Dallas Stars Sign Ben Bishop: What The New Contract Means

The deal is done. On Friday morning, Ben Bishop officially signed a new contract with the Dallas Stars. What all does this deal mean for the organization going forward?

Six years is a long time. For some, it’s the amount of time between starting middle school and finishing high school. It’s also the length of time between starting fifth grade and getting your license.

If we backtrack six years, it’s 2011. The Dallas Stars are in the dead middle of a five-year playoff drought. Brenden Morrow is the captain, Marc Crawford is the head coach, and Brad Richards, Loui Eriksson, and Mike Ribeiro lead the Stars in scoring. None of those names are on longer with the Stars.

The point is that six years is a long time and a lot can happen. Ben Bishop will get a chance to learn that firsthand in Big D. That’s because earlier today, the Stars and Bishop agreed on a six-year, $29.5 million contract that will keep the goaltender in Dallas through the 2022-23 season.

The Stars traded a fourth-round pick to the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for Bishop’s negotiating rights on Tuesday afternoon.

Dallas Stars

The contract will give Bishop, 30, a cap hit of $4,916,667, which is lower than most were initially estimating it to be, especially considering his most recent contract had a cap hit of $5,950,000. But the reason the contract worked out this way was to benefit both sides in the best way possible.

“Ben wanted to make this home, his final stop, so he was looking for term,” Stars’ GM Jim Nill told Stars Inside Edge. “For us to give up that term, considering his age, we needed to have an AAV (average annual value) that worked for us with the cap. I think it is a great deal for both parties. It’s a manageable number for us and it’s a long-term commitment for him, which was important.”

This locks Bishop in as the Stars’ presumable starter until the age of 36, which will be right around the time when retirement begins calling. But Bishop will cross that bridge once he gets there.

So what does this contract mean for the Dallas Stars organization going forward? Well, it means a few different things. But the one big thing that it means is that the Stars’ crease has a solidified and qualified starter for the next six years. That cannot be expressed enough.

Bishop’s numbers have been consistently impressive over his career and, when healthy, he’s proven to be a top-five goaltender in the NHL. He’s 148-80-25 in his NHL career with a .919 save percentage and 2.32 goals against average. A former All-Star, Vezina runner-up, and the leader in GAA in 2015-16, he’s got the talent to turn the Stars’ crease around.

It also means that the Stars did something that very few teams can do: bring in an elite goaltender on a reasonable deal that doesn’t take a huge chunk out of their cap space available for the rest of the offseason. This contract gives Dallas plenty of breathing room for any other free agent/trade acquisitions that they feel the need to make this summer.

His presence also gives the Stars options. They can now “clean house” in the crease that is currently inhabited by Kari Lehtonen and Antti Niemi. Considering it’s useless to have three goaltenders on a roster and all three goalies are 30+, the Stars will likely be ridding themselves of either Lehtonen or Niemi via buyout or trade. It’s sounding like Niemi is the favorite to get released, but that has yet to be decided.

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Once it is, however, Ken Hitchcock will have plenty of time and options with his crease. If it is Bishop/Lehtonen, then Hitchcock can take his pick for how to handle the playing time. He could split it up relatively evenly, give Bishop the starting role and push Lehtonen into a backup position, or figure some other way around it. Bishop’s consistency makes him a sort of “utility” player and allows him to be an expendable piece in Hitchcock’s system. It will be fun to watch.

All in all, this deal means a lot of good for the Dallas Stars. This franchise has been waiting since the days of Marty Turco to have a reliable no. 1 goaltender followed by a prepared and capable no. 2 goalie. A duo of Bishop-Lehtonen could very well give the Stars’ one of the strongest creases in the NHL. When you have Kari Lehtonen as a backup goalie, you’re doing something right.

Next: Stars Will Make A Deal With The Capitals This Offseason

This was quite the way to end the week for the Stars. Ben Bishop is a Dallas Star for 2,240 more days. If that isn’t reassuring for you, we don’t know what else to say.

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