TSN’s Pierre LeBrun is reporting the Dallas Stars are signing veteran forward Matt Duchene. NorthStar Bets’ Chris Johnston reports it’s worth $3MM. The Stars also announced a one-year, $850K contract for center Sam Steel.
Duchene was a late entrant to the UFA market after being bought out by Nashville earlier today with three years remaining on his contract. It didn’t take long for him to find a new home, however, as he joins a Dallas team that already has some strong center depth which should help take some offensive pressure off of him.
Last season, the 32-year-old took a step back offensively after putting up a career-high 43 goals and 43 assists in 2021-22. However, he still managed to tally 22 goals and 34 assists in 71 games for the Preds last year, good for second on the team in scoring which made it all the more surprising that Nashville elected to buy him out.
In a potentially more limited role (since it’s unlikely he’ll be averaging more than 18 minutes a game next season), those numbers are likely to come down, Duchene should still be able to provide solid value on this deal while giving them another above-average option at the faceoff dot, adding to a team strength.
As for Steel, he had a career year last season with Minnesota, collecting 10 goals and 18 assists in 65 games, providing the Wild with a strong return on a one-year, $825K investment. However, as the 25-year-old had arbitration eligibility, Minnesota elected to non-tender Steel, making him an unrestricted free agent for the second straight year. Technically, Dallas can control him through restricted free agency through the 2024-25 campaign but he would remain arbitration-eligible next summer.
Steel averaged nearly 15 minutes per night with the Wild last season and it’s unlikely that he’ll see that much ice time on a deep Dallas forward group. Instead, he might fit in on their fourth line with an ability to move up when injuries arise.
Strong move by Dallas. Avs and Stars will run away with the Central Division.
I don’t know how Jim Nill does it. Does he have compromising pictures of someone? It borders on voodoo, the way he can snap his fingers, and the talent he needs just magically appears.
GM of the year for good reason. ;)
Robertson-Hintz-Pavelski
Dadonov-Duchene- Seguin
Benn-Johnston-Craig Smith
Marchment- Faksa-Dellandrea
Suter-Heiskanen
Lindell-Hakanpaa
Harley-Lundkvist
Hanley
Oettinger
I know who my early favorite for Presidents Trophy is!
Signing Sam Steel makes this team even more ridiculously talented. Great depth signing. The next time I see Jim Nill in person, I’m gonna check if he has cloven hooves, and a forked tail, because this is positively Satanic.
Too bad this cannot happen with the Mavericks… only way a superstar FA will come to the Mavs is by trade
Interesting. Could be a good reclamation. No Domi, but I suppose if this works it’s gonna be nice
Wow 3 mil for Duchene? Nice job Nill
Probably will get some decent effort out of Duchene trying to prove himself again. He has tons of talent but can disappear from time to time.
Very good signing.
See you in the WCF again..
~ VGK Fan
@jdefranza
Ill buy you a beer to console you, when the Stars blow you out! :o)
Hmm very over confident for how things ended last season… Lol
vegas deserved it ,,,dallas was there hardest out ,games 1 and 2 could have gone either way especially game 2 where dallas was clearly the better team but made a crucial mistake at the end ..the series was alot closer then it was …that said dallas thin defense was exposed ,,vegas top 6 D is the best in nhl hands down reminded of dallas 99 cup champs and almost 2000 with that crazy top 6 D ,,,vegas will be tough again next year but there offense don’t scare anyone …vegas built most of there team through trades and signings ,,Dallas team top players are all in house drafted with a deep farm system ,vegas will at some point have to look like an expansion team when most of the guys age a bit and will have to start drafting well ..time will tell…