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Chris Wideman Announces Retirement

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Sep. 17: Wideman officially announced his retirement on Tuesday via a statement from the Canadiens.

April 16: Through a report from Simon-Olivier Lorange of La Presse, Montreal Canadiens defenseman Chris Wideman has announced his retirement from the NHL. Wideman, who is currently suffering from a back injury, has not played in a game since the 2022-23 NHL season, which has likely led to the retirement.

Originally drafted with the 100th overall pick of the 2009 NHL Draft, Wideman would spend the next four seasons with Miami University of Ohio hockey program. Over 195 games spent with the RedHawks, Wideman would score 12 goals and 95 points in total, helping lead his team to two trips to the Frozen Four, and one National Championship appearance.

Once his time in the NCAA came to an end, Wideman joined the Senators’ AHL affiliate at the time, the Binghamton Senators. Over the next three seasons, Wideman would skate in 208 regular season games with the AHL Senators, scoring 30 goals and 130 points overall.

Thanks to his offensive performance in the AHL, Wideman managed to make his debut in Ottawa during the 2015-16 season, putting together a six-goal 13-point rookie performance over 64 games. During his sophomore year, Wideman would reach career highs in nearly every category, scoring five goals and 17 points in 76 games.

The next three years would not be as kind to Wideman, as he was traded three times during the 2018-19 season. After brief stints with the Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers, Wideman would finish the season spent in the AHL with the Pittsburgh Penguins organization.

His down 2018-19 season correlated with an off-ice incident that took place in the back of an Uber vehicle. At the time, a video recording was released of Wideman and six of his teammates criticizing other players and members of the coaching staff leading to a public apology from the players.

After receiving limited experience from North American teams, Wideman experienced a career resurgence overseas. Signing a one-year contract with Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod of the KHL, Wideman scored nine goals and 41 points in only 59 games.

Due to his success in Russia, the Canadiens took a flyer on Wideman’s services, signing the defenseman to a one-year, $750K contract. Both the player and team were well rewarded, as Wideman took off for four goals and 27 points in 63 games.

Unfortunately, both last year and this season have been mired by injuries, with Wideman playing his last game a little over a year ago. Throughout his career, Wideman will finish his career with 20 goals and 78 points over 219 games played.

Panthers To Sign Matt Luff To PTO

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The Florida Panthers have entered the market for PTOs as they try to rebuild their forward depth from a season ago. David Dwork of The Hockey News is reporting that the Panthers have agreed to a professional tryout agreement with forward Matt Luff and he will be with the team next week.

Luff began his career with the Los Angeles Kings organization in 2016 after the team signed him out of the Ontario Hockey League. He was coming off a season with the Hamilton Bulldogs where he scored 25 goals and 49 points in 45 games. One of the major questions at the time of his signing was the limited usage of his larger frame. He was physically one of the bigger players in the OHL at the time but rarely played to his size which made him an interesting addition for a hard-nosed Kings playstyle at the time.

Most of his tenure in the Kings organization had him with the team’s AHL affiliate, the Ontario Reign. He nevertheless managed to skate in 64 games for Los Angeles from 2018-21 where he added 10 goals and 17 points overall. After a one-year stint with the Nashville Predators organization in 2021-22 Luff eventually signed on with the Detroit Red Wings where he has been ever since.

His two separate one-year deals with the Red Wings have allowed for 19 appearances at the NHL level with two goals and four points. His real fruitfulness with the Red Wings organization has been his time with the team’s AHL affiliate, the Grand Rapids Griffins, although he’s been mired by injuries. He’s appeared in 54 games for the Griffins over the last two years while posting 18 goals and 43 points.

It will be challenging for Luff to crack a re-worked Panthers’ bottom-six but his recent success at the AHL level has at least garnered him an opportunity. Florida does not have a deep crop of forwards at the AHL level as they struggled to score last year in Charlotte. Luff will have to assume a next-man-up mentality heading into the season but at least it will be in pursuit of joining the roster of the defending Stanley Cup Champions.

Summer Synopsis: Florida Panthers

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The Florida Panthers achieved the ultimate goal earlier this year by winning the franchise’s first Stanley Cup in team history. Like most champions in the salary cap era, the Panthers have their work cut out for them regarding filling out their depth options for the upcoming campaign. The team has done well in keeping most of their core talent together but the negative externalities of the team’s run of success have created some holes further down the lineup.

Draft

2-58: C Linus Eriksson, Djurgårdens IF (HockeyAllsvenskan)
3-97: D Matvei Shuravin, Krasnaya Armiya Moskva (MHL)
4-129: C Simon Zether, Rögle BK (SHL)
6-169: C Stepan Gorbunov, Belye Medvedi Chelyabinsk (MHL)
6-193: F Hunter St. Martin, Medicine Hat Tigers (WHL)
7-201: G Denis Gabdrakhmanov, Tyumenski Legion (MHL)

It was always going to be difficult for Florida to make any noise during the draft due to their lack of draft capital. The organization swung some trades to acquire additional capital but only came away with one player projected to make an impact.

Eriksson is a legitimate NHL prospect after securing a solid season last year with Djurgårdens IF. The young center scored three goals and 11 points in 29 regular season contests and showed a knack for being a physical presence in all three zones. He was a star on the international stage last season scoring seven goals and 22 points in 22 international contests while playing for Sweden’s U18 squad.

Zether is the only other draft pick from the Panthers this summer that could become a fixture in Florida’s future lineup. Zether managed 42 games in the Swedish Hockey League last year while securing four assists. Rögle also kept him around for the playoffs with the team eventually losing in the Finals.

UFA Signings

D Adam Boqvist (one-year, $775K)*
F Jesper Boqvist (one-year, $775K)*
G Chris Driedger (one-year, $795K)
F MacKenzie Entwistle (one-year, $775K)*
F A.J. Greer (two-years, $1.7MM)
D Jaycob Megna (one-year, $775K)*
F Tomas Nosek (one-year, $775K)*
D Nate Schmidt (one-year, $800K)

* denotes a two-way contract

Most of Florida’s available cap space went to Sam Reinhart and his new eight-year, $69 MM contract. The team took a similar approach to last summer to find buy-low bargains on the open market.

The organization hopes that (Adam) Boqvist and Schmidt become a buy-low bargain as the Panthers require help on their blue line. The former is not far removed from being a top defensive prospect but has seen his career hampered by injuries up to this point. He recently scored five goals and 24 points in 46 games for the Columbus Blue Jackets in the 2022-23 NHL season but the team cut him loose after only posting one goal and 10 points in 39 games last year.

Schmidt will probably have a longer leash than Boqvist on the back end due to his lengthy experience and he could even sneak into the team’s top four. Schmidt is a trustworthy defenseman as evidenced by his 50.6% career CorsiFor% and he should be a seamless fit in Florida’s playstyle.

RFA Re-Signings

F Anton Lundell (six-years, $30MM)

Lundell has been a terrific middle-six option for the Panthers since his rookie campaign three years ago. He’s already collected 216 games in Florida with 43 goals and 112 points. He gives the Panthers another offensive player who can carry responsibility in all situations. The young Finnish forward was a major tool in the Panthers capturing their first Stanley Cup earlier this year with three goals and 17 points in 24 postseason contests.

Departures

D Lucas Carlsson (San Jose, two-year, $1.6MM)
F Nick Cousins (Ottawa, one-year, $800K)
D Oliver Ekman-Larsson (Toronto, four-year, $14MM)
D Casey Fitzgerald (NY Rangers, two-year, $1.55MM)*
G Magnus Hellberg (Dallas, one-year, $775K)*
F Ryan Lomberg (Calgary, two-year, $4MM)
D Brandon Montour (Seattle, seven-year, $50MM)
F Kevin Stenlund (Utah, two-year, $4MM)
G Anthony Stolarz (Toronto, two-year, $5MM)
F Vladimir Tarasenko (Detroit, two-year, $9.5MM)

*denotes a two-way contract

It was going to be next to impossible for Florida to keep around all their depth from last season and the team lost quite a bit this summer. The most concerning losses will be Montour and Ekman-Larsson on the blue line as the two combined for 17 goals and 65 points in 146 regular season games. The team still has Gustav Forsling and Aaron Ekblad left to carry the load but the Panthers will need major improvements from other members of their defensive core to replicate that success.

The trio of Cousins, Lomberg, and Stenlund were not game-breakers in their own right but their presence will be missed. That group of forwards gave Florida a certain level of grit last year making them irritating to play against. The team should be able to replicate their tenacity throughout the season and at the trade deadline but it seems like an edge they’re missing headed into this year.

Salary Cap Outlook

The Panthers have a similar situation to last year with only $766K in cap space heading into the regular season. The team will continue to accrue cap space throughout the regular season and should be able to upgrade their roster once the trade deadline rolls around. The team’s core is still intact meaning they won’t need to add any high-level talent via trade this year so they are in a good position to be competitive again. Nex summer could be dramatic as Ekblad, Sam Bennett, and Carter Verhaeghe are expected to reach unrestricted free agency.

Key Questions

Where Will The Physicality Come From? Florida was one of the most physical teams last year with 12 players recording more than 100 hits on the year. Four of those players left via free agency meaning the Panthers will need to supplant the missing toughness. It has become a part of their team identity and a tool for their success. Megna is the only addition from this offseason that could reach 100 hits throughout an entire regular season but this already feels like something the team will need to address at the trade deadline.

What Is The Plan For Spencer Knight? It was not long ago when Knight was one of the most exciting goaltending prospects in the league. He achieved an impressive run during the 2021-22 campaign leading the Panthers to extend him on a three-year, $13.5MM contract. Sergei Bobrovsky took back the reins in a turn of events that eventually led to Knight spending the entirety of last year with the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers. He played well with the Checkers earning a 25-14-5 record in 45 games with a .905 SV% and is projected to play backup for Bobrovsky this season. Still, Knight’s $4.5MM salary is one of the highest in the league for a backup netminder and the cap-strapped Panthers may look to move on from him if they get a reasonable offer.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Atlantic Notes: Newhook, Dach, Panthers, Khaira

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Expect Alex Newhook to start the season on the wing on the Canadiens’ second line centered by Kirby Dach and flanked by Patrik Laine, says Eric Engels of Sportsnet. It may not be a long-term fit, though, as Engels cautions not to be “surprised if there’s a bit of a revolving door next to Dach and Laine as the season rolls along.” Regardless of who plays with them, early signs point to Dach shifting to center after spending a good portion of his first season in Montreal, the 2022-23 campaign, on the wing. The 23-year-old forward missed all but two games last season after tearing his ACL and MCL in his right knee.

There’s more out of the Atlantic:

  • The Panthers will dip their toes into the professional tryout market soon, says David Dwork of The Hockey News. They’re on the lookout for a veteran forward, likely to compete to help replace the departures of fourth-liners Nick Cousins, Steven Lorentz, Kyle Okposo, and Kevin Stenlund over the past few months. Notable UFAs left to fill those roles that haven’t landed PTOs elsewhere include Pierre-Édouard Bellemare, Cal Clutterbuck, Matt Martin, and Chris Tierney.
  • Jujhar Khaira’s streak of appearing in an NHL game for the last nine seasons is in jeopardy after settling for an AHL contract today with the Lightning’s affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch. Khaira, 30, was once a regular bottom-six presence for the Blackhawks and Oilers around the turn of the decade but was relegated to an AHL role last season after signing a two-way deal with the Wild, making just one NHL appearance for Minnesota early in the season. In 22 games with the Iowa Wild, his first minor league action since the 2016-17 campaign, he scored five goals and added 13 assists for 18 points. His AHL deal with the Crunch could include a PTO with the Lightning, allowing him to participate in NHL training camp and attempt to earn a two-way contract with Tampa.

Marc Staal Retires, Joins Rangers As Development Coach

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Veteran defenseman Marc Staal has announced his retirement after 17 seasons. He’s immediately beginning his front office career with the Rangers as a player development assistant, the team announced.

For Staal, it’s a return to where his NHL career began nearly two decades ago. The No. 12 pick in the 2005 draft by the Rangers, he was the third Staal brother to reach the NHL, following Eric Staal with the Hurricanes and Jordan Staal with the Penguins.

Staal, now 37, spent two post-draft seasons back in junior hockey with the Ontario Hockey League’s Sudbury Wolves before becoming a full-time fixture on the New York blue line immediately upon turning pro in 2007. He challenged for top-four minutes in his rookie season, posting 10 points and a +2 rating in 80 games while averaging nearly 19 minutes per night en route to finishing 12th in Calder Trophy voting in 2007-08.

By the time his entry-level deal expired, Staal was averaging over 22 minutes per game and had become one of the better stay-at-home defenders in the league on a team consistently in the playoff race. He also contributed a decent amount of offense, posting 27 points in his final ELC year of 2009-10 – all at even strength. That led the Blueshirts to give him a five-year, $19.88MM payday after a somewhat lengthy holdout during the 2010 offseason, putting pen to paper on the deal just around when training camp began in September.

Staal would remain a top-four fixture for the Rangers throughout the 2010s, signing a six-year, $34.2MM extension on top of his previous deal in 2015 to avoid becoming an unrestricted free agent. He helped guide the Rangers to the 2014 Eastern Conference championship, although they lost the Stanley Cup Final in five games to the Kings. His top showing was inarguably the 2010-11 campaign, when he recorded a career-high 22 assists, 29 points, and averaged 25:44 per game en route to receiving Norris Trophy votes for the only time in his career.

The stalwart defender saw his usage drop early on in that six-year extension, though, and he was a bottom-pairing option by the time the COVID-19 pandemic struck in 2020. With one year left on his deal, the Rangers attached a second-round pick for the Red Wings to take on the final season of his contract. He’d spent two seasons on a rebuilding Detroit club, signing a one-year pact to extend his stay, before landing with the Panthers as a free agent for the 2022-23 campaign.

Staal seemed to get some life back in South Florida, playing alongside brother Eric for the second time (Eric had a brief stint with the Rangers in 2016). He appeared in all 82 games for the third time in his career and posted 15 points with a +10 rating, sliding into top-four spot duty alongside Brandon Montour. He was held without a point in 21 playoff games but averaged nearly 21 minutes per night as Florida charged through to the 2023 Stanley Cup Final, ultimately losing to the Golden Knights.

A reunion wasn’t in the cards, though, leaving Staal to land a one-year, $1.1MM deal in free agency with the Flyers last summer. He was relegated to fringe usage as a No. 7 option, though, making only 35 appearances and averaging 13:49 per game.

For his career, Staal scored 53 goals, 181 assists, and 234 points and posted a +52 rating while averaging 19:56 per game across 1,136 regular season appearances. He also totaled 20 points, a -17 rating and averaged 21:46 per game in 128 playoff games with Florida and New York. He’ll be working with the organization’s defense prospects in his development role, per Larry Brooks of the New York Post.

Larry Brooks of the New York Post was first to report Staal’s retirement and development role with the Rangers.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Panthers Likely To Keep Aaron Ekblad This Season

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Lyle Richardson of The Hockey News believes that Florida Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad will remain with the team until the end of the season regardless of how his contract situation plays out. Ekblad’s name has appeared in trade rumors dating back to June before the Panthers won the Stanley Cup and the rumors have continued through the summer. Ekblad has one year remaining on his contract with a cap hit of $7.5MM and can block trades to 12 teams thanks to a partial no-trade clause.

The former first-overall pick is entering his 11th season with the Panthers and has been a steady presence since joining the team. While on the surface it seems odd that Florida wouldn’t be discussing an extension with their top defenseman, they have several key free agents next summer and have to look at the long-term cap implications of signing everyone. Another concern for Florida will be Ekblad’s health as the 28-year-old hasn’t played a full slate of games since 2018-19 and has played 82 games just twice in his career. He is also coming off a season in which he played just 51 games and tallied just four goals and 14 assists and will be looking for top dollar.

Trading Ekblad would be a huge challenge for the Panthers as they would be moving out a heart and soul player and would need very specific roster players in return. Many of the trade rumors circulating this summer failed to consider how Panthers’ general manager Bill Zito built his championship club and the way he evaluates players. Any players Florida acquires in a hypothetical trade would need to fit in head coach Paul Maurice’s system as well as a locker room that has grown very close over two runs to the Stanley Cup Final.

Stenlund Had Hoped To Remain With Florida Before Signing With Utah

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  • Kevin Stenlund’s decision to sign with Florida last summer was a wise one. He put up a career-best 11 goals in 2023-24 while winning the Stanley Cup.  The middleman told Hockeysverige’s Ronnie Ronnkvist that he was hoping to remain with the Panthers in free agency but those talks didn’t progress very far.  The 27-year-old wound up signing a two-year, $4MM deal with Utah, a price point that Florida simply wouldn’t have been able to afford to pay for someone in a depth role given their salary structure.

Snapshots: CHL/NCAA, Hovorka, Tiefensee

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The NCAA is facing major pressure to lift one of its biggest barriers to entry for men’s ice hockey after a class-action lawsuit was levied against them on Monday, alleging the association is “violating antitrust laws by preventing hockey players who appeared in Canadian Hockey League games from competing for NCAA teams.”

Today, Sean Gentille of The Athletic broke down the potential implications of the suit. The elimination of the rule preventing CHL players from making the jump to Division I hockey has been in discussion for a while, at the very least dating back to a report from Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet in March.

However, if CHL players were allowed to move to NCAA play at any given time, it would likely necessitate a revision of the NHL’s transfer agreements with both organizations. Players drafted out of the three CHL sub-leagues have a two-year exclusive signing window after being drafted by an NHL club. In contrast, players on the college track have their signing rights stay with their NHL team until Aug. 15, following the year they’ve graduated from their program.

The suit’s basis alleges that the NCAA’s rule barring CHL players from entrance isn’t to protect amateurism. It’s to “harm the CHL — the NCAA’s primary competition for elite young players — and that, in practice, it constitutes a ’group boycott’ that violates U.S. antitrust law. It’s also a ’carve-out’ of sorts that exists in men’s hockey and skiing, but no other sport,” Gentille writes.

Yet removing the rule would severely handicap other high-level junior leagues in North America, such as the USHL and other Canadian junior leagues, who routinely have their players go on to have successful Division I careers. They’d be at greater risk of losing their primary talent to the three CHL leagues. “Avoiding that, along with more generally making changes during what has been a profitable and positive run for college hockey, would seem to be the reason the rule is still on the books in 2024,” Gentille says.

Elsewhere from around the sport:

  • The Panthers are looking for undrafted free-agent signing Mikulas Hovorka to take major strides in his development in his first season in North America, AHL head coach Geordie Kinnear told George Richards for NHL.com. “His size is obvious, but his passion to practice and to play is infectious,” Kinnear said. “The coaches just gravitated to him due to his willingness to be coached. He may have been going against teammates and peers, but you could see his physicality, which is how we want him to play. We think he will take a big step, but we also know it is a process.” Hovorka, 23, is a right-shot defenseman who checks in at 6’6″ and nearly 230 lbs. He spent last season in his native Czechia, recording 16 points and a +14 rating in 51 games with Extraliga club Motor Ceske Budejovice.
  • Early into his post-playing career, Stars player development coordinator Ben Bishop is already making an impact. The two-time All-Star netminder has been working closely with Dallas 2023 fifth-rounder Arno Tiefensee, he tells NHL.com’s Taylor Baird, traveling to the player’s native Germany to work with him throughout last season. It’s panned out so far, as the 22-year-old took over as the starter for the DEL’s Adler Mannheim last year with a .907 SV% and 2.43 GAA in 32 games. Tiefensee must put pen to paper on an entry-level contract before June 1 of next year before the Stars lose his signing rights.

Panthers Notes: Forsling, Samoskevich, Streaming

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Gustav Forsling is 2024’s recipient of the Guldpucken, awarded by the Swedish Ice Hockey Association to the top Swedish player of the year, regardless of whether they’re playing at home or abroad. The 28-year-old Panthers defenseman led the NHL with a +56 rating and finished ninth in Norris Trophy voting last season.

The award was expanded to include Swedish nationals playing in the NHL in 2015. It’s been awarded by the Swedish governing body and voted on by writers for the Swedish newspaper Expressen since 1956 but was previously only handed out to Swedish Hockey League players.

Forsling is the second defenseman in a row to win the honor after former Sharks defenseman Erik Karlsson won it for the third time in 2023. The award has been exclusively given to NHL players since they became eligible. Others to win in the past nine years include Victor Hedman (twice), William Karlsson, Gabriel Landeskog and Robin Lehner.

The Linkoping native has emerged as one of the NHL’s premier two-way threats over the last few seasons, leading Panthers defensemen in points last year with 39 (10 G, 29 A) in 79 games. Forsling, Hedman and Erik Karlsson were the first three defensemen named to Sweden’s roster for next year’s 4 Nations Face-Off.

There’s more from the Panthers today:

  • Forward prospect Mackie Samoskevich has changed his representation as he enters the final season of his entry-level contract, joining Brian and Scott Bartlett of Barlett Hockey, per the agency (X link). He was previously represented by Pat Brisson of CAA Sports. The 21-year-old was a first-round pick of Florida in 2021 and made his NHL debut last season, going without a point and posting a -3 rating in seven games. 2023-24 was his first full professional campaign after a pair of seasons at the University of Michigan. On the farm with the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers, he led the team in scoring with 54 points (22 G, 32 A) in 62 games. He’s a strong candidate to open the season with the cap-strapped Panthers, potentially in a top-nine role.
  • The Panthers are one of the many teams parting ways with the Bally Sports family of regional sports networks, previously announcing they’ll have their games locally produced and distributed on various local stations by Scripps Sports for 2024-25. But for non-TV watchers, the team announced today a “strategic multi-year alliance” with ViewLift to offer a direct-to-consumer streaming platform. ViewLift also runs similar DTC streaming services for the Capitals and Golden Knights.

Eric Staal Announces Retirement

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It’s been all quiet on the Western Front for Eric Staal for over a year now. The free-agent center reached the Stanley Cup Final with the Panthers in 2023 but didn’t sign or play anywhere last season.

On Tuesday, Staal confirmed he’d played his last NHL game, signing a one-day contract with Carolina to retire as a Hurricane. The Canes will also retire Staal’s No. 12 at a yet-to-be-announced game this season.

“I want to thank my family, former teammates, coaches and staff members who played a role in helping me live my dream, playing in the NHL,” Staal said in a statement released by the team. “I will forever treasure the memories and friendships made during my 18 years in the world’s best league.”

“There was no doubt in my mind that when it became time to hang up my skates, I would want to retire as a Carolina Hurricane,” he continued. “To now also know that the team is retiring my No. 12 is truly humbling and I am extremely grateful and honored.”

Staal, 39, is often overlooked as one of the NHL’s early salary-cap-era stars. But the Thunder Bay, Ontario native was always expected to make an indelible impact on the Canes after being drafted second overall in the famously stacked 2003 draft. While he hasn’t played there in over eight years – his tenure ended with a trade to the Rangers in 2016 – he’s still arguably the most impactful talent in Carolina history since the franchise relocated from Hartford in 1997.

His best came early, erupting as a sophomore in the 2005-06 season to lead the Canes in scoring with 45 goals and 100 points, both career-highs. 21 at the time, Staal was the centerpiece of the Canes’ best season in franchise history to that point, crossing the 50-win and 100-point thresholds for the first time. It ended in glory, adding nine goals and 28 points in 25 playoff games as he led the team in scoring en route to their first and only Stanley Cup.

Over parts of 12 seasons in Raleigh, Staal solidified himself as the Canes’ post-relocation leader in games played (909), goals (322), assists (453), points (775), power-play goals (105), power-play points (252) and hat tricks (13) – hat tip to the team’s Walt Ruff for those stats. He averaged over 20 minutes per game in a Carolina uniform and served as their captain from 2009 to 2016, succeeding franchise pillar Rod Brind’Amour.

Age-related decline came for Staal early, though, and his point totals were steadily decreasing by the time he was traded to the Rangers at age 31. His stay with the Blueshirts didn’t extend past the last few months of the season, and he landed in the State of Hockey with the Wild as a free agent in the summer of 2016. He had a bit of a resurgence in Minnesota, most remembered for a 42-goal, 76-point campaign in 2017-18 that placed him 17th in Hart Trophy voting. But his days of being a dominant top-line threat were behind him.

He played the final few seasons of his career with the Sabres, Canadiens and Panthers, serving as a good veteran depth piece on Montreal and Florida teams that each reached the championship series (2021 and 2023, respectively). But he couldn’t recapture the honor he had nearly two decades ago and was on the losing end of both series.

All in all, Staal wraps up his career with 455 goals, 608 assists and 1,063 points in 1,365 NHL games across 18 seasons. The eldest of the four Staal brothers with NHL experience, including Jared Staal, Jordan Staal and Marc Staal, retires at 76th on the league’s all-time scoring list. All of us at PHR congratulate Staal on a championship-caliber career and wish him the best as he enters the next phase of his hockey career.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

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