The Carolina Hurricanes captain had just received hockey’s holy grail from NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman after a 3-0 win against the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 6 of the Cup Final at T-Mobile Arena.
After Staal celebrated with the Cup hoisted over his head, he gave it to goalie Frederik Andersen, his teammate since 2021-22 who started Carolina’s first 16 games in the Stanley Cup Playoffs this season before being replaced by Brandon Bussi.
Andersen was 13-2 with a 1.89 goals-against average and .910 save percentage in the playoffs after going 16-14-5 with a 3.05 GAA and .874 save percentage in 35 regular-season games (all starts).
After Andersen got the Cup, he handed it to forward Taylor Hall, who scored the game-winning goal in the first period Sunday.
After Hall, the handoff list went as follows: Sebastian Aho, Jaccob Slavin, Jordan Martinook, Shayne Gostisbehere, William Carrier, Nicolas Deslauriers, Sean Walker, Jalen Chatfield, Mark Jankowski, Eric Robinson, Andrei Svechnikov, Nikolaj Ehlers, Seth Jarvis, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, K'Andre Miller, Bussi, Mike Reilly, Jackson Blake, Logan Stankoven, Alexander Nikishin, Pyotr Kochetkov, coach Rod Brind’Amour.
