The Dallas Stars kicked off their trade deadline activity on Saturday morning by acquiring defenseman Ben Lovejoy from the New Jersey Devils. But how will his addition affect the Stars moving forward?
Ben Lovejoy became the newest member of the Dallas Stars defense on Saturday morning.
As the 2019 NHL Trade Deadline on Feb. 25 at 2 p.m. CT quickly approaches, time is of the essence for teams looking to make last-minute improvements. It’s the time of year where buyers go all-in to round out their lineup and sellers look to prepare for the future.
And, like the other buyers in the league, the Stars are looking to fill the voids in their lineup. That comes with a certain level of preparation and research, as well as an acknowledgement of the rest of the deadline landscape.
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GM Jim Nill took some initial steps in the trade market during the month of January when he acquired Andrew Cogliano and Jamie Oleksiak. Both transactions were made in an attempt to strengthen some of the Stars’ various characteristics, such as speed on offense (Cogliano) and physicality in the defensive zone (Oleksiak).
With that being said, though, the primary needs were still lingering. Among those chief needs was a top-six scoring forward for the offensive attack, help on the power play, veteran leadership (which teams can never have enough of), and some added depth on defense.
The Stars fulfilled the latter half of that list by trading for Lovejoy on Saturday morning.
At 35 years old and standing 6-1, 205 lb., Lovejoy is a defensive defenseman with plenty of experience that can fill a depth role on the blue line. In addition, he’s a solid penalty killer that can use his size and mobility to make his presence known on the ice.
Dodgers Way
With the addition, the Dallas Stars are getting a veteran depth defender that can play heavy minutes (both at even strength and shorthanded) and fill an important leadership role on a relatively young Dallas defense. He could also play an important role in rounding out the defense if any injuries happen down the stretch.
“Well, all season we’ve been battling injuries with our back end,” said GM Jim Nill on Saturday afternoon. “Marc Methot has been out all year, Stephen Johns out all year. You get to a point where we know where they’re at, so we knew we needed to add some bodies to the back end. There’s not a lot of defensemen out there, so we had the chance to get Ben.
“He’s really what we’re looking for. A real steady guy, good penalty killer, he can eat big minutes back there. That’s just going to help to move the minutes around on the back end.”
The native of New Hampshire recently suffered an upper-body injury that sidelined him for roughly three weeks in late January and early February. Nill pointed out, however, that he is fully healthy and that trainers had checked and cleared him.
Lovejoy won’t play with Dallas in their Saturday afternoon contest against the Carolina Hurricanes, but will join the team in Chicago on Sunday to kick off a four-game road trip. Nill also discussed how the team could go about dropping Lovejoy into the lineup on Sunday and what they expect from him going forward.
“He’s a good veteran and that presence has a calming effect,” Nill pointed out. “We’ll wait and see how Monty and the coaches kind of see where he’s going to fit.”
The popular assumption is that Lovejoy will slot in on the second or third pairing on the right side, turning Taylor Fedun into the Stars’ seventh defenseman. With that being said, Julius Honka would slip down to eighth on the depth chart. Could that signal an incoming trade involving no. 6 so the Stars wouldn’t be carrying eight defenders through the rest of the season? Stay tuned.
Considering Lovejoy is a right-handed shot, he will likely either slot in alongside Miro Heiskanen or Jamie Oleksiak. But, considering his value as a veteran presence, it seems as though putting him next to Heiskanen and moving Roman Polak to the third pairing with Oleksiak could create a nice balance. That would leave the Dallas defense looking like this:
Miro Heiskanen – Ben Lovejoy
Jamie Oleksiak – Roman Polak
Throughout his 11-year career in the NHL, Lovejoy has been to the playoffs seven different times with three different clubs. That’s valuable experience for any team, especially one that doesn’t have a ton of postseason experience in their locker room.
“He’s won a Stanley Cup, been around a long time, and will be a good veteran presence,” Nill said. “He’s exactly what we’re looking for, especially around this time of year.”
With this first domino falling, the Dallas Stars are in full deadline mode. The needs are obvious, and Nill is still scanning the market to make the proper fixes.
"“Yes, we’re very actively shopping and looking around. We know we need to add somebody to the front and would like to add a little scoring if we can. So, we are in the middle of talking.” –Nill on the team’s deadline plans"
But for now, the Dallas Stars are off and running in their deadline phase. Let’s see where it takes them over the next 48 hours.
“Right now, everybody is kicking tires and everybody is making their demands,” Nill pointed out. “I’m hoping we can and we’ll see where it goes.”