Eric Staal yearned for another NHL opportunity. Now, he’s making his Panthers season debut

Eric Staal’s season debut with the Florida Panthers has finally arrived.

Coach Paul Maurice told reporters after the team’s morning skate at the Wells Fargo Center on Thursday that Staal, 37, will enter the Panthers’ lneup against the Philadelphia Flyers to cap a two-game road trip. He will replace Nick Cousins as the center for Florida’s fourth line that has Ryan Lomberg and Patric Hornqvist on the wings.

Maurice said the 6-4, 195-pound Staal, a 17-year NHL veteran with nearly 1,300 games under his belt, brings “just everything there is in the game” to the Panthers’ lineup.

“He has a whole lot of experience. He has the joy for the game. He’s a big man. He moves the puck well. He’s not going to make decision mistakes on the ice.”

The line of Lomberg, Staal and Hornqvist worked together during training camp and Maurice said the trio was “dominant” early in camp. His hope is that success translates to the live game setting.

“The tell for that line is how much time they can spend in the other team’s end,” Maurice said.

Staal signed a one-year, $750,000 deal with the Panthers on Friday after the team received cap relief by putting star defenseman Aaron Ekblad on long-term injured reserve with a groin injury. Staal was with the Panthers during training camp and impressed the coaching staff. He remained with the team as a non-roster player once the season started.

After impressing in camp (and with cap space now available), Panthers sign Eric Staal

Putting pen to paper was the final step in his return to the league. He didn’t play in the NHL in the 2021-22 season, one year after making it to the Stanley Cup Finals with the Montreal Canadiens. With a desire to keeping playing at age 36, he worked his way to being the captain of Team Canada for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China, and helped his country reach the quarterfinals before being eliminated by Sweden. Staal logged four points in five games.

The fire to keep playing remained in Staal after that, so when the Panthers gave him a professional tryout, he quickly agreed with the hopes it could turn into something more.

It did.

“I had put in the time and the effort,” Staal said Monday. “I spent the time when no one’s looking wondering what was ahead, but I was staying with it. I have definitely signed different types of contracts over my time, that one definitely felt very good and it was a culmination of a bunch of people helping push me to get back to this point.”

Once Staal was under contract, Maurice opted to ease the veteran forward into game action. While he was around the team, he wasn’t allowed to travel with the team on its season-opening road trip and Florida only had one full practice on its first homestand. Staal, as a result, did not play in the first three games he was eligible — Friday’s overtime loss against the Tampa Bay Lightning at home, Sunday’s home win over the New York Islanders and Tuesday’s road loss to the Chicago Blackhawks.

“We want to make sure when he comes in,” Maurice said, “he’s right and ready.”

Staal brothers, Florida Panthers make it a family affair

That time is now, and Staal will now bring to the ice another active veteran to a young-yet-talented Panthers forward group.

Staal has 1,034 career points (441 goals, 593 assists) over 1,293 games. He won a Stanley Cup in 2006 with the Carolina Hurricanes, who selected him with the second overall pick in the 2003 NHL Entry Level Draft.

He’s a six-time All-Star and is one of five active members of the Triple Gold Club still playing in the NHL, winning gold medals at the IIHF World Championship (with Canada in 2007) and the Olympics (with Canada in 2010) in addition to his Stanley Cup with the Hurricanes.

“I want to win another Stanley Cup,” Staal said. “It’s been a lot of years since I’ve achieved that. This is one of those teams that I feel has a legitimate shot at doing that, so there’s no reason not to take that opportunity to take the PTO and come here and try and give myself a chance to find a spot and a role and be a contributor.”

▪ Maurice on Thursday said Ekblad is “skating and looking good, looking strong.” The team is targeting its Nov. 12 game against the Edmonton Oilers — the first game Ekblad is eligible to come off long-term injured reserve — for his potential return.