Eric Stahl agrees to 1-year deal with Panthers

Eric Stahl He agreed to a one-year deal with the Florida Panthers on Friday. Financial terms were not announced.

The forward, who turns 38 on Oct. 29, was in Florida during professional tryout training camp and has gone scoreless and had eight shots in four preseason games. He was on the ice with the Panthers on Friday.

“He had a really strong camp,” Panthers manager Paul Maurice said Friday. There are so many things you can see when you spend time with him, his personality, and his leadership.

“Love of the game, pure love of the game and love of winning. I think he’s great because it’s still a relatively young core here and we have such a veteran guy. But , it’s not just the veteran, it’s who he is as a person, how he trains, how he competes, how he practices, how he crows, how he’s wired Iruka. He makes our organization better.

Maurice said Stahl won’t play for the Panthers against the Tampa Bay Lightning at the FLA Live Arena on Friday (7:30 p.m. ET; ESPN+, HULU, SN NOW). Their next game is Sunday at home against the New York Islanders.

Stahl last played in the NHL in 2020-21, scoring 13 points (5 points, 8 assists) in 53 games with the Buffalo Sabers and Montreal Canadiens, and scoring 8 points (2 points, 6 assists) in 21 Stanley Cup playoff games. was recorded. to help the Canadiens reach the cup final.

“Eric is an experienced leader and a great competitor in this league,” said Panthers general manager Bill Zito. will add value to any locker room.”

Last season, Stahl scored five goals (two goals and three assists) in four games with Iowa after signing a PTO with Iowa, the American Hockey League affiliate of the Minnesota Wild. He scored four goals (one goal and three assists) in five games at the 2022 Beijing Olympics and captained Canada, which finished sixth.

“It was unique,” Stahl said in August. “I was alone, lost in the Stanley Cup finals in mid-July, and two months later the next season started, and it didn’t go well. [in Montreal]And it didn’t work out anywhere else. And it was like, “Okay, where are we going from here?” Staying in shape and with the Olympics coming up, I had a lot of unique experiences. ”

With Panthers, Stahl joins brother’s defense Mark Stahl35. The two were teammates for the New York Rangers in 2015-16.

“That was a big reason I was doing what I was doing. I got the chance to go there and get him and maybe play with him,” Eric said. “Playing in the league is something special and playing alongside your brothers on a team with Stanley Cup ambitions is something you can only dream of.”

Last season, the Panthers won the Presidents Trophy with the best record in the NHL (58-18-6), but lost to the Lightning in the second round of the Eastern Conference.

No. 2 pick in the 2003 NHL Draft by the Carolina Hurricanes, Stahl has scored 1,034 points (441 goals, 593 assists) and 59 points in 1,293 regular season games with the Hurricanes, Rangers, Wilds, Sabers and Canadiens. (23 goals and 36 assists in 83 playoff games. He won the Cup with the Hurricanes in 2006.

Maurice, who coached Stahl in the 2003-04 rookie season and the 2008-12 Carolinas, said he was amazed at what Stahl left in his game.

“He’s really an easy guy to work with because he doesn’t have an agenda,” Maurice said. “He just wants to win and he wants to play here. If he can If he didn’t feel like it, he wouldn’t help. He surprised me at camp.

NHL.com Independent Correspondent Jessi Pierce contributed to this report.