As expected, the Dallas Stars have opened up additional salary cap space leading up to the offseason. According to a team announcement, the team has traded forward Mason Marchment to the Seattle Kraken for a 2026 third-round pick and Dallas’s 2025 fourth-round pick, which was previously sent to the New York Rangers and later acquired by the Kraken.
The trade is a beneficial arrangement for both teams. The Stars free up $4.5MM in cap space, which was given to Matt Duchene earlier today, while the Kraken add more goalscoring and physicality into their forward core.
Unfortunately for Dallas, trading Marchment without retaining salary doesn’t solve all of their financial issues. According to PuckPedia, the Stars have $4.95MM in cap space and either need to re-sign or add four to five more forwards to carry a full roster.
If Dallas can trade defensemen Matt Dumba and Ilya Lyubushkin, without retaining any salary, they’ll have just under $12MM in cap space, which would give them much more flexibility. Still, it’s hard to imagine a scenario in which the Stars’ roster doesn’t come out worse off compared to the one they finished their 2025 Stanley Cup playoff race with.
For Seattle, one team’s junk becomes another team’s treasure. Marchment has proven a capable 20-goal scorer over the last few years and can generate more than 100 hits in a season. The Kraken struggled in both areas during the 2024-25 season, finishing with five players recording 100 or more hits, and only four players scoring 20 or more goals.
The one interesting part of this trade by the Kraken is ascertaining where Marchment fits into the lineup. A natural winger, Marchment should expect to play in Seattle’s middle-six. Unfortunately, the team is already fairly crowded with wingers, given that Jaden Schwartz, Kaapo Kakko, Jared McCann, Jordan Eberle, André Burakovsky, and Eeli Tolvanen are all expected back next season.
At any rate, the team is excited to have him, as General Manager Jason Botterill said, “I think Mason has a unique combination of size, skill and strength. He works well down in the corners and around the net and that’s an element we want to continue to add to our group here.”
And there you go…..
Trash
Don’t be so hard on yourself. You don’t know much about hockey and your posting skills are weak but you have time to learn.
Well, Dallas got what they needed in creating cap space in moving Mason Marchment’s $4.5M to Seattle. But they still have the dead weight contracts of Dumba & Lubushkin which are going to be hard sells to move out.
Pittsburgh could help, but it’s going to cost you
Nice pickup by Seattle; and Dallas owner screws Canucks owner again (it’s personal)…
Dallas’s roster is worse without marchment and a full year of Rantanen. Got it.
They couldn’t get past Edmonton in the WCF with Rantanan. This move doesn’t make them worse, but it doesn’t make them better either. That 4.5M won’t go far on it’s own.
That statement wasn’t in regard to this move specifically. It was just meant to highlight that the Stars require more cost-saving moves to even put together a full roster for next season. Assuming they fill in the gaps with league-minimum deals, it’s hard to imagine an improved roster from the one they used in Game 5 of the WCF.
this is what was said about the team last off season… and yet they got better. In Jim Nill we trust.
Even if a 30-year-old Marchment is due to decline, getting him for a 3rd and a 4th is a good deal for Seattle.
Nice add by the Kraken. They need some legit top 6 guys who play with grit. Marchment may not be “legit” in that regard for too much longer, but he fits for now.
Between Benn’s slow footed silliness, And Marchment’s bad decision making, The Stars lost the conference final. They are head and shoulders better than Edmonton, Still today.
wholeheartedly agree. Skinner played out of his mind in the WCF.