June 22, 2012, was a big day for Staal; he got married and was traded by the Pittsburgh Penguins to the Carolina Hurricanes.
Eight days later he signed a 10-year, $60 million contract extension with Carolina.
June 22, 2012, was a big day for Staal; he got married and was traded by the Pittsburgh Penguins to the Carolina Hurricanes.
Eight days later he signed a 10-year, $60 million contract extension with Carolina.
The center's tenacious play spurred his Penguins teammates to nickname him "Gronk," after the Marvel Comics villain. It seems fitting. Staal is intimidating at 6-foot-4 and 220 pounds and has developed a reputation for being one of the league's most consistent hitters and most dependable faceoff men.
Staal comes from good NHL stock. His older brother Eric was the No. 2 pick by Carolina in the 2003 NHL Draft and played for the Hurricanes for 12 years. His older brother Marc is a defenseman with the New York Rangers, and his younger brother, Jared, made his NHL debut with Carolina, playing on the same line as Eric and Jordan, in April 2013.
A native of Thunder Bay, Ontario, Jordan grew up playing hockey with his three brothers on the outdoor rink built by their father, Henry, and those days playing in the backyard resulted in a big payoff.
Like Eric three years earlier, Jordan was selected at No. 2 in the NHL Draft, by Pittsburgh, and he too went straight to the NHL, where he made an immediate impact during the 2006-07 season. He had 29 goals and 42 points in 81 games and became, at the age of 18 years, 41 days, the youngest player to score two shorthanded goals in one game. Those goals came against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Oct. 21, when Staal also became the youngest player to score on a penalty shot.
Not surprisingly, Staal was named a finalist for the Calder Trophy as the NHL's top rookie. Then-teammate Evgeni Malkin won the award, but Staal's trophy case is not bare.
He won the biggest prize of all, the Stanley Cup, with Pittsburgh in 2009.
