Jordan Staal is a fine player, however very average on most all fronts. He have one of those Conn Smythe trophies?
This is impressively 100% wrong.
Jordan Staal is one of the biggest, strongest and most difficult players to play against in the NHL. It is a testament to how physically dominant Staal is that he can put up 40-50 points each year because he may have the worst hands in the league.
He is very above average on most all fronts. Just terrible offensive instincts most of the time.
Functionally what that means for Carolina is that they can put out Staal and Slavin against any line in the league and negate them. McDavid? Gone. Kucherov? Gone. Perfection line? Gone. This is how Carolina beat a very good Boston team in the Playoffs last year.