from Luke DeCock of the News & Observer,

The uncertainty, Eric Staal admits, has weighed upon him more than he has let on at times. It isn’t just about playing out the final year of his contract without knowing what comes next. As a player, he can deal with that. As a husband and father and brother, it gets a little tougher.

As the season rolls on with no negotiations between Staal and the Carolina Hurricanes, with the trade deadline now a mere seven weeks away, with a resolution likely coming soon one way or another, Staal’s season in limbo approaches a conclusion.

The Hurricanes’ captain has said all the right things and handled the thousands of questions just about everywhere the team goes as well as he can, but there’s only so much he can say when such an important issue remains unresolved.

“It’s been more challenging than I thought it would be, but I’m doing my best,” Staal said. “Doing my best to contribute and try and help this team win and play hard. I have a family. There’s things you think about. My brother’s playing here. There are a lot of different things you think about. You try not to worry about it too much, and play, and hopefully we can get on a little bit of a run here and go from there and let it sort itself out. We’ll see what happens.”

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