Canes reach longterm deal with Staal

September 13, 2008   ·   Derek Felix   ·   Jump to comments

Eric Staal hopes to be winning more Cups with Carolina.

A long time ago, the Hartford Whalers had a star center named Ron Francis who was part of a team which went to the playoffs in the old Adams Division. Ronnie Franchise was their best player becoming a fan favorite at The Hartford Civic Center AKA The Mall. The former 1981 first round selection (fourth overall) spent nearly a decade establishing many franchise offensive records.

Then one day during the 1990-91 season, he was traded along with rugged defenseman Ulf Samuelsson to the Pittsburgh Penguins for John Cullen and Zarley Zalapski. It became known as one of the most lopsided deals in NHL history as the former Whalers helped the Pens win back-to-back Stanley Cups with Francis anchoring the second line and Samuelsson playing his familiar physical role. Some hockey pundits even claimed that the deal was such a steal it appeared like it was made between a free poker greenhorn and a seasoned Vegas card shark.

Meanwhile, the two players they got back weren’t received well and couldn’t come close to expectations eventually going elsewhere just a couple of years later. What the Whalers gave up on was remaining a competitive playoff team eventually turning into one of the NHL’s laughingstocks eventually losing support departing Hartford for Carolina where they became the Hurricanes.

Fast forward to the present where the Canes have now been in existence for a decade having made the Cup finals twice over the past six years having won the franchise’s first Lord Stanley in 2006 edging the Edmonton Oilers in seven.

A gigantic part of that run was former 2003 first round pick (2nd overall) Eric Staal, whose developed into their best player also budding into one of the league’s elite young superstars. In four seasons, the 23 year-old center has tallied 124 goals and 159 helpers for 283 total points in 327 games played. That included a breakout 2005-06 season which saw him score 45 goals and hit the century mark in points helping lead Carolina to the Stanley Cup.

Following a down 2006-07 in which he amassed 70 points (30-40-70), Staal bounced back last season with 82 points (38-44-82) pacing the club in eight offensive categories including power play goals (14), power play points (35), game winners (7) and shots on goal (310).

Though it wasn’t enough to get them back to the postseason losing the Southeast to Alexander Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals, it was plenty of reasons for Carolina President/GM Jim Rutherford to get a longterm deal worked out keeping the oldest of the Staal brothers. They reached agreement Thursday on a seven-year $57.75 million contract extension that will pay him an average of $8.25 million beginning in 2009-10 and going through 2015-16.

“When you get a player this young that’s this good, you have to make sure you keep him long term,” Rutherford pointed out of the two-time All-Star MVP including this past year’s.

“And if you don’t, your team, your franchise will go backwards.”

Staal was entering the final season of a three-year deal he agreed to which will pay him $5 million this season.

“I wasn’t stressing and wanting to make sure it was done before camp,” he said. “But it is a nice feeling now to have it out of the way and not get the questions the whole season about an extension … and focus on the hockey.

“Obviously, for me at a young age, to be able to lift the Stanley Cup over my head was something that I dreamed out my whole life. I want to do it again.”

Still, the franchise star player knows that there’s plenty of work to do as they prepare for the 2008-09 season.

“Over the last couple seasons, it’s been a ton of fun. Obviously, the last two not as much fun as the year before that,” Staal noted. “We’ve got to get back to the playoffs, back to where we should be, and I’m very grateful for this and for being here a long time.”

Eric Staal could one day join former Whaler/Cane Ron Francis up in the rafters.

Analysis: Overall, it’s a no-brainer for Carolina to lock up their best player over the longterm as Staal would’ve attracted many suitors. I think they learned their lesson from past history with Francis even though he eventually returned in 1998 helping get the team to a Cup Final before losing to Detroit in 2002. They also honored him retiring his No.10 jersey. Maybe some day, No.12 will be joining him up in the rafters at RBC Center.