Eric Staal agreed to a one-year contract with the Florida Panthers on Friday. Financial terms have not been released.
The forward, who turns 38 on Oct. 29, had been with Florida during training camp during a pro tryout and had zero points and eight shots on goal in four preseason games. He was on the ice with the Panthers on Friday.
“He had a really good camp,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said Friday. “To his credit, I think he may have come to camp in the best shape of his life. There is so much about this man and this personality that you will all be able to see when you spend time with him, his character and his leadership.
“Love of the game, pure love of the game and love of the idea of winning. I think he’s great because it’s still a relatively young core here and having a veteran like that, but it’s not just the veteran, it’s who he is as a man, how he trains, how he competes, how he trains, how he sings, how he plugs in. He just enhances our organization.
Staal did not play for the Panthers in a 3-2 overtime loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Friday. Their next game is at home against the New York Islanders on Sunday.
Staal last played in the NHL in 2020-21, when he had 13 points (five goals, eight assists) in 53 games with the Buffalo Sabers and Montreal Canadiens, and eight points (two goals , six assists) in 21 Stanley Cup Playoff games. to help the Canadians reach the Cup Final.
“Eric is an experienced leader in this league and a tremendous competitor,” Panthers general manager Bill Zito said. “His professionalism and veteran spirit will add value to our dressing room on and off the ice.”
Last season, Staal had five points (two goals, three assists) in four games with Iowa, the Minnesota Wild’s affiliate of the American Hockey League, after signing a PTO with them. At the 2022 Beijing Olympics, he had four points (one goal, three assists) in five games and captained Canada, who finished sixth.
“It was unique,” Staal said in August. “I was on my own, losing the Stanley Cup final in mid-July. And then the next season started two months later and it just didn’t work out there. [in Montreal]. And then it didn’t work elsewhere. And it was just kind of like, ‘Okay, where do we go now?’ I stayed in shape and the Olympics happened, so I had so many unique experiences.”
With the Panthers, Staal will join his younger brother, a defender Marc Stael35 years. The two were teammates with the New York Rangers in 2015-16.
“That was a big reason why I do what I do, to go out there and have him and maybe have this opportunity to play with him,” Eric said. “It’s special, firstly, to play in the League, and then to be able to do it alongside your brother on a team that aspires to the Stanley Cup is something you can only dream of.”
Last season, the Panthers won the Presidents’ Trophy for having the NHL’s best record (58-18-6) but were swept by the Lightning in the Eastern Conference second round.
Selected by the Carolina Hurricanes with the second pick of the 2003 NHL Draft, Staal had 1,034 points (441 goals, 593 assists) in 1,293 regular season games with the Hurricanes, Rangers, Wild, Sabers and the Canadiens, and 59 points (23 goals, 36 assists) in 83 playoff games. He won the Cup with the Hurricanes in 2006.
Maurice, who coached Staal at Carolina during his rookie season in 2003-04 and again from 2008 to 2012, said he was surprised by what Staal left behind in his game.
“He’s really an easy man to work with because there’s no agenda,” Maurice said. “He just wants to win and he wants to play here, and if he didn’t feel like he could help, he wouldn’t. He surprised me at camp, quite honestly, to the point where he got the contract as an NHL player. He was a lot more dynamic than I thought.”
NHL.com Independent Correspondent Jessi Pierce contributed to this report
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