It was a quiet first year as a member of the Buffalo Sabres hockey department for Eric Staal, who was hired by the former leader of the club's front office, Kevyn Adams, for a position titled special assistant to the general manager in May 2025.
Staal and Adams were teammates on the Carolina Hurricanes' Stanley Cup-winning roster in 2006 — they defeated an injury-depleted Sabres squad in the Eastern Conference Final — but there was no such connection to the team's current GM, Jarmo Kekalainen, which raised questions about his future with the organization when the offseason began.
As it turns out, Kekalainen asked Staal, who briefly played for Buffalo (32 appearances in 2020-21), to become more involved in the day-to-day operations in a quasi-coaching role. He's maintained an on-ice presence throughout training camp, with a focus on the power play and faceoffs.
The 41-year-old Canadian Olympic gold medalist appeared on Sabres Live with Brian Duff and Marty Biron to discuss his expanded responsibilities in Western New York.
"It's been really good to be honest," Staal said. "Luckily for me, I have a previous relationship with [Tage Thompson] and [Rasmus Dahlin]. I was here, albeit briefly, but I was here with those guys — it was COVID, it didn't feel like real life — but I do have a relationship with those guys. And now, to have seen them grow since that time to where they are now is really cool for me.
"... This team is fun to be around. They're super talented. There's steps that have been taken and more steps need to be taken. It's cool to kind of give input, give insight, just be a teeny bit of any help I can and hopefully they can keep taking steps. So, I've enjoyed it."
The longtime NHL center added he won't be around the team on a full-time basis throughout the 2026-27 season, but he'll still be providing input from back home, as needed.
"Yeah, I'll be kinda be in and out here for sure this next two months," Staal said. "Probably a lot early in the season. The trip out west I'll be with the guys the whole time. And then once we get to kind of mid-November it'll be a little bit less. I'll try to be in and out, and then obviously helping from afar as much as I can. I'll be watching all the games. By that time, hopefully all the guys have my number and can reach out any time if they have anything that they want to bounce off me. Just kind of a resource for everybody and do my best to just be a little part to help keep moving the needle."
The Sabres open the regular season Oct. 1 with a road game against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Their early West Coast trip runs from Oct. 27 through Oct. 31.
Lindy Ruff described the Sabres' unique arraignment with Eric Staal
Buffalo's staff knew Staal wouldn't be a permanent presence around the club for the entire seven-month regular season but still felt like the 2003 first-round pick could bring value to the franchise.
"He's going to help us with centermen, and he's going to help out on the power play," Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff told reporters last week. "He's basically an assistant coach, like consultant-type deal."
Ruff added: "He won't be here daily, but he's going to be here for a good part of every month, and it's going to be an area he's excited with helping out."
Staal should be a terrific resource for Buffalo's multitude of young centers, a group that includes Peyton Krebs, Jiri Kulich, Noah Ostlund and Konsta Helenius. While a few (or all) of them may play on the wing this season, they do have center backgrounds and could land in the middle eventually.
Faceoffs are an aspect he can help all of the Sabres' pivots, including top-line center Tage Thompson.
In 2025-26, Buffalo ranked last in the NHL in faceoff percentage (45.9%) during the regular season and that number slipped even a fraction lower during the team's playoff run (45.7%).
Exactly how important those struggles are has become a source of debate within the NHL stats community — Biron held up a Sabres Live sign that reads "faceoffs only matter when they matter" during the Staal interview — and the Sabres still finished with the league's fourth-best record (50-23-9) last season despite getting destroyed in the faceoff circle on some nights.
That said, having centers you're confident can handle key draws, whether it's to start a power play or in the defensive zone in the third period of a close game, does make life easier on a coaching staff.
It's an area where Staal's potential influence could be first noticed, even if it's only modest improvement toward the middle of the league's faceoff rankings.
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