Dallas Has Needs in Off-Season, Cap Space Being First on the List

Dallas Has Needs in Off-Season, Cap Space Being First on the List

welcome back all right let us discuss the Dallas Stars uh the Dallas Stars eliminated from the playoffs in the conference final we have been here before uh the Dallas Stars are very consistent over the last three years losing in the conference finals 2023 2024 and now 2025 in 2023 it was the Vegas Golden Knights that took them out and this past two years it’s been the Evon Oilers so Vegas won the cup in 2023 edmonton did not last year we’ll see what happens this year so one thing that’s consistent is the regular season for Dallas they had 106 points this year which is the lowest total over that threeyear span but the highest total 113 points so there’s only a seven point difference between their best and worst of the last three years very consistent numbers which they will have a hard time keeping up next season so looking at their scoring this year uh Matt Duchain 82 games played 30 goals 52 assists 82 points but that offense dried up in the playoffs badly 18 games one goal five assists six points robertson 82 games 35 goals 45 assists 80 points he had his struggles but his goal scoring got better as the playoffs went along the rest of his team did not though 11 games four goals two assists six points believe he had goals in three straight games at the end of the playoffs there uh Johnston 82 games 33 goals 38 assists 71 points i think Johnston underachieved a little bit this year i do i think he should be a point per game or better next year uh 18 playoff games four goals six assists 10 points he had his struggles at points during the playoffs too roe Hints 76 games 28 goals 39 assists 67 points in the playoffs 17 games six goals six assists 12 points i think hints has a next gear as well and then Thomas Harley was quite the coming out party for Harley this year wasn’t it especially Four Nations really opened a lot of eyeballs uh 78 games 16 goals 34 assists 50 points in the playoffs 18 games four goals 10 assists 14 points i still think Mro Hastenan is the better all-around defenseman but Harley’s getting up there he’s close uh Jamie Ben 80 games 16 goals 33 assists 49 points rough time scoring wise in the playoffs 18 games one goal two assists for three points uh Mason Marchman 62 games 22 goals 45 assists 47 points in the playoffs 18 games one goal four assists five points lot of players in Dallas that were struggling with goals come playoff time uh Jaddonov’s another 80 games 20 goals 20 assists 40 points during the regular season in the playoffs 16 games one goal three assists four points uh Essa Lindell 80 games five goals 21 assists for 26 points in the playoffs 18 games one goal one assist for two points other noteworthy players Maverick Bourke 73 games 11 goals 14 assists 25 points he only played three playoff games did not record a point bour’s going to be more prominent next year if this team can’t find a bunch of uh cap space bor’s going to have to be better next year uh and play a lot more tyler Sean 20 games during the regular season nine goals 12 assists 21 points in the playoffs plays all 18 games four goals four assists for eight points miko Ransen played 20 games after the trade from Colorado five goals 13 assists 18 points in the playoffs he turned it on through the first two rounds got shot down in the third round uh 18 games nine goals 13 assists 22 points for Rantin uh Bishell made quite the debut 38 games four goals five assists nine points in the playoffs just the one assist in 18 games bishell’s going to learn from these playoffs he’s a good young defenseman and he’s huge so once his game catches up with his frame he might have something to look at uh Bishel could be quite the defenseman jakeer 3618 and4 record 909 safe percentage in the playoffs 9 and8 record 905 save percentage jakeer I don’t know if he’s ever going to be a Vzna level goalender he’s a very good goalender but he does have his struggles at times this has not changed happens during the regular season happens during the playoffs and yes the Edmonton Oilers pretty good at figuring out exactly how to get those goals on Aer casey de Smith had a good year as the backup 148-2 record 90 or 915 safe percentage in the playoffs just the one appearance 0 and1 882 safe percentage for Casey De Smith of course Auter goalie of the future and of the present and Pete Dbor still being behind the bench that’s the plan for next year that raises a lot of questions but I mean if if they win during the regular season those questions and all those concerns go away winning solves a lot of uh beefs within a locker room or even outside of it uh so cap space as of July 1st a little under 5 million so $4,955,84 according to Puckedia uh they don’t have a first round draft pick this year or next year they don’t have any cap space so they will not be in on any restricted free agents uh no second round pick next year uh no third round pick in 2026 or 2027 so Dallas has been mortgaging the future in favor of the present now it gets really tough because normally I will have upcoming players on the board but basically any good young players already on their roster who’s likely to be you know a really high impact player uh there aren’t really any prospects for Dallas at this point that project to be really good high high impact players at the NHL level and they’re going to need some of that because their UFA list is as follows jamie Ben who’s come out and said he wants to come back he’s going to have to sign for like 2 million i’d say 2 million probably maybe uh because when you’ve got less than 5 million you’ve got some slots to fill including Matt Duchaine uh does Duchain come back at for on the cheap as well and would Dallas want to do that would Dallas want to bring back Ben bring back Duchaine bring back some of the older players i don’t know if they will donov probably goes to market because they don’t have cap space uh Granland another one rental at the deadline uh Blackwell uh Brandon Smith and Cody Cece also amongst the unrestricted free agents so in the event that Dallas doesn’t bring these players back they still have to replace them and that gets tough uh their restricted free agent list Maverick Bourc and Mills Lungquist those aren’t contracts to be overly concerned with loganquist and Bour have not done enough to warrant a big raise or anything it’ll be a one or a two-year deal for both I would think but it’s going to eat into that less than $5 million in cap space the team has so I wanted to look at the contract situation with Dallas um Miko Rantin $12 million cap hit till 2020 or 2033 and this is where Jim Nil is going to have to prove how brilliant he is because Rantin at 12 million is fine it’s fine if Rantin can be a 40 goal scorer every year for for Dallas that’s fine but that has definitely affected their ability to bring players back and be competitive this summer when everybody else is signing players uh Tyler Sega $9.85 million cap hit till 2027 to me that’s the contract that Jim Nil should be trying to move but are you going to give up the 2027 first round draft pick to move Sean’s contract because that’s probably what it’s going to take and it might take more than that sean only played 20 games this season during the regular season and during the playoffs he was pretty quiet uh eight points in 18 games for Sean who had more than a point per game during the regular season kind of a quiet postseason for Sean and so it might be tough to move that contract rope hints 8.45 million contract till 2031 he’s not going anywhere uh Wyatt Johnston is neither $8.4 million cap hit till 2030 uh then you got Robertson uh $7.75 million cap hit for one more year he’s a restricted free agent next year but he’s only one year away from unrestricted free agency so this summer they have to sit down with Robertson if they haven’t already started this process and say “All right how much are you looking for?” And we want it to be an 8-year deal i would think it’ll be an 8-year extension from Robertson we’ll see what that cap hit looks like thankfully it won’t kick in this summer it’ll kick in next summer uh Marchment $4.5 million cap hit for one more year i could see Marchment being moved i could see Marchment being moved to make some cap space i think with Marchman’s offense falling off during the postseason and penalties and just the overall play and sometimes being a bit of a distraction I would not be surprised to see Marchman on the move uh this this off season nor would I be surprised if he ends up in Florida because does feel like you know a move to Florida would make some sense but either way um we’ll get to Florida after the the Stanley Cup and everything but it just I mean if they’re going to lose Marshon we’ll bring in Marchman there you go um now also Miro Hasten $8.45 million cap hit for Hasten until 2029 see and the thing is I mentioned that thing with Marchman is sort of a eh you know just just as it enters my mind and then people will really get in and analyze it it’s just whatever enters the old brain here so yeah Hayeskin’s $ 8.45 million cap hit is perfectly fine nothing wrong with that lindell $5.25 million cap hit till 2030 i don’t think Lindell’s going anywhere either uh Harley’s $4 million cap hits for one more year next year he’s a restricted free agent so nil’s contract of $12 million per season for Rantin could have effects not just this summer but next summer as well because you’ve got Robertson and Harley looking for extensions and I just mentioned with Harley that you know he’s right up there with Hastenan so I’m saying $8.5 million cap hit for for Harley maybe a contract that matches Hastenan could make some sense robertson’s at 7.75 million he had 35 goals this year he can score 40 so probably at least $10 million a season for Robertson it’s going to get pricey in Dallas uh and of course $8.25 million cap hit until 2033 so some interesting contracts not anything really overly egregious i mean the Sean contract at times he hasn’t really lived up to uh same as Ben with the $9.5 million cap hit that’s expiring uh July the 1st for him but it will be interesting to see how Jim Nil navigates this and makes it work because just the math tells you this is going to be a very difficult offseason for the Dallas Stars and maybe the adjustment will have to be down in terms of the expectations moving forward um I’d love to see them stay in contention obviously as a Dallas fan but I’m also realistic in that they have a lot of issues here they need to address either you’re bringing players back and you don’t have the cap space to do it or you have to replace these players and you don’t have the cap space to do it there either so that’s a a real issue during a summer where most other teams aren’t having this problem so it is something that will reflect on Jim nil whatever happens from here uh I do have faith in him figuring this out so let me know your thoughts Dallas fans who do you move out to make some cap space so that you can keep a full roster on the ice next year uh what kind of moves do you make let me know your thoughts hit like and subscribe in the event in the event that you’ve not done so already thank you guys so much for all your support as always i will talk to you again soon

Dallas has been close over the last few seasons, but unable to reach their ultimate goal. Now they need to figure out their cap issues before next season gets going.

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