What will it take for the Dallas Stars to milk out just a few more wins in May and June?
The Stars are looking to make that lunge at the trade deadline on March 7 as one of the league’s most aggressive buyers on the market, but will be forbearing in how they progress according to Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic.
Their top need will be a right-shooting defenseman that can make an immediate impact. It’s going to be slim pickens’ for those attributes in this market.
The Stars’ needs were the same around this time last year, which led general manager Jim Nill to bring in Chris Tanev.
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Right now, the Stars’ left side is lacking some meat and potatoes and per Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff, they could have $9.5 million in long-term injured reserve space to spend.
“The Stars still haven’t put Tyler Seguin on long-term injured reserve, wanting to wait as long as possible to accrue more cap space. But when they do park his $9.85 million cap hit, they’ll be one of the more dangerous Cup contenders to monitor ahead of the March 7 trade deadline,” Lebrun writes.
The top right-handed shooting defenseman on the TSN Trade Bait Board is Montreal’s David Savard, who has 10 points in 37 games for the Canadiens. Savard carries a $3.5 million cap hit and is an unrestricted free agent after this season.
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Next is the New York Rangers’ recently acquired right defenseman Will Borgen, who has been skating alongside K’Andre Miller on the second defensive pairing. Borgen is also a rental, but carries a $2.7 million cap hit and has only four points in 45 games.
Neither of these acquisitions bring the biggest splash to the Stars, but both have intriguing upside.
“They are making their calls right now, but the plan is to be patient and wait until after the 4 Nations event to decide where to act,” LeBrun added. “The idea is to see if more injuries change their needs. Roope Hintz is the latest Stars forward to get dinged up, leaving Tuesday’s win with an upper-body injury. There was no update on him after the game. Mason Marchment is also out a few more weeks, so Dallas is certainly banged up at forward.”
Beyond their defensive needs, there is a desire to add a top-six forward. Enter Brock Nelson.
Nelson is the No. 3 player listen on TSN’s list and would have an immediate impact on any team he’s shipped off to. He’ll bring $6 million in cap hit, but at 33 and having spent over a decade with the New York Islanders, Nelson will likely want to sign an extension wherever he goes.
“There’s interest in Brock Nelson [from the Stars], but it’s not clear yet if the New York Islanders will move him,” writes LeBrun.
Taylor Hall checks in as another prime target. As the only former Hart Trophy winner on the trade board, he offers shiny value versus other options available with 22 in 43 games for the Chicago Blackhawks.
With the spending flexibility and the push to bring an experienced group that much closer to hardware, the Stars are arguably the No. 1 team to watch for in acquisitions come late February through early March.
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