During a Wednesday night phone conversation, the excitement in Eric Staal's voice got Wild coach Bruce Boudreau excited. Staal, the free-agent longtime captain of the Carolina Hurricanes, was talking about potentially centering Zach Parise.
"He wanted the opportunity to be the Eric Staal that he was in the past," Boudreau said after the team signed Staal to a cap-friendly, three-year, $10.5 million contract Friday. "And I told him he would definitely get that chance here."
In a busy first day of NHL free agency, the Wild brought back power forward Chris Stewart on a two-year, $2.3 million contract; added minor league depth by signing three players, including former San Jose goalie Alex Stalock; and landed Staal, a former 45-goal, 100-point scorer who the Wild hopes has lots of fuel in the tank after a couple of down years.
Boudreau, the former Washington Capitals coach, has seen the All-Star-caliber Staal up close for many years.
"When he was on top of his game, Carolina beat us all the time," Boudreau said. "He would get three or four points and that meant he was having the puck between the blue lines, carrying the puck, he was a dominant force everywhere.
"Things haven't gone well for him the last year and a half statistically speaking, but I have a hard time thinking that 31 in today's day and age with how fit the players are that he's all of a sudden gotten old. I think he'll be rejuvenated by the situation here."
The Wild was in the mix for St. Louis captain David Backes but wasn't comfortable going five years with a no-trade clause at $30 million for a 32-year-old the way Boston did. The seven-year, $42 million deal Kyle Okposo received from Buffalo was also too pricey.
"A day like today is an opportunity to overpay pretty good players," General Manager Chuck Fletcher said. "I'd like to think we avoided that for the most part. … We have enough space that depending on how the next few days go, we might find a situation where we have a player that's very interested in playing for us at a very good cap rate."