As Hurricanes retire Eric Staal’s jersey, a look at the ‘heart’ that drove his NHL career
Just the thought of it is almost overwhelming.
Eric Staal came to the Carolina Hurricanes with the idea of wearing No. 12 in the NHL and carving out a career. His father, Henry, had worn it years before in college in Canada, and Henry’s oldest son wanted to wear it, too.
“My dad,” Staal said, “was my hero as a kid and why I chose that number.”
And then the years began to flash by.
Eric Staal won a Stanley Cup with Carolina in 2006. He became an NHL All-Star. He became the Hurricanes’ captain. He chalked up franchise records as his numbers built. He played 18 seasons in the NHL — fittingly 12 with Carolina.
Sunday, another milestone: Staal will see No. 12 in another spot — Lenovo Center’s rafters. It will join the jersey numbers of Rod Brind’Amour (17), Glen Wesley (2) and Ron Francis (10) in being retired by the Hurricanes.
Seeing your jersey go up is a big moment for any athlete, and will be for Staal.
“I think for sure I will have some emotion, personally, with the history there and the people that mean so much to me being there to celebrate with me,” Staal said this week in an N&O interview. “It’s pretty special and quite an honor.
“I’ll try to soak it all in and enjoy it because, for sure, it’s super cool and I’m grateful for everything the Hurricanes did for me. I’m sure there will be some moments of it being a little bit overwhelming. I’m going to try and stay in the moment and embrace it.”
Staal’s family, a large group, will be there. Beside him will be the Hurricanes’ current captain, brother Jordan Staal, who will have a game to play against the Anaheim Ducks but also is mindful of the emotions that could flow before the puck drops.
“It’s a great honor for Eric and rightfully so,” Jordan said this week. “I know I have so many memories of playing with Eric here, but there’s also all the off-the-ice family stuff, and all that will come flooding back, I’m sure.”
Jordan has always liked to call Eric “Big Bro,” and still does. Eric was the oldest of the four hockey-playing brothers along with Marc, Jordan and Jared, the youngest.
Eric was the first to be drafted in the NHL, the first to win a Stanley Cup, the first to be a team captain.
“Every time I looked at him I thought I want to do the same, be the same,” Jordan said. “He led the way and did an amazing job in every way. His character always shined through. He always had the heart and passion.”
Like many sports careers, Eric Staal’s was filled with meaningful moments. Here’s a look at some of them:
A ‘good kid’ arrives
Eric Staal arrived at his first Hurricanes training camp in 2003 carrying high expectations. The center had been the No. 2 pick in the 2003 NHL draft behind goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, who was taken by Pittsburgh.
Rod Brind’Amour was 33, an established veteran. Traded to the Canes in January 2000, he had been a big part of the Carolina team that reached the Stanley Cup final in 2002. Now, in came this gangling, 6-foot-4 rookie from Thunder Bay, Ontario.
“First impression? You liked what you saw and knew he was going to be a good kid,” Brind’Amour said this week. “He was humble, a good person.
“You knew he was going to be a good player. You never know how good. You can never really tell with young kids. But when you’re big framed and you have that desire to be good … you knew that something special was going to be there and he turned out to be that.”
Jim Rutherford, then the Canes president and general manager, said the team was looking for a center to replace Francis and found him in Staal.
“We were still building the franchise, on and off the ice, and we were in those years with Ronnie getting closer to the end of his career,” Rutherford said this week. “It was important for us to draft a center in that draft.”
By the 2005-06 season, Staal had become a 100-point player for the Canes. He also had become a Stanley Cup champion and helped his team captain, Brind’Amour, finally fulfill a career dream of holding up the Cup.
“I was a Stanley Cup champion,” Staal said. “The dream, first and foremost, is to make the NHL. And once you establish yourself and know you’ll stick around for a while, the goal is to win the Stanley Cup. I was able to do that with the Carolina Hurricanes and able to raise the Cup over my head.
“There’s nothing better than that as a hockey player. That’s the top of the mountain. “
Tough handshakes
The Canes did not return to the playoffs until 2009, with Paul Maurice the coach. They reached the Eastern Conference finals, only to run into the Pittsburgh Penguins — and Jordan Staal.
Eric and Jordan had gone head to head a few times but the stakes were much higher this time. The Pens, led by Sidney Crosby, swept the Canes in four games and the traditional handshake at the end of Game 4 was a tough one for the Staal brothers.
“They had a good squad and Eric was playing as well as he’s ever played,” Jordan said. “I played against him a ton. I was there to kind of slow him down. I don’t think he liked that and I didn’t like it, either.
“It’s hard. Playoffs are tough.”
The Pens would win the Stanley Cup that year. Eric Staal would not play in another playoff game for the Canes but would later play against the Canes.
Staal joined the Florida Panthers, with Maurice the coach, for his final NHL season and was in the lineup when the Cats eliminated the Hurricanes in four straight games in the 2023 Eastern Conference final. It was time for another tough handshake line.
“I got it right back,” Jordan said, smiling. “I said the same thing to him that he said to me in 2009, which is ‘Go get it.’ They didn’t get it then, but we found a way to do it (in 2009) and I think he was OK with that.”
Wearing the ‘C’
Brind’Amour wore the “C” for the Hurricanes until Jan. 10, 2010, a somber day for many in the organization.
After a team practice, it was announced Staal would replace Brind’Amour as captain. The locker room was a quiet one that day, the mood funereal.
“I remember that vividly,” Brind’Amour said. “We had a nice conversation about the whole thing. I think he had a tough go, as far as the team was in a tough spot. But he handled it well. He just did his thing, which is what he should do. Just lead by the way you prepare and go play.
“He had good moments and bad moments like we all do. But he never changed who he was and I thought that’s what made him special.”
Staal later said that he had gleaned so much from Brind’Amour and the way he went about being the captain, saying, “It was the competitiveness he brought every day, in practice and in games. There was a lot to emulate.”
Brind’Amour retired at the end of the 2009-10 season. Rutherford was determined to find another big forward to help Staal shoulder the load. Turns out, it would take a couple of years.
Changing sides
It was June 22, 2012. Jordan Staal was to be married in Thunder Bay and many of his Penguins teammates were in town for the wedding.
During the reception came the news: Staal, the groom, had been traded to Carolina. Just like that “Big Bro” was his teammate, and the two were determined to make the Canes Cup contenders again.
It didn’t happen, and Jordan said it took a toll on his brother, who tried to be the strong captain through it all.
““It was hard on him. He wanted so much more,” Jordan said. “You could tell there was a weight on him and probably affected his game more than it should have.”
Eric Staal was traded to the New York Rangers on Feb. 28, 2016, joining another brother, Marc. After 909 regular-season games and 43 playoff games, his time with Carolina ended.
“That was hard,” Jordan Staal said. “I made the decision to come here and play with him and then for him to be out of here … that’s when I realized it is a business. I’m just another chunk of meat out there.
“At the same time, they treated us well. There were some good times.”
Golden boy
Eric Staal had flown from Vancouver to join the Canes in Toronto in March 2010 and brought along some precious cargo: an OIympic gold medal.
In what will always be remembered as the game won on Sidney Crosby’s “Golden Goal,” Canada had topped Team USA in overtime in the gold-medal game. Standing at the Team Canada bench, aching to be on the ice, was Staal, watching, waiting to go over the boards.
But Crosby beat goalie Ryan Miller with a quick shot in the OT and that was that. Staal did come over the boards – to wildly celebrate. Soon, he was wearing a gold medal around his neck.
With the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games over and the NHL season set to resume, Staal hopped a jet to Toronto. He made the rounds for interviews, two security guards with him, and showed off the medal to one and all.
“They say it’s a pound and a half. I don’t know about that,” he said, laughing.
The N&O beat reporter asked if he could hold the medal and Staal quickly handed it over. It did feel heavier, much like the enormous weight the Canadians felt to win gold at home.
Olympic gold earned Staal a spot in an exclusive group: the “Triple Gold Club.” It’s for those players who have been on teams that won a Stanley Cup, World Championship and Olympic gold.
Staal was a Cup winner in 2006, and a year later was with Team Canada when it captured the IIHF World Championship title in Moscow.
“Any player coming into the league, if he ends up having the resume that Eric has, I think most would be pretty happy with that,” Rutherford said.
The old pro sets an example
Jesperi Kotkaniemi wasn’t sure what to expect when the veteran center joined the Montreal Canadiens in March 2021.
Eric Staal was 36. He had been traded by the Buffalo Sabres to the Canadiens for a couple of draft picks. And in 21 regular-season games with the Habs, he had two goals and an assist, minimal production.
But Kotkaniemi, then 20 and in his third season with the Habs, said an appreciation quickly grew, and especially after seeing the line of Staal, Corey Perry and Joel Armia perform so well in the 2021 Stanley Cup playoffs.
“Those were three big boys and they were big for us,” Kotkaniemi said.
The Habs reached the Stanley Cup Final before losing to Tampa Bay.
Kotkaniemi would come to the Canes in August 2021, after Carolina tendered an offer sheet for the Finnish forward. The memories of Montreal and being Staal’s teammate remain fresh.
“Eric was just great to be around,” Kotkaniemi said. “I’m really grateful for that time, to be able to play with a player like that, with so much legacy behind him.
“It was great for me being a center that he gave me little tips on the faceoffs and just how to play overall. One thing I’ll remember is he was so calm when he played. He’d never get too bothered by anything. I thought it was super cool to be around someone like that.”
This story was originally published January 10, 2025 at 11:41 AM.
