Dallas Stars: Four Potential Trade Targets In 2018 Offseason

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A lot of talk has arisen that the Dallas Stars still aren’t ready to contend in the 2018-19 season. With that being said, many think at least one more move is still necessary. Who are some trade targets that could fill the so-called void?

The Dallas Stars have put together a quantity offseason so far in the summer of 2018.

No, that’s not a typo. And no, it’s not necessarily supposed to read “quality offseason” (not yet, at least). The Stars have, by all means, had a quantity offseason so far.

On July 1, the team set off into yet another free agency frenzy. With blockbuster moves dominating their past July 1’s and another season of missing the playoffs, the expectations were pretty clearly set: Dallas needed to have another fairly large offseason.

After a horrid month of March helped pull the Stars from likely playoff contenders to outside the race altogether, something had to be done. Two years in a row with a supposedly “superstar” lineup and no postseason action to show for it cannot go unobserved.

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And so the Stars took on day one. Fans had many ideas on how Dallas should tackle the first day of the frenzy. Some were sold on the fact that the Stars had a solid chance at landing UFA John Tavares to further bolster their offense with star-studded potential. Others thought that one or two solid “middle-six” forwards and a reliable backup goaltender were the keys to a successful offseason.

But, as we now know, the Dallas Stars didn’t really go in any of the supposed directions. Instead, they added two depth forwards (Valeri Nichushkin and Blake Comeau), a seventh defender (Roman Polak), and a backup goalie (Anton Khudobin).

It didn’t exactly go according to plan, though GM Jim Nill seemed confident in his actions.

“Well, we’re excited,” Nill said following his moves on July 1. “Some of these things we’ve been working on for the last probably two months. Then, you do all of the moves we did today with UFAs and that. We’re excited with what we did and we think we filled in the holes we want. We’re looking forward to getting the team put together and starting camp with it.”

But it goes without saying that Dallas Stars fans aren’t sold on this frame of mind. And from the looks of it, neither is Nill.

Two days following their flurry of moves, the Stars were rumored to be in on the Erik Karlsson sweepstakes. Not only that, but they were also considered the frontrunner to land the elite defender. Things have quieted down since then, but there are still rumblings.

This quote from Jim Nill on July 1 regarding the makeup of the roster should sum up a good amount of the team’s current direction.

"“This is a good part of it. We’re still talking to teams and still have to get some guys signed. And once again, there’s still lots of things that I think could happen over the summer. But this is a pretty good core of our team.” -Jim Nill"

In other words, the Dallas Stars might still be in the running to make another move. They made plenty of minor moves for quantity, but they could still use one high-quality addition in order to assure their ability to compete next season.

Their primary need seems to lie with adding a goal-scoring forward for their second line, but that may not be Nill’s only focus.

And with that being said, here are a few trade targets that the Dallas Stars might pursue in the coming weeks or months if they are in the market for more additions. But if October comes along and none of these names have moved, make sure to keep them on the back burner as potential additions for the Stars throughout the season.

But remember, these are just potential solutions for the Stars if they are in the market and are looking for one.

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