After skating on a professional tryout that extended into the regular season, Eric Staal has earned a contract. The Florida Panthers have agreed to a one-year, one-way contract with the veteran forward according to Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff. The deal will carry a salary of $750K.
Staal, 37, is quite the story of perseverance, after not playing in the NHL at all last season. Instead of signing on with a team, he played a handful of games for the Iowa Wild before captaining Canada at the 2022 Olympics. While there were many reports that he was hoping to sign for a stretch run after the tournament ended, a contract never materialized.
Now, he’ll join brother Marc Staal with the Panthers for at least one last go-round in the NHL, and try to show once again why he may one day get into the Hall of Fame. The second-overall pick from 2003 has 1,034 points in 1,293 career regular season games and won the Stanley Cup in 2006 with the Carolina Hurricanes.
Even in his last appearance in the NHL, with the Montreal Canadiens in 2021, he somehow found a new gear in the postseason. After being rather underwhelming during the regular season, Staal put up eight points in 21 games for the Canadiens as they took a Cinderella run to the Stanley Cup Final.
While he certainly won’t be a huge difference-maker for the Panthers, there are worse depth options to bring in with the added cap space from moving Aaron Ekblad to long-term injured reserve. Staal is, after all, 78th all-time in NHL points, and has been skating with the team long enough to fully understand their systems and structure.
Why?
And once again a simple hockey move stuns and confuses Wilf. Keep up the good work buddy!
Because you touch yourself.
Veteran depth for a Stanley Cup run.
Honestly nothing about Florida’s roster screams to me that the have a Stanley cup run in them. They lost too much of their depth this past offseason and have question marks on D, F, and G imo.
Always been a big Eric Staal fan, but never once watched him and thought “Hall of Famer”.
As stated, hes 78th all time in nhl points. He’s a hall of famer.
That kind of logic will get Pierre Turgeon in one day.
He might not get in, but:
-78th in points
-67th in goals (shot at breaking 450)
-67th in games played (will probably break 1,300)
-100 point season
-3x 40+ goals
-6x 30+ goals
-Stanley Cup
-Olympic gold
-Long-time captain
-Famous hockey family
Probably gets him close. Could argue he’s more deserving than the Sedins, if they were individuals. They have the Art Ross/Hart, but he has the Cup, and very similar (if not better) numbers.
His counting stats are decent, but his fighting prowess (or lack thereof) won’t enhance his chances to get in the HOF.
link to hockeyfights.com
Two Staals does not a Stanley Cup make.
2 Staal’s 1 Cup