A lot has happened in the last week or so after a depressing start to the free agent era off-season. But now we see a few acquisitions and even more talk of moves and the looming presence of even now – some unsigned free agents of our own. So what does this all mean? Are all of the anger/depression driven rants from fellow Stars fans merited? Is Daley terrible? Is Auld good enough? Is Neiuwendyk the worst GM ever? Is Richards going to New York?
In my opinion?
Daley – was one of our only Defensemen with a positive +/- ratings last year, finishing out with a +2 – as I have said before. So, going on that you could say that players like Robidas, Grossman and Fistric are even worse. And Niskanen is young but highly sought after by other teams from what I hear – and people who get paid a million dollars to know things are probably more credible than a few angry people with a keyboard and an Internet connection. That’s all I’ll say about the players who everyone wants to see go.
Auld – likely a career back-up goaltender who has flashes of first string capacity. He was cheap to get and will be cheap to maintain at just a 1 million dollar price tag and only costing us a 6th round draft pick, as Ottawa was looking to unload his contract in favor of their newly acquired goaltender in Pascal LeClair before the trade-deadline. Will he get the job done? Judging by his numbers last year in 40+ games, he will be more than enough to fill a back-up spot that will hopefully only see 20-25 games this season behind a rejuvenated Turco
Richards – is part of a rumor that the Rangers want him and could be traded. Odds of this happening are very slim, but not impossible. His contract is heavy despite his skill level, but this season is assumed to be his first full season with the Stars after only playing 56 games last season due to injury. He still pulled almost 50 points out of the season and would be very hard to replace as far as offensive points goes, especially from the Rangers. If the trade went through it would probably be for a forward and a defensemen and honestly, Rangers don’t have anything I could see the Stars wanting right now. Redden has been the name muttered, but his contract is just as ugly but with less of a pay-out, if I had to guess his upcoming season’s performance. Dubinsky was the other name mentioned as the Forward that would come our way in the deal – I wouldn’t mind seeing him in a Stars jersey but not for Richards. No deal really makes sense unless our new GM just really thinks we NEED a #1 Defenseman more than we need a playmaking top line center and sees Redden as a logical choice.
Neiuwendyk – finally found his place in the free agent market as he picked up two defensemen, a depth center and a backup goaltender after Gustavsson decided to go to Toronto. The moves left people wondering what exactly he was doing. First let me just say that most of these moves are probably heavily put on the back of our scouts more than our GM. The fact that he over-stocked our back end with people shouldn’t be accredited to his inability to add, there is obviously a move coming. We also tend to forget that Zubov is probably not coming back. We still have the overstock problem, which will likely see at least one defenseman go down to the AHL affiliate. There is still room for a trade that we will probably see before August (hopefully).
Woywitka will be in Dallas based on the nature of his contract, so will Skrastin based on what we need on the blue line and in the locker room (replacement for Sydor), Peters the Center was brought in for the AHL affiliate primarily. That leaves us with: Daley, Niskanen, Grossman, Fistric, Hutchinson, Robidas, Skrastins, Woywitka – with Vishnevskiy as a notable OFD that will probably start in Austin as part of their #1 pair. That leaves us with 8 defensemen, none of which are really top 2 calibre though Robidas and Daley got the job done on good nights.
Over all none of the deals were particularly bad, they were all bargain bin signings and if we needed number 3-4, 5-6 defensemen then they would be heralded as great. Fact is we don’t so people are panicking under the assumption that there was no rhyme or reason to the moves. Because, apparently they don’t do this sort of thing for a living. They may make mistakes, but generally they know how to stock their team as far as numbers go.
Zubov – is still sitting on the fence but the longer he waits to sign with someone the less likely it will be with Dallas. Or at least that’s the general assumption. He isn’t going to get his 5 million+ contract from the Stars, that’s certain. The question is really, “what is everyone else offering him?” – and where does it leave us if he DOES come back? We have a first line OFD for what? 1-2 more years? If that, considering his recent string of health related absences. Do we need him back? If it frees up cap space and our ability to bring in someone else, probably not considering his age and recent track record. Should we try to get him back? Sure, why not… that’s under the assumption that he would come back with a bargain price tag based on a slightly more expensive model of Lehtinen’s recent re-signed contract. 2 million for a year with incentives for another million, at most.
So what exactly IS the state of the Stars as of now?
We could still use a first pair defenseman, preferably puck moving offensive. Neiuwendyk will likely be trying to acquire one as we speak and beyond. If he finds one, we will likely see a taletned rookie go, unfortunately. That means Neal, Benn or Brunnstrom. You have to take into consideration, however – that Marc “Offense First” Crawford is our new coach. This means any deal that sees a legitimate offensive threat leave our team is going to be pretty hard fought against first. Then again, you could see the moving of one of our current forwards who played in Dallas last season as making room for someone like Benn to come up for his first year in the NHL. The only missing piece is that previously mentioned defensive piece – so where does that leave us? Pretty decent, to be honest – given the grand scheme of things.
The Dallas Stars Assertion 