Staal Infection Hurts Pens More than It Does Him

"If I didn't have my good looks, skills, and millions of dollars, I'd be scared s(&!less right about now."

Say what you want about Pittsburgh Penguin Jordan Staal: that he’s overrated, that he’s underrated, that, following his arrest at brother Eric’s bachelor party in 2007, he should choose his family better, etc., etc.... he is still as tough as they come.

Case in point would be his performance in last year’s playoffs, when he suffered a season-ending severed tendon on his foot in game one of his team’s second-round series against the Montreal Canadiens only to return two (2!) games later. Admittedly, his being 6’4”, they’re at least several feet from where the injury was sustained, but, still, that right there is balls.

Further proof comes in the form of his iron-man streak, which, in four NHL seasons, had never been broken until last spring’s injury. His regular-season consecutive-games-played streak, despite being on very thin ice, still remains intact however at 327 games. That will be snapped when the season starts, as he is likely to miss at least its first three weeks recovering from a staph infection originating where tendon was repaired.

Never mind the pain factor. What’s most impressive about his surprising return to action last May is how the mere thought of somehow causing additional, irreparable damage in a subsequent game would send most others cowering into a small corner of the dressing room, contemplating just how many millions of dollars and sex appeal they would lose as a result of a career-ending injury. In Staal’s case, it would be a lot, just for the simple reason that he is the real deal.

His point totals may not reflect his talent level, as he has averaged just over a half-point per game over his career. That is due to his playing third fiddle to arguably the two best centers in the game in Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. As a defense-first center, and a Selke Trophy-nominated one at that, his point totals are not exactly meant to be indicative of his offensive capabilities. That he has scored 49 points in each of the past two seasons is just that, however. As a third-liner he nets more points than most second-liners, which is about as impressive as the Pens winning the Stanley Cup with Marc-Andre Fleury in nets... and even the one flower that manages to wilt every spring gets his hot streaks sometimes.

What’s most disappointing was that this was the year that the Pens were coming to their senses, and realizing that Malkin and Crosby couldn’t do it themselves. Staal was meant to become the team’s number-two center, with Malkin moving to his wing. As such, he clearly would have been given ample opportunity to increase upon those aforementioned point totals.

 

"I know my English isn't perfect, but, dude, when I said you'd finally be getting a chance to score..."

And to those Pens fans hoping for another miraculous recovery and seeing Staal in the Pens’ line-up when they open the season on October 7 against the Philadelphia Flyers, consider that this infection has been particularly pesky and infected tissue has had to be removed on several occasions already. Needless to say, like that one annoying unwanted girlfriend you can never get out of your life, there is no way Staal would risk keeping the infection around any longer than he needs to. It only interprets neglect as playing hard to get. The only way to finally be rid of it is to give it a taste of its own medicine, smother it with attention, get it to pack its bags - inordinate amounts of ugly-looking shoes making a mess of your closet and all - and get it to leave on its own. Or so I’ve been told.

The bottom line is Staal’s going to bite the bullet, bring an end to his iron-man streak, and it is all for the better in the long term, especially as the long term would pertain to the Penguins.

Without Staal, the team is weaker for sure. With the recent signing of forward Mike Comrie, they may not even be a playoff team... he’s that bad. While the defensive-corps additions of Paul Martin and Zbynek Michalek do help, much more is needed for the Penguins to be able to regain their strut – or march, if you want to be cute. The team’s goaltending is inconsistent to be very kind, and their forward lines are made up of three – now two superstars and a bunch of third-liners (or fifth-liners in Comrie’s case). There is no middle ground, especially with Bill Guerin not being brought back.

Staal will return eventually, but until then look for the Penguins to stumble out of the gate and struggle to earn home-ice advantage in the playoffs the rest of the season. They’re the ones that are overrated, not Staal.

Once a Captain, Now a Director of Forwards Development

"No! It's too early for me to get the hook. I'm not ready!"

On the surface, there are seemingly no hard feelings between the Carolina Hurricanes and former captain Rod Brind’Amour. One gets a very different idea upon realizing just how little the recently named director of Carolina’s forwards development has to work with.

Maybe “being set up to fail” is the wrong terminology. Maybe the ‘Canes are actually hoping Brind’Amour is able to impart the many nuggets of wisdom he’s tucked away for occasions such as this to the team’s forward base. Maybe he will even succeed. But when you’re talking about a team made up of consistent underachievers like goaltender Cam Ward, defenseman Joni Pitkanen, and forwards Tuomo Ruutu, Sergei Samsonov, Erik Cole, and captain Eric Staal, a lack of development is not likely the problem.

Try as he might, I strongly suspect that the work ethic that made Rod “The Bod” so effective as a hockey player doesn’t exactly lend itself to easy learning. Much more likely? Genetics lent at least a helping hand to prolonging Brind’Amour’s 20-year career. And his being grown in a lab should not be completely ruled out either.

At the end of the day, you’re talking about a decent team on paper that at mid-season was last in the entire NHL. The ‘Canes no doubt finished strong, going 25-14-3 in the new year, but that torrid run only led the team to 24th place to end the season. So, the team, which lost top-six forward Ray Whitney but re-gained power-play quarterback Anton Babchuk in the off-season, no doubt has potential to do damage. They could just as easily sabotage their own playoff hopes, though.

Like a group of double agents caught in a perpetual cold war between college basketball and hockey in the Southern United States, the ‘Canes have been in deep cover far too long – for four years, since the team’s Stanley Cup victory – to be as passionate for their sport as they once were. Few can blame them when their efforts on the ice, somewhat invalidated by low attendance over the last few seasons, go unnoticed, at least by the locals. Farther north, however, it’s a different story. For example:

1) Clearly, injuries have taken their toll on Cole, to the point that he hasn’t had a decent season since 2007. That’s a long time spent toiling in mediocrity, even taking into account the time he’s spent in whichever hospital ward he’s grown most accustomed to calling home.

2) Ruutu is playing a lot like his older brother, minus his “shift disturber” status, making him about as worthwhile as a $4-million mansion without the friends to invite over. If you can’t show off, why bother keeping it around? If you’re Ruutu, why bother showing up at all?

3) Eric Staal has had one all-star calibre season in his career, yet continues to be recognized as one of the top players in the league. It kind of makes you wonder where Keanu Reeves would be without The Matrix. Needless to say, I don’t think he would be able to fall back on his “work” experience filming the Bill & Ted movies.

However the ‘Canes finish this year, Brind’Amour definitely has his hands full, especially when it comes to making sure prospects like Brandon Sutter and Zach Boychuk don’t fall into the same bad habits that led any one of the team’s top forwards to let superstardom slip out of their fingers.

Like it or not, Brind’Amour represents the last legitimate all-around all-star the team has had. Yes, his play kind of tailed off in the recent past and he placed second-to-last in +/- in the league last season, an embarrassment to say the least for a player that once won the Frank J. Selke Trophy as the league’s best defensive forward two years in a row. But that’s why players retire, because they don’t have it anymore.

In a way, maybe this is some weird form of karmic payback, for leaving the ‘Canes in the lurch, holding the tab on his $3.6-million salary-cap hit this year. But the ‘Canes probably expected as much. They maybe even had that coming their way thanks to them stripping him of his captaincy last year, in the middle of the season no less, as if giving the purely symbolic “C”, which, to the best of everyone’s knowledge, does not possess mystical powers, to Staal would have made a difference to the outcome of their already lost season in late January.

The ‘Canes can say that Brind’Amour gracefully gave up the captaincy all they want and that he had the power to veto the decision if he so desired. But, if you were in Brind’Amour’s skates, you had an inkling that you were going to hang them up at the end of the season, and you wanted to do the classy thing, would you have caused a ruckus? At that point, even if Brind’Amour hadn’t thought of retiring, the not-so-tactful hands of the team were clearly directing him towards the door anyway. Retiring could have been construed as the most logical way for him to save face following what must have been a generally humiliating experience.

Brind’Amour may still be employed by the team, but it doesn’t deserve him. Staal may have been the team’s best player the past few seasons, but the ‘Canes will soon realize it isn’t the captaincy that makes the player... it’s the player that makes the team. And neither is good enough.