When he first won the Stanley Cup, Jordan Staal was just 20, single, the big kid from Thunder Bay, Ontario, who had two older brothers playing in the NHL.
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His oldest brother, Eric, also had a Cup ring, winning with the Carolina Hurricanes in 2006.
A first-round draft choice by the Pittsburgh Penguins that year, the second overall pick, Jordan Staal soon had Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin as his teammates. Three years later, he had his ring and envisioned more to follow. Why not?
And then he was traded. To the Hurricanes. It was announced in Pittsburgh, where the 2012 draft was being held and quickly overshadowed anything that happened there.
It came on his wedding day in June, in Thunder Bay, surrounded by Crosby, Malkin and a host of other Pens teammates.
Life changed for Jordan Staal. It would be challenging, but also enriching.
Flash forward.
There he was Sunday night in Las Vegas. On Staal’s right side in the interview room at T-Mobile Arena was the Conn Smythe Trophy, given to the Stanley Cup playoffs MVP. That belonged to him, and at 37 he was the oldest to win it. On his left were his three young children, all playing and smiling while their dad talked about the championship.
The Stanley Cup? Staal, the captain, was the first to raise it Sunday after the Canes polished off the Vegas Golden Knights, finishing off the Cup Final with a 3-0 victory in Game 6 at T-Mobile Arena.
“It’s just been amazing to be able to build something like this,” Staal said.
After the trade to Carolina, which left then-Pens coach Dan Bylsma blinking back tears talking about losing his big center, Jordan Staal wanted to join Eric in bringing a second title to the Hurricanes. That didn’t happen. Eric Staal later was traded, but Jordan soldiered on.
“The plan was to do it together,” Staal said. “It didn’t work out, but that’s life, sometimes.”
Again, things changed. Tom Dundon became the team owner. Rod Brind’Amour became the head coach. After Justin Williams retired, Jordan Staal was named the new team captain, just as Eric had been.
Brind’Amour leaned on him, heavily. His postgame hug with Staal spoke volumes.
“I’m happy I stuck around,” Staal said. “I believed in the culture, believed in what we were trying to build in Carolina. It’s an amazing feeling to build something and then top it off with something like this.”
Staal topped it off by scoring six goals in the series. He was a constant presence in front of the Vegas net and goalie Carter Hart, to the point Vegas coach John Tortorella said Stall was killing the Golden Knights.
“To come out and do what he did in the Stanley Cup Final, you can’t put into words what he means to this team,” forward Jordan Martinook said. “He’s been through the lows here and now he’s lifting it above his head.”
And like Bylsma in 2012, Brind’Amour seemed almost at the point of tearing up Sunday talking about him, what he has meant to this team, this organization.
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“I’m glad for him,” Brind’Amour said. “I’ve seen him grind it out for 14 years, and never waver.
“It doesn’t always work out, as we know. But it’s nice to see the good guys get one.”
And not just Staal. Brind’Amour also meant players such Jaccob Slavin, Sebastian Aho and Jordan Martinook. They’ve been a part of the team’s core leadership group for years, for their head coach. For them, the Cup was a first, and after a long fight to get it.
And there’s forward Taylor Hall, a former No. 1 overall pick, who is with his seventh NHL team. And goalie Frederik Andersen, who played well but also suffered through the team’s playoff disappointments but was a vital part of the Canes getting to the Cup Final this year.
“I wanted to win that thing so bad, but I wanted to win so much more for everybody else in that room and how they deserved it and how hard we worked,” he said. “It gives me chills know we pulled it off.”
Andersen started the first 16 games before Brind’Amour brought in Brandon Bussi in the third period of Game 3. Brind’Amour said Sunday that was Andersen was “not at 100 percent” during the Cup Final and Andersen said he suffered a slight injury in Game 2.
After lifting the Cup first, Staal next handed it to Andersen, at 36 an NHL veteran of 13 years.
“Obviously he’s been grinding the longest, and he got us going in the playoffs,” Staal said. “I figured he’d be a great start.”
With the interview session ending, one of Staal’s daughters raised her hand to ask a question, then pulled the mic over to the end of the podium.
“We’re going to go back to the first game, why did you punch that guy?” she said.
Staal smiled, but he knew. In the first playoff game, against the Ottawa Senators, Staal was challenged to a fight by Sens captain Brady Tkachuk after the opening faceoff. Staal obliged, and won. The tone for the playoffs was set.
Staal smiled Sunday, saying, “I’ll answer that later.”
Tkachuk and everyone else in the Canes’ way already knew the answer; Staal and the Hurricanes were ready for every challenge on their way to the Stanley Cup.
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This story was originally published June 15, 2026 at 6:45 AM.