With the All-Star break now behind us, the trade deadline looms large and is just a few weeks away. Where does each team stand, and what moves should they be looking to make? We continue our look around the league with the Dallas Stars.
Usually, when a team is leading an entire conference 50+ games into the season, there is more chatter about them adding significant talent at the deadline to go on a long Stanley Cup run. But the Stars, sitting first in the West with 70 points, are somehow usually still left out of the conversation.
Fans and media are focused on what the Edmonton Oilers, Colorado Avalanche, or Winnipeg Jets may be up to. Dallas slowly hides in the shadows with a team that could rival anyone in the league. Over the next few weeks, that could change, with the Stars emerging as one of the most exciting deadline teams to watch, given a reasonable cap situation and interesting prospect pool.
Record
30-14-10, 1st in the Central
Deadline Status
Buyer
Deadline Cap Space
$1.15MM today, $1.64MM in deadline space, 0/3 retention slots used, 47/50 contracts used, per CapFriendly.
Upcoming Draft Picks
2023: DAL 2nd, DAL 4th, DAL 5th, DAL 6th, DAL 7th
2024: DAL 1st, DAL 2nd, DAL 3rd, DAL 5th, DAL 6th, DAL 7th
Trade Chips
When the Stars traded a first-round pick for Nils Lundkvist in September, it removed their most significant chip for this season. Without a 2023 first to give up, it isn’t easy to get involved in some of the biggest deadline names. Bo Horvat and Vladimir Tarasenko, for instance, both returned first-round selections for the Vancouver Canucks and St. Louis Blues, with names like Timo Meier expected to do the same.
But the interesting side effect of adding Lundkvist was how it clogged the path for some other defense prospects in the organization. The assumption when Dallas let John Klingberg go last summer was that Thomas Harley would likely establish himself as a full-time NHL defenseman this season, taking some of the easy minutes that Klingberg had been given in the past. But Harley, the 18th overall pick from 2019, has spent the entire season in the AHL with the Texas Stars.
Lian Bischel, their 2022 first-round pick is even further down that depth chart, and will have a number of players to leapfrog before he sniffs NHL minutes. He isn’t even signed at this point, meaning there are still years until he makes an impact.
Either of these defense prospects could be flipped in a deal, given Dallas has five defensemen signed through next season and looks like a legitimate contender this year.
A forward prospect like Mavrik Bourque could be dangled, too, after his first minor league season has been just okay. That likely isn’t the case with Wyatt Johnston, who has made an NHL impact as a rookie and looks like a long-term building block for the group, or Logan Stankoven, who was recently ranked ninth overall among drafted prospects by Scott Wheeler of The Athletic.
One interesting name is Denis Gurianov, who continues to frustrate the organization. The talented 25-year-old forward has moments of pure brilliance when he looks like a dominant NHL player. That’s how he scored 20 goals as a sophomore and nine more in the bubble playoffs as Dallas went to the Stanley Cup Final.
But his game is just rife with inconsistency, leading to regular scratches and just two goals in 38 games this season. The 12th overall pick from 2015 might be an interesting reclamation project for a rebuilding club, though it’s hard to see someone pay a premium for him at this point.
(As an aside, this isn’t the first time a big, talented winger has frustrated the Stars front office. After Valeri Nichushkin failed to score a single goal in the 2018-19 season he was bought out by Dallas, only to find an organization in Colorado that would patiently develop him into one of the best two-way forwards in the league. Gurianov certainly doesn’t look like that right now, but neither did Nichushkin during those frustrating years.)
Other trade chips: F Ty Dellandrea, F Christian Kyrou, G Anton Khudobin
Team Needs
1) Top-six forward: Even with the return of Jamie Benn as a top-end player and Tyler Seguin’s recovery from injury going better than many imagined, the Stars could still use a little bit of punch upfront. The nice part about this is the versatility that some of their players bring, meaning it could be any of the three forward positions they add. If Mason Marchment had brought last season’s scoring touch with him, this might not be an issue, and Johnston could be an internal option for more offensive minutes.
But adding a difference-maker from outside the organization seems the most likely outcome for Dallas at the deadline if they’re willing to part with the assets to get one.
2) Defensive depth: Defense? Didn’t we just finish saying how Dallas has a full blueline? Well, yes – but if the team isn’t comfortable with Harley as the next man up for this playoff run, it might make sense to add another depth piece. The kind of veteran player who can step in and give you 12-15 hard, mistake-free minutes is a valuable thing to have at playoff time, and if they aren’t making a big splash up front, Dallas might pivot to defense.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
If a move is made I’m hoping it’s Stankoven for something significant that can be apart of the future or Bourque for a big rental.
I don’t understand why Dellandrea would be someone that would be moved and I’d hate to see Bischel moved. He looks like a future Lindell replacement to me.
You don’t know why they would move Delly or Bischel, but you hope they move a top 10 prospect in all of hockey? I don’t understand.
Your suggestion is to trade Stankhoven, who is one of the best pure goal scoring forwards in the minors and has the potential to be the captain in the future, or Bourque, who has 26 points in 44 games in his rookie season in the AHL, for a rental??? How could you possibly think either of those options are viable?
Because the whole point of paying for a rental is mortgaging a chunk of the future for the present. For a lot of teams that wouldn’t make sense, and Dallas is an old team. But it’s also a legit Cup contender, so if you’re a Stars fan, are you willing to forego a Bourque for a victory parade *this* season?
I don’t understand why they’d move Dellandrea who is a solid piece already on an old team that is win now.
I didn’t say I don’t understand why they wouldn’t trade Bischel, I said I hope he isn’t the piece they trade.
If they make a move, it’d need to be a significant move that could put them in a spot to be a favorite coming out of the west. It would take a Bourque or a Stankoven to get a piece like that. I don’t want to see them move a piece that is solid for a depth piece that may not even be used or be much of an improvement in the first place.
Benn probably isn’t going to keep doing what he’s doing the rest of his contract, Seguin is an okay player at this point being paid elite money, Haakanpaa is having a better year than anyone expected, Faksa is having an up year, as much as everyone loves Pavelski I don’t think any of us expect him to continue to be what he is at that age.
So yeah, I don’t understand why you’d trade Dellandrea and I hope we don’t lose Bischel.
Sounds like the Stars would want Schenn, then.