Staal seeking top-6 role at center in free agency
Eric Staal's looking for a job, but he'd rather not settle.
NHL.com's Tom Gulitti spoke with Staal's agent, Rick Curran, on Tuesday, who said that he's had conversations with a number of teams, while adding that his client is seeking a top-six role, preferably in the middle.
Door is not completely closed on Eric Staal returning to Carolina, but he's looking at other options/ challenges right now.
— Tom Gulitti (@TomGulittiNHL) June 28, 2016
The only problem: Staal may not be a top-six forward anymore. He had the least productive season of his career in 2015-16, finishing with 39 points (13 goals, 26 assists). He had 31 points as a rookie in 2003-04, before exploding for 100 in his sophomore season. He was a lock for 70 or more points for the remainder of the decade.
Staal was traded to the New York Rangers prior to the 2016 trade deadline, and it didn't work out too well. He had three goals and three assists in 20 games on Broadway and went pointless and a minus-7 in five playoff games.
The Thunder Bay, Ontario native will be 32 on Oct. 29, so he's far from finished, but a short-term deal - and a significant pay decrease from his whopping $9.5-million salary - to resurrect his career may be in order.