Dallas Stars Free Agency Signings Are Hurting Prospect Development

While depth at all positions is vital for an NHL team’s success, the Dallas Stars’ annual free agency signings are putting a damper on the strength in the system.

With free agency beginning across this past weekend in the National Hockey League, the Dallas Stars completed a bounty of signings and departures that both weaken and strengthen the roster. Firstly, Dallas said goodbye to two veterans of two seasons with the Stars, after Antti Niemi (one year, $700,000 with Pittsburgh) and Patrick Sharp (one year, $1,000,000 with Chicago) signed with two perennial contenders.

The Stars countered the move by signing depth forwards Martin Hanzal (Minnesota Wild), Tyler Pitlick (Edmonton Oilers), and Brian Flynn (Montreal Canadiens). Along with such, Dallas re-upped a contract with young defenseman Patrik Nemeth, who has played parts of the past four seasons with the Stars.

Another Habs forward, Alexander Radulov, signed on Monday morning to a five-year deal with an annual value of $6.25 million dollars. Radulov is a solid NHL playmaking winger with a legitimate 75-point ceiling, but nonetheless, there are way too many forwards on the Stars depth chart.

In doing such, the Dallas Stars now have at least 14 established NHL forwards in addition to nine defensemen. This creates quite the logjam as far as the crop of talent in the lower ranks go, as three NHL-ready forwards (Remi Elie, Jason Dickinson, Gemel Smith) will now sit in the American Hockey League until further notice.

Dallas Stars /

Dallas Stars

Tonight, Dallas Stars fans, go out to any local steakhouse and order a prime rib well-done. Whether or not ordering a steak well-done is your preferred method of enjoyment, you’ll see that the steak is void of a lot of flavor and juice. Whereas you could take it medium rare; the chef will cook such at a lower temperature and a tad bit shorter to ensure that not all of the steak will be seared. There will be the toughness and fortitude of the outside, and in addition the pink, tender, delectable inside.

It’s a metaphor – one I use for my own good to describe how the Dallas Stars have treated their top American Hockey League prospects in terms of player development. They, as in general manager Jim Nill and crew, are ordering steaks well done, so to speak.

A yearly occurrence come free agency time, July 1st in every National Hockey League season starts off with a bang in the Dallas Stars camp as some major signing or trade acquisition occurs. Nill has never been afraid to make waves throughout the NHL to reinforce his team, or even completely make it over.

Mostly positive is the ultimate result of these deals, but one adverse effect is the turnaround it has on the top prospects in the Dallas system. With only 23 full-time NHL roster spots, how can the best young AHL players get the time and space they need to reach the upper echelon of NHL success? Short answer: they cannot, plain and simple.

Long answer: it’s nearly impossible to assert yourself as an NHL-calibur player when the system in which you play constantly restocks itself with star talent. What the group of forwards on two-way contracts have proved in their short NHL stints over the past two seasons is an ability to provide speed, versatility, and skill across the lineup, but talents such as that are never on display when Dallas is adding 30-year-olds like Hanzal.

In their short Dallas appearances, Elie, Dickinson, and Smith were all considerably better than the likes of Pitlick and Flynn last season in Edmonton and Montreal, respectively. None of the three 23-and-under prospects played more than 16 minutes a night on average, yet they each had an equal or better points-per-game average than Stars’ first-liner Cody Eakin (0.20 ; 12 points in 60 games).

2016-17 Stats

All three played significant roles in bottom-nine fashions, with penalty killing excellence being shared by all three of the athletes. Elie averaged the most time on ice out of all three (15:38) due to a massive PK role during which he was immensely successful, while Dickinson and Smith made a sound with high-quality two-way center play.

More from Blackout Dallas

So how are Pitlick, Hanzal, and Flynn better options? The answer lies within the new coaching staff of Ken Hitchcock, Rick Wilson, Stu Barnes, and the returning Curt Fraser. Hitchcock’s system relies heavily on discipline and dependability, and it’s probably a better option from the outside looking in – in the eyes of Hitchcock himself – to bring in experienced vets.

Hitchcock looked at Flynn’s forechecking, Hanzal’s size, and Pitlick’s resourcefulness before being able to see what the players in the minors were capable of – which, of course, makes sense since Hitchcock hasn’t coached the Stars in 15 years. Implementing his own personally-lucrative system over having unproven prospects flourish is the only way he knows how to coach.

Unfortunately, this only adds to the long-standing prospect development issue that plagued players like Scott Glennie and Valeri Nichushkin. The prospects that deserve time and space to operate within an NHL club’s lineup don’t receive such thanks to over-managing by Nill and company. Too many players on NHL contracts means too many deserving players sitting in the minor leagues.

The case with a lot of players in the Dallas Stars system is the same, such as Patrik Nemeth or Stephen Johns: when they’re not playing, they’re not improving. If Dallas happens to over-ripen Dickinson, Smith, or Elie, they would have wasted certifiable NHL-level talent.

Next: Alexander Radulov Signing Gives Dallas Stars Perhaps League's Best Forward Core

Hopefully Jason Dickinson, Remi Elie, and Gemel Smith give the Dallas Stars the boost they can provide soon. The NHL readiness is there, and soon, the opportunity will be as well.

Home/Analysis