Is Eric Staal a Hall of Famer? Hockey’s heavy hitters discuss the All-Star’s case
Every veteran player, especially those who have played hockey as long as Eric Staal, eventually has that epiphany on the ice — “Holy mackerel, I’ve done this a very long time.”
For the 35-year-old Staal, that moment occurred Monday night during the Wild’s game against the Florida Panthers when as soon as he got out on the ice, he skated up to a 21-year-old named Riley Stillman and had a pretty touching moment where he got the defenseman smiling ear to ear.
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“I said, ‘Welcome, kid, you made it. Glad you’re here. You look great, and I’m very proud of you,’” Staal said, smiling, before letting loose a chuckle. “Or … something like that. But that’s the first time that’s happened to me. I mean, playing against a friend and former teammate’s son?”
When Staal was 20 and 21 years old back in 2005-06 — his second season in the NHL, he used to go over to 32-year-old Carolina Hurricanes teammate Cory Stillman’s house to play mini-sticks with his three children, Riley, Chase and Maddie.
“Just running around the house having fun, and now Riley’s in the NHL … and I’m still in the NHL,” Staal said. “It’s pretty crazy. Riley was between the 8 and 10 area those three years I used to go play mini-sticks with him, and it really got me thinking because now, for me, having a 10- and 8-year-old, it’s that next generation. It’s cool when you think of it like that. I’m still playing this game at the highest level and against my friend’s kids and have kids the ages of the kid I used to go play with.”
Two nights after Staal played against the “next generation” of Stillman, Staal was on the green carpet Wednesday night with his wife, Tanya, their 10-year-old, Parker, 8-year-old, Levi, and 5-year-old, Finley.
Staal received a Tiffany crystal from Wild owner Craig Leipold and a “super-heavy” gold stick from general manager Bill Guerin commemorating Staal last month becoming the 89th player in NHL history to reach the 1,000-point milestone with a sniped goal in Chicago.
But perhaps the most spine-tingling moment of the ceremony was simply watching Staal’s three hockey-playing boys stare up at the center-ice video board with wide eyes as they watched their father reach that milestone in a Wild sweater one day before they all were set to fly to St. Louis to celebrate husband and father’s sixth career All-Star Weekend.
Staalsy 🙌#mnwild
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) January 23, 2020
One of Staal’s closest friends on the Wild is Ryan Suter, who could not have been prouder to be the one who passed Staal the puck for his landmark point in Chicago. After that game, Suter said he had been telling Staal for the past few years that he was going to be a Hall of Famer, and 1,000 points “just solidifies that, for sure.”
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For an endless number of reasons, there are few players Suter respects more than Staal.
“First, he’s a warrior,” Suter said of a guy who has played in 16 NHL seasons yet has missed 23 games total. “I also think it says a lot when you’re not a ‘100-percenter.’ Some of these guys, they have to be 100 percent to play the games, and you’re never 100 percent. Try taking Eric Staal out of the lineup. You look at everything he’s accomplished, he’s won gold medals, he’s won a Stanley Cup, he’s got 1,000 points, he’s been a captain, All-Star Games, the 1,200 games played, he’s a professional in all aspects of his life.
“Add all that to his stats, to me, it’s a no-brainer he’ll one day be in the Hall.”
If only it were that easy.
The past five weeks since Suter called Staal a Hall of Famer in Chicago, The Athletic has been posing the question, “Is Eric Staal a Hall of Famer?” to a number of hockey’s heaviest hitters, many of whom are familiar with or are actually part — or previously were part — of the Hockey Hall of Fame’s selection committee.
Basically, as of now, the consensus is: It’s borderline.
Here’s a list of hockey’s 411-person Hall of Fame and their statistics, and the one thing that each person we spoke to has been consistent with: Good stats and longevity doesn’t always get it done.
The reality is 1,000 points without the needed addition of hardware, postseason awards like First or Second Team All-Star nods or multiple Stanley Cups sometimes doesn’t scream Hall of Famer.
“But Eric’s got a strong case to be made,” said Hall of Famer Scotty Bowman, who spent 15 years on the 18-person Hall of Fame selection committee until 2017. “To me, it’s too early to say, but the good news is he’s got some time left to play, eh? It’s not like he’s ready to retire. So the next year or two may be the difference-maker.
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“He’s a strong candidate, and as a coach, I used to look for players who could play in any situation, and that’s been Eric Staal’s entire career. I don’t always look at stats because you could pick apart stats. I look for players you can lean on, you’re looking for that extra special player, and there’s a case to me to be made that Staal’s long been that guy.”
Bowman also pointed out what a number of people reminded The Athletic — this is not the “NHL Hall of Fame,” it’s the “Hockey Hall of Fame,” and international play like Olympics, world juniors, world championships and World Cups matters.
In hockey history, Staal is one of 29 members of the Triple Gold Club, which denotes players who have won gold medals in the Olympics and world championships and a Stanley Cup.
Nine of those Triple Gold members are in the Hall of Fame with several others being eventual candidates, including shoo-ins like Jaromir Jagr and Sidney Crosby.
It’s just a tough debate, though, when it comes to Staal.
Now, while he did grow up in the NHL era of playing the same center position as guys like Crosby and Evgeni Malkin and now Connor McDavid, Staal never won a Calder Trophy, a Hart Trophy or was named to the First All-Star team. In 2005-06, the year Carolina won the Stanley Cup and the year he scored a career-high 45 goals and 100 points, Staal was named to the NHL’s Second All-Star team behind first-teamer Joe Thornton.
Staal did have two exceptional Hurricanes postseasons where he combined to score 19 goals and 43 points in 43 games, but he also had three recent sub-par ones with the Rangers and Wild where he combined to score a goal and two assists in 15 games.
Voters do look at that.
And while he’s below a point per game in his career like, say, Hall of Famer Paul Kariya who never reached 1,000 points or 1,000 games because his career was cut short due to injuries, Staal is No. 5 in scoring (1,012 points in 1,224 games) over the span of his career. And, all four ahead of him will undoubtedly be headed to the Hall of Fame (Alex Ovechkin, Crosby, Thornton and Malkin).
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One thing that could hurt Staal is the arc of his career has been a bit scattershot in the tail end. There have been lulls, but Staal’s former teammate and the current coach of the Hurricanes, Rod Brind’Amour, said that shouldn’t be held against him.
“What I think is special about him is he kept going,” said Brind’Amour, a Hall of Fame contender himself. “Here, it was a tough circumstance at the end for Eric, and he put so much pressure on himself. But then, going to a new place in Minnesota, where he could just relax and go play again, look what’s happened to him again. He’s going to his second All-Star Game (in the past three years with the Wild), he’s back to scoring. Heck, he had 42 (goals) again as a 33-year-old two years ago.”
Since 2003-04, Staal has played the second-most games in the NHL at 1,224 (Patrick Marleau is at 1,225), is tied with Marleau for the third-most goals at 434 (behind Ovechkin and Crosby), has taken the second-most shots at 3,830, has scored the eighth-most power-play goals at 132, has the ninth-most game-winning goals at 70 and logged the most minutes among all NHL forwards at 24,012 minutes, 18 seconds.
Brian Burke, a longtime NHL executive who now is an analyst for Sportsnet, is on the Hall of Fame selection committee, so, he said, “I’m not permitted to comment on Eric’s qualifications as a potential Hall of Famer, nor would I, except to say that I admire him very much as a player.
“It’s funny, because we’ve got a guy on our staff who bugs me about it every fucking Saturday night,” Burke said, laughing. “He’s like, ‘Eric Staal’s got to be a Hall of Famer.’ I’m like, ‘I can’t comment on it, you shithead.’ And he’s rattling off the numbers: ‘He’s this, he’s that.’ And, of course, I admire the family, so you don’t have to sell me, but I haven’t run the numbers. I mean, he’s not even retired and is a long way from even being eligible.”
“I’ll give you an example,” said Burke, who drafted the Sedin Twins, Henrik and Daniel — who ranked fifth and seventh, respectively, on the NHL’s points list over the course of their 17-year careers — with the Vancouver Canucks. “People say to me, ‘The Twins are automatic, first-ballot Hall of Famers,’ but I don’t know if they are or not. I haven’t run their case. I haven’t sat down and examined. I know they’re in the hunt, but until they’ve been out for three years, it’s not even worth my time.’”
So how does one get into the Hall?
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We talked to John Davidson, the Hall of Fame selection committee’s chair, and he gave a good synopsis.
Basically, anybody in the world can send a letter on behalf of any player, builder or referee/linesman to the Hall of Fame — specifically Davidson or chairman of the board Lanny McDonald — suggesting that any man or woman should be looked at for election into the Hall of Fame.
That information is sent out to the 18-person selection committee, reviewed and if somebody is going to officially be up for Hall of Fame consideration, he or she must be nominated by a member of the committee.
“You can’t have 10 great players and all 10 get in,” Davidson said. “There’s a max of four and then there’s a max with the builders and officials. So there’s a strict, a very strict set of bylaws that we follow. It’s also very important for us that everything is anonymous so it’s all kept very quiet and people don’t even know who’s nominated in case they don’t get in.”
Like Burke and all the other Hall of Fame selection committee members The Athletic talked to, Davidson didn’t feel comfortable talking about Staal specifically for two reasons — he’s chair of the selection committee and he’s president of another NHL team, the New York Rangers. But he did say, “Obviously, he’s a terrific hockey player and has been for a long period of time. Obvious with players like Eric and others, they’re going to be on the radar.”
| An Eric Staal hypothetical | ||||
| Let’s stay Staal plays out the remainder of his contract at his current scoring pace for 2019-20. That would put him at 471 career goals and 1,098 points after 2020-21. Of the 46 players to achieve those marks, 38 are in the Hall. The other eight are listed below. Five are still active and/or have strong cases for induction when eligible. The other three all lack one thing Staal has on his resume: a Stanley Cup. | ||||
| Player | Goals | Points | Eligible? | Cup? |
| Jaromir Jagr | 766 | 1,921 | In 2021 | Yes |
| Alex Ovechkin | 692 | 1,261 | Active | Yes |
| Jarome Iginla | 625 | 1,300 | In 2020 | No |
| Patrick Marleau | 559 | 1,183 | Active | No |
| Marian Hossa | 525 | 1,134 | In 2020 | Yes |
| Pierre Turgeon | 515 | 1,327 | Yes | No |
| Jeremy Roenick | 513 | 1,216 | Yes | No |
| Bernie Nicholls | 475 | 1,209 | Yes | No |
Selection committee members typically have two months to research Hall of Fame contenders before their annual June meeting.
“A lot of research,” Burke said. “I take it very seriously. We get the materials well in advance of the meeting. There’s internal debates, there’s communication among select committee members. You can request the Hall to do additional research. I use an outside researcher just to double-check things for me.”
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One thing perhaps someday that Staal will have going for him is Seattle GM Ron Francis, the Hall of Famer who used to play with and manage Staal in Carolina, began a term on the Hall of Fame selection committee in 2016. So there’s a sense by some that Francis would be the type of guy who could make an impassioned, compelling case for Staal once his time of eligibility three years after he retires is triggered.
The most direct way into the Hall is major awards, end-of-the-year All-Star berths (not All-Star Games) where it’s obvious the player was one of the very best at his position, Stanley Cups and big numbers.
Now, talking to somebody who requested anonymity, there are accumulators like Staal who put up impressive numbers over time, but they don’t necessarily get in. One arguable comparable to Staal that this person and Bowman brought up is Pierre Turgeon, who despite 515 goals and 1,327 points over the course of 1,294 games, has yet to crack the Hall’s walls despite retiring in 2007.
There are Hall of Famers with less productive numbers, but they won a lot of Stanley Cups and had a unique quality that set them apart. Guy Carbonneau is the most recent example last year. He scored 260 goals and 663 points in 1,318 games, but he won three Selke Trophies and three Stanley Cups.
“You’re also sometimes at the mercy of who’s eligible when it’s your time,” Bowman said. “Sometimes the field is light, so that’s your opportunity to get in.”
That happened to guys like 600-goal scorers Dino Ciccarelli and Dave Andreychuk, Bowman reminded.
The trick is convincing 14 of 18 selection committee members to vote a person in. As one selection committee member joked, “It’s really hard to get 14 of 18 people to agree to anything.”
“If you were running a U.S. presidential election and somebody got 13 out of every 18 votes, 72 percent, that would be the greatest landside in electoral history,” said The Athletic hockey columnist Eric Duhatschek, who spent 15 years on the selection committee until 2018 and in 2001 won the Elmer Ferguson Award, which is given by the Hockey Hall of Fame for distinguished hockey journalism. “Doesn’t get you in the Hockey Hall of Fame. You need 75. And that’s the hardest thing that people outside have to digest. People get on their soapbox, and say, it’s a crime this guy isn’t in, but get in that room, and you’d understand.”
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It is hard to figure out the Hall of Fame player category sometimes.
Jeremy Roenick arguably deserves to be in, but he keeps getting shut out. Clark Gillies and Bernie Federko are in, yet Ciccarelli and Andreychuk had to wait an eternity. Theo Fleury was one of the league’s best undersized players, but he hasn’t gotten in despite almost surely being nominated at some point. In goal, Curtis Joseph can’t get in, and he has 450 wins.
Burke notes that people always want to compare numbers, but some players, they didn’t get longevity because injuries cut their careers short. Burke calls it the “Comet Theory,” as in Halley’s Comet.
“There’s a few guys in like Cam Neely and Pavel Bure that are in on the Comet Theory, that even though it wasn’t as long as a traditional career, they burned so brightly they had to be included,” Burke said. “Like Eric Lindros was the best player in the NHL for four years by a mile, but injuries short-ended his career.
“Bobby Orr, Bure, Neely, Lindros, Kariya, they complicated the mathematics for the analytics guys. They say, ‘Well, this guy had more goals than Bure did,’ but yeah, he wasn’t Pavel Bure.”
Staal’s greatest asset, besides longevity and durability, is his consistency. Plus he’s won a Cup, which helps.
But do his current numbers get him in or does he need to get to 500 goals and 1,100 or 1,200 points to have a true shot?
“I don’t know what numbers you’ve got to have anymore,” Brind’Amour said.
Guerin won two Stanley Cups as a player, two more as a manager, played in four All-Star Games, like Staal was once a Second Team All-Star and is a member of the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame, but he openly says he doesn’t think he’ll ever get in “because I didn’t have the numbers. Maybe if I hit 500 and 1,000.”
Guerin, in 1,263 games, scored 429 goals and 856 points.
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“But Eric will make a very good case for himself because his numbers are real good and he’s not near the end yet,” Guerin said. “He’s going to have a very good case. A very good case.”
It’s just an interesting exercise.
Like when Teemu Selanne came up for Hall of Fame discussion in 2017, it was almost like a show of hands. Some writers have written in the past that Daniel Alfredsson was a Hall of Fame shoo-in, but so far at least, there seems to be very little traction, and he scored 1,157 points.
“Sometimes the tipping point is a really distinguished career and championships or major trophies,” said Duhatschek.
Duhatschek, too, had to be careful what he said because even after you’re no longer on the selection committee, you’re still bound by confidentiality.
But Duhatschek said one thing that might help Staal when the time comes is his character and being part of such an impressive hockey family.
“All the Staals, they are good people, and they are always team-first,” Brind’Amour said. “They are really driven. Eric’s really driven to be the best. He wants to be the best, but there’s a humility with him. I think that’s why you like him. Obviously, he’s talented, and he’s always been a guy who could score goals because he’s got a knack for the net.
“But what makes Eric Staal Eric Staal is the type of human being he is. And that, to me, is what a Hall of Famer should be.”
Remember, it’s not just playing ability that gets you into the Hall. The definition of a Hockey Hall of Famer is playing ability, sportsmanship, character and contributions to his or her team or teams and to the game of hockey in general.
Duhatschek calls it the “good guy factor.”
“If you have an A-minus candidate, but he checks all the other boxes, that might push him in,” Duhatschek said. “If you got an A-minus candidate, but he’s known as a selfish player or had a sporadic record off the ice and didn’t win anything, that may tilt things the other way.”
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For example, McDonald scored 500 goals and 1,006 points. But when he was named to the Hall in 1992, many felt that it was his force of personality and public persona that pushed it over the top.
“I tell the joke all the time, the Staals are sod farmers,” said NBC analyst Pierre McGuire, who is on the Hall of Fame selection committee. “When the parents got mad at the kids, they made them go mow the sod farm with a hand mower, not a sitting mower. Those guys have unbelievable work habits, all of them, Jordan does, Jared does, Marc does, Eric does.
“It’s an amazingly diligent family, they really are, and Eric is the ultimate pro that is beloved around the league. Early in his career, he really absorbed a lot playing with guys like Ronnie Francis, Rod Brind’Amour, Mark Recchi, who’s in the Hall of Fame, Dougie Weight. He’s just a leader, an upstanding human being, a great, unselfish, respected player. An all-around good guy.
“So, that’s what I think about Eric Staal. Now on the Hall of Fame question, I have my opinions, but those I’m not allowed to share publicly.”
Regardless, it’s not like Staal’s on the verge of retirement.
And, you can bet, the Hall of Fame isn’t on his mind right now.
“I don’t think you can or should think about that,” Staal said. “I think you just play and be in the moment and do your best every night and when it’s all said and done, then maybe. I’m just grateful coming in when I did, where I was with how many guys that had experience and had been around a long time, and obviously we had a great team, too, but leadership and that ability to kind of watch how they were as pros taught me a lot early on.”
Who knows, maybe one day, five or six or seven years from now, Staal will be on the other end of a very special call.
“The Hall of Fame is a very serious part of the world of hockey,” Davidson said. “This means a lot to a lot of people. It means a lot to the people that are already in it, as to who’s coming in. It means a lot to players that have been world-class players that had great careers.
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“The time that I enjoy the most is in the afternoon, once we’ve decided who’s going in, is making the phone calls to the people that are going. That’s a very special time. Lanny and I do that. It’s really neat. Even the time Pat Burns went in, and he had passed away. We called his wife. She was very emotional. These are … it’s just a special thing, getting into the Hockey Hall of Fame. It’s forever.”
(Top photo: Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)
