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Eric Staal contract negotiations

By Ryan Ritchie

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According to Renaud Lavoie of “Le Journal de Montreal”, Eric Staal contract negotiations have begun with the Carolina Hurricanes and Staal is asking for approximately $9 million/year.

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The number is pretty hefty, but we should remember most negotiations start out this way till the two parties meet somewhere in the middle.

This tweet says it all,

"For everybody freaking at E. Staal’s $9M ask, remember Giordano (reportedly) opened at $9M, too. Landed at $6.75M. It’s a negotiation."

"— Mike Halford (@HalfordPHT) September 29, 2015"

At this point, it’s unclear whether or not an Eric Staal contract will happen in Carolina next season. It does sound as though GM Ron Francis is interested in having him back though. Eric Staal has spent his entire 11 year career in Carolina.

Staal hit his peak when he tallied 100 points and went on to win the Stanley Cup, but that was a long time ago. Since then he’s been producing in the 60-70 point range.

I wouldn’t put the blame on Eric Staal though. We’re talking about a team that has battled injuries to its star players every year in recent history. Almost exclusively between Cam Ward and Jeff Skinner.

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    • The cap number, whatever it may be shouldn’t be an issue for the Hurricanes. I’m sure they just want to ensure they get decent value. Players don’t usually take hometown discounts anymore in hockey, so don’t expect one.

    Chances are the Hurricanes will pay him in the $6-7 mil/year range. I know there’s rumblings that he could be the big acquisition at the trade deadline due to Eric Staal’s massive cap hit north of $8 mil, especially considering teams would only be paying a fraction of that cost.

    You also see a lot of people pointing out the fact that its his last chance to get paid big money so that might push him to free agency. I don’t buy it for the fact that the money he’d get on the open market won’t be far off from what Carolina offers him. He’s not this young guy that teams would pay a ransom for.

    What are the chances that the Eric Staal contract extension happens with the Hurricanes? If you think he’s moving at the trade deadline, where do you think he’s going? And if you believe he’s going to test free agency, how much money will teams throw at him and who might be most interested?

    Next: Who will be named Sharks captain?

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