn't make you somewhat nervous in the back of your head. Especially when you look at the bargain price Jordan can be.

This isn't written to sound off panic mode, just wanted to get some thoughts if this happens to be the case. There's no doubt Shero will be talking to Staal's agent starting this summer on an extension, so it seems now is the time to be thinking about it.