The Dallas Stars’ Haves: The Offseason Ahead

Well, it’s officially been 1 month and 4 days since anyone has seen Stars hockey.

This also means that 30 days from now, July 1st, the free agent market opens up and players start frantically jumping to different teams and taking new logos on their chests for the upcoming season The Dallas Stars will be one of the many teams taking place in this eventful endeavor. And they have many options to work with.

As the FA and trade market opening date draws near, here are a few helpful tips to keep in the back of your head when wondering what the Stars may or may not do.

The Stars’ Haves:

The Dallas Stars are eagerly awaiting open season for two reasons of course. To re-sign players and to trade and drop players. With regards to trading players, there are a few in the arsenal whose names might be worth something come July 1st. When looking at trade targets, different players could become useful to sweeten a deal somewhere.

Shawn Horcoff:

Horcoff came to Dallas with major expectations and turned out to be a potential bust. He gained 20 points (7G, 13A) in the entire regular season and 6 points (1G, 5A) in the postseason. These numbers are rather harsh for a 35 year old former captain. But, as stated earlier in my report card on him, it’s not all his fault considering he was glued to the fourth line for most of the season and postseason.

But he could turn out to be a valuable asset in the Stars trade endeavors.

Horcoff has been with the Stars a year and hasn’t truly proved himself, though one could argue that his postseason appearance signaled a turning point in his play. His stat line could be concerning to different teams but overall his name is still recognizable if on the block. For any teams looking for a skillful 3rd line center, Horcoff could be their guy. Some teams to fit this category would potentially be the Chicago Blackhawks or Florida Panthers. The Stars could be heavily repaid by either of these teams in regards to filling in the defensive as well as right wing depth. And with 1 year left on his contract, he would be the perfect addition to a Cup running team that was looking for a one-season stand with someone of his caliber.

Alex Chiasson:

Chiasson was a stud in his premiere season with the Stars during the lockout but found himself falling during this most recent season. He ended the season with 35 points (13G, 22A) and the postseason with 2 points (1G, 1A). His line situation was similar to Horcoff’s, but his stat line was where he prevailed. My analysis of him goes in to depth on his current situation regarding his relationship with Dallas.

Being a 23 year old and producing these kinds of numbers, he is most likely on the radar for different teams looking for rebuild around young faces.

Perhaps he would be a valuable trade to someone like the Buffalo Sabres whose offense is ailing in exchange for a big name like Tyler Myers to support the blue line or the Minnesota Wild for someone like Charlie Coyle to back up the center position. Chiasson could be a valuable addition to each of these teams scoring front and could potentially land in either of these locations, unless the Stars decide to keep him on for another year. Chiasson has 1 year remaining on his contract and his salary is almost minute.

Aaron Rome:

Rome has been in Dallas since the beginning of the 2012-13 lockout season. Over the past 2 seasons and playoffs adding up to a total of 53 games, he has a total of 6 points (0G, 6A). These numbers are horrific, though his physical play is well known.

With 30 years going on his odometer, his value is dropping significantly after each passing year.

His physical play is helpful on the defensive fore check, but that’s about all he is worth anymore. If the Stars were to use him in a trade, he would almost have to be a sweetener, meaning he wouldn’t be the main part of the trade. If the Stars were to get rid of him, he would almost certainly have to be tagged to another big name player from Dallas, such as the two listed above. But at the moment, he isn’t helping the Stars in any way, so they may as well send him off and free up cap space for a potential big name.

The Stars have a few names on the roster that they will be able to flex with this July. In order to beef up the team and get it where it needs to be in the proper Cup run status, they will need to send out a few in order to obtain a few. If the Cup run is imminent next year, the Stars need to be in a bit of a different place than they are now. The names mentioned above could help them get where they need to be through trading.

This is the first part of a three part mini series I’ll be doing. The next part will be what the Dallas Stars are wanting, and the third part will be what they are needing.

I believe in Jim Nill. He’s gotten us to a playoff caliber team, now he needs to get us to a Cup caliber team.

Leave your ideas below and Go Stars.