As teams start to get a better feel for what they have and what they need, some more roster movement should start to happen over the coming weeks. U.S. Thanksgiving is often viewed as the soft target for that to happen, and that’s now fewer than two weeks away. While that movement is often on the trade front, at least one veteran free-agent center could also be in play as Pierre LeBrun reports in his latest column for The Athletic (subscription link) that Eric Staal hasn’t given up hope on playing in the NHL this season and that his agent Rick Curran is in regular contact with three or four teams that could have interest in signing him over the coming weeks.
The 37-year-old was a productive top-six player as recently as the 2019-20 season when he had 19 goals and 28 assists in 66 games with Minnesota. However, things went off the rails last season with a tough showing in Buffalo, with only 10 points in 32 games before he was traded to Montreal, where his output dipped even further with just three points in 21 regular-season contests. However, Staal played a regular role in the playoffs during the Habs' surprising run to the Stanley Cup Final, which was enough to land him inside our Top 50 UFA rankings this summer, but a contract never materialized.
Back at the beginning of training camp, it was reported that Staal’s preference was to return to Minnesota, but that was never really in the cards. Beyond that, he was hoping to catch on with a team in the United States; although being unsigned this long into the season, he might not have the luxury of being too selective if his goal is simply to catch on somewhere.
At this stage, all that Staal can likely hope for is a league minimum contract worth a pro-rated $750,000 although he is eligible for performance bonuses as well as long as he signs a one-year deal, which is basically a certainty. He sits just seven games shy of 1,300 for his career and even though Staal isn’t currently signed, it looks like he might very well be able to get to that milestone if one of those interested teams decides to pull the trigger on making a tweak to their roster in the coming weeks.
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