On Saturday, the Stars acquired forward Mikael Granlund and defenseman Cody Ceci from the San Jose Sharks for a first-round pick and a conditional third-round pick in this year's draft. With the Stars already losing Tyler Seguin for at least the regular season, Nils Lundkvist to season-ending surgery, and Miro Heiskanen for at least the next month, a move was needed to remain competitive in a very tight Western Conference.
The Stars have been getting by borrowing players from the Texas Stars to deal with occasional injuries to their regular linemen, but now we are losing our best defender and another blueliner who has shown his effectiveness this season; a call for reliable help was needed.
Enter Jim Nill...
Nill showed his prowess as GM by acquiring two difference-making players while still holding onto our young talent. Yes, it came at the cost of our first and third-round picks, but being a team in "win now" mode, parting with those picks is nominal. I provide my take and grade below on the two players we acquired on Saturday.
Mikael Granlund, C
Grade: A
I've always been a lenient teacher regarding grading, and my barometer doesn't change for hockey grades, either. Granlund comes to the Big D from San Jose, where he was the leading points scorer for a rebuilding Sharks team. The Stars are already a talented offensive team, and Granlund is another layer of frosting on what is already a well-frosted cake (I like frosting, if you haven't noticed).
Seguin was in the midst of arguably a career season before his injury, and the Stars have done well carrying on without him between other guys stepping up and successful stints from our callups. While this could have been sustainable (as we've also seen not having Mason Marchment for an extended time), there is undoubtedly a risk that comes with that approach (for instance, if another key cog of our offense got injured).
Acquiring Granlund is a security blanket that provides some line depth if anything else were to go awry. He's an experienced, talented, and versatile forward who actually used to play with Matt Duchene in Nashville, so there is some familiarity there. What I also like about this trade is that any new addition to our team could help improve our power play, which has been absolutely terrible this season. I mean, it can't get any worse, can it?
Granlund is up for an extension after this season. If the Stars can extend him for a reasonable price tag, this trade would be an even bigger win for the Stars.
Cody Ceci, D
Grade: B+
While Ceci isn't viewed in the same regard as Granlund, it would be ignorant to think he won't be as impactful. With the Stars losing Heiskanen and Lundkvist, they were desperate to fill those voids. Enter Ceci. While he doesn't necessarily turn heads with his style of play, he is a guy you can rely on to do his job and do it well. While he doesn't provide the offensive production Heiskanen brings, he does offer reliable even-strength depth and will be an asset to our penalty-kill unit.
When the situation calls for it, DeBoer can feel comfortable deploying him against the opponent's top lines, as he has a reputation for being a shutdown defender. My only knock on his grade is his lack of scoring and puck-moving ability, but given what we had to part with to get him in Victory Green, it's a good value.
This likely won't be the only trade the Stars make before the deadline, so it will be interesting to see how Nill utilizes the extra cap space now that Tyler Seguin and Nils Lundkvist are on the Long Term Injured Reserve. I may need to do some more grading soon!