The Dallas Stars put all of the goalie debates to rest on Tuesday afternoon by trading Montreal’s fourth-round pick to the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for veteran goaltender Ben Bishop.
The 2017 offseason is officially off and running for the Dallas Stars, who started it off with a bang on Tuesday afternoon when they traded a fourth-round pick to the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for goaltender Ben Bishop.
The Dallas Stars have acquired goaltender Ben Bishop from Los Angeles for a fourth-round draft pick in 2017.
— Mark Stepneski (@StarsInsideEdge) May 9, 2017
Bishop, 30, is a pending UFA and will need to be signed before the July 1 free agency opening. That gives the Stars a little under two months to get a deal in place. Reports have surfaced that the two sides have already been talking about a new deal.
This move officially puts to rest all of the speculation and talk about who the Stars’ new starting goaltender will be for 2017-18. After suffering through a second season of the duo of Kari Lehtonen and Antti Niemi, the Stars knew that change was needed. Bishop will become that change.
At the age of 30, it’s no secret that Bishop has already put together an impressive career, primarily with the Tampa Bay Lightning. He’s played with four teams (St. Louis, Ottawa, Tampa Bay, and Los Angeles) in his career, but five of his eight years were spent with the Bolts.
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In that span, he posted an astounding 131-64-20 record along with a .921 save percentage and 2.28 goals against average. That included two seasons of Stanley Cup Playoffs action, including in 2015 when Bishop led Tampa to the Stanley Cup Final with a .921 save percentage and 2.18 GAA. That run included two seven-game series and a total of 25 games started for #30.
Over the entirety of his career, Bishop is 148-80-25 with a .919 save percentage and 2.32 GAA.
He was traded away by the Lightning to LA in late February as Tampa Bay prepared for the impending expansion draft.
This trade was primarily forced by expansion. The draft only allows each team to protect one goaltender, and the Kings obviously chose veteran Jonathan Quick over Bishop. That opened the door for Dallas to make a move.
In exchange, the Dallas Stars sent a fourth-round pick in this year’s draft to the Kings. The pick did not originate with the Stars though. Dallas received the pick from Montreal at the trade deadline in exchange for D Jordie Benn. So, the Stars basically traded Jordie Benn for Greg Pateryn and Ben Bishop, if you want to look at it like that.
In the reports following the trade announcement, it was mentioned that Bishop had a no-trade list that he submitted to the Kings, and that the Calgary Flames, who were listed as a potential suitor for Bishop, were on that list. He also apparently voiced his desire to be traded to Dallas .
In discussions with Kings, Bishop made it clear he preferred certain teams. Told them he wanted to be in Dallas.
— John Shannon (@JShannonhl) May 9, 2017
This move does a lot for the Dallas Stars. Not only have they found an answer for their nagging goalie problem, but they also have done it in a timely manner before all of the teams in the NHL get moving in their own offseason excursions.
What Jim Nill has next in the bag is completely up in the air. But one thing is for sure: this offseason just got a lot more exciting. Welcome to Dallas, Ben.