Dallas Stars Should Be Thanking Steven Stamkos

The Tampa Bay Lightning made one massive move yesterday regarding the future of one of their superstars. That being said, they may have to give one away. The Dallas Stars should be first in line for this potential occurrence.

Ah, Free Agency Day Eve. It’s a magical time throughout the NHL right now, similar to Christmas. All 30 general managers are scanning their wish lists, deciding which players they are going to pursue and how each one is ranked on their needs list.

While Santa won’t be coming along to help out, there will be plenty of other things to keep the fans entertained.

The Dallas Stars are more than likely one of the teams that will be aggressively moving through the market, whether in signings or trades. Though general manager Jim Nill has said that he is fine with staying out of the madness, the Stars always seem to find their way into the mix.

The Stars steamrolled through the 2015-16 season and ended up as the best team in the Western Conference. They advanced to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time in eight years, where they would fall in a hard-fought seven game slate.

Led by an all-star cast on offense including Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin, Patrick Sharp, and Jason Spezza, the Stars were the highest scoring team in the NHL. Their defense was stable and drastically improved from the season prior, and the new goaltending tandem of Antti Niemi and Kari Lehtonen carried the Stars to a 50 win season, with each goaltender securing 25 W’s.

All that being said, Dallas Stars fans are still calling for change. The goaltending floundered a bit in the playoffs, especially in what would be the Stars’ final game of the postseason. The defense was messy and construed, and now the Dallas blue line will more than likely start next season missing three of this year’s starters.

So what is Nill going to do about it? Possibly nothing, possibly a lot. Nill has said in countless interviews that he “is fine” with where the team is at right now and would be confident going into next year with the current lineup.

Yet, over the past week the Stars have been rumored to be talking with the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Florida Panthers about two different players. Those are goaltender Ben Bishop and defender Brian Campbell.

As we’ve already written about a couple times on the site, the Stars could greatly benefit from picking up either of these players. The question is, what would they have to give up and who would they pick up.

Campbell is set to be a free agent and will be testing the market. At the age of 37, he does not have a lot of mileage left, but proved that age is just a number last year with the Panthers. The Stars could sign him without losing anything in return (except a little cap space) and he would provide a strong veteran presence on a primarily young blue line.

Bishop, on the other hand, would greatly improve the Stars’ crease. He has played a consistent career between the pipes, posting a .922 average save percentage over the last four years with TB. His presence as a primary starter would easily punch the Stars’ ticket to the West Finals, maybe even the Stanley Cup.

Over the past few days, the Bishop talks have dwindled in Dallas. But it looks as though Steven Stamkos could be a saving grace for the Dallas Stars.

Yesterday, Stamkos signed an eight year, $68 million deal with the Lightning. There was speculation that the superstar center would be moving to a new home this offseason as a pending UFA, and Stamkos even visited a couple of teams up north. But in the end, it seems that he is sticking with Tampa Bay for the long run.

must read: What Would It Take To Make Ben Bishop A Dallas Star?

This move means that Bishop could be on the way out the door. With the expansion draft looming and only one goalie allowed protection from each team, the Lightning have a decision to make. They have two competent starting goalies. Only problem is, Bishop is the older of the two.

So if the Lightning will eventually be unable to protect Bishop, why not get something out of him now? It’s a win-win, right? Who knows. Bishop currently has a no movement clause in his contract, so he would have to approve of the trade. But something tells me he would be alright with coming to Dallas.

Bishop will be an unrestricted free agent next offseason, and will be commanding a high price. With Stamkos’ new deal kicking in and squeezing the cap, the Lightning probably won’t be able to re-sign him.

Next: Stars Enter Free Agency Period With Options Open

So why not dish him to Dallas? Nill would definitely find a way to make it worth their while. But with the Stamkos deal, the Lightning are running out of breathing room. Keep your eyes peeled. The fun part of the offseason is on the way.