When the Carolina Hurricanes traded Eric Staal to the New York Rangers last season both parties knew it was the best move to improve a rebuilding team. Carolina desperately needed draft picks and Staal brought in two of them when the Canes shipped him to the Rangers. However, Staal’s play with the Rangers wasn’t much better than with the Hurricanes at least in terms of production. Staal failed to register a single point for the Rangers in the playoffs and only scored 6 points in the 20 games before.
In the offseason, Francis made it clear that the organization would not resign Eric Staal to a new contract.