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After 17 seasons, 13 of them with the Rangers, Marc Staal has retired from the NHL. Staal played 892 games with the Rangers over those 13 seasons, putting up a line of 43-145-188, not including a critical 2OT winner against Washington in the 2012 playoffs. Staal was not a noted scoring defenseman, and was a premier, hard hitting, defense first player in his prime.
Unfortunately, Staal’s prime was cut short by a pair of gruesome injuries. First, he took a big hit from his brother Eric in 2011, one that left Marc with a concussion and a lengthy recovery process. Second, he took a puck to the eye against the Flyers in 2013. I was at that game, and I’ve never heard MSG so quiet when it happened.
Both injuries impacted his on-ice ability. Couple that with an evolving NHL from shot blocking defensemen to puck moving and faster paced games, and Staal was quickly a shell of his former self. Still, those prime years were fun to watch. We can all still picture Staal completely laying out Alex Ovechkin as he cut over the blue line.
Staal will join the Rangers development staff post-retirement. As a reminder, this doesn’t necessarily mean on-ice coaching with the prospects, nor does playing success translate to coaching success (see: Gretzky, Wayne). Tanner Glass is in a similar role, and to my knowledge, he mostly assists prospects in preparing for the pro hockey journey.
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