The Dallas Stars are no stranger to the buyout window. It was only last season that they bought out Ryan Suter after seeing the rise of some of their defensive prospects and his poor performance with the Stars. While it was necessary to buy him out, the Stars might be doing it again this season with Matt Dumba for an entirely different reason. While he did make mistakes throughout the season, Lian Bichsel took over his spot in the lineup. Here's why buying Matt Dumba out makes sense for the Stars.
So Dumba is currently under contract next season for 3.75 million dollars. That's a lot considering the amount of time he played this past season. You could tell Pete DeBoer was waiting for the perfect excuse to healthy scratch Dumba. With the rise of young Bichsel, that's all DeBoer needed in order to bench Dumba to play a younger player with a scrappier attitude. Nothing against Dumba and his accomplishments throughout his career, it's just the Stars were moving in another direction.
Before we even get to the option of buying out his contract, Nill has probably been looking for a trade partner for Dumba. It's better off if the Stars try to trade his contract first before buying it out because they would be entirely off the hook. If they were to buy him out, the Stars would be on the hook for paying him for two seasons. That's the last thing the Stars are looking at after buying out Suter's previous season.
If the Stars fail to find a trade partner, the Stars would be paying him 1.42 million next season and 1.2 million the season after. With the limited amount of cap space the Stars have to work with this summer, moving him to another team would make more sense, or just biting the bullet and keeping him next season. I know Stars fans want to see an upgraded defense next season after the lackluster performance in the playoffs. However, Nill might have to live with regret signing Dumba to a two-year contract.
In conclusion, it will be interesting to see what Nill does with Dumba when the buyout window opens. Dumba is one of the top buyout candidates in the league, so don't be shocked if the Stars decide to buy out his contract if they can't find a trade partner. It might hurt the projection of the Stars' free agency plans, but there's no room for Dumba on the roster right now with how Bichsel played throughout the season. I wish Dumba all the best if he gets bought out by the Stars. He's a great guy and was a good veteran in the locker room; however, the Stars are going in a different direction defensively.