Dallas Stars Plan To Revisit Remainder Of UFA’s After July 1

The NHL is just four days away from opening up their free agency market, and the Dallas Stars still have a good number of unrestricted free agents that are unsigned. At this point, their plan is to potentially revisit each one after the market opens.

The NHL preaches a consistent game of trial and error with each passing year. It is also a game of complete unpredictability.

Unlike in any other sports league, the chances of a certain team going from the top of their division to the bottom in one season is very realistic.

But it’s not all negative. A team can also go from the bottom of their division to the top in one simple year. The Dallas Stars proved that this past season.

After a failed attempt at living up to steep preseason expectations in 2014-15, the Stars shuffled their lineup over the offseason and added a few new faces that helped them step up to the challenge in 2015-16. As a result, they burst out of the gate this past season in a “kicking butt and taking names” fashion.

By January 1, 2016, the Dallas Stars owned the best record in the NHL. Though they stalled a bit in the early part of the new year, they still finished as the second best team in the league and first in both the Central Division and Western Conference.

The season came to a close when the Stars were eliminated in game seven of the Western Conference semifinals by the St. Louis Blues. But the progress made in one year was spectacular, and Dallas will enter 2016-17 with Stanley Cup aspirations.

Will their success continue to pour on? That is one of the biggest questions considering the offseason the Stars are faced with. Dallas has spent the past few weeks wading through a mass of free agents, both restricted and unrestricted, trying to decide which ones will benefit the team most and at the right cost in the future. And at this point, it does not look like many will be returning.

The Dallas Stars started the offseason with eleven total free agents on their roster, eight being unrestricted and three being restricted. Among the UFA’s, there were four defensemen and four forwards. On the RFA side, two were forwards and one was a defensemen.

Just today, the Stars extended qualifying offers to defenseman Jamie Oleksiak and and forward Valeri Nichushkin. Both are considered prime pieces of the Stars’ future, so Dallas made sure to retain the negotiating rights for both in order to sign them to new deals in the coming days. Forward Brett Ritchie, the other pending RFA, was signed to a new deal earlier in the month.

So all three RFA’s were retained, simply because they are young players with bright futures. The UFA’s, on the other hand, are not looking to have as bright a future.

With cap space dwindling and a longterm extension for Jamie Benn needing to be signed this offseason, some cuts had to be made.

Alex Goligoski was simply the first domino that had to fall. The veteran defenseman was approaching UFA status and would demand a high price on the market, one that the Dallas Stars would have trouble paying. That being said, they traded Goligoski’s negotiating rights to Arizona.

Just recently, the Stars signed D Jordie Benn to a three-year extension. The young defensemen is reliable and improving with each year, and provides a valuable presence on the third pairing. The Stars were able to secure him on a cheap deal and further solidify their defensive corp in the process.

But for the other two defensemen, it seems as though the Dallas Stars are ready to cut ties. Jason Demers and Kris Russell have met with Stars general manager Jim Nill and attempted to negotiate deals, but the two sides seem to simply be on different pages.

That being said, Nill has told the media that both players will enter free agency and test their worth on the market. If they do not find what they are looking for and the Stars still have an open spot, a revisit may be possible.

But what about the forwards? It seems as though Dallas is set to play the waiting game with them as well.

must read: Stars' 2016 Entry Draft Coverage

While Travis Moen is more than likely off to the market with no chance of returning, forwards Vernon Fiddler, Patrick Eaves, and Colton Sceviour are still possibilities for Dallas.

This is a similar strategy to what the Stars did back in 2014 when they allowed Fiddler to test his worth on the market. He ended up returning to Dallas a few days later on a two-year deal.

All three of these players have legitimate reasons to return, especially Sceviour. But apparently Nill is confident that the Stars offense can survive without them (which is for the most part true). Either that or Nill could not strike a deal with the players.

So the one question remains: how confident are you in a Stars team without Goligoski, Demers, Russell, Fiddler, Sceviour, and Eaves?

Next: Stars Further Solidify Defense With Jordie Benn Deal

Free agency is only a few days away from becoming a reality. On July 1st, the Dallas Stars can go a number of ways. Buckle up and get ready.