Dallas Stars Free Agency Outlook, Potential Fits

Dallas Stars Free Agency Preview/Outlook, Salary Cap Situation, Restricted Free Agents, Team Needs, and Potential Fits

Dallas Stars GM Jim Nill will need to get creative if he hopes to get players re-signed and have money to spend in free agency. As it stands, Dallas has several FAs seeking new deals, but have already spent over $58 million towards the 2016-17 salary cap.

Rumors have suggested the Stars should look to trim salary between the pipes, although it sounds as though Jim Nill is comfortable with the tandem heading into next season. Not many trade candidates exist, although moving Ales Hemsky could free up $4 million dollars in cap space (one year remaining on his deal).

It was an outstanding season for Dallas in 2015-16. Not only did they capture a Central Division win beating out rivals St.Louis and Chicago, but they were Western Conference Champions with a record of 50-23-9 (109 points).

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Hopes were high heading into the playoffs, and the team expected to have star forward Tyler Seguin back in the lineup. After facing setbacks, the Stars were forced to play without one of their leading scorers.

They eventually fell short in a heartbreaking game seven loss to St.Louis after a sloppy goaltending performance by Kari Lehtonen.

The Dallas Stars have several promising pieces in place (i.e. Radek Faksa, Brett Ritchie, Stephen Johns, Esa Lindell, etc.) moving forward. Their Stanley Cup window has officially opened, and this could be a team to watch over the next half decade or so.

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Dallas Stars Free Agency Outlook/Preview

Salary Committed to 2016-17: $58,322,083
Number of Players Signed: 35

Notable Unrestricted Free Agents: Travis Moen, Vernon Fiddler, Patrick Eaves, Colton Sceviour, Jason Demers, Kris Russell, Jordie Benn

Notable Restricted Free Agents: Valeri Nichushkin, Jamie Oleksiak, Jack Campbell, Maxime Legace

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Ideally, Dallas should try to re-sign every UFA aside from Moen, along with all RFAs. The money may not exist to do that which means you need to prioritize.

Top priority should be one of Demers or Russell along with Jordie Benn. Nichushkin and Oleksiak are next top priorities.

If there’s enough cap space, then Dallas can explore the left out defender (Demers/Russell) and other UFAs.

Dallas Stars GM Jim Nill won’t have a lot of money to spend in free agency, and quite frankly, they don’t need to be overly active.

Unless Jim thinks the team needs to shed salary or make room for a budding young player, any signing on or beyond July 1st is likely to be of depth nature.

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Dallas Stars Free Agency Team Needs

RH Defenseman (3rd Pairing/Depth), Depth Forwards

As it stands, John Klingberg and Stephen Johns are the Stars top two RH defenders.

Re-Signing Demers could help change that, but one way or another it doesn’t hurt to sign a short-term 7-8 type RH defender until Julius Honka is NHL ready.

If Nill thinks Honka is ready this Fall, Dallas is already set on the blue line.

The Stars have more than enough depth to fill out the 23-man roster, but it makes little sense to force prospects to play 4th line minutes. Instead, they can flourish down in AHL Texas, leaving the bottom three/13th man to role players known for making the most of their limited ice-time.

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Potential Dallas Stars Free Agency Targets

RH Defensemen (3rd Pairing/Depth): Yannick Weber, Eric Gryba, Jakub Nakladal, Zach Trotman, Matt Tennyson

Depth Forwards: Steve Downie, Ben Smith, Jesse Winchester, Stephen Gionta, Tyler Kennedy

*Salary/Free Agent information was obtained through www.generalfanager.com