The New York Rangers, along with 30 other NHL teams, would love to have their own Jordan Staal.
Unfortunately, there is only one such player, and the Carolina Hurricanes player is a massive power center who can dominate games and even playoff series with his unmatched defensive prowess and 200-foot game, shutting down opponents with his size, strength and faceoff proficiency.
The 6-foot-4, 220-pound Staal, entering his 19th season, signed a four-year, $11.6 million contract extension with the Hurricanes in June 2023. The Hurricanes can't imagine life without the 35-year-old. Staal has become one of the most coveted players in the league, but maybe not for the reasons he thought when the Pittsburgh Penguins selected him second overall in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft.
The Penguins believed Staal could develop into a high-scoring primary center, and while Staal has led the offense with 675 points in his career, the Carolina captain's two-way play has shaped the Hurricanes' identity, helping them score 110 or more points three straight years.
A player like Staal isn't easy to come by, and he's unlikely to be available as a free agent, as evidenced by the Hurricanes' eagerness to sign him to an extension that was a clear discount for what he could have earned locally compared to what he would have received on the open market. Carolina acquired Staal in a lopsided trade from the Penguins in June 2012, and had no intention of letting him go.
There's only one player like Staal, but there's no reason a team wouldn't try to develop a player like Staal if the opportunity presented itself, and perhaps the Rangers will have that opportunity in the next few years with a big-bodied forward of their own.
Edstrom impresses Laviolette in Rangers first game
Adam Edstrom wasn't a high draft pick like Staal was — he was the sixth round, 161st overall pick in the 2019 draft, selected by former general manager Jeff Gorton — but the 23-year-old Edstrom combines a rare build at 6-foot-7 and 234 pounds with exceptional all-around skill and skating ability that could mold him into something very valuable, just as Staal was.
The Rangers recalled Edstrom twice last season from Hartford of the American Hockey League — once for his NHL debut in December and then again for a more extended stint — and quickly discovered he was more than just a big man hobbling around on skates. Edstrom's strength and space-taking were no surprises, but his long stride and ability to keep up with the play suggested he was something different.
“He's a big guy and he skates really well,” head coach Peter Laviolette said after Edstrom's first game of his second season back on Feb. 12. “He's got a big stick and you could really see it in practice moving up and down the ice. He skates with ease.”
“I like his physical strength and awareness. He was a good defensive player (with the Wolfpack). He took some penalty kicks. Ultimately, we're going to work him into different scenarios, but there was nothing that made us feel like he couldn't play in the last five or six minutes of the game.”
Edstrom scored a goal in the closing seconds of his first game, a 5–1 win over the Anaheim Ducks on December 15, and has played in 10 games since being reinstated from the AHL in February, scoring one more goal during that time. He was not included in the Rangers' playoff roster, as was fellow Giant Matt Rempe, but instead served as a Black Ace.
Just as Rempe has potential as a bottom-six forward with rare on-ice ability, so too does Edstrom, who can play all three forward positions but is primarily a center. The Blueshirts are desperate for a Staal-like figure who can dominate at center with his size and athleticism, and they'd be wise to wait and see if Edstrom can be just that.
Maybe Edstrom won't be the player that Staal was, who led the league with 29 points and seven shorthanded points as an 18-year-old rookie. That mark remains his career high. But Staal was not an offensive player and only reached 50 points once in his career. Can Edstrom become a 30-40 point player with a clear offensive presence while prioritizing his development as a defensive center who can overwhelm opposing pivots with his power and bulk?
As Laviolette put it, Edstrom made penalty kicks in Hartford and liked what the coach saw enough to declare that the rookie was going to do that and more with the Rangers. Edstrom may simply be a well-rounded prospect who went undrafted because teams were intimidated by his size and unsure if he could move well enough to make an impact. When the Blueshirts' Stanley Cup run fell short of six wins for the second time in three seasons, Laviolette seemed eager to find out, if not in the playoffs.
Part of the reason is still a lack of strength, something the Rangers are constantly working to address, and a 234-pound center who has 30 hits in 11 games would certainly be a step in the right direction.
Like Staal when he arrived in the NHL, Edstrom is a capable scorer, having 11 goals and five assists in 40 games with Hartford last season. But the Blueshirts' best bet for the Karlstad, Sweden native is to see if he can win the fourth-line center spot at some point next season, either in training camp or beyond. This could well be Edstrom's first step toward a future third-line shutdown role similar to what Staal does in Carolina.
The Rangers shouldn't hesitate to try Edstrom at his natural center position.
There's not enough data to prove whether Edstrom can dominate the faceoff dot like Staal did, but Staal's career provides evidence that the skill can be learned and (almost) perfected.
Staal won just 42.2% of his 1,202 draws in his second year in the league and never achieved a 50% win rate in his first five seasons (faceoff data is not available for his rookie season), but he did win 51.0% in his sixth season and has only dipped below 54.4% once since, while approaching 60% on a number of occasions. Staal learned to play to his strengths and hone his technique over time, making him one of the league's most nightmarish matchups at the dot.
Could Edstrom succeed Staal as the man who towers over basically any other centre and wins draws with his strength and repetitive plays, especially in the defensive zone? Perhaps a better comparison for Edstrom would be former Calgary Flames centre Joel Otto, another big, unknown young player who made a career out of bewildering Mark Messier during 11 seasons with the Edmonton Oilers' arch rivals in the 1980s and '90s.
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Like Staal and Otto, could Edstrom be the player Laviolette or a future Rangers coach will use when facing an opposing team's elite centers? There's only one way to find out.
Like Rempe, the Rangers have a unique opportunity to develop a hockey player in Edstrom into one who can use his massive size and skill to succeed in the NHL. The fact that Edstrom could develop into something the Blueshirts have lacked for years should make the prospect of doing just that even more appealing.
The team began that process by giving Edstrom some NHL experience last season, and while his growing pains may last longer than other young players, not continuing to be bold and take advantage of this unicorn of a talent represents a much bigger risk than giving Edstrom a chance to see just how good he can be.
