Alexander Radulov Signs With Dallas Stars

Just after the Montreal Canadiens signed a potential replacement, the Dallas Stars revealed (in the best way possible) that they’d won the battle for Alexander Radulov. The deal is for five years and $31.25MM, which comes out to a $6.25MM cap hit. $18MM of the contract will be paid out by way of signing bonuses, while it holds a full no-movement clause in the first three years, and a modified no-trade clause the final two. Radulov ranked #2 on our list of top free agents, predicting a five year deal worth $30MM (though with Montreal). 

Radulov, who turns 31 in two days, came back to the NHL last season and put up 54 points for Montreal, anchoring their top line most often with Max Pacioretty. The Russian winger put up another seven points in six playoff games, only to see the Canadiens defeated in the first round. He’ll head to Dallas where early predictions have him skating alongside Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin, on what will be one of the most dangerous lines in the NHL. Montreal of course tried to keep him, but were reportedly unwilling to offer a fifth year until after he had accepted the deal with Dallas. In a conference call, Radulov explained that he wouldn’t go back on his word with the Stars at that point. In a game of he-said-Habs-said, the team has now said to multiple sources they made the five-year offer well before July 1st.

There is quite a bit of risk in a player who doesn’t have a long track record of success in the NHL, but the Stars have put the cap on quite an offseason. After a disappointing year, it was clear that the team wanted to go in a new direction and after re-hiring Ken Hitchcock to coach the team, has brought in Ben Bishop, Marc Methot, Martin Hanzal and now Radulov to try and turn things around. That’s a lot of talent to add in a few short weeks, even if they did see Cody Eakin, Ales Hemsky and Patrick Sharp head for different teams.

Radulov’s deal comes in as the high-water mark among unrestricted free agents, matching Karl Alzner’s five-year deal in terms of length, while eclipsing everything in terms of total dollars. While many expected Kevin Shattenkirk to hold that title, the defenseman opted to sign just a four-year deal in his preferred city. Several extensions and restricted free agents have signed bigger deals, but Radulov will likely come away with the title among UFAs.

That points to a clear effort in Dallas to get back to where they were two seasons ago, when they led the NHL in goals scored and came second in terms of regular season success. Leading the entire Western Conference, they fell in the second round and saw everything go wrong last year. Four big names and some new deployments should turn things around, though it is still a lot of money committed to players on the wrong side of 30.

Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News was first to get the details of the contract, while Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports reported the various trade clause conditions.

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