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Eric Staal

Florida Panthers Sign Eric Staal

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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.

Florida Panthers Sign Marc, Eric Staal

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The Florida Panthers are bringing in some brotherly love, signing Marc Staal to a one-year, $750K deal and Eric Staal to a professional tryout, according to Bob McKenzie of TSN.

The state of Florida will actually have three Staals on the ice, as younger brother Jared Staal is an associate coach with the Orlando Solar Bears. When Jordan Staal and the Carolina Hurricanes come to town, it can be a family reunion.

For the Panthers, adding Marc Staal on a league-minimum deal will give them a veteran presence to plug in whenever necessary. The 35-year-old defenseman has played over 1,000 regular season games, including 71 this season for the Detroit Red Wings.

While he isn’t the elite shutdown option he once was, the veteran defender is still an NHL-level talent that can handle penalty killing and third-pairing responsibilities. He may not play every night for Florida but when you look at a team that paid a huge price for defensive depth at the deadline, adding him now makes sense.

Eric Staal meanwhile didn’t play in the NHL last season, sitting out and suiting up at the Olympics instead. He was always open to a return but never found a job, suggesting that his career may be over. A PTO will give him a chance but it’s hard to see how the 37-year-old fits into the high-flying style of the Panthers.

Eric Staal Named Captain Of 2022 Canadian Olympic Squad

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Hockey Canada has announced the leadership group for the upcoming Olympic Games, with Eric Staal the obvious choice as captain of the club. He’ll be joined by David Desharnais and Maxim Noreau as alternates.

Staal, 37, has not only appeared in the Olympics previously–he went when the NHL was still participating. A member of the 2010 gold medal-winning squad in Vancouver, the veteran forward is already a member of the exclusive Triple Gold Club, with Olympic gold, World Championship gold, and a Stanley Cup championship. This is the second time he’s served as captain for Team Canada, having also worn the “C” in 2013 at the Worlds.

With the scattered talent that’s on the team, Staal was always going to be the captain as he brings more experience than anyone else. He very well could skate with someone nearly two decades his junior, if Mason McTavish can work his way up the lineup. He’ll have another veteran forward to lean on either way though, as Desharnais gets an “A” after three excellent years playing in Switzerland. The 35-year-old had a strong NHL career of his own, racking up 282 points in 524 career games.

Noreau, a player that might be much less familiar to NHL fans given he played just six games with the Minnesota Wild more than a decade ago, is the other alternate after a long successful career in Switzerland. He’s also a returning member of the 2018 Olympic group, where he also wore an “A” en route to a bronze medal. The 34-year-old defenseman should likely play a role on the powerplay given his offensive skillset, though young Owen Power has the ability to play in all situations including with the man-advantage.

Meanwhile, Canada’s pre-tournament tune-up game in Switzerland before they travel to Beijing has been canceled due to COVID concerns for EV Zug, the scheduled opponent. For Staal and his team, the tournament will begin on February 10.

Eric Staal, Owen Power Headline Team Canada 2022 Olympic Roster

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Jan 25: The roster below has been confirmed, and Chris Johnston of TSN also has the full group of alternates. Justin Pogge, Morgan Ellis, John Gilmour, Chris DiDomenico, Kent Johnson, and Max Veronneau will all be traveling to Beijing and could see action depending on injuries and illnesses.

Jan 24: While the official announcement from Hockey Canada isn’t until tomorrow, the IIHF mistakenly tweeted out the roster for the upcoming 2022 Olympics this afternoon. The tweet has since been deleted, but not before it was seen by many including PHR. Canada’s roster is filled with names familiar to NHL fans, including Stanley Cup champion and veteran of nearly 1,300 games Eric Staal.

The full roster:

G Devon Levi
G Eddie Pasquale
G Matt Tomkins

D Brandon Gormley
D Alex Grant
D Owen Power
D Tyler Wotherspoon
D Mat Robinson
D Mark Barberio
D Jason Demers
D Maxim Noreau

F Daniel Carr
F Corban Knight
F Ben Street
F Jack McBain
F Eric Staal
F Adam Tambellini
F Eric O’Dell
F Daniel Winnik
F Adam Cracknell
F Mason McTavish
F Landon Ferraro
F David Desharnais
F Jordan Weal
F Joshua Ho-Sang

Of note, the announcement did not come with the six-man alternate group that Darren Dreger of TSN reported on this morning. Olympic teams will get to bring a handful of extra skaters that would be eligible to play in case of injury or COVID-related issues. Kent Johnson, who didn’t appear on the final roster, is expected to be among Canada’s alternates.

Snapshots: Canadiens, Staal, Brown

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The Montreal Canadiens are getting closer to naming a new general manager, as Eric Engels of Sportsnet reports they’ve narrowed their search to just three candidates. Engels believes that Daniel Briere and Mathieu Darche are two of those three, and notes that some of the other candidates interviewed could still land different positions with the organization.

Montreal has been without a GM since firing Marc Bergevin in November, but with Jeff Gorton in place as executive vice president of hockey operations, there was no rush to fill the position. Even the new hire isn’t expected to carry the same weight of responsibility that Bergevin did over the last decade and was always expected to be someone with less experience in NHL front offices. While Darche has been with the Tampa Bay Lightning since 2019, Briere has been serving as GM and president of the Maine Mariners of the ECHL the last several years.

  • While Eric Staal is focused on the Olympics with Team Canada, he spoke to Michael Russo of The Athletic and indicated that he would gladly drop that dream to sign in the NHL immediately, if a team offered him a contract. It isn’t likely that contract is going to come with the Minnesota Wild, even though Staal is currently with their AHL affiliate on a professional tryout. Staal currently sits at 1,293 regular season games played and could become just the 64th player in NHL history to break 1,300 should he sign for the stretch run this year.
  • Connor Brown played more than 19 minutes last night, scoring a goal and an assist in the Ottawa Senators win over the Calgary Flames. He did it all with a broken jaw, apparently, as head coach D.J. Smith told TSN radio today that the forward was hit with a puck in the warm-up that caused the injury. He’ll is considered out week-to-week now as he recovers. Brown has five goals and 19 points in 26 games this season.

Eric Staal Signs AHL PTO

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As reported yesterday, the Iowa Wild have signed veteran center Eric Staal to an AHL professional tryout agreement, giving him a chance to tune up his game in preparation for the Olympics next month. Staal also hopes to earn an NHL agreement after the international tournament, though that is obviously a little further down the line.

Now 37, Staal has only ever played one season in the AHL and that was during the 2004-05 NHL lockout. That year he suited up for the Lowell Lock Monsters, recording 77 points in 77 games on a roster that also included names like Chuck Kobasew, Mark Giordano, and Cam Ward. More than 1,200 NHL games later and Staal is now heading back to the minors, if only for a handful of games.

The Wild play the next two nights at home against the Chicago Wolves, before welcoming in the Milwaukee Admirals and Manitoba Moose next week. It remains to be seen whether Staal will travel with the team when they hit the road for three games later this month. Canada’s first Olympic game is scheduled for February 10 against Germany, though the official roster has not yet been announced.

Snapshots: Staal, Carter, Reichel

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It wasn’t so long ago that Eric Staal was scoring 42 goals during the 2017-18 season for the Minnesota Wild. A 22-goal and a 19-goal campaign followed, but then 2020-21 was a mess. He started with the Buffalo Sabres before ending up with the Montreal Canadiens, struggling in both cities.

Now, as he prepares to represent Canada at the Olympics instead of playing in the NHL, Staal is expected to sign an AHL professional tryout contract with the Iowa Wild, according to Ken Campbell of Hockey Unfiltered. Staal hasn’t been officially named to the roster yet, but without any professional games to his name this season he’ll need some sort of competitive action to prove he’s ready.

  • Speaking of Canadian Olympians getting closer to the end of their playing days, Jeff Carter recently turned 37 and will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season. When Josh Yohe of The Athletic asked him about whether or not tomorrow’s Pittsburgh Penguins game would be the last time Carter plays in Los Angeles, the veteran forward suggested he is still hoping to play a few more years. Carter is having another strong year for the Penguins with 11 goals and 20 points in 29 games, and certainly appears as though there is more for him to give over the next few seasons. Now going on more than 1,100 games at the NHL level, the veteran forward will be an interesting case to follow this offseason should he hit the open market.
  • On the other end of the spectrum is Lukas Reichel, who was recalled to the Chicago Blackhawks taxi squad today. Interim head coach Derek King confirmed to reporters including Charlie Roumeliotis of NBCS Chicago that Reichel’s NHL debut will come tomorrow night and it certainly seems like he’ll be a legitimate part of the gameplan. The 20-year-old forward was practicing with Patrick Kane and Dylan Strome today, but King did caution that “it’s a marathon, not a sprint” in terms of developing prospects, and that he’ll likely be sent back down after a few games. Reichel has 20 points in 20 games in Rockford and was the 17th overall pick in 2020.

Eric Staal Still Hoping To Play In The NHL This Season

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As teams start to get a better feel for what they have and what they need, there should start to be some more roster movement over the coming weeks.  U.S. Thanksgiving is often viewed as the soft target for that to happen and that’s now less than two weeks away.  While that movement is often on the trade front, at least one veteran free agent center could also be in play as Pierre LeBrun reports in his latest column for The Athletic (subscription link) that Eric Staal hasn’t given up hope on playing in the NHL this season and that his agent Rick Curran is in regular contact with three or four teams who could have interest in signing him over the coming weeks.

The 37-year-old was a productive top-six player as recently as the 2019-20 season when he had 19 goals and 28 assists in 66 games with Minnesota.  However, things went off the rails last season with a tough showing in Buffalo with only ten points in 32 games before being traded to Montreal where his output dipped even further with just three points in 21 regular season contests.  However, Staal played a regular role in the playoffs during their surprising run to the Stanley Cup Final which was enough to land him inside our Top 50 UFA rankings this summer but a contract never materialized.

Back at the beginning of training camp, it was reported that Staal’s preference was to return to Minnesota but that was never really in the cards.  Beyond that, he was hoping to catch on with a team in the United States although being unsigned this long into the season, he may not have the luxury of being too selective if his goal is simply to catch on somewhere.

At this stage, all that Staal can likely hope for is a league minimum contract worth a pro-rated $750K although he is eligible for performance bonuses as well as long as he signs a one-year deal which is basically a certainty.  He sits just seven games shy of 1,300 for his career and even though he isn’t currently signed, it looks like Staal may very well be able to get to that milestone if one of those interested teams decides to pull the trigger on making a tweak to their roster in the coming weeks.

Snapshots: Staal, Shootouts, IIHF, Canada-Russia

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Veteran center Eric Staal remains one of the more notable unrestricted free agents looking for a place to play this season.  As Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic detailed in TSN’s recent Insider Trading segment, Staal’s preference would be to play in the United States over returning to a Canadian-based squad.  The 36-year-old struggled considerably with Buffalo and Montreal last season although he managed to hold down a regular spot on the fourth line for the Canadiens in their run to the Stanley Cup Final.  Staal’s preference appears to be returning to Minnesota which is where he played from 2016-17 through 2019-20 but the Wild aren’t believed to have interest in a reunion at this time.

Elsewhere around the hockey world:

  • Don’t be surprised to see plenty of shootouts in the preseason. The league announced (Twitter link) that every game will have the potential to have a shootout and that it’s up to the teams to decide if they want to have one.  This was done back when the shootout first came into the league back in 2005-06 as an opportunity for teams to practice and they’ll now have the opportunity to work on that element in the coming weeks.
  • Rene Fasel’s time as IIHF President has officially come to an end after 27 years. The IIHF revealed its election results today and France’s Luc Tardif won in the fourth and final round of voting with Fasel not seeking re-election.  Tardif was born in Canada and briefly played in the QMJHL before moving to France in the late 1970s to play in France’s professional league.  Meanwhile, long-time NHL veteran Pavel Bure was elected to the IIHF’s Council.  Each will serve a five-year term that runs through 2026.
  • The CHL announced that the annual Canada-Russia series has been canceled for this season. The event, which sees some drafted and draft-eligible Russian prospects take on the best players from each of the three major junior leagues (mostly NHL-drafted players) in advance of the World Juniors, is expected to return for 2022-23.

Poll: Best Available PTO Candidate

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There were some hints that the PTO market was about to open up. Within the first week of September, the Colorado Avalanche penciled in Artem Anisimov and Jack Johnson and the Pittsburgh Penguins brought in local product Matt Bartkowski. However, with the New Jersey Devils announcing three PTO’s today, including two forwards who played in 45+ games this season in Jimmy Vesey and Mark Jankowski, the floodgates have officially opened on the tryout market. Once the PTO ball starts rolling, it usually only picks up steam. With plenty of talent still available among unsigned unrestricted free agents, this season should be no different. Rather than who will be next to sign, as many names could shortly come off the market (at least temporarily), who would you want your favorite team to bring to camp?

What makes a PTO different than a signing is the lack of commitment. Sure, a low-salary contract that can be buried in the minors is reasonably similar, but even that is a commitment to using up a limited number of roster slots and taking play time from prospects in the AHL. A PTO is merely a training camp invitation to see whether an available player could be a fit for your team. Perhaps it is a veteran who may have gas left in the tank – or may not. Or perhaps it is a young player who has hit a rough patch in his development but just needs a chance to show his upside. It could also be a role player in his prime who just needs a chance to prove he can be useful to the organization.

It’s hard to ignore some of the future Hall of Famers who fit the first description. 44-year-old Zdeno Chara, 41-year-old Patrick Marleau, and 36-year-old Eric Staal each played more games this past season than any other player still available. The question is, can they do it again? Fortunately, a PTO doesn’t require that question to be answered without getting an early look. All three of Chara, Marleau, and Staal have seemingly done more than enough in their respective careers to earn a contract if they want one, but after each had a down year entering a tight, flat-cap market, could they settle for a PTO? Travis Zajac may not be headed for the Hall, but the respected veteran is coming off of a better year than anyone else still unsigned and was expected to command a contract. Could he too end up on a tryout?

Other veterans who might be more likely to take a tryout to extend their careers could include Jason Demers, Bobby Ryan, James Neal, Frans Nielsen, or Devan Dubnyk. Demers and Dubnyk are both arguably the best players still available at their respective position, but that isn’t saying much for an early-September market. It still may not hurt for a team to try to lock up that security on a PTO in case depth is needed. Ryan was playing very well with the Red Wings last season before his season was derailed by injury. At 34, coming back from a long-term ailment could be difficult, but a PTO would allow teams to check on his health. Neal and Nielsen have fallen far from their spots as elite NHLers in the past few years, but could they still have a resurgence left?

Among young players looking for another chance is Alex Galchenyuk, 27, who had the makings of a breakout season brewing after a move to the Toronto Maple Leafs last season and could be ready to build on that momentum. Galchenyuk can be a tough system fit, but a PTO would allow for a team to test his abilities with their personnel. At just 25, Michael Dal Colle may actually be the best young hidden gem among unsigned players. In fact, it is surprising to 2014 top-five pick still available, especially given that he showed signs of improvement in 2019-20 before the Islanders’ depth forced him to take a back seat role last season. Dal Colle could be worth the look, but could a team glean enough in camp without much NHL experience to rely upon as supporting evidence. The same could be said for Frederik Gauthier. One of the biggest forwards in the NHL and good defensive forward, Gauthier’s played sparingly last season within the Coyotes organization and was limited exclusively to fourth line minutes prior in Toronto. Could a brief training camp appearance prove to a team that he is not one-dimensional?

As for those players in their prime who don’t have to prove that they can play in the NHL or can still play in the NHL, it is more about showing that they possess the tools to fill a specific role for a team. Those looking for some stability and minutes on the blue line should show interest in Sami Vatanen, Erik Gustafsson, or Ben Hutton, who have both shown that they can still play. However, are they a better option than what most teams already have on their bottom pair or waiting for opportunity in the AHL? Up front, a team in need of skill could eye Nikita Gusev or Alex Chiasson while those seeking defense have options such as Colton Sceviour and Tobias Rieder. Like the defensemen, all of these forwards surely could play in the NHL this season, but are they superior options to what teams already have? And can a PTO prove otherwise?

There are strengths and weaknesses to all of these players, as well as to what they would be able to prove on a training camp tryout. At the end of the day, at this point in the season value is subjective based on what each team feels could be an area of need in the coming season and who they feel could prove themselves worthy of a contract with just a short PTO. So what say you? Who would you most like to see your favorite team bring in on a PTO?

[mobile users vote here]

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