Joe Pavelski vs Eric Staal?

[ThisIsTheSway]

Who's the better player career wise?

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[wetcoast]

Staal by a clear and fair margin and Joe is too old to make up the ground IMO.

 

[hohosaregood]

Staal definitely had the higher peak as a scorer but Pavelski just keeps chugging along. Probably pretty even value over their careers in terms of player output but the cup win for Staal gives him the edge.

 

[DickSmehlik]

Staal's peak and Cup give him a slight edge but given their current trajectory, Pavelski will likely retire with more points in less games making a solid case that he had the better career.

 

[Unsustainable]

If Edler never broke Staals knee, probably would have had a better career for longer.

 

[JackSlater]

Staal, but it's easier to like Pavelski since he seems like a guy who made the absolute most of his talent while Staal is not close to that.

 

[Jetcetera]

Pavelski continues to put up solid numbers and had definitely aged better. Staal had a better peak. It's a toss up

 

[jetsforever]

Probably Staal on paper but I have to go with Pavelski overall

 

[Ducks in a row]

Eric Staal is listed as being a member of the Triple Gold Club so he has had the better career easily.

 

[Vagrant]

Staal played on horrible teams his whole career, basically, that occasionally overachieved with a top 10-15 goalie on a yearly basis and a strong defensive structure. he had no help. virtually every scoring line player we had during his time had a different offensive perspective. Skinner is a shoot first volume winger and Staal was the same at center and they were like oil and water. Staal had his most productive seasons with Cory Stillman and Erik Cole. In my opinion, despite how strong his resume looks, his career was mostly one of unrealized potential due to never finding someone to ride shotgun. It just seemed like a lot of the guys we thought were going to work with him just couldn't get the most out of him and vice versa. I realize that part of a star designation is making the players around you better, but it seemed so much like hard luck for Staal. the numbers that he produced were in spite of all that and the harrowing weight of carrying an entire franchise on your back for an exorbitant price tag for a small market team. it weighed on him in a way that made it look like he wasn't having a lot of fun. he was soul crushed by losing and there were certainly times that he fell into mindset and sleepwalked through portions of lost seasons.

It's hard to get me to say bad things about Pavelski, because he's an absolute inspiration for having his prime after 30, basically, but he was on competitive teams his entire career. Thornton, Marleau, Burns, Boyle, Michalek (early on), Couture, Heatley for a year or two, Rob Blake for a year or two, Hertl, Clowe, Havlat for a bit. there was a lot of transient talent through the Bay area because it's such a beautiful place. He enjoyed some really great teammates and was mostly allowed to fly under the radar of major responsibility because of the presence of Thornton and Marleau and the throng of stars that would come in and out of town to play for a contending team. He escaped a lot of the heat for those Sharks teams that couldn't get it done because he was an important piece but not at the blazing center of the spotlight. his time in Dallas has been accentuated by having Robertson and Hintz turning into stars around his orbit. he deserves all the credit in the world for playing well enough to help develop those talents and he's enjoying the fruits of that. Especially in the simultaneous submission of Seguin and Benn to do the work to be impact players. great player, but if you swap these two players locations it's probably a lot more decisive.