Welcome to our series on who wore each number best for the Penguins.
The idea is being openly borrowed from our new hockey writer, Cody Tucker, and his project at the Lansing State Journal covering all the uniform numbers worn through Michigan State football history, one that's been well received by their readers and prompted heavy discussion and debate.
Under the organization of Taylor Haase, and following the voting of a big chunk of our staff, we'll publish one new one each day until completion, which should be right around the start of training camp.
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Name: Jordan Staal
Number: 11
Position: Center
Born: Sept. 10, 1988 in Thunder Bay, Ontario
Seasons with Penguins: 2006-2012
Statistics with Penguins: 452 games, 109 goals, 138 assists in regular season, 73 games, 23 goals, 13 assists in playoffs
WHY STAAL?
Staal wasn't Sidney Crosby. Nor was he Evgeni Malkin. But without him the Penguins simply don't win the Stanley Cup in 2009.
Ray Shero's very first pick as Penguins general manger may have been his best. On June 24, 2006 in Vancouver, Shero selected Staal with the second overall pick. It was the fourth straight year that the Penguins were picking no less than No. 2. Although Shero passed on Jonathan Toews, Nicklas Backstrom and Claude Giroux, among others, there is little question that Staal was the right fit at the right time. Like Marc-Andre Fleury (No. 1 in 2003), Malkin (No. 2 in '04) and Crosby (No. 1 in '05), Staal would become part of the nucleus that lifted the Penguins from the dregs of the NHL to Stanley Cup champions. Like his older brother Eric, who helped Carolina to the Cup five days before the '06 draft, Jordan Staal was a big-bodied center who could play a more complete 200-foot game.
Staal made an immediate impact as a rookie, scoring 29 goals, including a league-high seven shorthanded, as the Penguins returned to the playoffs for the first time since 2001. He garnered votes for the Lady Byng, Selke and Calder but lost out on the latter to Malkin, whose NHL debut was delayed by a year. Staal suffered a bit of a sophomore slump in 2007-08 but the Penguins still managed to advance to the Cup Final where they were outclassed in six games by Detroit.
The following season he centered a line with Tyler Kennedy and Matt Cooke, a trio that many considered the "best third line in hockey." That line combined for 50 goals and 115 points while providing the Penguins some much-needed grit and secondary scoring. If Crosby was most responsible for the Penguins beating the Flyers in the first round in 2009 and Fleury for beating the Capitals in the second and Malkin for beating the Hurricanes in the conference final, then Staal was the difference in the Cup Final against the Red Wings. Trailing 2-1 in the series and 2-1 in Game 4, after Detroit took the first two games on home ice, Staal scored a shorthanded partial breakaway at 8:35 of the second period to turn the tide of the series:
Facing elimination, Staal scored again in a 2-1 win in Game 6. Three nights later, the Penguins vanquished the Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena to win the organization's third championship.
Staal went on to enjoy three more highly productive seasons in Pittsburgh. In his swan song, Staal scored six goals in a six-game loss to Philadelphia in the first round of the 2012 playoffs.
Having grown tired of playing in the sizable shadows cast by Crosby and Malkin and with the Penguins' championship window seemingly closed, Staal rejected a reported 10-year extension with one year remaining on his contract. On June 23, 2012, the night of the NHL Draft which was being held in Pittsburgh and the night of his own wedding, he was dealt to Carolina where he was reunited with his older brother. In exchange for Staal, then-Hurricanes GM Jim Rutherford sent the No. 8 overall pick (Derrick Pouliot), Brandon Sutter and Brian Dumoulin to Pittsburgh.
WHAT'S HE DOING NOW?
Staal is still very much active. He just finished his sixth season in Carolina where he remains under contract through 2022-23. Though he's topped the 20-goal mark just once, he's still good for 45 points a season and remains one of the NHL's better two-way centermen. But he's yet to play in a playoff game since leaving Pittsburgh. In February, Staal and his wife, Heather, suffered a personal tragedy when their daughter, Hannah, died of a terminal birth defect.
IT WAS SPOKEN
"I was probably more nervous watching that one than playing in this one." -- Staal, after the Game 7 win over Red Wings, comparing it to watching his older brother Eric play in Game 7 of the '06 Cup Final.
"We gave three good pieces to Pittsburgh in order to get Jordan, but it's hard to find a Jordan Staal in the National Hockey League." -- Jim Rutherford, Carolina GM, on 2012 trade for Staal.
HONORABLE MENTIONS AT NO. 11
Darius Kasparaitis
John Cullen
George Ferguson
Vic Hadfield
Any debate?
There was, but not for the top spot. Staal was a fairly easy choice there. There was great discussion though about who should be No. 2. Long after his GAG Line days with the Rangers, Hadfield enjoyed two of his most productive seasons in the twilight of his career with the Penguins. Ferguson was a solid 20-goal scorer in parts of five seasons in Pittsburgh. Cullen played at an All-Star level and helped spearhead the franchise's renaissance in the late '80s. But Kasparaitis was wildly popular for his open-ice hits (some of them legal, too) and for his GWG in Game 7 of the second round at Buffalo. If goal celebrations counted, that might have put Kaspar over Staal.
Tomorrow: Bradford has No. 12.
Yesterday: Ron Francis
