Carolina Hurricanes: Top Landing Spots for Eric Staal
By Brett Finger
New York Rangers
The Rangers have just recently been added to the list as a potential fit for Canes captain Eric Staal.
A Metropolitan Division rival of the Hurricanes, New York has held onto a spot in the upper half of the Eastern Conference for most of the 2015-2016 season, but they are obviously an entire league below the East-dominating Washington Capitals, who lead the Metro and have an 18-point cushion over the 2nd place Rangers in the division.
Washington has been able to separate themselves from the pack thanks to an offense that consistently dominates opponents game in and game out. While New York’s 2.83 goals per game sits among the top dogs in the NHL, it is still well-below the league leading Caps at 3.29 goals per game.
Adding a player like Eric Staal would only help the Ranger offense as they go down the stretch. He’d be thrown into a group of capable top-six players like the currently injured Rick Nash, breakout stud Mats Zuccarello, Chris Kreider, and Derek Stepan.
New York’s 20th ranked corsi for percentage (48.15%) would also benefit from Eric Staal’s 56.81% rating in that category, which ranks 13th among NHL forwards, and tops on a surging Hurricanes club. Staal can drive plays up the ice and maintain offensive pressure, which is something that the Rangers have struggled with.
There is also a bit of uncertainty to Nash’s current injury (a bone bruise in his leg). What started as a day-to-day issue now looks week-to-week. He has been out nearly a month now, and the longer he is out, the more the club will be looking for more offense from depth players. The possibility still is there that the star forward and Olympic gold medal winner will be placed on long term IR at some point, which would clear cap room for an acquisition like Eric Staal.
“But the Rangers do know two things: 1) Eric Staal could help them in their bid not only this season but for the next few years were he to sign there as a free agent, and, 2) they have on their roster a defenceman who goes by the name of Marc Staal.” – Bob McKenzie, TSN
If Nash and Staal were to play together at some point, it wouldn’t be the first time. The two have teamed up for Canada at numerous Olympic games and world championships in the past.
There’s also a guy on the Rangers that would probably like to see Eric come to town, and his name is Marc Staal.
The Rangers will have a little north of $4.8 million in cap space available on deadline day, which means a portion of Staal’s $8.25 mill. cap will need to be retained by Carolina, a big contract will have to come the other way in a deal, or Nash will need to be placed on long term IR until the playoffs.
Another difficulty here is New York’s lack of high end draft picks. They traded away their 2016 1st round draft pick for Keith Yandle at last year’s deadline (turns into a 2017 1st if they miss the playoffs), so that means that Carolina’s likely main target for Staal is unavailable. The Rags do have later draft picks available and notable forward prospects in KHL product Pavel Buchnevich, 2015 2nd rounder Ryan Gropp, and slow developing Nicklas Jensen, but none of those names jump out as future big time NHL impact players with an exception of Buchnevich, but his KHL and Russian ties could scare the Canes, a club that has been burned by players of a similar background before.
There are a fair share of obstacles that need to be finessed around for this trade to go through, but it is plausible. NHL GMs are smart, but will Francis actually bite here when there could be better options available? I’m going to go with no, even though reports may suggest otherwise.
Next: Nashville Predators