Carolina Hurricanes: Way too Early Off-season Outlook

Jordan’s Staal-ing Performances

I don’t want to sit here bashing Jordan Staal. He is a fan favorite, and rightfully so. He’s an incredible person, a good leader, and a solid defensive center. There is a lot to like with Jordan Staal and the way that he plays the game. It’s based on great defense to claim the offensive rewards later, and it’s worked for him in the past.

However, this is not the past. Staal is slowing down, and that’s not what Carolina needs. Good defensive forwards are always nice, but with one of, if not the best, defensive corpses in the National Hockey League, Staal needs to be producing to hold and true value. His contract (6,000,000 per year for the next 3 years) is already looking like an anchor.

It’s not just from the financial side of the game either. In 68 games, Staal has 8 goals and 19 assists. That is not good enough. For some reference, 3 Carolina players had more than twice his production. He’s playing like a bottom-six player right now, and the great defensive game he plays is nice, but kinda useless if he can’t score at the other end.

I’m not saying Jordan isn’t a good player. Every analytical metric I can find suggests Jordan has been great in terms of chance generation, shooting, defensively. But he’s been like this for years and his production continues to diminish. He’s got 105 goals in nearly 8 years in Carolina, that just is not good enough. Carolina needs a better 3C if they wanna become a Stanley Cup Contender.

Looking at the in-house options, why would you not run with Morgan Geekie as the 3C? Is there any reason why not? It’s not a secret he looked great when he was given his 2 game stint in the NHL this year and was scoring for fun. He tallied 4 points in 2 games, and it looks very promising for the future. Why not give him the chance to take that 3C role?