Stepan punctuates happy start to Eric Staal's Rangers tenure

The Hurricanes selected Staal with the second overall pick in the 2003 draft, and traded for his brother, Jordan, on June 22, 2012, in an attempt to build the franchise around the two power centers.

But Staal is free-agent eligible this summer, and earning $9.5 million in the final year of his contract, which is forcing the Hurricanes to decide on whether he should be a part of the future in Carolina.

The club has acquired five-time 30-goal scorer Eric Staal ahead of Monday night's home matchup with the surging Columbus Blue Jackets.

Staal advanced to the postseason only twice in 12 seasons with Carolina, but he compiled 322 goals and 775 points through 909 regular season games and 19 goals and 43 points in 43 career postseason matches.

The trade deadline is tomorrow, but deals have been happening for the past week.

It's the second straight year the Rangers have made a major move a day before the deadline. "The core group they have here, which starts with the goaltender... are battle-tested, they played big games... they haven't got it done yet, but they're very close". That is why Staal now finds himself saying goodbye to one brother, Jordan, and saying hello to his other brother, Marc. "We knew as the year progressed, this was a possibility that could happen, with the discussions that I had had with management, with the direction they wanted to go in". In the short term, it is hard to explain to fans that the team is sending away proven commodities for prospects and picks, but in the long term, Francis can't let one season derail a plan of building a consistent playoff team. It was a low-priced gamble that Rangers GM Jeff Gorton had to make which will improve the team's chances of getting back to the Stanley Cup this year and not hope the window will stay open for another year or two.

Eric Staal was traded to the New York Rangers today.

Though the elder Staal, who joins younger brother Marc in NY, is clearly on the decline of his career, this is still a move more than worth noting. Now playing for Ässät in Finland's Liiga, Saarela has 18 goals and 31 total points in 46 games.

However, Staal's statistics have decreased within the past 10 years. "We had a couple [new] jerseys and they had them on in the room", Staal said. Avoiding the loss of another first-round pick was big for the franchise's prospect pool, but again trading draft assets for a veteran has left them with little in the way of opportunity to add to their already light farm system.

The now Ranger forward has tallied only 10 goals this season but has play making potential.

What this means going forward for the Rangers lineup is most definitely uncertain. If the Canes still didn't have a shot at the post-season, it would be an obvious decision to send him packing as a rental player, assuming he would waive his no-trade clause.