As a hockey fan, the summer is wonderful, isn’t it? Sure, there’s no puck to watch, fair point. Yet, it’s the season of speculation. This team should sign that player and that team should trade this player. This team will make it to the playoffs and that team has no chance. Everyone is an expert, and by the time we are all proven wrong, no one will remember. It’s awesome.
Well, now it’s January 2025, and we have a much better picture of what the NHL is heading into the final stretch. For the Dallas Stars, based on the previous few seasons, it was more than reasonable to expect this team to win the Stanley Cup. We knew Joe Pavelski‘s retirement would leave some sort of a hole up front, and with Ryan Suter and Chris Tanev moving on there would be some gaps on the back end. However, this team still felt incredibly deep and capable of a deep run.
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Through 38 games, the Stars are 24-13-1, third place in the Central Division based on winning percentage and tied in points with the Colorado Avalanche, who sit in the first wild card spot. It’s been an up-and-down season, and not the start most predicted. They still look like a playoff team, but it’s clear they need to add something to the roster to go on a deep run. Do they need more offense? Defense? Both? With many teams waiting until the March 7 trade deadline, here is why I feel now is the time to act, and what they should be looking to add.
A Goal-Scorer Should Be a Top Priority
At the beginning of the season, scoring goals wasn’t much of a problem. However, from Dec. 1 to Dec. 27, Dallas scored more than three goals only once in the 12 games, and they got out of that stretch with a 6-6 record. In four of those losses, their opponents scored three goals. See the problem? Losing Tyler Seguin due to injury has obviously had a negative impact, but with the talent they have, it shouldn’t be this negative. They are starting to turn it around, scoring four or more goals in three of the last four games, and are on a six-game point streak. Still, it is too soon to call the problem fixed.
Roope Hintz has had a great start to the season with 18 goals, and Matt Duchene and Mason Marchment have done their part with 15 and 12 goals respectively. Jamie Benn just hit the 10-goal mark last night, and those are the only four players in double-digits. Wyatt Johnston and Jason Robertson have turned up the heat as of late, but both have only nine goals on the season. Logan Stankoven has four, and zero in the last 20 games. Although he’s a young player, with only 60 games in the NHL, he is still expected to produce at a higher rate.
Beyond simply scoring more goals, adding another scorer would put everyone in their proper spots. Mavrik Bourque, Stankoven, and Evgenii Dadonov have been up and down the lineup a lot in the last month, and Dadonov specifically has been in the last few games. This does have to do with Marchment being week-to-week with an injury, but even before that, there was a lot of line juggling going on. Dadonov is a fine player and has played well for the Stars this season. However, on a Stanley Cup team, he is currently out of place. Adding a top-six guy would give other players a better chance for success lower in the lineup.
Another big reason for acquiring a goal-scorer is their constant trouble on the power play. The Stars are currently 29th in the NHL with a 15.4% power play, and they were around 10% in the month of December. There isn’t much more to add to this point. The power play has been awful, and adding another scorer would, hopefully, make it not awful. I rest my case.
Do the Stars Need Another Defenseman?
In September, it looked like the Stars were strong enough up front and it was the defense that needed to be deeper. Now that we are almost halfway through the season, it doesn’t feel that way anymore. Miro Heiskanen, Esa Lindell, and Thomas Harley continue to be top-notch defensive options. Nils Lundkvist and Ilya Lyubushkin are incredibly steady and reliable as well. The sixth spot is where there is some rotation. Matt Dumba was the offseason addition, and while he was injured, Lian Bichsel and Brendan Smith have proven to be adequate replacements if it is needed.
The one real hole defensively is the lack of offense that the back end has produced. Heiskanen and Harley lead the Stars’ D-men in points with 18. With how well they both move the puck and how capable they are of jumping into the play, they are expected to produce more. Harley scored the overtime winner on Saturday, maybe that’s a start. Lindell, Lyubushkin, and Lundkvist have 24 points combined, and Dumba has only one. Another puck-moving defenseman who could produce would be a huge benefit, but they are hard to find. If that’s not the type of player they’re bringing in, I’m not sure it’s necessary to add to the eight they currently have.
What Should the Stars Be Willing to Trade?
To acquire a top-six forward, you’re going to have to give to get. That one is obvious. To get an offensive defenseman, you might have to give more considering there are fewer of those types of players in the league.
The Stars have a first and a third-round pick in the 2025 draft. They have picks in deeper rounds, but to get what they need, high-end picks will have to be on the table. They also have first, second, and third-round picks in 2026 and in 2027. General manager Jim Nill isn’t going to give out picks like candy, but after losing the Stanley Cup Final not that long ago, and making it to the last two Western Conference Finals, if there was ever a time to throw your chips in the middle, it’s now.
As for players, that one is a bit harder. The players of value are a key part of the Stars’ future. Players like Benn and Duchene are not going anywhere, but they are also on the back nine of their careers. Oskar Bäck was just signed to an extension, and Sam Steel and Colin Blackwell have become reliable players on the bottom two lines. Bourque is the one player I could see getting moved. He has had an up-and-down rookie campaign and the Stars already have a strong, young core of forwards for the future. As a first-round pick, he has a ton of potential and another team could see him as a part of their future.
The Time Is Now
While many, if not most teams, wait until the deadline to get their moves done, there are always teams looking to get their business done early. Some teams don’t know that they are sellers until March, but some are willing to dance now. It takes two to tango, but if there are willing parties, the Stars should be looking to bring in reinforcements now rather than later, for a few different reasons.
First off, the Stars have only 20 games after the March 7 trade deadline to get their newcomers acclimated to their new club. That’s a fairly long time, but for a team trying to get over the hump and win the Stanley Cup, the longer the better.
Secondly, Marchment is out week-to-week. Anytime you hear those words, it’s never good. He could be out for two weeks or six weeks. It’s hard to know. Bringing someone in now will fill the void he is leaving in the short term, and will be a true addition when he returns.
Thirdly, the Western Conference is loaded, but teams like the St. Louis Blues, Utah Hockey Club, and Calgary Flames, who are currently behind the Stars in the standings, won’t go down without a fight. The Stars need to add a piece, not just to rise in the standings, but to avoid falling out altogether.
One big factor in all of this is Tyler Seguin. The Stars believe he will be out until at least the end of February but could be out until after the playoffs are underway. If it’s the latter, putting him on Long-Term Injured Reserve (LTIR) would be a huge benefit. According to PuckPedia, the Stars have $1,577,813 of cap space to work with. Putting Seguin on the LTIR would bring that number to over $11 million. There is no salary cap in the playoffs, so if they bring in someone with a big ticket, and Seguin comes back in the playoffs, it’s completely within the rules. This is something the Vegas Golden Knights, among other teams, have done in the past.
Nill and the Stars have made it clear that they want to wait as long as possible before putting Seguin on LTIR. If he does come back before the season ends, it would allow him some regular-season games to get his legs back under him. If he holds firm to that position, they most likely won’t add until the deadline. However, if he can swing for the fences now, it is worth a shot.
