- Jordan Staal brought his three kids and the Conn Smythe Trophy to Carolina’s post-Cup presser
- His daughter Abigail grabbed the mic and asked why he punched Brady Tkachuk back in Game 1
- Read below for Staal’s answer and a look back at the fight that opened Carolina’s run
Jordan Staal got grilled at his own championship press conference. By his daughter.
Carolina finished off Vegas 3-0 in Game 6 on Sunday night, and Staal sat down afterward with the Conn Smythe Trophy and his three kids next to him. The reporters got their turn first. Then his daughter Abigail grabbed the microphone.
“We’re going to go way back to the first game in the first season,” Abigail said. “Why did you punch that guy? Questions that need to be answered, guys.”
That guy was Brady Tkachuk. Staal and the Ottawa captain dropped the gloves three seconds into Game 1 of the first round, one of the fastest fights to open a playoff game in league history. Tkachuk landed a couple early, and Staal answered with a right hand that put him on the ice.
Staal didn’t take the bait on a real answer. He smiled and said, “I’ll answer that later.”
Abigail wasn’t finished busting his chops, either. She circled back to a line he’d used earlier about his kids. “I thought you called us crew?” she asked. “Crew, you’re a crew,” Staal shot back.
The 37-year-old had every reason to be loose. He won the Conn Smythe as playoff MVP, the oldest player ever to take the award, after carrying Carolina to a 16-3 postseason.
The Cup is his second. Staal won his first with Pittsburgh in 2009, which puts 17 years between his two titles. That’s the longest gap in NHL history, past the old mark of 16 years held by Chris Chelios, who won with Montreal in 1986 and Detroit in 2002.
Watch Staal collect the hardware and lift the Cup:
The franchise hadn’t won it all since 2006. Staal’s kids now have the presser tape to bug him about for years.
