Eric Staal signs one-day contract with Carolina, officially retiring. Team to retire his number this season.

[Dickie Dunn]

Probably the best center the Wild have ever had....lol. Sad but true.

 

[The Hockey Tonk Man]

Hope they retire his jersey on pride night.

 

[MXD]

He was absolutely awful in Montreal during RS, then barely adequate (but totally carried by Perry and Joel Armia of all people) in the 2021 PO's, so much I'm a bit surprised he even played hockey at a decent level after that.

 

[Kranix]

dirtball slashing Johnny Gaudreau's hands with the Wild is all I will remember him for. I'm sure he's filled with pride right now.

 

[tarheelhockey]

Don't necessarily agree the "low motor" player - but some guys look like they might not be giving it 100% because they're so smooth on the ice, and that was always my feeling with ES.

I know what you mean and it bothers me to see pro players called “lazy”. Most of the time, fans are way off base with that kind of talk.

Eric, though, not for his whole career but for a window in the mid-2010s, went through a period where he would straight up disengage with the game. He was particularly prone to trying power moves against the defense so that he ended up falling to the ice, then taking a knee and yapping at the ref while the play went the other way, and slowly getting up to drift back to the bench. It was like being on a 10 second penalty kill. That kind of sulky low-effort attitude is why there’s some debate among Canes fans about his status… he was a certified legend prior to hitting that phase.

The one thing I can say in his defense, not that it excuses a guy acting like that for millions of dollars a year, is that we’ll never know the full story of what was going on behind the scenes. That was a period when Karmanos was quietly running out of money, the franchise was being run on a shoestring, the coaching and front office was second rate, the team was pitifully bad, and Eric was the guy with the C on his chest following Francis and Brind’Amour. Showing up for those games was probably a lot harder on him than it looked.

 

[JaegerDice]

Is this even up for debate?

I feel like Eric is a way better player.
Career and peak

Best peak, certainly. Best career including international, no doubt.

Jordan Staal has been a horse for so ling though, so I joke he’s the better brother.

 

[BB79]

I remember when guys like he and Bergeron were rookies, can't believe they're retiring now. Damned time flies

 

[PensandCaps]

Don't think this is necessarily fair. He might not have been a superstar, but much of his career was hampered by an organization that I felt learned the wrong lesson from the lighting in a bottle run to the Cup.

Glad that he's able to go back to CAR where he was an elite player. Kind of easy to have the recency bias over the many stops after CAR where he wasn't the same player he was for the Canes.

Staal did have a a pretty good resurgence in Minny post Carolina. I think even setting career high in goals.

 

[wetcoast]

Impressive career, although based on his rookie year, it could be argued he never truly lived up to his potential.

Arguably the greatest goal scorer of his generation who never hit 50 goals, but his consistency was impressive, with six 30+ goal seasons and three 40+ goal seasons.

His rookie year was in 03-04 he had a line of 82-11-20-31, you are thinking of his 05-06 season which was his 3rd professional season.

 

[Beukeboom Fan]

Probably the best center the Wild have ever had....lol. Sad but true.

Peak Mikko Koivu?

Staal did have a a pretty good resurgence in Minny post Carolina. I think even setting career high in goals.

Funny because I was going to post the above and then checked the stats to be amazed by how well Staal played for the Wild. Just always remember them struggling with the Hawks in the PO'S and wouldn't have thought he was that good in MINN. That was the post Gaborik mushy middle period they cobbled together.

Just funny because in my memey Koivu is an equivalent player, and that's just ridiculous when you look at the stats.

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

Do guys get paid on these 1 day contracts? I mean they are technically under contract

 

[Beukeboom Fan]

Do guys get paid on these 1 day contracts? I mean they are technically under contract

NHL players get paid only during the regular season, so no money is actually earned.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

One of the mini-dramas in Carolina this past decade was whether Staal warranted number retirement. This might be a step in that direction. He has an argument on paper but had seemed to fade from the organization since leaving, so presumably this is a sign of things getting warmer in retirement.

Edit: I didn’t see that his number retirement has been confirmed. So there ya go.

if eric is in the rafters and glen wesley is already there, jordan staal’s number is auto-retired now too right?

 

[njdevils1982]

if eric is in the rafters and glen wesley is already there, jordan staal’s number is auto-retired now too right?

yes. just like the canes board forum everyone gives and gets 'likes' for their posts.

 

[TheDawnOfANewTage]

I have 3 thoughts:

1. Number retirement is clearly deserved.
[MOD]
3. Does anybody else think these one-day contracts are kind of silly?

lol I like how we can’t even mention he doesn’t accept gay people. Fair and balanced.

Happy trails, Eric.

 

[tarheelhockey]

if eric is in the rafters and glen wesley is already there, jordan staal’s number is auto-retired now too right?

You may laugh, but Jordan’s creeping up on being the longest-tenured captain in team history and will soon be 2nd only to Ron Francis in games played.

Not a number retirement, but he will certainly be inducted into the team’s HOF.

 

[12ozPapa]

dirtball slashing Johnny Gaudreau's hands with the Wild is all I will remember him for. I'm sure he's filled with pride right now.

Oh poor baby johnny hockey is he ok?

 

[MessierII]

Even though he beat us in that game 7 gotta respect this dude. By 2010 when he was playing on team Canada I had forgiven him. Unreal career. Enjoy retirement sir.

 

[Kranix]

Oh poor baby johnny hockey is he ok?

Broken finger, out six weeks. First slash from Eric probably broke it but he stayed in the game, and Eric did it again.

 

[12ozPapa]

Broken finger, out six weeks. First slash from Eric probably broke it but he stayed in the game, and Eric did it again.

He broke his finger, the horror!!

 

[bobbyking]

pretty low standards

 

[dgibb10]

I think this speaks to the final analysis on that 2003 draft class, a ton of 1st liners who were very solid during their peak, mostly topping out at point-per-game production then falling off hard by their early to mid 30s (with the exception of Bergeron). No Crosby, Stamkos, or MacKinnon types despite the overall depth.

It was also very low scoring during most of their primes

 

[GIN ANTONIC]

yes. just like the canes board forum everyone gives and gets 'likes' for their posts.

Lol... I know it's all jokes but you guys have Ken Daneyko's number retired so please take cover in that glass house of yours!

pretty low standards

I mean since the team moved to Carolina from Hartford he's basically the franchise leader in everything so that seems like a decent bar to go with.

 

[57special]

His rookie year was in 03-04 he had a line of 82-11-20-31, you are thinking of his 05-06 season which was his 3rd professional season.

05-06 was only his 2nd NHL season because of the strike wiping out 04-05.

Peak Mikko Koivu?

Funny because I was going to post the above and then checked the stats to be amazed by how well Staal played for the Wild. Just always remember them struggling with the Hawks in the PO'S and wouldn't have thought he was that good in MINN. That was the post Gaborik mushy middle period they cobbled together.

Just funny because in my memey Koivu is an equivalent player, and that's just ridiculous when you look at the stats.

Koivu was a much, much better defensive player.

 

[Derailed75]

Best peak, certainly. Best career including international, no doubt.

Jordan Staal has been a horse for so ling though, so I joke he’s the better brother.

I'm not sure its really a joke. Like you said Eric absolutely had a peak way higher than Jordos, but Jordos defensive play is severely under rated and while he never seems to get big numbers points wise when he does score it always seems to be a crucial goal.