Written by Dave Caldwell at NYTimes.com
Five months after signing a seven-year, $57.75 million contract extension, center Eric Staal beat Martin Brodeur with a wrist shot with 31.7 seconds remaining in regulation to lift the Carolina Hurricanes over the stunned Devils in Game 7 of a first-round playoff series in 2009.
Staal, then 24, had scored 40 goals in the regular season and seemed worth every penny. The Hurricanes made it to the Eastern Conference finals that year but were swept by Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins, the eventual Stanley Cup champions.
Staal was named the Hurricanes’ captain the next season and went on to earn a reputation for his versatility and durability. But a 4-1 home loss to the Penguins in 2009 would prove to be his final Stanley Cup playoff game with the Hurricanes. Now he has a chance to return after being traded to the contending Rangers on Sunday for a player and two future draft picks.
Carolina has become a perennial also-ran, and a playoff berth for the team this year appears to be in serious doubt. Staal’s production has also declined, with 96 goals in 349 games in the last five seasons — 10 in 63 games this season.
His big contract was to expire at the end of this season, so Carolina reluctantly decided to move on. And so had Staal, 31, who waived the no-trade clause in his contract to join the Rangers and his younger brother by three years, defenseman Marc Staal.
In return, the Hurricanes will receive the Rangers’ second-round picks in the 2016 and 2017 drafts and forward Aleksi Saarela, a third-round pick last year. The Hurricanes will pay half of Staal’s remaining 2015-16 salary.
“We’re looking at a player that we think could be energized by this trade,” Rangers General Manager Jeff Gorton said Sunday in a conference call.
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