Jordan Staal never treated Carolina like a stopover.
That’s the thread running through his career in Raleigh, a stretch that’s now reached 14 seasons and finally ended with the Hurricanes lifting their second Stanley Cup this past spring. Staal, who won a Stanley Cup with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2009 before being traded to Carolina, said on Wednesday’s edition of Daily Faceoff LIVE that he never wavered on the franchise or the city.
“I believe in Raleigh, I believe in the Hurricanes, and I kind of stuck with it.”
Staal’s path to that payoff has been anything but smooth. After joining the Hurricanes, he got to play alongside his older brother, Eric, but the seasons that followed weren’t always easy ones. Still, he stayed put, waiting for the organization to turn the corner.
That patience was part of the conversation when Carter Hutton asked Staal what reaching over 1,400 games meant to him as a person and player. Staal, now 37, said the grind of the league makes it hard to step back and appreciate the full picture while it’s happening.
“It’s tough to pinch yourself at times because the beauty of this game is you’re only as good as your last game, and you’re always kind of pushing to be better and take it day by day. I remember signing that ten-year deal I had, and I remember just hoping I would get through it.
I don’t want to get bought out. I wanted to complete that contract.
I wanted to do it with Carolina, and I wanted to win. Those are my goals.
I made it to the end of the ten-year deal…it felt like a blink of an eye. It really did.
It’s just like, ‘Oh man, what now?’ I keep pushing.
Obviously, we were trending the right way and things kept clicking… signed another deal and again you blink again, it’s over. It’s just like these years fly by…Some days feel long, but the years go by quick and I think even this year was the quickest one I’ve ever felt.
It’s an incredible journey. You try to soak in as much as you can.
My brain, I think I hit maybe one too many times and I can’t remember too much anymore, but they all blur together.”
For Staal, the long view has always been the point. He stuck with Carolina through the rough patches, kept believing the wins would come, and eventually got the championship run he’d been waiting for.
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The wrinkle is that any trade talk is still fuzzy because the Blues are operating under new general manager Alexander Steen, and it is not yet clear how he wants to shape the roster or which pieces he would even entertain moving. Add in the usual gap between what Carolina wants back and what St. Louis is willing to part with, and this has turned into the kind of standoff that could sit for a while before it gets any cleaner. [Read more 🡒]