The Stars will place veteran defenseman Joel Hanley on waivers today at 1 p.m. CT with intent to assign him to AHL Texas, head coach Peter DeBoer told reporters (via Stars radio analyst Bruce LeVine).
Hanley, 32, has been a healthy scratch in two straight upon the returns of Jani Hakanpää and Nils Lundkvist from injuries. With the pending availability of Chris Tanev after his visa issues post-trade from Calgary get resolved, Hanley was relegated to the eighth slot on the Stars’ defensive depth chart.
DeBoer confirmed Hanley’s demotion is salary cap-related, not performance-based. He’s been a solid stabilizing presence at the bottom of the Dallas lineup since joining the team in 2018, memorably factoring into an unexpected lineup spot in the Stars’ run to the 2020 Stanley Cup Final.
The Stars haven’t attempted to assign Hanley to the minors since before the pandemic, keeping him around as a full-time extra for the past four years. He’s skated in 32 games for the Stars this year, recording three assists and a +3 rating while averaging 13:41 per game. He’s also boasted strong possession numbers, recording a 55.1 CF% at even strength and a +0.6 expected rating.
Teams will have 24 hours to submit a claim for Hanley, who could find a new home on a team looking for quality, cheap defensive depth down the stretch. Hanley is signed to a two-year deal carrying a $787.5K cap hit and will be a UFA in 2025, so any team picking him up will get his services next season as well.
Clearing Hanley’s cap hit, either via losing him on waivers or assigning him to Texas, will take the Stars out of LTIR and give them the necessary cap space to activate winger Evgenii Dadonov when he’s ready to return. It also offers Dallas room to recall and keep rookie forward Logan Stankoven, who’s impressed with three goals and an assist through his first five NHL games, on the roster longer-term.
The trade deadline is my absolute favorite hockey day of the year for many reasons, I think there should be an award for the worst transaction of the day starting this season, Let’s call it the Julien BriseBois BrainDead award.
Brain dead with 2 Cups & a SFC appearance. 1 stupid trade doesn’t undue half a decade of brilliance. If your looking for brain dead, look no further than your mirror.
It should be named the Peter Ciarelli Award. Unless the crap coming in trade has connection to the state of Minnesota, in which case it would be the Chuck Fletcher Award.
And if the voters do the right thing, you will finally receive a well-earned Lifetime Achievement Award for your sheer volume of posts in the humor category.
Be suprised if some team doesn’t make a claim for him. Good 3rd pairing depth option.
I would almost expect someone to put a claim in.
Yeah Conroy!! It’s almost like an extra addition from the Tanev trade. Pretty shrewd maneuvering.