Dallas Stars Chances At Landing A Big Name Still Wide Open
By Josh Clark
Things have been quiet around the NHL in terms of offseason moves, but that doesn’t mean things are over. The Dallas Stars still have an opportunity to do something big.
On July 1, 2015, the Dallas Stars kept to themselves on the first day of the annual NHL free agency opening. The club re-signed Patrick Eaves and Curtis McKenzie to new contracts, but avoided any contact with any outside players or teams.
This worried some Stars fans. The 2014-15 season saw the Stars plummet far from preseason expectations, finishing 26th in the league in goals against and seven points away from a playoff spot. It almost seemed like a requirement for Dallas to build on their team and improve it in the offseason if they were to last in 2015-16.
By July 1, all they had done was add veteran goaltender Antti Niemi through a trade during the draft. While that did show promise in the crease, the Stars needed help on defense and possibly even some additional offensive help.
Then July 10th came along, and the Dallas Stars had some groundbreaking news to share at their annual Party in the Park event. During the festival, a few members of the Stars media announced that a blockbuster trade between Dallas and the Chicago Blackhawks had happened. The Hawks sent F Patrick Sharp and D Stephen Johns to Big D in exchange for D Trevor Daley and F Ryan Garbutt.
The move would eventually help transform the Stars into the best offensive team in the league, as well as give Dallas a promising young defenseman that really packs a punch.
Five days later, GM Jim Nill was back on the trail, looking for more improvements. He did just that by signing Johnny Oduya to a two-year deal, thus taking him away from the cap-suffocated Hawks as well.
The new deals made by Nill helped carry the Dallas Stars to the top of the Western Conference this past season, taking the title in the tough Central Division. They advanced to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time in eight years before dropping in seven games to the St. Louis Blues.
Considering the Stars did not reach the Stanley Cup Finals, fans resorted to the want for another big offseason. The rumors and speculations began surfacing around the NHL draft, including names like Ben Bishop, Brian Campbell, Dan Hamhuis, and Kevin Shattenkirk.
Well, they went 1/4, at least for now. Hamhuis signed with Dallas on July 1st, further helping out the defensive effort. The goaltending situation, however, continues to pain Stars fans. Though Lehtonen and Niemi had decent seasons with the Stars, the fans want insurance and a shutdown presence. That’s where Bishop comes in, though things seem bleak now.
But it’s only July 6, and it seems as though there is still a world of opportunity at hand for the Dallas Stars. There is one significant event in the near future that could be the cause for some drastic moves over the next few days, and definitely over the next few months, for all 30 NHL teams. That event is the NHL Expansion Draft that will occur next June.
The expansion draft will force all 30 teams to put up their fair share of valuable players with a chance of losing them for good to the newest hockey franchise in Las Vegas. That being said, why not dish them away in a trade in hopes of getting something significant in return that they can protect with ease? That’s the mindset that some teams have already settled with.
The point is, the Stars made some massive improvements to their team that ended up driving them to the top of the conference after the July 1st frenzy. It took ten days to make a big splash. But the splash was a significant one, and was a big part in helping build the Stars into what they are now.
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There is plenty for the Dallas Stars to still make a significant move. The free agent market is drying up quickly and does not have many strong options left, so a trade would be the most likely transaction. The best part about trades is that there is usually no reports or rumors that go public. The trade just sort of happens out of nowhere, leaving the fans completely off guard.
Do the Stars have it in them to find a way to pick up another franchise type player? Is Nill still hunting Ben Bishop? Is Bishop still even on the table? Is there another opportunity waiting for the Stars to stumble across that has not been picked up yet? These are the questions that will be answered over the next few days.
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There is also a good chance the Dallas Stars start the season with the lineup they currently have. That plan is not as atrocious as people have made it out to be, trust me. The lineup the Stars have now could do some serious damage. But Nill could find a way to make it even more dangerous.
It will all be unveiled in due time. All we can do now is just start scribbling down guesses for line combinations and defensive pairings. Have fun.