By Karen Price
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Penguins forward Jordan Staal will probably get his share of rookie of the year votes when the NHL regular season ends in three and a half weeks.
While teammate Evgeni Malkin is favored to win the award, Staal certainly has turned heads this season by coming in as an 18-year-old and scoring 27 goals - third-highest on the team and second among all NHL rookies - in 67 games.
But there's another award for which Staal likely will be considered in the not-too-distant future -- the Selke Trophy given to the NHL's best defensive forward.
"We're already using him in defensive situations and, as far as our young forwards go, he certainly looks like he has a chance to develop into our top defensive forward," Penguins assistant general manager Chuck Fletcher said Monday. "It's unusual to see a young player come in with the defensive awareness and the ability to step in and take a regular shift on a penalty kill unit on a good team at the age of 18. I can't recall anybody like him; I can't recall anybody with those types of defensive instincts and having that type of success defensively at the same age."
Staal leads the Penguins and all NHL rookies in plus/minus rating with a plus-15. He went 25 consecutive games even or better between Dec. 15 and Feb. 10, when he was a plus-15.
Staal has been a minus in only 11 games out of 67 this season.
One of the team's top penalty killers, Staal also leads the league in shorthanded goals with seven.
His seventh shorthanded goal came a week ago -- and set an NHL rookie record -- when he sparked the Penguins' improbable comeback against the Ottawa Senators. The previous record of six shorthanded goals as a rookie was held by two players, Gerry Minor with the Vancouver Canucks in 1980-81 and John Madden with the New Jersey Devils in 1999-2000.
"(Staal's) not just one of those offensive guys," defenseman Ryan Whitney said. "He can really play on the other side of the puck. He does a great job of always picking up a guy, picking up sticks, he's so big and he uses his body a lot to get pucks out of the zone. It's pretty impressive, too, that he switched to wing. He'd never played wing, and he's been getting those wraparounds that are tough for new forwards to get out. He's doing a great job."
Staal also is giving teammate Malkin a run for his money in the league's rookie goal-scoring race, with 27 to Malkin's league-leading 31. Staal also has 10 assists for 37 points.
Staal has long since passed brother Eric's rookie goal total of 11 in 81 games in 2003-04 with the Carolina Hurricanes. The younger Staal also could surpass his oldest brother in goals scored this season, too. Eric Staal, 22, who scored 100 points with the Hurricanes last season, has 26 goals and 35 assists in 70 games.
In yet another interesting twist, Jordan Staal is only one goal shy of his total from last season when he was playing in junior hockey. Staal had 28 goals and 40 assists for 68 points in 68 games.
"He's a player who growing up was always more of a playmaker than a goal scorer, so this year's certainly been a revelation," said Fletcher, who compared Staal's prowess on the penalty kill to that of a cornerback in football.
Staal said he hasn't given much thought to his future as a possible Selke candidate.
"I'm not really looking into the future that much," Staal said. "Obviously, guys like Rod Brind'Amour are great hockey players who are good on both sides of the puck, and I'd love to be a player like that. Whenever the team needs me, I'd love to be out there and play that last minute. We'll see how it goes from here."
Karen Price can be reached at kprice@tribweb.com.
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