Veteran center Eric Staal has agreed to a one-year contract with the Florida Panthers, according to an announcement from the team. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The 37-year old center spent training camp with the Panthers on a professional tryout and registered no points with eight shots on goal in four preseason games. Staal began practicing with the team on Friday and will get to play alongside his brother, Marc, for the second time in his NHL career.
“He’s had a really strong camp,” Panthers head coach Paul Maurice, who also coached Staal when the two were with the Carolina Hurricanes in the early 2000s, said on Friday. “To his credit, I think he might have come to camp in the best shape of his life. There is so much to this man and personality that you’ll all get to see when you spend some time with him, character and leadership.
“The love of the game, pure love of the game, and the love of the idea of winning. I think he’s great; for it’s a still relatively young core here and having a veteran guy like that, but it’s not just the veteraness, it’s who is he is as man, how he trains, how he competes, how he practices, how he chirps out there, how he’s wired right in. He just makes our organization better.”
Maurice stated that Staal wouldn’t suit up for the Panthers against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Friday, so it’s unclear when he’ll make his Panthers debut.
Staal didn’t play in the NHL last season and last played during the 2020-21 campaign. During that season, he recorded 13 points (five goals & eight assists) while splitting time between the Buffalo Sabres and Montreal Canadiens.
Staal did play for the Iowa Wild of the American Hockey League after signing a professional tryout with the Minnesota Wild organization. During his time with the AHL franchise, Staal registered two goals and three assists in four games.
The veteran forward was originally the No. 2 pick in the 2003 NHL Draft by the Carolina Hurricanes. During his 17-year NHL career, Staal has tallied 1,034 points (441 goals and 593 assists) in 1,293 regular season games while playing for the New York Rangers, Hurricanes, Wild, Sabres, and Canadiens. Staal helped lead the Hurricanes to a Stanley Cup in 2006.
