Veteran defenseman retires after sterling NHL career, joins Rangers front offfice

For Staal, it’s a return to where his NHL career began nearly two decades ago. The No. 12 overall 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, $19.88M 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, $34.2M 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 unarguably the 2010-11 campaign, when he recorded a career-high 22 assists, 29 points and averaged 25:44 per game on the way 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 — 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, $1.1M 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.