Dallas Stars’ Free Agents Could Be Pursued By Vegas Golden Knights
By Josh Clark
The Dallas Stars are going to lose one player to the Vegas Golden Knights in the expansion draft. But what if instead of a player under contract, they lose a pending free agent? It could happen.
Do you ever get anxiety as you approach a day that you have waited a long time for? Maybe it was the days leading up to your birthday or Christmas as a child or the days before a final exam or big job interview as you grew older.
Whatever the case, you have probably had a situation where the two or three days before a big event seem endless. They slowly eat away at your confidence and/or state of mind, and eventually make you beg for the day to just hurry up and arrive.
It seems as though we have another one of these situations with the 2017 NHL Expansion Draft. Ever since the protection lists for the expansion draft were made open to the public on Sunday morning, the NHL world has sat in a state of anxiety.
The Vegas Golden Knights, the newest franchise to the NHL, will select one exposed player from each current NHL team to add to their roster so they can begin play in October. But who they select from each team is unknown, and no one will know until Wednesday night outside of the Vegas franchise.
Dallas Stars
In addition to the draft, every team has the opportunity to make a side deal with Vegas if they either want a player or want Vegas to avoid taking an unprotected player. But, just like with the draft itself, no one will know about any of the specifics of these deals until Wednesday night. Between now and then, all we can do is anxiously stew.
The Dallas Stars are a part of this expansion draft just like everyone else, but how will these next few days pan out for them specifically? That’s a mystery. While there are a good number of teams that find themselves in a bind and need to make a deal with Vegas, Dallas could avoid making any deals and come out in good shape. That’s a great situation to be in.
But who are they going to lose? Names like Cody Eakin, Curtis McKenzie, and Dan Hamhuis were all left exposed and could be potential picks for the Golden Knights. Each bring something different to the table and could be of different values to Vegas. Contract status is one of those strengths.
Even though the Stars put some decent talent on the table with years left on their contracts, could Vegas go in a different direction and sign one of their pending free agents?
The upfront answer is a resounding yes. Of the 22 exposed players on the Dallas Stars’ list, 12 of them will be free agents come July 1 of this year. Of the 12, four are pending UFAs and eight are pending RFAs.
Vegas has exclusive negotiating rights with all unprotected free agents from June 18-21. So, if they wanted a free agent from the Dallas Stars, they would have to negotiate a new contact with the player. But if they were able to make something work and sign the player to a new deal, it would count as their pick from the Stars’ roster. So this could end up helping the Stars out in a way.
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But which player would they go after? That’s a tossup. Matej Stranksy signed a contract in the KHL yesterday, so Vegas won’t be negotiating with him. Mark McNeill, Justin Hache, Mattias Backman, Dustin Stevenson, and Nick Ebert are all minor league talents and likely won’t be selected either.
That leaves Patrick Sharp, Ales Hemsky, Jiri Hudler, Gemel Smith, Patrik Nemeth, and Jamie Oleksiak.
Sharp is still recovering from hip surgery and may not return at 100 percent, so it’s unlikely that Vegas will gamble on his health. After the atrocious year that Hudler had with Dallas, he probably won’t be Vegas bound either.
Hemsky could be a valuable veteran presence on offense for Vegas if they were in need of one and would probably sign for cheap. He could also be a short-term rental for the Golden Knights and they could deal him to a contender at the trade deadline in exchange for more pieces for their future.
Smith could be another potential surprise pickup by Vegas. He played well in his short stint with the Dallas Stars this past season and seems to have a large upside at center.
And then there’s Nemeth and Oleksiak. These two would probably be the most likely candidates. Both are defenders that have not panned out for Dallas over the past four or five seasons and likely won’t be back next season. The Stars are moving towards the future on their blue line and will have a solidified starting group after adding a free agent defender this offseason. That being said, there is no desperate need for the two defenders anymore.
But they are both skilled, have a good bit of NHL experience, and are still young. They could be very intriguing additions for Vegas. Of course, only one can get taken. But if the Golden Knights are looking for a young defender with potential that will sign for cheap, Oleksiak or Nemeth could be two excellent options.
Overall, Vegas may have their eyes on a Star that is currently under contract, and that’s okay. The Dallas Stars are set up nicely in this situation in that there is no foreseeable void that couldn’t be filled.
Next: An In-Depth Look At The Stars' Protected List
But if Vegas is looking to take contract talks into their own hands, Dallas has a variety of options that they could choose from.
As weird as it may sound, a pending free agent could actually help the Stars out this offseason. But we won’t know until Wednesday night.