Dallas Stars: Breaking Down The Devin Shore/Andrew Cogliano Trade

The Dallas Stars opened up their 2019 trading season on Monday morning by sending Devin Shore to Anaheim in exchange for Andrew Cogliano. What exactly are the Stars losing and what are they getting in return? Let’s break it down.

Unexpected trades have become a bit of a natural occurrence for the Dallas Stars.

In the 2015 offseason, they crafted a blockbuster deal for Patrick Sharp even after claiming that they weren’t looking to trade for him. In 2017, they sent Jordie Benn to the Montreal Canadiens just 58 games after signing him to an extension. Even though the Stars turned into sellers at the deadline, trading Benn was not necessarily on the agenda.

On Monday morning, GM Jim Nill added another unexpected chapter to his trade history when he sent forward Devin Shore to the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for forward Andrew Cogliano.

It’s an unexpected move for a few different reasons. On the one hand, Shore signed a two-year deal with the team in the 2018 offseason. As a 2012 second-round pick by the Stars, he had established himself as a durable and energetic winger that Dallas used throughout their bottom nine. Shore worked his way up through the system, was a homegrown piece of the organization, and served the Stars in a variety of ways both at even strength and on special teams.

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On top of that, the NHL Trade Deadline is scheduled for Feb. 25, 2019. With over one month to go before the trade market heats up, it’s a bit strange to see the Stars make an early player-for-player move simply for depth purposes.

Now, the trade came together relatively quickly for the two sides on Sunday night and was finalized on Monday morning. It’s a move between two teams in the Western Conference playoff race, with Dallas sitting third in the Central division and Anaheim tied for the final wild card spot. Both teams are currently looking for a spark on offense and saw an opportunity to make a deal. But still, the move kind of came out of nowhere.

And yet, this is a move that could change the Dallas Stars landscape. Emotions aside due to Shore’s status as a fan favorite, this was a move that the Stars might have needed.

Losing Shore hurts the Stars in a handful of different ways and gaining Cogliano should improve various areas of their strategy and execution. But, is this a move that will ultimately help Dallas in the long run? Is this a trade that will spark further moves? Are the Dallas Stars a better or worse team because of it?

Let’s break down the trade from each side and take it in from different stances.

What The Dallas Stars Are Gaining With Cogliano’s Arrival

Now, let’s get into the acquisition.

Andrew Cogliano is the definition of an NHL veteran. With 912 games of experience split between two different teams under his belt, he’s just about seen it all. The 2005 first-round pick spent the first four years of his NHL career with a horrible Edmonton Oilers team that never finished above second-to-last in their division.

Then, in the summer of 2011, the Oilers traded him to the Anaheim Ducks. In seven full seasons with Anaheim, the 31-year-old has been to the Stanley Cup Playoffs six different times. And while that doesn’t include a trip to the Stanley Cup Final, it does include two different trips to the Western Conference Finals, a round that over half of the Stars’ current roster has never seen.

Editor In Leaf

So yes, Cogliano has seen a lot in his 12 years of NHL action. But what exactly are the Stars getting with his arrival?

First off, they are getting an Iron Man. The “Iron Man” title is given to NHL players who play in 500 consecutive regular season games while in the league. Only 27 players have earned the title in the history of the NHL, and Cogliano is one of them. From the beginning of his career on opening night 2007 to midway through the 2017-18 season, Cogliano played in 830 consecutive games.

Then came a two-game suspension from the league that stemmed from an interference penalty called on the forward. Following the suspension, Cogliano has since played in 82 consecutive games. In other words, he’s been healthy enough and available to play in 914 consecutive NHL contests. That’s an incredibly rare feat to find in a player in today’s fast-paced game.

On top of that, Cogliano brings impressive speed to the Dallas lineup. At 5-10, 177 pounds, he can get going quickly in any zone and add a new element of energy to the game. His speed can cause problems for opposing defenses, especially in the transition game, and should compliment the Dallas offense well.

He’s also a rather effective penalty killer, with 19 shorthanded goals and 27 shorthanded points in his career. The penalty kill is where speed can become a major asset, and Cogliano seems to know how to use it to his advantage.

Inside the locker room, Cogliano is known for his strong leadership traits. He’s known for being an effective voice that can rally a team and get them to find a higher gear when the time calls for it. As a veteran with a stocked resume, he should play a big part in helping lead a relatively young Dallas Stars squad in a tough push to the playoffs.

App Trigger

Now, this trade might not end up solving one of the Stars’ biggest problems, being depth scoring. Cogliano is having a down year, with only three goals and 11 points along with a +2 rating in 46 games this season. In recent years, he’s contributed anywhere from 9 to 22 goals and 29 to 42 points. So, the potential is there for him to be an effective scorer; but he hasn’t been able to find his groove so far this year. Maybe a trade will help in getting him back to his regular production rate.

Cogliano is under contract through the 2020-21 season and has an AAV of $3.25 million. That’s a slight bump up from Shore’s cap hit, but isn’t an overwhelming alteration by any means.

Cogliano has been playing up to his usual tempo so far this season, driving hard into the zone and setting up scoring chances. He simply hasn’t been able to find the back of the net often.

At the end of the day, this is a trade that could service both teams and players. Shore had fallen into a rough scoring drought and was being moved around the Dallas lineup as a result. Cogliano, on the other hand, wasn’t scoring at his usual rate and was becoming less and less of a factor in the Anaheim game plan.

But for the Stars, it was a chance to add a veteran leader with speed, durability, and potential depth scoring help. A player like that comes with a price, and it ended up being Shore.

This is a trade that cannot really be assessed until both players hit the ice and get further into the season. Cogliano is expected to suit up for the Dallas Stars on Tuesday night against the Tampa Bay Lightning and could reportedly skate on a line with

Jason Spezza

(which could signal him playing top six minutes).

“I think that’s where this trade made sense for both teams,” Nill said after practice on Monday. “It fills both teams’ needs. Andrew can play with your top players, you can put him up against the other team’s top line, he can kill penalties. So, he’s very versatile and he’s going to add that tempo to our game and the pace that we need.”

There’s any number of ways that this trade could go and this may just be the beginning for the Stars as the Trade Deadline slowly comes into focus.

But for now, Andrew Cogliano is the newest Star and Devin Shore is a Duck.

All that is left to do is sit back and see what kind of impact Cogliano has on a Dallas Stars team in need of a spark.