Veteran defenseman Marc Staal has decided to retire from the NHL after playing 17 years, and he has joined the New York Rangers organization as a Player Development Assistant.

Marc Staal had a long and successful career in the NHL with the Rangers, Detroit Red Wings, Florida Panthers and Philadelphia Flyers. He was a staple of many of the great Rangers teams over the last decade or so.

In his career, Staal played 13 of his 17 seasons with the Rangers, debuting in the 2007-08 season, immediately playing in 80 games for the team, according to Hockey Reference. New York became a contender in the Eastern Conference throughout his time there, and he had some signature playoff moments as well, headlined by his overtime winner against the Washington Capitals in Game 5 of the second round in 2012.

Staal and the Rangers went to the Stanley Cup Final in 2014, losing to the Los Angeles Kings in five games. There was a lot of success in that era for the Rangers with Henrik Lundqvist as the backstop, but they could not get over the hump and win the cup. Staal did eventually sign a long contract with the Rangers and as he declined, became a target for frustrated fans. Still, the organization obviously values his presence, as they brought him back immediately after his retirement.

13 of Staal's 17 seasons were spent in New York, before he played two seasons with the Red Wings, one with the Florida Panthers on the team that went to the Stanley Cup Final in 2023, and last season with the Flyers.

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Marc Staal hopes to help Rangers win Stanley Cup as a front-office member

In recent years with a largely new group of players, it has been a similar story for the Rangers. Over the past three seasons, New York has been one of the best teams in the NHL, finding a lot of success in the regular season and making two runs to the Eastern Conference Final in those years. Still, they have not gotten over the hump to win it all.

The Rangers still have a Stanley Cup-contending team. Chris Kreider, Staal's former teammate who was on the contenders that he played on, is still a key member. Others like Igor Shesterkin, Artemi Panarin, Mika Zibanejad and Adam Fox are players who were not around when New York was a true cup contender with Staal.

New York values Staal's input, and he will be someone young players can lean on when coming up through the organization. Staal hopes to add a Rangers Stanley Cup ring to his resume as a front-office member. The team is capable of doing so.