It's a momentous night for Jordan Staal, who will play in his 1,000th career NHL game. Staal is just the fifth player to hit the millenium mark with the team and the first since Ray Whitney did it on Oct. 21, 2009. Staal will join Phil Kessel to become the second player from the 2006 NHL Draft class to reach 1,000 games played.
"That list of 1,000 games with the players on it, you're in good company. I'm very proud of that,"
Staal said
. "It is just games played, but it obviously shows you're able to stick in the league. It's not easy to be at that level for a long time, so I'm very proud of that. It's a cool achievement."
Even though Staal played 431 of his 1,000 games with the Pittsburgh Penguins, he has evolved into
exactly what it means to be a Carolina Hurricane
.
"The way we want to portray ourselves is based on the captain. He's everything we want to be,"
head coach Rod Brind'Amour said
. "We want to do it right, we want to be hard-working, we want to be respectful, we want to show up every day and do our job. That's how he is. Why wouldn't you want to be like that?"
The Canes will honor his achievement with a pregame ceremony, which will be broadcast live. Fans attending the game are asked to be in their seats by 6:30 p.m. so they don't miss any of the festivities.
