Jordan Staal will turn 37 next week. The Carolina Hurricanes’ captain is about to enter his 20th NHL season, his 14th with the Canes.
Time has moved quickly for Staal, who is the only one of four professional hockey-playing siblings who remains on an NHL roster. One day, he’s winning a Stanley Cup with the Pittsburgh Penguins at 21, and almost in a flash the center now has played almost 1,500 regular-season and playoff games in a career that began in 2006-07.
Staal said his 10-year-old daughter, Abigail, recently told him she was really looking forward to the hockey season.
“She’s never said that before,” Staal said Thursday, smiling.
Abigail’s dad is looking forward to it, too. Many of the Hurricanes have returned to Raleigh and are taking part in the informal skates at Invisalign Arena, preparing for a season they hope will end in the Stanley Cup final, and not agonizingly short of it — again.
Staal and about 18 other skaters put in a good workout Thursday, including a little four-on-four scrimmaging. Sebastian Aho, back from Finland, was on the ice along with other regulars such as Jordan Martinook, Seth Jarvis and Jalen Chatfield and some of the younger guys preparing for the 2025 Prospects Showcase that begins Sept. 12 outside Tampa, Florida.
“Right now is a little grindy, because you know you’ve got to get in skating shape and this can be hard,” Staal told the N&O. “The older you get, you lose some power, some pop. It’s harder to get it back.
“But then you get closer to training camp and the butterflies get going and the excitement builds. The guys are rolling in and you get to see them and see how their summers have been. It’s exciting. It’s a fun time.”
Reaching the Stanley Cup playoffs each of the past seven years with Rod Brind’Amour as coach has been fun — for Staal, for the franchise, for Canes fans.
But falling short of winning a Cup? Not so much fun.
For the second time in three seasons, the Hurricanes reached the Eastern Conference final in 2024-25. For the second time, they were beaten by the Florida Panthers, now two-time Cup champions and the new gold standard in the NHL.
Teammates change
Changes were made. Among those departing the Canes was defenseman Brent Burns, who turned 40 in March. Burns could be quirky off the ice and his play inconsistent at times, but he was always a presence with his size and bushy beard.
“Tough loss, obviously,” Staal said. “We would have loved to have him back, but it’s a game and a business. Every year, there are always some guys you hate to lose. He will be a big hole in the room and was someone fun to play with. He was a pro’s pro.”
At the same time, Staal also had a lot to say about the Canes’ top newcomers: forward Nik Ehlers and defenseman K’Andre Miller. Carolina obtained Miller in a trade with the New York Rangers, and secured one of the league’s most coveted free agents by signing Ehlers to a six-year contract that will pay the Denmark native an average of $8.5 million a year.
“You talk about power, he’s got it, and the guy can fly,” Staal said of Ehlers, a 10-year veteran and consistent point producer with the Winnipeg Jets. “He’s quick and fast and has great skill. He should be great with our style, our pressure style, and I think he’s excited about that.”
And Miller?
“Great player and skates like the wind, too,” Staal said. “He’s a big body. And again, with the way we play and our system, I think it’s only going to make him look better.”
Last in line
When Staal first broke into the NHL, as the No. 2 pick of the 2006 draft, his Pittsburgh teammates included Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. Traded to the Canes in June 2012 — on his wedding day, no less — he joined his oldest brother, Eric, then the Canes’ captain.
The Staals’ plan was to lift the Canes back into the playoffs for another run at a Cup. Eric Staal earned a ring for the Hurricanes’ 2006 championship, and Jordan got his three years later with the Pens, but they could not team up to get the Canes into the playoffs.
With the 2025-26 season soon to begin, Eric Staal has retired after 18 seasons in the NHL. Brother Marc Staal, a former defenseman with the Rangers and three other teams, has retired after 17 seasons. The Staals’ youngest brother, Jared, had a two-game NHL cameo with the Canes late in the 2012-13 season and now coaches the Savannah Ghost Pirates in the ECHL.
“I’m the last one and it is weird,” Jordan said. “I didn’t know how good I had it when everybody was playing and how much fun it was. It was so cool. I do miss it.”
‘He’s kind of everything for us’
And so Jordan Staal will soldier on, still physical, still effective, still a shutdown center, even as the career runway has gotten much shorter for him.
“He’s kind of everything for us,” said Brind’Amour, who named Staal the team captain before the 2019-20 season. “He epitomizes what we’re all about.”
Staal signed a four-year, $11.6 million extension with the Canes in June 2023. What he wants is another Stanley Cup ring — this one with the Hurricanes.
“There’s no better way I’d like to write my script here in Carolina,” he said.