Staal survived the offseason. After signing Jacob Trouba and Artemi Panarin to the team and extending Pavel Buchnevich for two seasons, the New York Rangers were over $4 million over the cap limit for the 2019-20 season.
There was a good amount of speculation that one of Staal, Brendan Smith or Kevin Shattenkirk would be bought out by the New York Rangers before the end of the buyout window.
Come August 1st, it was Shattenkirk who drew the short straw and was off the Rangers roster.
Shattenkirk played a majority of his first season on the Rangers with a knee injury he sustained during training camp.