Staal Stays


I spent most of Monday hoping the Penguins would keep Jordan Staal, and when word came that Pittsburgh had indeed decided to keep the NHL’s lone eighteen-year-old, I was glad.

At the start of the season, I really expected to be advocating for Staal to dominate at the junior level—you know, let the kid learn every aspect of the game playing against boys, etc. Save for the fact that Jordan Staal showed me—and more importantly, showed the powers-that-be in the Penguins organization—that he was more than capable of being an effective NHL player this season.

While Staal remains 18 years old, he doesn’t have the body of an eighteen-year-old kid, and the size and strength he already has will benefit him tremendously at the NHL level. Even more importantly, I now believe playing in the NHL this season accelerates Staal’s development. The kid is already a crucial member of the Pens’ penalty-killing unit, and I was pleased with the games he played in a second line role. Staal gets to learn the NHL game, but he isn’t going to be pressured to play top line minutes right away, and meanwhile, the Penguins already have an incredibly effective penalty killer who, right now, I am dreaming may one day become what Ron Francis was to Mario Lemieux.

Staal has shown the ability to put the puck in the net and to play effective defense and to work to improve his game, and frankly, if the Penguins had chosen to send him back to juniors on Monday, I would have been disappointed. Disappointed not just because the Penguins would have immediately become a weaker team (they certainly would have) but disappointed because I wouldn’t have the chance to watch a young star learn how to play at such a level in the NHL.

In any case, Staal is here to stick for the moment, and I, for one, am really glad Staal is staying.