The forward, who turns 38 on Oct. 29, had been with Florida during training camp on a professional tryout and had no points and eight shots on goal in four preseason games. He was on the ice with the Panthers on Friday.
"He's had a really strong camp," Panthers coach Paul Maurice said Friday. "To his credit, I think he might have come to camp in the best shape of his life. There is so much to this man and personality that you'll all get to see when you spend some time with him, character and leadership.
"The love of the game, pure love of the game, and the love of the idea of winning. I think he's great; for it's a still relatively young core here and having a veteran guy like that, but it's not just the veteraness, it's who is he is as man, how he trains, how he competes, how he practices, how he chirps out there, how he's wired right in. He just makes our organization better."
Staal did not play for the Panthers in a 3-2 overtime loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Friday. Their next game is at home against the New York Islanders on Sunday.
Staal last played in the NHL in 2020-21, when he had 13 points (five goals, eight assists) in 53 games with the Buffalo Sabres and Montreal Canadiens, and eight points (two goals, six assists) in 21 Stanley Cup Playoffs games to help the Canadiens reach the Cup Final.
"Eric is an experienced leader in this League and a tremendous competitor," Panthers general manager Bill Zito said. "His professionalism and veteran mindset will add value to our locker room on and off the ice."
Last season, Staal had five points (two goals, three assists) in four games with Iowa, the Minnesota Wild's American Hockey League affiliate, after signing a PTO with them. At the 2022 Beijing Olympics, he had four points (one goal, three assists) in five games and was captain for Canada, which finished sixth.
"It was unique," Staal said in August. "I was by myself, losing the Stanley Cup Final in the middle of July. And then the next season started two months later and it just didn't work out there [in Montreal]. And then it didn't work out anywhere else. And it was just kind of like, 'All right, where do we head now?' I stayed in shape, and the Olympics came about, so I've had so many unique experiences."
With the Panthers, Staal will join his younger brother, defenseman Marc Staal, 35. The two were teammates with the New York Rangers in 2015-16.
"That was a big reason why I'm doing what I'm doing, to go down there, having him and maybe having that opportunity to play with him," Eric said. "It's special, one, to play in the League, and then to be able to do that alongside your brother on a team with Stanley Cup aspirations is something that you can only dream about."
Last season, the Panthers won the Presidents' Trophy for having the best record in the NHL (58-18-6) but were swept by the Lightning in the Eastern Conference Second Round.
Selected by the Carolina Hurricanes with the No. 2 pick of the 2003 NHL Draft, Staal has 1,034 points (441 goals, 593 assists) in 1,293 regular-season games with the Hurricanes, Rangers, Wild, Sabres and Canadiens, and 59 points (23 goals, 36 assists) in 83 playoff games. He won the Cup with the Hurricanes in 2006.
Maurice, who was Staal's coach in Carolina during his rookie season in 2003-04 and again from 2008-12, said he was surprised by what Staal had left in his game.
"He is truly an easy man to work with because there's no agenda," Maurice said. "He just wants to win and he wants to play here, and if he didn't feel he could help he wouldn't. He surprised me at camp, quite honestly, to the point that he earned the contract as an NHL player. He was far more dynamic than I thought he would be."
NHL.com independent correspondent Jessi Pierce contributed to this report
