Staal Brothers Unite With Rangers

In order to acquire Staal, the Rangers have sent two second-round picks and prospect Aleksi Saarela to the Hurricanes. They can also remind you that Al Montoya was the Rangers’ top pick, sixth overall, in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft while Lundqvist was found with the No. 205 overall selection in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft.

Staal leaves one younger brother, Jordan Staal, and will be united with another brother, Marc Staal, who plays defense for the Rangers. Staal is playing out 2015-16 in the final year of a seven-year, .5 million deal that carries an $8.25 million cap hit and pays him $9.5 million in salary. In 63 games this year, Staal has tallied 10 goals and 23 assists, putting him on track for his lowest point per game total since 2003-04, his rookie season. He has scored 30 or more goals five times, topped by 45 in 2005-06 when he reached 100 points for the lone time in his career. He said he saw the youth movement that general manager Ron Francis was leading, and as a 31-year-old set to be an unrestricted free agent, it was time to move on.

“You’re leaving a lot of people you care about, you’re leaving a lot of things that mean a lot to me”, Staal said. The franchise is in rebuilding mode, but the Hurricanes didn’t expect to be sitting just four points out of a playoff spot a day away from the 2016 National Hockey League trade deadline.

The now Ranger forward has tallied only 10 goals this season but has play making potential.

Talking with the team’s beat reporters prior to the game at 12:45 p.m., head coach Bill Peters wasn’t sure that anything would happen.

Staal said he has been more effective as a center throughout this career but is willing to play wherever the staff believes he can help the Rangers.

Still, he has a solid resume, and could clearly help any number of playoff-bound teams looking for size at centre, particularly if they already have a No. 1 centre and Staal could occupy the No. 2 slot. “That’s why I wanted to come here”.

New York Ranger’s Eric Staal, left, stands next to Mats Zuccarello during a team practice at Madison Square Garden in New York, Monday, Feb. 29, 2016. It’s the sort of move the Rangers have made several times in the past few seasons – a splashy trade created to improve the team in the short-term at the expense of the future – and it’s been working.

“We’re looking at a player that we think can be energized by this trade”, Gorton said. The team is going to have to jumble a lot considering Nash is coming back at some point (ideally) and he fits even better with Brassard and Zuccarello than JT Miller. A fourth Staal brother, Jared, is playing with SC of the ECHL and had been in the Hurricanes’ organization.

There you will find one name that is at the top of every major offensive category – Eric Staal.

When it comes down to it, the Rangers needed to make another big splash to give themselves the best chance of lifting Lord Stanley at season’s end.

Not long after, social media reports began to circulate that a deal between the Hurricanes and Rangers was in the works.