New York Ranger’s Eric Staal participates in a team practice at Madison Square Garden in New York, Monday, Feb. 29, 2016.
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Staal has skated in 63 games with Carolina this season, registering 10 goals and 23 assists for 33 points, along with 32 penalty minutes.
One of the teams that is said to be in pursuit of Staal is the New York Rangers.
C Aleksi Saarela was acquired by the Carolina Hurricanes from NY, the Rangers announced Sunday.
Staal said his agent had very minimal discussions with Francis about a contract extension, and he had given him a list of teams that he would waive the no-move clause for – with the Rangers near the top.
But for Eric, after 12 years with the Hurricanes, being their captain and having won a Stanley Cup there in 2006, it was a tough split. In New York, he will united with brother Marc Staal.
Staal, the former captain of the Hurricanes, joins his younger brother, defenseman Marc Staal, on a Rangers roster with Stanley Cup aspirations once again. He’s too much of a defensive forward, and Eric Staal’s passing ability could probably help with getting Chris Kreider more opportunities to finish plays.
In acquiring the four-time All-Star center, the Rangers have lengthened their scoring depth ahead of the playoffs and they did so without surrendering any of their current National Hockey League talent or a first-round draft pick.
Under their rookie bench boss, the retooling Canes are on the periphery of the postseason, somewhere they have not been since the 2008-09.
It was on October 10 at Madison Square Garden, on the back-end of the back-to-back, home-and-home series against the New York Rangers, that the Blue Jackets dropped their second game of the 2015-16 season. Staal’s on-ice shooting percentage in all situations is a paltry 4.6 since New Year’s, and in that stretch, he’s tallied just seven assists. For a lot of different reasons it didn’t happen the way you envisioned. It should also be noted that the Hurricanes will be retaining half of Eric’s $9.25 million salary. “That kind of stuff we’ll worry about later”.
Since facing off in October, the Rangers have continued their strong play and are now sitting in second position in the Metropolitan Division standings. Quality move for both sides here, the Rangers trying to win now and the Hurricanes planning for the future. Vigneault did add he thought Staal’s flexibility between center and the wing would be a benefit to the Rangers. Assuming Rick Nash is fully healthy – and the Rangers making this move sort of hints they think he will be – Staal will no longer have to be the main source of offense on his team. “Hopefully down the road we’ll find a way to get together and win like we wanted”. “I don’t think it’s just that hit”.
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The Hurricanes as constructed presently are not really going to scare anyone in the playoffs and in all likelihood, they won’t make it at all.
