The Athletic has live coverage of Golden Knights vs. Hurricanes in Game 2 of the 2026 Stanley Cup Final.
RALEIGH, N.C. — Henry Staal, proud as can be, stared at eight of his grandchildren, including five tossing a red Nerf football back and forth, in the parking lot in front of the north gate of Lenovo Center on Tuesday. The father of four squeezed the right shoulder of his oldest son, Eric, whose No. 12 hangs from the rafters atop the arena where he won a Stanley Cup 20 years ago.
Eric was a bright-eyed 21-year-old star back when he led the Carolina Hurricanes in scoring during that epic postseason ride.
“This is surreal,” Henry said with a smile two hours before puck drop of Game 1 of the 2026 Stanley Cup Final, and you could see his eyes welling up, even covered by his black shades. “Twenty years ago, Eric was preparing for Game 1 of the Final right in there, and Jordan and I were right out here in this same spot tailgating. He was 17.”
“His draft year,” Eric said of Jordan, his now-37-year-old brother, who would be drafted No. 2 by the Pittsburgh Penguins 19 days after that first 2006 tailgate and five days after watching Eric hoist Lord Stanley’s Cup high over his head a couple hundred feet away.
Now? With 1,403 regular-season games and 176 playoff games under his belt — not to mention a Stanley Cup with the Penguins at 21 — Jordan is trying to captain the Hurricanes to their second Stanley Cup.
“It is really unique,” Eric said. “It just goes to show how quickly time goes by when you look at it in a snippet. It’s 20 years ago. Twenty years is a long time. But it doesn’t feel that long in some ways. It’s super cool. I’m pumped for the area. I’m pumped for this team because us 2006 guys get the flashback. We get to remember that. But this is new. This is the next chance, an opportunity to make it happen again, and I hope really badly that they can.”
Two hours later, Eric was standing in the 200 level in front of a Canes backdrop with red lights above his head. Behind him was the youngest of his three sons, Finley, plus four nieces and nephews: Abigail, Lilah and Henry — Jordan’s three children — and Hudson, the son of the youngest of the four hockey-playing Staal brothers, Jared.
Wearing a tight black T-shirt and blue jeans, Eric attacked the Hurricanes’ tradition of sounding the storm siren with the enthusiasm and rigor of a man trying to supercharge an arena full of nearly 19,000 fans and wake up all of “The Triangle.”
He then began wildly waving his rally towel, unaware that the kid running the show was trying to tell him that the cue he was given was mistimed and Eric was actually not live on the center-ice scoreboard.
A false alarm.
Luckily, only three years removed from a 1,469-game playing career, Eric is still in playing shape. With sweat dripping down his forehead from the first attempt, he got the go-ahead to sound the siren for real. Fired up, he nearly yanked the siren out of the ground, looking like he was trying to summon the ghosts of the 2006 Canes.
After he was done, at the elevator, Eric’s nieces and nephews were chirping him, and Finley piped up: “That was a total airball the first time.”
Despite the effort, Game 1 didn’t go the Hurricanes’ way. They gave away a 2-0 lead and twice rallied from one-goal deficits before Tomas Hertl scored the eventual winner.
Jordan scored in the second period to make it 3-3 — his first goal in the Stanley Cup Final in 16 years, 358 days. That is the longest span from one Stanley Cup Final goal to the next in NHL history, breaking — get this — Eric’s record by four days. Eric scored for the Florida Panthers in the 2023 final, also against the Golden Knights — 16 years and 354 days after scoring in Game 5 in 2006.
“This is fun because I know the amount of work and effort that they’ve put in over the last, well, since Roddy (Brind’Amour) took over,” Eric said. “I know Jordan’s been here longer, but Roddy’s been head coach eight years, and then Jordan even longer (than) I was here. It’s just a great opportunity for them. I’m excited. But they have work to do, and they know it, which is good.”
Jordan got a kick out of watching Eric sound the siren, even though this wasn’t his first time. Still, Eric admitted he had nerves this time around.
“I mean, Game 1 of the Final,” Eric said. “I’m here to soak in the environment. These people, the fans, this atmosphere is top notch, and it’ll be fun to just enjoy it with them and try and get them going and bring some good mojo.”
Jordan is excited that his family gets to be part of the ride, and especially Eric.
“I was a kid when he won it in ’06,” Jordan said. “And coming down to Carolina, one, to get to play with him was crazy. But, two, to now be on the ice in a Stanley Cup Final for the team he won it with, it’s such a surreal thing.”
These days, Eric is special assistant to Buffalo Sabres general manager Jarmo Kekäläinen. In fact, he’s heading to Buffalo this week to prepare for the draft and the upcoming offseason. Eric lives full-time in Minnesota and coaches high school hockey at Southwest Christian in Richfield.
In November, when the Canes were in town, Eric and Henry went to morning skate and caught up with Brind’Amour. A month later, when Carolina honored the 2006 Stanley Cup championship team with 18 former teammates in attendance, Eric and Brind’Amour talked about how cool it would be to celebrate the anniversary with another Stanley Cup.
The 2005-06 and 2025-26 teams held a dinner together that weekend.
“A lot of our guys shot the breeze with a lot of their guys,” Eric said. “They’ve been knocking at the door for years, and now they’re here. I know a lot of our guys, you’re reminiscing, you’re having fun, but you’re also trying to instill what we had that got us over the hump to beat the Oilers, and hopefully some of that messaging rubbed off on them.
“They’re here, and now they’ve got a chance.”
Brind’Amour was the captain of that 2006 team and has now been the Canes coach for eight playoff appearances in eight years. But anytime anybody gives him credit for establishing the culture here, he immediately throws it back to Jordan, saying it would be impossible for them to be in this position without him. He’s not just talking about this season. He’s talking about 14 years in Carolina after being traded from Pittsburgh, the past seven as captain.
Jordan could have left a number of times along the way, including after his oldest brother, Eric, was traded to the Rangers in 2016. But he didn’t.
“The Staals mean a lot to this organization,” Canes veteran Jordan Martinook said. “Eric was an incredible Hurricane for a long time, and he got his brother over here, and then I feel like Jordan’s been through it all with this organization. For him to get back to this position, especially 17 years after winning (with Pittsburgh), it’s an exciting time for him. We couldn’t ask for a better captain leading this race.
“I don’t want to say that the losing he had to do for four or five years when he got here might have fueled him even more, but I think it did. The fact that he’s seen some pretty dark days here, and to be on the other side of it — obviously we haven’t made it yet; we’ve been trying really hard for eight years and just fallen short, but the fact that he’s stuck through it the whole time, and he’s our captain, it’s something that we’re all really excited about.”
For years, Eric was considered the star of the family. The flashy goal scorer. But Jordan, in his 20th season, has perennially been one of the NHL’s best two-way forwards — a two-time Selke Trophy finalist who plays with fire and tenacity.
“I think he’s a premier guy in the league,” Eric said. “You can tell, the way Roddy uses him, you can tell the importance that he has, still, at his age. That’s super, super impressive. He’s a freak athlete.
“He’s always been that way, and so it’s not surprising in that regard for me, but you’ve still got to do it. You’ve still got to deliver it, and you’ve still got to be willing and put in the work, and he does, and he has, and I’ve witnessed it firsthand.
“So super proud of what kind of player he is and what kind of player he’s sustained to be. He has not changed. He has not changed every day. He comes with the right mindset and the right preparation, and that’s why he is who he is, and that’s why he’s played as long as he has. I just hope that he can get over that last hurdle here — this final round.
And that’s the goal.
“To finish this all off would make it that much sweeter,” Jordan said. “There’s some things in life, you’ve just got to stay with it, and I’m happy I did stay with it here in Carolina. When Eric left, I could have easily moved on or done something different, but the people here and the group we had and everything that’s gone on since then, I’m happy that I’m sitting here today and stuck with it and had an opportunity to build something very special.
“It’s been a wild ride. I mean, it’s life, man. It’s just ups and downs and stuff outside the rink. And obviously, the hard times at work and everything in between. Just gives me chills, gets me excited. Just beyond blessed to be here.”
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