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Matt Duchene, Sam Steel To Sign With Dallas Stars

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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.

Dallas Stars To Sign Craig Smith

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The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta reports the Dallas Stars are signing right wing Craig Smith to a one-year, $1MM deal.

This past season, Smith showed some significant decline whilst playing for the red-hot Boston Bruins. Much of that had to do with the over three-minute decline he saw in his ice time, and the general nature of Father Time. Before being traded to the Washington Capitals at the trade deadline, Smith played 42 games for Boston, scoring four goals and six assists.

Those offensive numbers are extremely tepid, but the defensive talent to his game did shore up some of his offensive inadequacies. At the beginning of last season, Smith was right on the heels of scoring 16 goals and 20 assists for Boston, as well as being one of the more hard-working players on the roster. After the trade, his time in Washington went about the same, scoring five goals and one assists in the last 22 games of the regular season.

In Dallas, with already a stacked forward core heading into next season, Smith could find himself regularly playing on the team’s bottom line, or also find himself a regular healthy scratch as one of the team’s extra forwards. Aside from that, with already so many talented wingers on the roster, Smith will have to improve his game quite considerably to find more playing time.

New Jersey Devils Acquire Colin Miller

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The New Jersey Devils have acquired defenseman Colin Miller from the Dallas Stars in exchange for a 2025 fifth-round pick, according to a team announcement.

Having already traded defenseman Damon Severson to the Columbus Blue Jackets in an earlier trade this offseason, and the expected loss of Ryan Graves to the free agent market, the deal for Miller helps the Devils ease the loss from those two defensemen.

Luckily for New Jersey, uber-prospect Luke Hughes is ready for some big-time minutes next season, as well as the eventual callup of top prospect, Simon Nemec. In the meantime, Miller should serve as a decent filler until Nemec gets his chance at the professional level. Last season for the Stars, Miller played in 79 games, scoring six goals and 15 minutes of assists in just under 17 minutes of ice time a night.

Although this move does hurt the Stars’ defense, the $1.85MM generated in cap room allowed for the team to bring in their big-ticket free agent, later signing Matt Duchene to a one-year, $3MM contract for the 2023-24 NHL season. Having the benefit of one of the league’s top goaltenders between the pipes, Dallas had the opportunity to considerably improve their offensive unit.

Dallas Stars Bring Back Joel Hanley

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The Dallas Stars are retaining defenseman Joel Hanley on a two-year contract, per the team. It carries an average annual value of $787.5K.

In bringing back Hanley, the Stars have shored up their defensive depth for next season. Serving as their seventh defenseman last year, Hanley should expect much of the same heading into the 2023-24 NHL season. Last season, Hanley managed to play in 26 games in Dallas, scoring two assists in just over 11 and a half minutes a night.

In the playoffs, especially in the midst of the team’s run to the 2023 Western Conference Finals, Hanley actually received much more playing time for the Stars, largely due to the internal demotion of defenseman Nils Lundkvist. Because the team did not deem Lundkvist ready for playoff hockey, Hanley played in 13 games, grabbing one assist in almost 13 minutes a night.

Although he will not be a big name on the back for Dallas, Hanley provides the team with organizational depth in case of injury. Being one of the more serviceable extra defenseman in the league, Hanley should be an adequate safety net for the Stars.

Dallas Stars Sign Jerad Rosburg To Extension

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The Dallas Stars have locked in some AHL depth, signing defenseman Jerad Rosburg to a one-year, two-way contract extension for 2023-24, the team announced today. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Rosburg, 27, was limited to just 12 games with the Texas Stars in 2022-23 before missing the rest of the season with an injury, but Dallas has evidently seen enough from him over the past three years to warrant keeping him around for another season. Signed to a one-year entry-level deal by Dallas in 2020 after recording 17 points in 36 games during his final season with Michigan State University, Rosburg has since skated in 115 games in Texas, recording six goals and 20 assists.

He’s yet to see an NHL recall but remains in the organization as a serviceable bottom-pairing option to round out their AHL roster. He’ll complement a group of Stars prospects eligible for AHL time that includes 2021 second-round pick Artem Grushnikov, 2022 second-round pick Christian Kyrou, and 2022 fourth-round pick Gavin White.

The 6-foot-2, 205-pound Rosburg hails from Clarksville, Maryland but underwent initial development in the Columbus Blue Jackets youth hockey system, followed by USHL stints with the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders and Sioux City Musketeers before joining Michigan State in 2015. After staying out of the lineup during his freshman season entirely, Rosburg recorded 12 goals, 43 assists, and 55 points in 141 games across four seasons with the Spartans.

Jim Nill Wins GM of the Year

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  • Dallas Stars general manager Jim Nill was named the Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year, beating out finalists Don Sweeney of the Boston Bruins and Bill Zito of the Florida Panthers. While Nill’s club didn’t make it to the Stanley Cup Final like Zito’s or go on a historic regular season run like Sweeney’s, Nill’s shrewd moves such as acquiring Max Domi and Evgenii Dadonov during the season helped propel the club to the Western Conference Final.

Dallas Stars Not Expected To Re-Sign Max Domi, Luke Glendening

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Dallas Stars Extend Evgenii Dadonov

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The Dallas Stars are bringing back a good piece of forward depth, re-signing Evgenii Dadonov to a two-year contract extension through the 2024-25 season. The deal, worth $4.5MM, carries an average annual value and cap hit of $2.25MM.

Dadonov, 34, played a crucial depth scoring role for the Stars after a late-season trade from the Montreal Canadiens. He notched 15 points in 23 regular-season games and 10 points in 16 playoff games after a rough go of things with the Habs, finishing his tenure there with just 18 points (and just four goals) in 50 games.

Stars general manager Jim Nill expressed his satisfaction with an extension getting done:

Re-signing Evgenii was high on our priority list. He was a key player for us down the stretch, and he elevated his game on the big stage during the playoffs. We’re happy to get a deal done that works for both sides.

It was, unfortunately, a tough end to the season for Dadonov, who missed the final three games of Dallas’ Western Conference Final loss due to a lower-body injury sustained early in Game 3. He’ll get a chance for two more deep playoff runs with the Stars and head coach Pete DeBoer.

Dadonov’s NHL journey spans nine seasons, during which he has accumulated 131 goals and 167 assists for 298 points in 486 regular-season games. He has suited up for five teams, including the Stars, Canadiens, Vegas Golden Knights, Ottawa Senators, and Florida Panthers. He’ll hit the 500-game milestone this season, a remarkable feat for a player who also suited up for six seasons and over 300 games in the KHL.

With Dadonov under contract, Dallas’ forward corps for next season already appears close to set. The team still has $5.1MM in projected cap space, per CapFriendly, but they need a new contract for pending RFA Ty Dellandrea. They’ll also need to replace or re-sign Max Domi, Luke Glendening, and Joel Kiviranta, although youngsters Logan Stankoven and Mavrik Bourque could provide cost-effective solutions in those depth roles.

Offseason Checklist: Dallas Stars

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The offseason is now fully underway after Vegas took home the Stanley Cup which means that it’s time to examine what each team will need to accomplish over the coming months.  Next up is a look at Dallas.

2022-23 was a season of considerable improvement for the Stars.  They picked up an extra ten points during the regular season, moving them from a Wild Card seed to having home ice in the first round.  In the postseason, they won a pair of series and gave the Golden Knights a decent challenge in the Western Conference Final.  As a result, GM Jim Nill doesn’t have a particularly long list of things to try to accomplish this summer but here are some items on their to-do list over the coming weeks.

Add Defensive Help

This is the big one for Dallas this summer.  With Miro Heiskanen and Esa Lindell in the fold, the Stars have quality blueliners in the fold.  However, things start to unravel from there.  Ryan Suter shouldn’t be logging heavy minutes at this stage of his career but played more than 20 a night in the regular season; that number jumped to more than 23 in the playoffs.  The bigger workload was problematic for him but the options behind him on the depth chart weren’t any better.

Colin Miller was brought in as a reclamation piece last summer and while he did well in a limited role, he’s not a top-four option.  Neither is the rugged Jani Hakanpaa.  Nill paid a high price to acquire Nils Lundkvist from the Rangers but he, too, was only able to hold down a limited role during the regular season but was out of the lineup in the playoffs.  Thomas Harley has shown some promise but he’s not ready for top-four duty either while Joel Hanley is more of a seventh defender than an every-game one.

All but Hanley are signed for next season but while this group was good enough to have some success, the playoffs showed that another top-four option is needed for them to take that next step.  Fitting one in cap-wise could be a challenge as they have around $7MM to work with, per CapFriendly, and several forward spots to try to fill.  It might take some creativity to fill this opening as a result but one more impact defender would put the Stars in much better shape for next season.

Re-Sign Or Replace Domi

Dallas wasn’t overly active at the trade deadline but they did make a late move to add Max Domi as a rental from Chicago.  There weren’t immediate dividends as he managed just seven points in 20 games down the stretch but was more productive in the playoffs, picking up 13 points in 19 contests.  The lineup was deeper with Domi in there and finding a way to keep him would extend that boost over a full season.

Of course, this is again easier said than done, especially if they opt to prioritize adding on the back end.  On top of that, Domi is set to benefit from what is a very thin free agent center market.  Taking out Boston’s two veterans that are likely to either re-sign or retire, Domi is one of the top few middlemen available.  In a position that is always in short supply and high demand, the 28-year-old is well-positioned to land a raise on the $3MM he made this past season.  Perhaps more importantly, Domi should finally be able to land some long-desired stability; he hasn’t signed a contract longer than two seasons since his entry-level deal.

It will take more than half of Dallas’ existing cap space to get something done.  But if they can’t land a defenseman and shore up a weakness, shoring up a strong spot is the next best thing.  Keeping Domi around to deepen the attack – or signing someone else to take that spot – is certainly a workable Plan B.

Bridge Deal For Dellandrea

Dallas only has one regular player set to reach restricted free agency this summer, forward Ty Dellandrea.  The 22-year-old played his first full NHL campaign in 2022-23 and acquitted himself well, picking up 28 points in 82 games while getting into 15 of their playoff contests where he notched three goals.  Certainly not a bad first taste of full-time action for the 2018 first-round pick.

However, with his games this past season comprising the bulk of his experience thus far, Dellandrea certainly isn’t in a position to command a long-term contract.  Nor should the Stars be inclined to hand him one.  As a result, he’s a lock to sign a short-term bridge deal.

Dellandrea isn’t eligible for salary arbitration and it’s post-entry-level players that often take time to sign but he shouldn’t be in that situation.  Instead, a two-year deal around $1.5MM should be workable for both sides.  Getting that deal done sooner than later would also be beneficial, allowing Nill to know exactly what he’ll have to work with this summer rather than working off a range estimate.  It’s not a top priority necessarily but it’d help if they could get this done over the next week or so.

Rebuild Forward Depth

On top of Domi, Dallas has three more forwards heading for unrestricted free agency – wingers Evgenii Dadonov and Joel Kiviranta plus center Luke Glendening.  If those players aren’t re-signed, they’re going to have to be replaced which is also going to cut into that $7MM in cap flexibility.

If the Stars want to fill internally, they could look to wingers Mavrik Bourque and Logan Stankoven.  Bourque, a 2020 first-round pick, was actually up with Dallas late in the playoffs although he didn’t see any game action.  The 21-year-old had 47 points in 70 games with AHL Texas and could hold down a bottom-six spot next season.  As for Stankoven, a 2021 second-rounder, he averaged more than two points per game during the regular season with WHL Kamloops (and somehow bested that in the playoffs).  If he’s ready to make the jump like Wyatt Johnston was this past season, he could give the offense a boost and perhaps fill the role Domi held.  Most importantly, Bourque and Stankoven have cap hits under $900K; their presence on the opening roster would give Nill a bit more wiggle room to work with.

While Glendening doesn’t provide much offensively, he can kill penalties and win faceoffs at a well above-average rate so Dallas will need to find a player to fill that role while Kiviranta provided some physicality from the fourth line.  These are spots that can be filled in free agency but they’ll be shopping at the bargain bin like many other teams.  With that many veterans possibly leaving on the open market, Nill will be rebuilding the bottom end of his forward group over the next few weeks.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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