Jordan Staal: Six years is a good run

Last Updated on Monday, 25 June 2012 23:45 Monday, 25 June 2012 16:55

Written by John Toperzer

Jordan Staal: Six years is a good run

Twitter @JohnToperzer

Ray Shero’s first pick as Pittsburgh Penguins general manager could have been Jonathan Toews, but it could just as easily have been Derick Brassard. I think most Penguins fans will agree that Jordan Staal worked out just fine as Pittsburgh’s top pick in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft.

It’s difficult determining the value of legacy picks. For every Eric Staal and Jordan Staal there’s a Wayne Gretzky and brother Brent, or Alain Lemieux for Mario.

Fortunately, 18-year-old Jordan Staal played his way onto the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2006-07 out of his first training camp and never looked back. That first season was magical.

Twenty nine goals was totally unexpected. During one Pittsburgh unbeaten stretch, Staal scored 11 goals in 13 games, culminating his run with a hat trick in Toronto. Even on defense -- Staal’s bread and butter – he pocketed seven short-handed goals. Raise your hand if you saw that coming.

I went back and looked at the numbers from Staal’s first game, a 4-0 shutout of Philadelphia on Oct. 5, 2006 (Mario Lemieux’s birthday).

Staal totaled 12:03 TOI in 20 shifts, spending three minutes and 28 seconds on the penalty kill and yes, 52 seconds on the power play. He finished without a point in the win. Interestingly, Sidney Crosby skated for more than four minutes (4:02) short-handed but that’s fodder for another day.

If you can guess Staal’s linemates for that first contest, more power to you. He didn’t play on the team’s third line, he actually started out on the fourth line with Andre Roy and Chris Thorburn. At least he can say he went from the fourth unit to the third.

A couple games stand out in Staal’s six seasons with the Pens. Who can forget the date, June 4, 2009? That was the game Staal scored a shortie against the Detroit Red Wings in a Game 4 Stanley Cup win, as seen here.

My personal favorite Staal showing occurred half a year earlier, on November 11, 2008, against the same Red Wings in Detroit. The big forward turned a rematch of the two Cup teams into a personal showcase, netting a hat trick in the final 20 minutes of play before stealing the puck from Pavel Datsyuk in OT and setting up Ruslan Fedotenko for the winner. One of the best performances I’ve seen in hockey, as seen here.

Guys like Staal don’t grow on trees, well actually, they grow on farms in Thunder Bay, but you get my point. I’m sure seeing brothers (in the hockey sense) like Max Talbot move on made it easier for Staal to appreciate that the games a business and moving to Carolina made sense to him. Jordan and Eric will be fun to keep tabs on in Carolina. Perhaps Bill Cowher will fire up the rally siren one more time.

There’s little doubt Staal will receive a tremendous cheer when he comes back to the ‘Burgh for the first time in late November. Thanks for a great six years, Jordan.

Pals -- and yes, that's Mario Lemieux behind Matt Cooke