Staal Stays, and Carolina Bets on the Group That Won It

Jordan Staal is 38, won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the Hurricanes lifted the Cup in June, and is now signed for one more year in Raleigh. The extension is straightforward: the organization wants its captain back, and Staal is willing to come back. That's the whole transaction.

What makes it worth noting is the pattern it completes. Since the parade, Carolina has re-signed its own at nearly every turn—Deslauriers on the day of the celebration, Neuchev shortly after, Seeley to avoid arbitration, and now Staal in mid-September. The front office has been consistent about this: the group that won is the group they're running back.

The complication is that the group that won is not entirely intact. Seth Jarvis, who led the team with 22 goals in just 40 games, remains out with no improvement reported. Frederik Andersen is in Edmonton. The blue line has been patched with one-year deals for Pierre-Olivier Joseph and Mike Reilly. Staal's return adds real leadership to a roster that has absorbed a lot of offseason turbulence, but leadership doesn't fill a top-six forward slot.

The Staal signing is a clean piece of news. The harder question—how Carolina replaces what Jarvis gave them before he went down—is still open.