Staal excited to join Habs after tough Sabres stint: I can 'put that behind me'

Eric Staal is ready for a fresh start.

The Montreal Canadiens' newest forward is excited to be back in the playoff race after spending the first half of the campaign with the historically poor Buffalo Sabres.

"Well, the good part for me right now is I don't really need to explain," Staal said Sunday, according to The Athletic's John Vogl.

"I can kind of put that behind me and focus on what I can do for the Montreal Canadiens, which is what I'm going to try and do ... for me, having this chance to be a Montreal Canadien and join this team, with a lot of great players and talent, is exciting for me."

Montreal acquired the 36-year-old on Saturday in exchange for a pair of draft picks. Staal tallied three goals and 10 points over 32 games for Buffalo, which is currently enduring a franchise-worst 17-game winless streak.

The Sabres have been hit with several setbacks this season. A COVID-19 outbreak sidelined the club for the first two weeks of February, and Buffalo has since lost captain Jack Eichel and starting goalie Linus Ullmark to long-term injuries.

"There were so many hurdles, there were so many things that just didn't line up the way we envisioned," Staal said, per Vogl.

"The reality is we started OK, we had an up and down first two weeks or so, we were kind of finding our game, filling our roles, and then we got hit with COVID. It went through our room like wildfire, and it wasn't great. Two weeks of guys battling that, and a couple of guys battling it pretty hard, it was difficult. We kind of, after that, coming back, never found any footing."

Staal has tallied 439 goals and 1,031 points through 1,272 career outings but has appeared in the playoffs just five times since capturing the Stanley Cup with the Carolina Hurricanes during his sophomore season in 2005-06.

The Canadiens occupy the fourth seed in the North Division entering Sunday's slate of games.

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