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Chicago Blackhawks: 3 Montreal Canadiens free agents to consider

By Vincent Parise

TAMPA, FLORIDA - JULY 07: Ondrej Palat #18 of the Tampa Bay Lightning and Shea Weber #6 of the Montreal Canadiens battle in front of Carey Price #31 during the first period in Game Five of the 2021 NHL Stanley Cup Final at Amalie Arena on July 07, 2021 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
TAMPA, FLORIDA - JULY 07: Ondrej Palat #18 of the Tampa Bay Lightning and Shea Weber #6 of the Montreal Canadiens battle in front of Carey Price #31 during the first period in Game Five of the 2021 NHL Stanley Cup Final at Amalie Arena on July 07, 2021 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images) /
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Chicago Blackhawks, Eric Staal
(Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images) /

Montreal Canadiens. Eric Staal. 21. player. 152. . C

Eric Staal would be a fine veteran addition for the 2021-22 Chicago Blackhawks.

Eric Staal is one of the best players that the league has seen since 2000. He spent most of it with the Carolina Hurricanes where he won a Stanley Cup. When his contract was almost up, they traded him to the New York Rangers where he finished that season. He then signed a multi-year contract with the Minnesota Wild where he would stay for four seasons. After that thanks to a couple of trades, he had short stints with the Buffalo Sabers and Montreal Canadiens.

At 36 years old, he probably has some hockey left inside of him. He probably won’t sign a multi-year deal anywhere which is why he would be a good veteran for the Chicago Blackhawks. He wouldn’t play ahead of Jonathan Toews or Kirby Dach in the lineup but a good third or fourth line centerman would be welcomed with open arms.

Staal has 441 goals and 593 assists for 1034 points in 1293 games played. He has had a fantastic career and could even be in the Hall of Fame conversation someday. However, he only had five goals and eight assists for 13 points in 53 games this season.

Most of it was with the Buffalo Sabres who were just so bad so a slight resurgence could be there. When he got to Montreal, he was successful in helping them go far. The Hawks forward group would look much better with someone like Staal.

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