Ben Bishop Signs Six-Year Contract With Dallas Stars
Newly acquired goaltender Ben Bishop has signed a deal with the Dallas Stars. The contract will be for six years and come in at a total of $29.5MM ($4.92MM AAV). The Stars received Bishop in exchange for a fourth-round pick on May 9th, and were immediately said to have common ground on a future contract. Bishop would have been an unrestricted free agent this summer should he have made it to July 1st.
Like Carolina, who dealt for Scott Darling before quickly signing him to a long-term deal, the Stars were not willing to wait around to address their goaltending issues this summer. Instead, they were proactive going after one of the top free agents and seem to have gotten their man without having to fight off any other teams. 
While this contract may seem like a bargain at the low cap-hit, six years is a lot to give to a goaltender who will turn 31 in November. While he clearly has the talent to be an elite netminder in the NHL, this is a big gamble by the Stars that could backfire quickly. Any contract guaranteed the Stars will make another move—whether it be a buyout or trade—of one of their other goaltenders. Kari Lehtonen and Antti Niemi already cost the team over $10MM combined, and a new contract for Bishop would make them both expendable.
Bishop is coming off a two-year deal that paid him $5.95MM per season, and though his first season was well worth it this year saw a downturn in his play. As the Lightning leaned further toward Andrei Vasilevskiy as their starter, Bishop recorded only a .911 save percentage and dealt with injury. After a mid-season deal to the Los Angeles Kings, he performed even worse stopping just 90% of the shots faced.
This deal puts him in line with goaltenders like Jimmy Howard, Jaroslav Halak and amazingly, Niemi in terms of cap-hit. While it also comes close to Frederik Andersen‘s deal from last summer with the Maple Leafs, Andersen was much younger when he inked his five-year pact. Bishop will play most of the final season on this contract at 36, an age few goaltenders make it to as starters.
The contract is broken down as follows:
2017-18: $7MM, NMC
2018-19: $6.5MM, NMC
2019-20: $5.5MM, NMC
2020-21: $3.5MM, modified-NTC
2021-22:$3.5MM, modified-NTC
2022-23: $3.5MM, modified-NTC
The front-loaded nature of the deal also poses a problem for the Stars, should they ever need to use a buyout on Bishop as he ages. With a low salary in the final few years, a buyout wouldn’t provide as much cap relief for the team, though the change to a modified no-trade clause (though details have not yet been released) could provide an avenue of escape.
Regardless of the risk involved down the road, Bishop will immediately have a big responsibility on his shoulders, trying to bring the Stars back to the promised land after a disaster season. The team will have two first-round picks to add to the stable, allowing a quick injection of talent to a roster that should already be competing for the playoffs.
Pierre LeBrun of TSN was first to report the deal was close, and also provided the first financial details.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Morning Notes: Eaves, Barrie, Islanders
With the Anaheim Ducks winning game seven last night against the Edmonton Oilers, breaking their recent string of losses and heading to the Western Conference Final, the Dallas Stars also celebrated. The Stars will now enjoy an extra first-round pick thanks to the deal that sent Patrick Eaves to California at the trade deadline. Eaves didn’t even play in the back half of the series, but had suited up for enough games to trigger the clause.
The Stars will now hold the 3rd pick after seeing their card selected in the lottery and another near the end of the round (depending on who wins the Stanley Cup). While the late-round pick may be dismissed in what has perhaps mistakenly been classified a weak draft, it is still a 30-spot improvement over where they stood a day ago. The Stars will head into the draft with a ton of currency that they could use to make moves, or select two new prospects to help lengthen their competitive window.
- In one of the weirdest stories of the year, Tyson Barrie will miss the remainder of the World Championships due to a laceration he suffered while wrestling in his hotel room. According to Darren Dreger of TSN, the cut is severe enough to not risk anything in this tournament, meaning he’ll shut it down completely. In his place, Chris Lee will suit up against France before Colton Parayko joins them in the next few days. Lee has played abroad for the past seven years after several years in the AHL, but had a tremendous year in the KHL this season. With 65 points in 60 games, the 36-year old put up the most productive season of his hockey career. He’ll get a chance on the world stage before Parayko likely figures in for the rest of the tournament.
- The New York Islanders will welcome Luke Richardson to their coaching staff for next season according to Arthur Staple of Newsday. The long-time NHL defender will join Doug Weight behind the bench and try to impart some of the knowledge he gained while playing more than 1400 games in the league. Richardson had been the head coach of the Binghamton Senators from 2012-16 before mutually parting ways. He’ll presumably take over some of the responsibility of coaching the defenseman in New York, a group that may look a little different after the expansion draft and free agency.
Dallas Stars Sign Sheldon Dries, Shane Hanna To AHL Contracts
According to Sean Shapiro of NHL.com, the Dallas Stars have signed NCAA free agents Sheldon Dries and Shane Hanna to AHL contracts. Both contracts will start next year, though no other details have been released. The pair will join the Texas Stars, who this season finished second last in the Pacific division and missed the playoffs.
Dries, 23, had been playing for Western Michigan where he has captained the Broncos for the past three seasons. The undersized center put together a solid career, ending with 30 points in 36 games in his senior year. Though he doesn’t possess elite skill or offensive ability, he’s gotten by with an extremely high work ethic and drive to compete physically with players bigger than him. As former NHL bench boss and current WMU head coach Andy Murray told David Drew of MLive back in 2014, “you can’t tell Sheldon he’s not 6’3″. He goes up against the biggest guys all the time and normally has tough assignments in terms of matchups.”
Hanna, also 23, is an offensive defenseman out of Michigan Tech, who put up 27 points in 45 games this season. Also a bit undersized, Hanna is a good example of a transition defender who makes up for his lack of size with footspeed and elusiveness. While he may not ever be strong enough to handle an NHL power forward below the goal line, his offensive instincts are strong enough to quarterback a professional powerplay and perhaps play a big role on an AHL team.
Neither player is expected to make an impact at the NHL level, but both have intriguing aspects to their game. If everything breaks right and they hit another level in their development they could see a cup of coffee before long. Otherwise, Texas will be happy to have their experience added to the AHL roster for next season.
Options For Dallas Stars With Current Goaltenders
When the Dallas Stars traded a fourth-round pick for the negotiating rights to Ben Bishop yesterday, they made it clear that their is to be a change in goaltending in Texas. The duo of Kari Lehtonen and Antti Niemi hasn’t fared well enough, and missing the playoffs again in the primes of Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn is unacceptable. Bishop still needs a new contract, but all signs point to the two sides already having some common ground. 
So the Stars now face another decision, what do to with Lehtonen and Niemi. Their respective cap-hits of $5.9MM and $4.5MM are both extremely high for a backup, making each of them a target for buyout or trade. While they have just one year remaining on their deals, if Dallas wants to be in contention for other free agents this summer, moving both and acquiring a cheaper backup for Bishop would be the best outcome. Let’s look at some of the ways the Stars could rid themselves of one or both goaltenders.
Trade
While neither goaltender is worth the salary he currently earns, there may be options around the league of teams willing to eat the contract for a year in order to bring in another asset. If Dallas is willing to retain some of the salary, it would open up even more of these options. Teams like Vancouver, New Jersey or even Los Angeles could take on a reduced-price goaltender along with a pick to rid Dallas of the headache. Remember that the Stars can retain up to 50% of the contract, and could technically do it with both goaltenders if they found suitors.
Though this option will definitely be explored, it still seems unlikely that the Stars will find a team willing to do it. Most potential trade partners will realize the bind that Dallas is in, and may demand too high a price just to take on the contract. It’s doubtful the Stars will want to damage their future any further when other exit plans exist.
Expansion
Perhaps the longest of shots, the Stars could use Vegas as a landing spot for one of the two goaltenders. It’s clear that the Golden Knights would not want to select either of them in the draft over some of the other available Dallas players, but like a rebuilding club could accept an asset as incentive to pick one. The biggest sticking point here is the amount of excellent goaltending options available in the draft, and whether or not Vegas sees this opportunity as more valuable than taking another one of them.
Buyouts
Should the Stars decide that a buyout is the only option, the terms would look like this (via CapFriendly).
Lehtonen:
2017-18 – Cap hit $2.57MM, Savings $3.33MM
2018-19 – Cap hit $1.67MM, Savings -$1.67MM
Niemi:
2017-18 – Cap hit $1.5MM, Savings $3.0MM
2018-19 – Cap hit $1.5MM, Savings -$1.5MM
While neither of these options are perfect, as they mean you’re paying them for an extra season it does give them immediate relief while not sacrificing an additional asset. It’s the most likely outcome of the three, with Niemi being the leading candidate for it. The first buyout window opens on June 15th, meaning that the Stars will have a couple of days to decide what to do before their expansion draft protection lists are due. Should they be unable to find a taker for one of the contracts, they might just have to bite the bullet and pay one of their current goaltenders not to play for their team.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Ben Bishop Traded To The Dallas Stars
The Dallas Stars have acquired Ben Bishop from the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for a fourth-round pick. Bishop is a pending unrestricted free agent and is still not under contract for next season. The pick originally belonged to Montreal, and was acquired by the Stars in the Jordie Benn deal from earlier this year.
After being dealt mid-season from Tampa Bay to Los Angeles, Bishop is heading into free agency coming off just 39 games played and a .910 save percentage. Neither of these numbers show the lofty heights that Bishop is capable of, as prior to this season he received Vezina votes two out of the last three years. If Dallas could get him signed, he’d easily become the best goaltender in town, even if it is a quite crowded crease.
The Stars already have Kari Lehtonen and Antti Niemi under contract for next season at a combined cap-hit of $10.4MM, meaning at least one goaltender will have to be either bought out or traded before the start of the season. The pair put up very substandard goaltending this season, a big reason why the Stars dropped right out of the playoff picture just a year removed from leading the Western Conference.
Bishop represents a potential huge upgrade in the crease, but doesn’t come without his own warts. He’ll turn 31 this season and has a lot of leverage now that Scott Darling has been taken off the market. Bishop would hit free agency as the clear #1 available goaltender even after his down year, and likely demand a contract in excess of $5MM per season on a multi-year deal. If he were to repeat the season he had this year the Stars would be in exactly the same situation but with a longer term deal on their hands.
In the end though, the Stars had to do something to improve the situation as they start a new era under a familiar face. Ken Hitchcock is back behind the bench and the team will be expected to have some immediate success as they continue through the primes of Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin. The latter is only under contract for two more seasons, after which he could legitimately bolt for a cup contender if there isn’t any improvement on the ice in Dallas.
For Los Angeles, they recoup some of the value they sent to Tampa Bay at the deadline and move Bishop out before he left for nothing. Helene Elliott of the Los Angeles Times reports that former Kings GM Dean Lombardi had been interested in keeping Bishop, though that would have been difficult considering Jonathan Quick is firmly entrenched as the starter. The team will now look around at other backup options for next season, including Jack Campbell a former Stars’ prospect that has had a renaissance of sorts with Ontario of the AHL.
Multiple reports have the two sides ready to start talking contracts over the next few days, though they haven’t actually discussed anything yet. Had Bishop hit the open market, Dallas would likely have been an attractive landing spot given their recent success and lack of goaltending competition—despite the big salaries. John Shannon of Sportsnet seems to confirm this, reporting that Bishop told the Kings that he preferred certain teams including Dallas. If they can get a deal done, the biggest losers of this deal may be much further north as both Calgary and Winnipeg (among others) would have likely had interest in the 6’7″ netminder. Unfortunately Calgary was on his no-trade list, though that doesn’t necessarily mean he wouldn’t have been interested. They’ll now have to look elsewhere to find an upgrade in net, and with options dwindling in free agency, perhaps it will have to be through trade.
Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News was first to hear about the deal.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Conditional Improvements: Dallas Watches Game 7
When the Edmonton Oilers and Anaheim Ducks do battle tomorrow night, they’ll decide whether a team that has struggled for a decade will be lifted to the promised land by a baby-faced savior, or another will overcome a game seven tradition on the back of a grizzled veteran center. While Connor McDavid and Ryan Getzlaf do battle in southern California there will be a whole group of fans a few states over cheering “Go Ducks Go!” for perhaps the first time in their lives. 
That would be the Dallas Stars, who with an Anaheim victory would see the second-round selection acquired for fan-favorite Patrick Eaves at the deadline morph into a first-rounder, albeit near the end of the round. Moving up 30 spots on the back of one game makes this match the most important one of the year for Dallas—even if they’re not playing in it. Even though Eaves himself hasn’t played since game three of this series, his seven matches in the first two rounds already qualify the Stars for the upgrade (he needed to play in just 50% of the games throughout the first two series).
For Dallas, who watched everything go wrong this season after leading the Western Conference in 2015-16, moving up would be a nice end to a disappointing year. Already having fired their coach, the team is reeling this summer wondering which direction to take a team that looked so dangerous just a year prior. The expansion draft, free agency and the trade market are all huge question marks for Dallas, as they try to rebuild a blueline and find someone, anyone, to stop a puck.
When they sold off Eaves—and Jordie Benn—at the deadline, many fans shouted with frustration at watching some of their heart-and-soul players (beards) walk out the door in a season where they should be buying instead of selling. Now, the idea of getting a first-round pick and the chance to bring Eaves back in free agency should be an exciting prospect. After 32 goals this season there will be plenty of suitors for Eaves, but perhaps the team that has kept him in the NHL when many others would have pushed him out has an inside track.
So while the Ducks try to exorcise their game seven demons, they’ll have the support of a whole swath of Dallas Stars behind them. Whether that’s enough to overcome the suddenly unstoppable Leon Draisaitl, and contain a resurgent Mark Letestu—not to mention that McDavid guy again—is still to be seen.
Dallas Stars Sign Justin Dowling To Two-Year Extension
The Dallas Stars have inked Justin Dowling to a two-year, two-way contract extension that will run through the 2018-19 season. No financials were released. Dowling was set to become a Group VI unrestricted free agent this summer, because of his age and relatively few NHL games to this point in his career.
The 26-year old Dowling made his NHL debut this season, suiting up for nine games. Recording two assists, he has still yet to score his first NHL goal, but he has been a stalwart offensive producer for the Texas Stars of the AHL. The undrafted forward is a testament to hard work in hockey, as he spent time in the ECHL early in his career before finding a home in Texas.
Dowling shouldn’t feature regularly into the Dallas lineup next season, but does provide some depth at forward should they experience a rash of injuries. While both extremely small samples, his success in the faceoff dot and strong possession metrics show that perhaps he’s even capable of even more than he has shown thus far in his professional hockey career.
Western Snapshots: Roussel, Eakin, Keller
The Dallas Stars have some interesting decisions to make about the upcoming expansion draft and the most recent play at the IIHF World Championships might make their decision-making even tougher. Like many teams, the Stars have to make some tough decisions and their key issues fall at the forward position, a spot that the Las Vegas Golden Knights know won’t be in high abundance.
Dallas is expected to stick with the seven forward, three defensemen and a goalie option and it is expected that Tyler Seguin, Jamie Benn, Jason Spezza and Radek Faksa are locks to be protected. On top of that, most people believe the team will keep youngsters Brett Ritchie and Valeri Nichushkin. That will leave only one spot left for either Cody Eakin or Antoine Roussel.
Mike Heika of DallasNews SportsDay writes that the team might have a hard time exposing Roussel, an emotional leader and enforcer of the team. The 27-year-old Roussel also scored two goals for Team France today to go with 14 penalty minutes (10 for unsportsmanlike conduct, two for roughing and two for interference) as he helped lead his team to an upset of Finland in the IIHF World Championships.
Roussel’s offense has remained consistent each year as he has scored 14 goals, 13 goals, 13 goals and 12 goals in his last four seasons. He has done better in those years at controlling his penalty minutes, however, as he had 209 penalty minutes in his first full season in 2013-14. Those numbers have steadily decreased to the now 115 this past season.
Eakin presents other issues as he is harder to figure out. The 25-year-old jack-of-all-trades is an energizer for the team as well, but he suffered a knee injury in the preseason and never got on track all season. In 60 games this year, he finished with just three goals and six assists. However, in the three years before that, Eakin tallied 51 goals. To make matters more challenging, Eakin was drafted by George McPhee when he was the general manager of the Washington Capitals in 2009. McPhee, now in Las Vegas, might be tempted to take a player he is very familiar with.
- Roussel wasn’t the only NHL player to have a good day on the ice at the IIHF World Championships. Arizona Coyotes center Clayton Keller had a hat trick for Team USA and propelled his team to a 7-2 rout of Denmark. Keller, 18, has had a whirlwind year from being picked seventh overall by Arizona in the 2016 draft. Then he scored 21 goals for Boston University and was named Hockey East’s Rookie of the Year. From there, he signed with the Coyotes on Mar. 26, and played the final three games for his new team, picking up two assists.
Several Teams Looking To Trade For Ben Bishop
With a flurry of upcoming moves that is likely to come in the coming weeks before the NHL expansion draft, many teams are looking at the move that the Carolina Hurricanes made when they traded for the rights to Chicago Blackhawks’ backup goaltender Scott Darling. That allowed Carolina to negotiate with the unrestricted free agent at that moment and the team signed him yesterday.
After Carolina’s successful maneuver, The Hockey News’ Lyle Richardson writes that several teams may be looking to make a similar move for Los Angeles Kings’ goaltender Ben Bishop, who is also an unrestricted free agent and the No. 4-ranked unrestricted free agent this offseason by The Hockey News.
Richardson writes that TSN’s Pierre LeBrun reported on May 1 that a couple of teams had inquired about Bishop. While he didn’t name any teams, it is speculated that the Calgary Flames and the Dallas Stars would be two teams that would make sense to have interest in the 30-year-old netminder.
Los Angeles has no interest in Bishop as they have veteran Jonathan Quick locked up long-term. The team traded for Bishop at the deadline when Quick went down with an injury with hopes that Bishop could get them into the playoffs, which did not happen. However, the Kings wouldn’t complain about picking up some assets for the soon-to-be free agent. Chicago was able to net a third-round pick in this year’s draft for Darling. Why not something similar for Bishop?
The Flames are not a surprising option for Bishop as they tried to acquire Bishop last June, but instead traded for Brian Elliott, who they are now looking to move on from after a season with a 2.55 GAA and a .910 save percentage. His playoff performance was even worse as he averaged a 3.88 GAA and a .880 save percentage as the Flames were swept in their first-round series against the Anaheim Ducks.
Dallas, on the other hand, has both Kari Lehtonen and Antti Niemi under contract for one more year, but neither goaltender had a good season and they may be looking to net a replacement and move on in some way from one of the other two. Lehtonen, 33, had a 2.85 GAA and a .902 save percentage in 59 games, while Niemi (also 33) finished his season with a 3.30 GAA and a .892 save percentage in 37 contests.
Dallas Stars Sign Roope Hintz To Three-Year Deal
Roope Hintz has signed a three-year entry-level contract with the Dallas Stars. The deal will begin next season, with Hintz likely joining the AHL Texas Stars for the 2017-18 season. No financial details were released.
Hintz spent this season playing for HIFK Helsinki in the Finnish league (the same team as possible top-3 draft pick Miro Heiskanen) and broke out offensively, scoring 19 goals and 30 points in 44 games. It was always expected that Hintz would eventually find his offensive game, as his shot is excellent and he has elite skating ability. That’s what caused Dallas to select him in the second round of the 2015 draft, despite only scoring 17 points in his first taste of the highest level in Finland.
Last year he took a step forward and was part of the gold medal winning Finnish team at the World Juniors alongside Kasperi Kapanen (who scored the winning goal), Patrik Laine, Jesse Puljujarvi, Sebastian Aho, Mikko Rantanen and others. The next in an amazing group of young forwards from Finland, Hintz will make an impact as a two-way player in the NHL before long.