Kukla's Korner Hockey
Eric Staal Signing With The Minnesota Wild Proves To Be A Great Bargain
by Paul on 02/10/17 at 11:48 AM ET
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From Tim Wharnsby of CBC:
Even though Eric Staal is one of only 10 Canadians in the exclusive 27-member Triple Gold Club for winning a Stanley Cup, a world championship and Olympic gold, the 32-year-old centre had plenty to prove with the Minnesota Wild this season....
Minnesota signed Staal to a bargain $3.5-million US per season three-year contract on July 1. The Wild had hired a new head coach in Bruce Boudreau a few weeks earlier. As coach of the Washington Capitals, Boudreau had an up-close-and-personal view of how Staal performed in his halcyon days with the Hurricanes.
There was no doubt Staal had lost his standing among the elite players in the league. There was no spot for him on the 2014 Canadian Olympic team in Sochi. Ditto for the Canadian contingent at the World Cup of Hockey last September.
But Boudreau didn't care about Staal's unproductive stint with the Rangers. The new Wild coach didn't care that Staal was coming off a 13-goal season, his lowest total since his 11-goal rookie year.
Boudreau also didn't care that, with the exception of the brief five-game post-season appearance with the Rangers, the last time Staal had been in the Stanley Cup playoffs was the 2009 East final with the Hurricanes.
Filed in: NHL Teams, Minnesota Wild, | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: eric+staal
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Staal signing in MIN was in the same vein as Vanek in DET, in that at the time of the signing pretty much everyone *knew* it was a steal and had a high probability of working out well for the signing team.
Posted by Primis on 02/10/17 at 01:04 PM ET