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Alex Goligoski’s Future With Dallas Stars

By Ryan Ritchie

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Will Dallas Stars Sign Alex Goligoski to an Extension, or Let Him Walk Into Free Agency?

Alex Goligoski enters his 9th season of professional hockey, and 6th season with the Dallas Stars in 2015-16. Selected 61st overall in the 2nd round at the 2004 NHL Entry Draft by Pittsburgh, and in February 2011, traded to Dallas for James Neal and Matt Niskanen.

Goligoski holds a $4.6 million dollar cap hit in 2015-16, and is set to become a free agent at season’s end. Dallas has 14 players with $55.184 million dollars committed to 2016-17’s salary cap. If the projected $73 million for 2016-17 is correct, that would leave the Stars with $17.816 for nine more roster spots. Divided by nine, the Dallas Stars have approximately $1.98 million to spend on average for each of those spots. 

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Each rookie contract, or fourth line veteran making $900k gives space for a couple decently sized contracts. But, there isn’t bound to be much space to spend, unless Dallas can trim more salary via Kari Lehtonen for example.

Paired with John Klingberg in 2015-16, the offensive duo is arguably the most dominant pairing in the NHL. There’s a common misconception that Alex Goligoski has defensive holes in his game. But, young defensive mistakes by Klingberg have helped critics to recognize and appreciate Goligoski’s all-around game. It’s also easy to criticize a player’s defensive game when they spend the majority of time in the offensive zone anyways. The pair (Goligoski and Klingberg) are strong skating, slick puck moving defenseman. 

John Klingberg’s emergence on the blue-line has arguably been most beneficial for Alex Goligoski. In the past, and going into 2015-16, Goligoski was the indisputable number one on the back-end. He logged heavy minutes on a less than stellar defensive core for many years. He still logs big minutes, but Klingberg’s emergence is helping take pressure off Alex Goligoski to be the centerpiece of Dallas’ defense core.

"via Defending Big D,On the blue line, the Stars feature no less than four players who can make an 80-foot outlet pass look easy, and in Alex Goligoski and John Klingberg, they boast probably the best pairing of offensive defensemen in the league.With that much offensive talent, the Stars have the theoretical ability to overwhelm their opponents in a run-and-gun style game. It’s certainly not a style that would work for everyone, but it maximizes this particular group’s assets."

Along with Alex Goligoski, the current remaining roster players without contracts for next season are:

UFA – Travis Moen, Vernon Fiddler, Patrick Eaves, Colton Sceviour, Jason Demers, Jordie Benn
RFA – Valeri Nichushkin, Jamie Oleksiak

Above contains a few players Dallas will likely seek to retain, although Nichushkin is particularly interesting. Much of those contract talks are likely to be based on his level of consistency in 2015-16. If he can shine on the Stars top line while having success in the postseason, Dallas may struggle to find enough money for Alex Goligoski.

In 2015-16 thus far, Alex Goligoski has played 30 games, collecting 11 points with a +8 plus minus rating. He’s collected one powerplay goal and one powerplay assist with 57 shots on goal, while averaging 23:38 of ice-time per game. [hockeydb]

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The question remains whether Dallas should sign Goligoski to an extension, or let him walk into free agency. There’s a chance that one or more of Julius Honka, Stephen Johns, or Esa Lindell may make a case for a roster spot in 2016-17. But, it’s doubtful any of those three or any current defender on the roster could fill the void left by Alex Goligoski. The Stars might be forced to spend big money on impending RFA Valeri Nichushkin, but it would wise for Dallas to extend their 30-year-old veteran defender who eats up big minutes.

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