Dallas Stars Aim To Repeat Trade Deadline Success From Last Season
By Tom Dorsa
In 2017, the Dallas Stars had a killer trade deadline that saw a non-playoff team restock themselves for the future. With roles reversed today, the Stars will look to repeat that success.
A “good” trade is somewhat debatable and subjective in nature. No two teams value the same players the same way, and all 31 general managers in the National Hockey League and wheeling and dealing from different positions.
Some teams can steal former All-Stars and league MVPs for pennies on the dollar. On the flip side, there are no great trades when you’re the team selling players for scraps, sitting at the bottom of the table and looking for value. The Dallas Stars, however, had an outstanding trade deadline in 2017.
Keep in mind, this team finished second-to-last in the Central Division, experiencing a woeful drop from tops in the Western Conference a season prior to 11th. They had hopes to contend for a Wild Card spot during the month of February, but eventually fell apart and took the role of sellers at the trade deadline.
In hindsight – the only effective way to look at trades and signings – the non-playoff Stars worked the deadline magically. They flipped a number of players, from top-six contributors to fringe NHLers, to assets down the road. It began when the Dallas Stars shipped beloved forward Patrick Eaves to the Anaheim Ducks on February 24th, 2017.
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The return for the bearded behemoth was a conditional second-round Entry Draft pick that June – with the conditions being: that pick becomes Anaheim’s first-round selection if the Ducks qualify for the Western Conference Final and Eaves suits up in half of their postseason games.
Amid Anaheim advancing, and falling, to the Nashville Predators for a spot in the Stanley Cup Final, the conditions were fulfilled. This allowed the Dallas Stars to jump up and take esteemed NCAA goaltender Jake Oettinger, now the focal point of a loaded goaltender development system.
It could have stopped there, but it didn’t, not one bit did it. The Stars unloaded defenseman Jordie Benn to comply with anxiety over the looming Expansion Draft, picking up Greg Pateryn and a 2017 fourth-round pick in the process just three days later.
Not only has Pateryn been measurably better (take it with a grain of salt), but that fourth-round pick would prove to be about as valuable as any of the aforementioned players. Greg Pateryn has flourished, transforming from prototypical seventh defenseman to lineup regular.
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As for that pick, well… in May, months after the trade deadline, the Dallas Stars netted the negotiation rights to goaltender Ben Bishop from the Los Angeles Kings, in exchange for that selection (Markus Phillips at 118th overall).
The Stars kept their dealing ways going, sending Johnny Oduya to the Chicago Blackhawks for failed former first-rounder Mark McNeill. This doesn’t seem like much of a trade, but at the American Hockey League level, it has proved large.
The Texas Stars sent McNeill to the Milwaukee Admirals (Nashville) for defenseman Andrew O’Brien recently, and the transaction has had solid results thus far. O’Brien played in both of Texas’ weekend games against the Tucson Roadrunners and posted an assist and a +2 rating in top-pair minutes alongside Brett Regner.
O’Brien and McNeill are in a sense the same, in that neither have much of an NHL future. Nonetheless, the defenseman has been much more effective in Cedar Park than McNeill was, and at little price to pay.
Lastly, the Dallas Stars parted ways with ineffective yet speedy penalty kill specialist Lauri Korpikoski, now out of the NHL and in playing in Switzerland. The Columbus Blue Jackets took on the possession black hole, tossing the Stars a sturdy defensive prospect by the name of Dillon Heatherington in return.
This is by far the best trade from the 2017 deadline. Though Heatherington, or “Heater” for short according to Ken Hitchcock, has yet to cement a permanent NHL job, he is effectively laying down the foundation for a Dallas Stars roster spot in 2018-19. Heatherington has totaled five games, is +3, and has an assist in the NHL.
Korpikoski, on the other hand, played nine games for the Jackets, recording zero points and being a healthy scratch in the postseason. The Stars got a defensive prospect with an NHL future for one of the worst players in recent NHL memory at the 2017 deadline, unbelievably enough.
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The trade deadline also had major Draft implications. In draining the NHL team of top-end talent, the Stars lost 10 of their final 17 games in 2016-17 and finished with a record bad enough to compete for the NHL’s top Draft spot. With blind luck, the Stars ended up at third overall, grabbing Miro Heiskanen with the highest Draft pick in the 25-year Dallas Stars history.
In addition, stellar scoring prospect Jason Robertson was available to the Stars at 39th overall thanks to their horrendous record. To recap: the Dallas Stars acquired Miro Heiskanen, Jake Oettinger, Jason Robertson, Greg Pateryn, Dillon Heatherington, and by extension, Ben Bishop and Andrew O’Brien at the deadline last year. What a haul.
The Dallas Stars have their role reversed at the 2018 deadline, looking straight on to a potential postseason spot. Rather than being bulk sellers, they will potentially buy contributors at the February 26th, 2018 deadline. Equalling the success of the 2017 trade cutoff will be exceptionally difficult, but possible.
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Super scorers Mike Hoffman, Mats Zuccarello, Rick Nash, and others find themselves available for trades, and it seems all would fit in a Stars scheme. As the deadline approaches and the playoffs look increasingly likely, a deadline deal from the seat of Dallas Stars Jim Nill is something to look out for.