Carolina Hurricanes: Eric Staal Shouldn’t be Traded Despite His Increased Trade Value

With Eric Staal‘s new found success as of late has come an increased trade value for him, along with many questions for the Carolina Hurricanes.

In the month of December, the Carolina Hurricanes emerged as a legitimate hockey team, fighting for a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, and as of late, Eric Staal has emerged as the team’s offensive leader once again.

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Staal has put up relatively modest numbers in December with 10 points in 14 games, but he’s really kicked it up over the past 2 weeks with 6 points in his last 5 games and a +3 plus/minus.

For many fans, this success is great, especially given the captain’s current situation. This success has undoubtedly raised his value in potential trades as the February 29th trade deadline approaches, but for the Canes organizations, it’ll make the decision of whether or not to move him very difficult.

When Eric Staal is going at full speed and contributing like the star he is, the team also produces and plays well. It also goes the other way. When the team around him plays well, Staal seems to get the motivation to play well.

Staal has more than his fair share of haters and doubters, but let’s level out here for a second. This player, a man who is as competitive as they come in the NHL, has been a member of a team that has undergone six consecutive playoff-less seasons. He has the right to be mad, and sometimes that shows on the ice with some isolated streaks of carelessness and some lack of all around effort.

Lately, it appears to me that he gets it. He understands that this team is very different for a lot of reasons. This Hurricanes team is a young squad with an unprecedented amount of upside, and, on all accounts, this is a team that gets a long and loves playing together. This may be starting to rub off on Staal, and we’ve seen this from his effort on every shift, his relentless forechecks, and his pure excitement after scoring goals. He is at a point where he is realizing that the game can be fun and this team can be successful. He wants to be a part of where this train is going.

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It’s unpopular to defend Eric Staal, but looking at it through his point of view, it’s hard not to understand where he is as a player, even if he is the team’s captain.

With this excitement and compete level back in Staal after it had been lost for quite a bit, the new questions is, should he be traded, not who is he going to be traded to.

There’s a lot to consider with this. The Canes could definitely get some valuable pieces for the future in a trade. Moving him could bring back a decent prospect and a first round pick. But would adding those pieces be more worth while than keeping Staal.

The Hurricanes also aren’t short on young talent. With their defensive pipeline arguably the best in the NHL, and forwards like Elias Lindholm, Jeff Skinner, Victor Rask, Phil Di Giuseppe, Joakim Nordstrom, and Andrej Nestrasil all at or under the age of 24 and making NHL impacts combined with Brock McGinn, Sergey Tolchinsky, and Sebastian Aho all waiting in the pipeline, the Carolina Hurricanes are set with a lot of talent coming in the future. Not to mention their pair of 1st round picks in June’s draft.

Would adding a decent prospect and what would likely be a late first round pick from a playoff bound team really be worth giving up a player that still has the potential of putting up 65+ point seasons?

I contest that the answer to that is no. The answer would be different if the Hurricanes were posting playoff-quality seasons and Eric Staal was still posting sub-55 point seasons, but this team has been miserable at times, and the fact that he has been a trooper and stuck around as long as he has says a lot about his character and the love he has for this team and his organization.

The pay check is still lofty, but he is undoubtedly going to see a significantly lower salary with his new deal, and an Eric Staal on a good, young team is more than worth a salary in the $6 to $6.5 million dollar area.

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So, as the trade deadline nears, there are a lot of questions about this player and if he should be traded. Ultimately, what is written about him and what is said about him will not make a difference to what the Carolina Hurricanes’ front office does, but when you look at things rationally, it makes much more sense to keep him around and let him lead this team as they continue their path to success.

Eric Staal has stuck by this team through the darkest of times, so he deserves to stick around as this team becomes a staple in playoff races in the coming years. Yes, this team will be a staple in the playoffs in the coming years.