The Hurricanes retired Eric Staal’s number one Sunday, a well-deserved moment for one of the most popular players in franchise history. Sending a player’s number to the rafters can be tricky business, and some teams handle it better than others, but that’s part of the fun. At the end of the day, these honors are as much about the fans as the players, as they get a chance to celebrate a guy who was important to them.
Next up for Staal’s legacy: The Hall-of-Fame debate, which will be a tough one. He won’t hash it out here, but it’s fair to say that you could see it going either way depending on which way the wind is blowing whenever the secretive committee gets together.