Beyond The Scoresheet: What Jordan Staal Does for the Hurricanes Off the Stat Line

Hurricanes Captain Jordan Staal in his career has set himself up to be one of the best shutdown forwards in the game. His faceoff & defensive prowess has made him one of the toughest to play against.

In today’s NHL, the narrative surrounding players is “What have you done for me now?” or “He has to have [insert points] to be considered a good player”. However, there are more ways to contribute to the game and an individual team than just how many goals or points or wins/saves a player has in a season or even a career.

A new series here at The Hockey Writers deep dives at what players on the Hurricanes can do to help the team win “Beyond the Scoresheet”. Regarding Carolina Hurricanes forward Jordan Staal, he is a player who contributes more than what the scoresheet says. This first edition of the new series will focus on the Hurricanes captain who has been someone to point to for what he can do for head coach Rod Brind’Amour’s team than just by scoring goals and making highlight reel plays.

Carolina Hurricanes Beyond the Scoresheet (The Hockey Writers)

In his now 18-year NHL career, Staal has never been someone who’s been in the hunt for the Rocket Richard Award or the Ted Lindsay. The most points he had in a season was 50 back when he was with the Pittsburgh Penguins during the 2011-12 season. His best goal total was 29 in his rookie season of 2006-07. During his time with the Hurricanes from 2012-13 in both categories, there were 20 goals and 48 points in the same season in 2015-16.

The work ethic is what makes Staal a more integral part of the Hurricanes beyond his points and goal totals. He is a player who comes in and gets better every day at his craft, even after 18 years in the league. The way he sets the tone by the way he leads by example is what guys on the team and the league take notice

Furthermore, the way he can shut down the league’s best players is what makes him a tough player to face. What helps too is that he is a faceoff maestro that can win draws for Brind’Amour in all three zones of the nice. Staal has been mentioned by play-by-play announcer Mike Maniscalco and Hurricanes analyst Shane Willis as someone players around the league don’t like playing against because of his playing style.