The legend says goodbye! Eric Staal hangs up his skates, gets to hang his jersey from the ceiling of the arena

Thirty-nine-year-old hockey forward Eric Staal has announced the end of his career. He symbolically signed a one-day contract with the Carolina Hurricanes to finish his career with the team where he started his rich career.

• Eric Staal will receive a huge honor
• Thirty-nine-year-old forward is a Carolina legend
• Staal is also a member of the prestigious Triple Gold Club

It was the Carolina Hurricanes who drafted the Canadian hockey player as the number two pick in the 2003 NHL Draft. For the trust that the club put in him, Staal paid back by spending 12 seasons there and becoming a club legend. In addition, he helped the club to a historic Stanley Cup victory as the most productive player in the 2005-06 season.

During the upcoming season, Carolina will officially retire his jersey number 12 for these loyal services. He left a very significant mark on the club with 909 games played. He scored 322 goals and 755 points.

He served as team captain from 2009 to 2016 and is historically Carolina’s most productive player since the club moved from Hartford. However, the end of his career was expected.

He last appeared in the NHL in the 2022/23 season with the Florida Panthers, collecting 29 points in 72 regular season games.

Staal is also a member of the prestigious Triple Gold Club

Canadian Eric Staal is also a member of the Triple Gold Club, a very close-knit group of players who have won the World Championship, the Olympic Games and the Stanley Cup. He managed to collect all these prized titles in just four years.

In 2006, he celebrated the aforementioned Stanley Cup with Carolina. A year later, he triumphed with Canada at the World Championships and added Olympic gold at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. He is also in the company of players who have broken the 1,000-point mark in the NHL.

In the regular season, he started 1,365 games, amassing 1,063 points. In the playoffs, his record is as follows. He has 64 points in 104 games, almost half of which came in the 2005/06 season, when he was the most productive player in the playoffs (28 points) and led Carolina to the Stanley Cup.

Staal has also appeared in the All-Star Game six times and was voted its MVP in 2008. During his career, he also made the second best five of the season once. However, Staal’s name will not disappear from the NHL. So far, his brothers Marc and Jordan, who is the current captain of Carolina, have also played there.

Source: NHL, Elite Prospects