Breaking: Former NHL star Eric Staal signs a new contract with a new team.

There were rumors that the interest around veteran forward Eric Staal was very minimal, but it did not take long for a new deal to be announced immediately following the opening of free agency.

According to a report from Sportsnet insider John Shannon, the Minnesota Wild have secured the services of Staal by locking him in to a 3 year contract with an average annual value of $3.5 million per season.

An interesting note here, there are already reports that it was the Wild telling Staal that he would get significant playing time that convinced him to sign in Minnesota, and considering the rumors that Staal was looking for a top 6 role in free agency, that would make sense.

[pub]