Dallas Stars Will Make A Deal With Washington Capitals This Offseason
With the offseason quickly approaching, the Dallas Stars have a few holes in their lineup that need filling. The Washington Capitals have a little bit of everything that the Stars need and could help them out in more ways than one.
The 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs rose to yet another new level of excitement last night.
The Washington Capitals, once down 3-1 in the Eastern Conference semifinals to the Pittsburgh Penguins, went into Pittsburgh and routed the Pens 5-2 to tie the series at 3-3 and force a game seven on Wednesday night.
This game was just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to thrilling finishes so far in this year’s playoffs. There have been 65 postseason games played this year, and not one has failed to entice and excite fans. Whether it’s been one of the 23 overtime games, one of the few uproarious blowouts, or the surprising upsets, they’ve been fun to say the least.
This year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs have been the most exciting in recent memory, and there’s still two more rounds to enjoy before a champion is crowned.
The Capitals might be that champion. They’ve shown some impressive resilience over the past two games, avoiding elimination with dominating wins. They now have a chance to knock out the defending champs on home ice and successfully complete the 3-1 comeback. And if they can knock off Pittsburgh, they would have a pretty good shot at winning it all.
That would be a beneficial and redeeming end for a franchise that has been toying with a championship for the past decade. The Capitals have qualified for the Stanley Cup Playoffs in nine of the past ten years, finishing first in their division in seven of those. They have won the President’s Trophy in each of the past two seasons and have been the most dominant regular season team.
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But once they get to the playoffs, they struggle. The Caps always seem to get close, but never close enough. They are still searching for their first Stanley Cup championship, and winning it this year would bring some serious redemption and relief to a franchise in desperate need of its first banner.
This also might be the Caps’ best chance before an offseason of change comes along.
That’s because Washington is currently about $58,661 over the limit on their cap spending. With that being said and 12 Caps players set to enter free agency this summer, Washington will have to cut ties with a few players.
This is where the Dallas Stars need to jump in and get to work.
After an abysmal season, the Stars are in need of a good re-racking. They are still in a good position to win now, but they need one or two more players to round out their roster. That’s where Washington can help.
Here are four Capitals players that might be too pricy for Washington to re-sign that Dallas could potentially trade for the rights to, making it a win-win for both teams.
1. Philipp Grubauer
The first and perhaps most sought after Capital on the wish list of many Stars fans is goaltender Philipp Grubauer.
Going into the offseason, the Stars number one target has to be goaltending. The duo of Kari Lehotnen and Antti Niemi has been running for two years and has not gotten Dallas far. While they did help keep the team flying high in 2015-16, they sank in this most recent season and the Stars suffered because of it.
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It’s time to break the aging duo up and bring some fresh blood into the mix. The Dallas Stars have been trying to get their goaltending formula right for the last six or seven years, and Grubauer could be the guy to help them get there.
Grubauer is 25 years old, making him one of the younger goalies in the NHL by a good bit. He’s played five seasons at the NHL level, though only two have been full-time as backup. In five seasons and 66 games played with Washington, he boasts a .923 save percentage and 2.26 GAA. Those numbers are undoubtedly impressive.
The only problem is that Grubauer is wasting away some of the best years of his career as a backup. The Caps already have starting goaltender and Vezina candidate Braden Holtby locked down for the next three years. Considering he is only 27 himself, the Caps already have a franchise goaltender in him. That leaves Grubauer on the outside looking in.
Instead of spending his prime as a backup and wasting his impressive talent, it may be time for Grubauer to get a change of scenery. He’s set to be an RFA and currently has a measly cap hit of $750,000. So signing him would not be a casualty for the Stars, who will have plenty of cap space available, especially if they buy out either Kari Lehtonen or Antti Niemi.
With the expansion draft coming up, the Caps won’t get a chance to protect Grubauer, meaning that they may be inclined to trade him somewhere before the draft happens. Dallas would be the perfect destination.
Dallas fans have watched him closely all season, and it’s clear that he’s a fitting choice for the Stars’ crease and could become their franchise goalie for at least the next decade. It may just be me, but that sounds pretty reassuring.
2. Kevin Shattenkirk
Shattenkirk was the biggest target around the NHL at the 2017 trade deadline. St. Louis was looking to unload him from their salary cap and Washington took advantage. Now he’s on the Capitals blue line and has been one of their most influential defenders.
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The thing about Shattenkirk is that he a rare breed: a two-way defender that excels both on offense and defense. At the age of 28, he’s spent seven seasons at the NHL level with three different teams. The majority of his career was spent with the St. Louis Blues, meaning that the Stars have seen a lot of him over the past few seasons.
Dallas could also use a top-two defender for their blue line. Last season, the Stars’ defense suffered due to their blue line being primarily young and inexperienced. Now that there is more experience to go around, a player like Shattenkirk could really bolster the unit.
He would definitely be one of the more expensive options, considering he is still in his prime and could turn around and defensive unit. His current cap hit sits at $2,592,200 and he is likely in for a big pay day this offseason regardless of where he goes.
But the Stars could potentially have somewhere around $17.3 million in cap space after making free agent decisions, so they could definitely take on a large contract. Not to mention that he could hypothetically complete the Stars’ defense.
If the Stars can trade for his rights (considering he is a pending UFA after this season), they could get a deal squared away before the free agency signing period begins. That would be huge a huge acquisition for a young but competent Dallas Stars’ defense.
3. T.J. Oshie
What started out as a seemingly comical idea has now quite possibly turned into one of the Dallas Stars’ most logical targets this summer.
If you know NHL hockey, you know T.J Oshie. Some know him as the longtime St. Louis Blue, some know him as the hero in the U.S.-Russia Olympic exhibition match back in 2014, but most everyone knows him as a quality right winger.
He’s currently 30 years old but could still provide quality assurance for the Dallas Stars on the right wing, a position that Dallas is all of a sudden looking depleted in.
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If Dallas cuts ties with Patrick Sharp, Ales Hemsky, and Jiri Hudler this summer and moves their cap space to $17.3 million, they will be losing three valuable right wingers. That would leave just Brett Ritchie and Adam Cracknell as the only remaining options for RW (unless we want to get into the crazy talk of moving Tyler Seguin over there again).
This will probably be the player that Washington tries the hardest to keep out of the four I’m mentioning here simply because of his value to the team. He can play first line minutes, contributes on both special teams units, and can provide 50-60 points a season, with 20-30 of those being goals.
It would be another trade for the rights since Oshie is scheduled to become a UFA on July 1, but Dallas could definitely swing a deal if the Caps decide to move on and didn’t want to lose him to expansion. The question is whether they will think about it or not.
4. Justin Williams
While goaltending and defense headline the Dallas Stars’ offseason “want” list, there is one more hole they will probably want to fill via trade or free agency: a RW to file in alongside Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin.
Oshie is a great option for that spot, but Justin Williams wouldn’t be a bad option either. He’s 35 and has been in the league since 2000. He’s best known for his days with the Los Angeles Kings when he received the nickname “Mr. Game 7” for his numerous heroics during the Kings’ two runs to the Stanley Cup.
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He’s basically a carbon copy of Patrick Sharp. They are both nearing the end of their careers, have won three Stanley Cups, and put up decent numbers on a yearly basis.
But considering Sharp recently had hip surgery, he might be thinking retirement depending on how his recovery goes. In his two years with Dallas, Sharp formed some excellent chemistry If that is the case, then Williams could be the way to go.
If the Caps stick with Oshie, they will likely not re-sign Williams. That’s where Dallas can swoop in.
Williams is still a reliable right winger. He scored 24 goals and tallied 48 points in 80 games this year and still averages between 40-50 points a year.
Considering his age, he would sign at a decent price. But considering he is a pending UFA, the Stars would probably be smart to trade for his rights. He probably won’t be taken in the expansion draft, meaning that Dallas could also snatch him on July 1.
Whatever the case may be, the Washington Capitals will have to make some cuts this offseason. Depending on how much further they go in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, their roster could look significantly different come next year.
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The Dallas Stars need one or two more players to turn their team into a contender, and the Washington Capitals could outfit them with exactly what they need. Expect Jim Nill to make at least one call to Washington over the next month and a half.