Jordan Staal’s future with the Hurricanes is suddenly the kind of question that hangs over a season before it even starts.
His four-year contract is up, and with Staal turning 38 in a week, it’s fair to wonder whether this could be the final ride for Carolina’s captain. He’s headed into his 21st NHL season, his 15th in Carolina and his ninth wearing the “C.”
At this point, his place in franchise history is already secure. He’s a two-time Stanley Cup champion, a Conn Smythe Trophy winner, and a two-time Selke Trophy finalist.
The only individual box still left to check is the Selke itself.
The résumé keeps growing, though. Staal is on the verge of hitting 200 goals and 500 points as a Hurricane early next season, and he’s 28 games away from becoming the first player to reach 1,000 games in Raleigh.
His legacy is already written in ink. What comes next is about adding to it.
That was especially true this past season, when Staal looked like a younger version of himself for long stretches. He reached 20 goals for the first time in a decade, finishing with 36 points, his sixth straight season with at least 30. He won 55.5 percent of his faceoffs and delivered 166 hits, a reminder that his game still runs on force and reliability.
The milestones came early and often. During the team’s State Fair road trip through California, Staal scored 12 seconds into a game against the Kings for his 300th career goal.
A few weeks later, he skated in his 914th game as a Hurricane, moving past Glen Wesley for the most since relocation, and he dropped the gloves in that same game against the Wild. At the start of April against Columbus, he reached the 1,400-game mark.
Then he capped the regular season by scoring his 20th goal in his final appearance against the Mammoth.
The playoffs started slowly for him, just like they did for much of the roster. Through the first three rounds, Staal had only two goals and five points. But he made his presence felt against Ottawa by going right after Brady Tkachuk from the opening faceoff, and then he exploded when it mattered most.
What he did against Vegas was something else entirely. Staal scored in each of the first five games of the Stanley Cup Final, and he doubled up in Game 4.
His second goal in that game turned out to be the winner, with Staal scoring as he tumbled to the ice. By the end of the series, he had become the 20th player in NHL history to score at least six goals in the Cup Final, and the performance earned him the Conn Smythe Trophy as the oldest player ever named postseason MVP.
Staal was already a champion before this run. Back in 2009, he was a 19-year-old in his second NHL season with the Penguins, part of the team that swept Carolina in the Eastern Conference Finals before beating Detroit in the Stanley Cup Final. Since arriving in Carolina in 2012, he’s seen the franchise through its toughest stretches and then helped drag it back to the sport’s biggest stage.
Now the question is whether there’s one more chapter left. The answer may depend on how this all ends.
In Other News...
Hurricanes Russian Prospects Enter A Season That Could Change Everything
The Hurricanes Russian prospect pipeline is entering a stretch that could reshape the organizations future look, with the KHL season set to begin soon and several young players already at important stages in their development. Nikita Artamonov continues to be one of the more closely watched names in the group, while Vladimir Grudinin, Alexander Rykov and Andrei Krutov all remain on separate tracks that will be worth tracking as their careers move deeper into the season.
For Carolina, the intrigue goes beyond simple box scores. These players are moving through a league that often determines when, or if, an NHL opportunity comes into focus, and their upcoming contract situations may end up telling the real story. The Hurricanes did not draft any Russians in 2026, which only raises the significance of the prospects already in the system and the decisions looming around their next steps. [Read more 🡒]