Former Montreal Canadiens Has Number Retired By The Hurricanes

Once upon a time, a player like Eric Staal would have spent his whole career with the team that drafted him. The second overall pick at the 2003 draft spent 12 years with the Carolina Hurricanes before being traded to the New York Rangers and then signing a contract as a free agent with the Minnesota Wild.

Once he became surplus to requirement in Minnesota, he was traded to the Buffalo Sabres who then traded him to the Montreal Canadiens in the run up to the 2021 trade deadline. Staal only played 21 games with the Habs, but his experience and guidance was very useful in that playoffs run.

Related: Canadiens: Subban Believe Two Former Teammates Deserve The Rafters

In 12 years with the Hurricanes, Staal played 909 games, picking up 775 points along the way (322 goals and 453 assists) and won the Stanley Cup in his sophomore year with Carolina. That year, he was the scoring leader in the playoffs (28 points in 25 games), but it was goaltender Cam Ward who captured the Conn Smythe Trophy.

Staal's number 12 is the fourth one to be sent to the rafters by the Raleigh franchise, it's joins Glenn Wesley's number 2, Ron Francis' number 10 and Rod Brind'Amour's number 17.

In Montreal, 17 players have had their number retired but since number 12 and 16 were retired for two players, there are only 15 numbers out of circulation. The last time the Canadiens retired a number was in November 2008 when Patrick Roy's number 33 was sent up to the rafters.

On that day, Carey Price and Jaroslav Halak posed for pictures with the legendary goaltender and 17 years later, one can wonder if, once Price is officially retired, his number 31 will be the fourth one to be retired for a goaltender (Roy, Ken Dryden, Jacques Plante).

Related: Canadiens: Dryden Sees Price in the Rafters

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