Captains of the Carolina Hurricanes: A Retrospective
By Jeb Bohn
Eric Staal
Eric Staal seemed to be the logical choice to inherit the captaincy from Rod Brind’Amour. The issue is that Staal’s tenure marked a time where the Hurricanes had emptied the well and had to begin restocking.
This era saw three coaches and two GMs and an offense that never finished above 13th. While none of this falls on Staal’s shoulders directly, it did affect the success of the team during this time. It should also be noted that Staal was the top scorer for the Hurricanes during every season in which he was captain, save for 2015-16.
Part of that can be attributed to Staal being traded to the New York Rangers after 63 games, but it should also be noted that he only managed 10 goals and 23 assists in those 63 games (0.52PPG). To put that in perspective, during the five full seasons that he spent as captain, Staal put up 314 points in 367 games (0.86PPG).
I view Staal’s time with the Hurricanes much the same as I do Cam Ward‘s: Both players were talented but did not have a very strong team around them, with precious few exceptions. The Hurricanes failed to qualify for the playoffs in each season of Staal’s captaincy, though I would attribute that more to the mediocre teams he was a part of as opposed to his leadership.
Memorable moment: While Staal scored some memorable goals and was instrumental in both the 2006 and 2009 playoff runs, neither occurred during his captaincy. Instead, I’ll opt for 2011 NHL All-Star Game which was played in Raleigh and featured Team Staal vs. Team Lidstrom
