What Conduit Magic did for Oblivion was allowed you to cast spells THROUGH your weapon, costing Magicka just like you cast the spell yourself, dependent upon and raising the respective skill. I really enjoyed this mod and its added playstyle and would like to see it ported over to Skyrim. I'm even going to try it myself once the CK comes out.
Hmm, never heard of that mod before...
Anyway, I was just thinking the other day about an order of warrior mages that wield their staffs and can channel their magic through them. You could hit with them in melee, use them as range weapons (with what element that staff was enchanted) and block. The melee block will also create a ward at the same time, so you are protected from both melee and magic. All of these will have to be 'fueled' by your magicka pool and not by a soul enchantment.