Breaking Down the Stars Day 1 Moves: Blackwell Stays, Faksa Returns, plus Neil Graham Promotion!

Breaking Down the Stars Day 1 Moves: Blackwell Stays, Faksa Returns, plus Neil Graham Promotion!

Day one of free agency is wrapping up and the Dallas Stars bolster the fourth line with the resigning of Colin Blackwell and a return of Radic Foxa. However, they miss out on Mao Granlin, Mate Blue Mel and upgrades to the blue line. Let’s recap July 1st. Next, your Locked On Stars, your daily podcast on the Dallas Stars, part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. Howdy Stars fans. I’m Joey Ericson, former producer 105 through the Fan. Please be sure to subscribe. We are free available wherever you get your podcast and on YouTube. And as always, thank you so much for making us a part of your day and making us your first listen. Welcome to my reaction of Dallas Stars free agency day number one on Locked on Stars part locked on podcast network your team every single day. A relatively quiet and expected day from the Dallas Stars that saw them sign Colin Blackwell and Ratic Foxa. Yes, Ratic Foxa is coming back to the Lone Star State. We’ll break those down. But some exciting news off the ice as well. Glenn Gooson is now official. He will be the head coach of the Dallas Stars. Plus, Neil Graham was promoted to become a Dallas Stars assistant coach. We’ll tell you more about that later on today’s show. But let’s dive right into NHL free agency. We’ll talk about some of the deals away from Dallas as well. Cody Cece got paid. So did Myle Granlin, which was to be expected and um I think really uh solidified why the Stars weren’t going to be able to retain him. But let’s start with uh Colin Blackwell. The first move of the day by the Dallas Stars. Blackwell has been resigned by the Dallas Stars. Two years, $1.55 million. The annual AAV is 775,000, which is the league minimum. And uh he of course signed a one-year contract for $775,000 last season. And uh just love this deal all around. It’s it’s good value, of course, for for both the stars. And I I think it’s it’s a good fit for Blackwell as well. He’s bounced around over the last few years. I’m sure he would like to stay put for another season. Was uh rather productive um in his role. You know, 17 points, six goals in 63 games. Had that big playoff goal um against Winnipeg or pardon me against Colorado in game two with the overtime winner. And it’s just an Energizer Bunny that you you love to have around. He’s great inside the dressing room. He uh obviously has skins on the wall. I I’m sure he is uh a great model, role model for younger players in the dressing room as well. He’s had his struggles with injuries and he’s just found a way to put in the work. He’s that inner geyiser bunny type that uh I I think the stars really needed at points during this this past season. And then when you go through a long 82 game stretch with injuries and ups and downs, Blackwell is consistent and you know what you’re going to get out of him and he’s going to be here in Dallas for the next couple of years. So glad the stars in Blackwell were uh able to get that done. That was the the first move. Then about an hour later, the return of Radic Foxa. And and look, I am not a hater on Ratic Foxa by by any means, but it certainly does not move the needle for me. And I understand the Stars need a veteran that just understands his role to sort of bolster the the fourth line. Would I have rather kept Mate Blue Mel? Yes, I would have rather had Matte Blue Mel over Radit Fox. However, we’ll get to Matte Blue Mel in a bit. I I understand why they went out to resign Radic Foxa or went out to sign him to bring him back. He can just slot in on that fourth line. He’ll be your center every single day and you know what you’re going to get out of him. However, I’m just like, you have Ratic Fox at home and Oscar Beck. So, I I I don’t understand the need to have this reunion in a lot of ways, but Stars fans seem to be pretty excited by it. I’m not just because I would rather maybe see a young uh upand cominging guy in the AHL get a spot, but at the same time, the Stars have to fill some some roster needs. They have to fill some roster spots, and this is one way to do that. And uh let’s not kid ourselves. Uh the stars need help. They need some depth, especially within the bottom six. And we can get into it now. By the way, the deal for uh Radic Foxa was three years, $2 million was the AAV. He’s 31 years of age um in St. Louis this past season. Had five goals, 15 points in 70 games. his production has just slowly sort of decreased over the years, but we know he’s a defensive four. He’s good in the faceoff dot. Um, and he’s responsible. Um, actually had really good success in St. Louis um in the postseason. Had five points in seven games in that first round um against Winnipeg. He almost scored the game-winning goal or at least what we thought was going to be the game-winning goal um in that series uh until the miraculous comeback by the Jets. But um if um if he can put together a postseason like that here in Dallas, I’m not going to complain about it uh too much. And again, I’m not trying to throw cold water on the return of of Radic Fox. Uh uh I think we were just all hoping for uh a bit more. And uh for the most part, let’s uh let’s just look at the Stars roster. like they’re going to to need some guys to to really step up and um they’re they’re going to need some offensive production out of some players that really didn’t have to carry that burden last season like a Maverick Bourke. Um even a Sam Steel a bit I think is going to get elevated in the lineup. And I kind of wanted to to jump to this a bit as well, just looking at the depth chart right now for Dallas. And I just kind of threw together a few lines. And of course, this doesn’t mean this is what Glenn Goldson is going to do. Um, I’ll go ahead and say this is uh absolutely what he’s not going to do. But Roehance, Jason Roberts, and Miko Rantin is your top line. Matt Duchain, Jamie Ben, Tyler Sean, uh, however you want to kind of work that second line out, but why Johnston, Sam Steel, Maverick Bourc, and then you have Fox Beck, Blackwell, and Ritz Scovian would be your 13 forward on the blue line, which we already know it’s Lindell, Mirro Hkin, and Thomas Harley, Elia Labouchkin, Liam Bish, Neil Slungquist, and Alex Petrovic. And I’m already hearing the comment section. Why were they not able to get rid of Dumba or Labouchkin? I’ll revert back to my usual stance on the case. I don’t know what the market is. You have to find a willing partner to take that contract. And as we know here, and why we’re wanting to get rid of Dumba, maybe not as much as Labouchkin, but Dumba. Number one, we know he’s not that great. How are you going to find a trade partner that’s willing to give you anything for a player that’s just not that productive and is not going to fit in in the roster, however it it may shape out. It’s just it’s really hard to do that. And I would love for the stars um to find a way to get him off the books. It would be uh wonderful to see that pop up on Twitter. As I’m scrolling right now, Jim Nil did say Donovan will be signing elsewhere. So that’s a another player the Stars are not going to be able to retain which um is uh not very surprising as well. So that’s kind of where the the stars are at this point. They have 12 forwards under contract. Rantin Sean Hence Johnston Robo Duchain Steel Foxin Bourc Beck and Blackwell and then on defense Miro Eselindell Harley Dumba Labouchkin Lungquist Bishell and Petravic Vic. By the way, there wasn’t a ton of blue line help out there to be fair to Dallas. Not a ton of right shot defenseman, which also may give you hope that someone would take a risk on Dumba or a risk on Leouchkin. And a lot of the players we talked about coming into free agency ressigned already um yesterday on uh on June 30th, which took a little uh I guess luster out of today, but there was a lot of interesting signings that I want to get to as well. Let’s just talk about ML Granland. Um he just signed a three-year $7 million deal with Anaheim. Uh $7 million AAV. So just no way the Stars were going to make that work. And there was reports they were really trying hard to get that to happen. Unfortunately, it was not going to work with that number. Sort of a Chris Tanv situation there. Cody Cece, by the way, how he keeps duping these general managers to give him money. Who knows? Four times 4 and a half av. He’s making more than Thomas Harley next year. Um, and and again, different circumstances, but still um he’ll be making more than Harley. In four years at 31 years of age, he got paid. So, credit to his agents. Um, he got paid quite a bit. Now, um, one that really, really hurt, Matte Bluell. Um, he was, um, a UFA and, um, he signed a one- one a one-way deal, excuse me, with the Boston Bruins, which I think was probably a point of contention with the Dallas Stars that may have wanted to offer him another two-way deal. And he believes he should have a crack at the NHL probably last season. And look, um, he was really, really incredible last year in Texas. He got better. He improved. Uh, of course, led the the Texas Stars in points and now he’s getting a crack with the Boston Bruins. Man, that hurt because I was expecting like I had him sort of penciled in like he was going to be on your bottom six and he was going to get elevated and have a chance to really solidify himself on this roster. and um he goes elsewhere, which really really stinks because I think he could turn out to be um a decent decent little player in the NHL. So, he’s off to Boston. So, the Stars miss out on that. And and that one really really stings. Um again, just kind of quiet. I don’t think we were expecting a lot from u uh from uh from the Stars as well. Jim Niels said Cody Cece called him and wanted to come back to Dallas, but they couldn’t make it work. Uh yeah, absolutely. I think that the cap um saved us there. Um looks like Will Coley, by the way, um he’s staying in New York. Um that was a guy that I was a little interested in. He was an RFA, so that’s a bit different. Uh Tanner Jano, who we talked about, he got paid a lot as well. We go down uh some of the more uh transactions today. And uh we’ll uh touch on Glen Goldson becoming official um in just a moment. Today’s episode of Locked On Stars is brought to you by FanDuel. There’s no better time than to get in on the action with FanDuel. Summer sports are in full swing and whether you’re all about baseball under the lights, golf on the green, or high stakes soccer action, FanDuel is the best way to make every game more exciting. You’re already following the action, why not make it a little more thrilling. With FanDuel, you can get in on the game while your friends are getting sunburned at the beach. I’ve been using FanDuel. Track your favorite matchups. You can use it to keep it fresh. New daily promotions, fun ways to bet. It’s easy to use, fast to pay out. Makes regular season games really, really exciting. Just like the Texas Rangers recently, every game seems to be going extra innings. You can get on the action with FanDuel. Become a part of it. New to FanDuel, new customers can bet just $5 and get $150 in bonus bets if your first bet wins. Open the FanDuel app today or visit FanDuel.com to get started. Okay, so before we get into Glenn Gooson becoming the official Dallas Stars head coach, I wanted to go through some of the other signings today on July 1st. A lot of interesting moves by different teams. I have to say St. Louis made a lot of interesting acquisitions, but one that really jumped out and a player we talked about, Tanner Jano, woo, the Boston Bruins paid him five years, $3.4 million. And um that was a bit of an overpay by the Boston Bruins, who also made some really nice um additions as well, but that one really stood out. A big name that ended up just staying in the same spot, Brock Besser. Um that was one of the uh I guess big fish that um was going to test the market and I guess uh officially he tested the market for like an hour before he ends up resigning with the Conucks. 7 years 7.25 million AAV which seems like a really really solid deal for the Vancouver Conucks. William Ecklan got three years 5.6 AAV from the Zano uh San Jose Sharks that’s in up in uh coming forward with San Jose. Joel Arma, he signed with the Los Angeles Kings. Um they made a couple of heavy heavy signings um on the blue line. um the Kings did with Cody Cece as I mentioned earlier, but they also got Doomlain. Uh Brian Dumalan was uh a player we talked about um I believe last Friday uh on a free agent Friday as a potential kind of veteran that was in his mid-30s that could come over. He got paid a good chunk of a change as well by uh Los Angeles. So the the Kings are are making some big moves. Nicholas Perix. Remember Pervix we talked about uh pretty heavily as well. He ends up getting a pretty nice deal with the Nashville Predators 2-year 2.75 AAV. I would have loved for the Stars to make that work. Duman, by the way, signed 4 million AAV for three years. So, um yeah, there was a lot of money flying uh around, but for the most part, some pretty sane decisions I would say by most uh GMs. Vladislav Gaverov that was sort of a blue chip defenseman. He ended up signing a seven-year I believe it’s 77 uh with uh with New York. Um it looks like he’ll be paired with uh Adam Fox. So, a lot of curious decisions. I’m curious if there’s any u any moves by certain teams or any teams you thought won free agency here on day one. remember we did pretty much crown Nashville the the Stanley Cup champions at this time last year and um we all know how that turned out but uh let’s uh let’s shift over to Dallas Star Pacific discussion here now um Glenn Goldson um officially the team’s head coach which we did expect nil said here quote we are thrilled to name Glenn as the head coach of the Dallas Star since his previous time in Dallas Glenn has worked tirelessly to establish himself as one of the most respected coach coaches in the NHL’s extensive NHL experience both as head coach and assistant coach speaks to his ability to innovate and adapt to the modern game as well as to build relationships with his players. Glenn has worked with some of the best players in the world and continually found ways to maximize their skill set to contribute team success. We have full confidence that he’s the right person to to elevate our team to the next level. Glenn Golden will be introduced to the media tomorrow officially. So, be on the lookout for that as well. And uh I also I want to I want to hold some Stars fans accountable a bit because seen some people on on Twitter that um I know that were calling for the firing of Pete Dorton knowing the options that were out there to become the next head coach of the Dallas Stars and now being upset about Glenn Gooson and being upset that they hired somebody that is quote unquote worse than the Dallas Stars. you can’t have it both ways. Um, you were calling for D’vor to be fired right after game five. Um, and that eventually happened and knowing that it wasn’t this extensive um there wasn’t like there wasn’t a no-brainer. Let’s just put it that way. Um, they were the last team that still did not have a head coach like like everybody else had been already picked up. So, let’s just ease it on like, oh, well, now they hire Golden um and and you are calling for the the job of of Pabore. You can’t have it both ways, Stars fans. So, I just want to throw that out there. And I’m not saying it’s it’s everybody, but there’s some people that, you know, I’ve seen in the comment section that are complaining about Glenn Goldson, and I know you were calling for the firing of Pete Doris. So, um let’s let’s just cool it and and give it some time. But um look again um I did an episode on Goldson yesterday. I encourage you to uh to go listen to that. I tried to sell you on Glenn Goldson. And look, I’m I’m not all gungho about Glenn Gooson either. I want to get that straight. I’m I’m not um licking the the shoes of Glennson. Uh but uh look uh he’s learned and uh I I think there’s reason to at least um be optimistic uh about uh what uh can occur. Um Allan Nazertine, by the way, some other news, he will remain head coach or assistant coach, excuse me, Jeff Reese, uh goending coach, Patrick Dolan, head video coach, and Chris uh Deanchuk, I think it’s Dimchuk, actually. Chris Dimchuk will return um to join the Goldson’s coaching staff. um as well just says here spent the last seven seasons as assistant coach in Edmonton uh since his first season behind the Edmonton bench. The Oilers lead the NHL with a 26.8% power play percentage in the regular season and a 29.8 power play percentage in the postseason. He’s a native of Hudson Bay, Saskatchewan. Um interesting enough, all the head coaches Pete Dbor or pardon me, Jim Nil has signed have hailed from uh the uh the great country of Canada. So, um, of course, um, you can read the entire press release. Former head coach of the Texas Stars before becoming a head coach, uh, of the Dallas Stars in the early 2010s. Um, so Glenn Golden is official. Uh, by the way, something I missed in the first segment. Um, not really a free agency, per se, but uh, the Dallas Stars did sign defenseman Neil Pekka Muon to an entrylevel uh, contract. He was the 6’5, 215 pound defenseman from Finland that was selected in the fifth round in 2024 of the NHL draft. He uh spent the last season in the Western Hockey League. Um skated in 60 regular season games uh recording 17 points with a plus 20 plus uh minus rating, 45 penalty minutes. Also had three points in 18 games during the WHL postseason. So, Monin has been signed to a multi- or to a three-year entrylevel contract. So, the Stars got that piece of business done as well. Now, maybe the most um exciting news of the entire day. Neil Graham has been promoted. Yes, he will become a Dallas Stars assistant coach next season. We’ll discuss that and how stoked I think all Stars fans are about that. So, if you recall back to a few weeks when we started to hear murmurss that the coaching decision for the Dallas Stars was coming down to Neil Graham or Glenn Gulletim. We did an episode on about who would you choose if you were the general manager, Jim Nil? And of course, um I backed Neil Graham in that one, but I did make the caveat and sort of a prediction. If you’re going to hire Glenn Goldson, Neil Graham has to be an assistant coach. And we found that out today, announced by the Dallas Stars. Yes, you got it, Stars fans. Neil Graham will be behind an NHL bench next season. Neil says, “We are pleased to have the opportunity to add Neil to our coaching staff in Dallas.” Neil said Neil has spent over a decade as part of the Dallas Stars organization behind the bench in Texas and Idaho proving at every level his ability to coach. His hockey actmen has made him one of the most sought off uh sought out after young coaches in professional hockey. Spent the last six seasons as the head coach with the Texas Stars. Had 183 140 and 40 record in 363 regular season games. Texas reached the Calder Cup playoffs in four of his seasons as head coach in which the AHL postseason was played. Most recently guiding the team to the 2025 Western Conference final. I think this is a great move because he does have rapport with multiple Dallas stars. Jay Ginger, Jason Robertson, Thomas Harley, Lean Bishop, Oscar Beck, Maverick Bourke, uh Justin Ritscoian possibly if um if he is elevated uh next season as well. So, I just think this is a great great move by the Dallas Stars. Happy this is happening to have Neil Graham behind the bench. And I’ve stated this multiple times. Remember when Glenn Goldson became head coach last uh last goround in Dallas? He was 40 years of age. Neil Graham is just 40 years of age. So, there’s a lot of maturation that Graham still has to go and can get now behind an NHL bench with Glenn Gooson. So, I think this is just a great two birds with one stone sort of situation that the Stars are able to get. And let’s be honest, I sort of mentioned this yesterday, I believe. If Glen Goldson doesn’t work out, you know, three, four years down the line, maybe you’re ready to give Neil Graham a crack at it with with him behind the bench and sort of learning the ropes. I just think uh this is a great move for for Neil Graham number one and the the Dallas Stars because the Stars get to hold on to him. He remains in the organization and um it may also fire up Neil may fire up Goolson to some degree where it’s like okay like you know my predecessor could be right there if um if I don’t figure it out. So um that was one of the more exciting announcements today. I think the the announcements off the ice were uh a bit uh more exciting. Um they do plan to hire another assistant, by the way, and it looks like Goldson’s going to have a pretty uh I would uh suspect a pretty uh heavy uh weight um in that decision. So, uh a lot of a lot of great stuff the stars were able to get done maybe off the ice more than on, but hey, you know, Blackwell, it’s good to get him back. And you know, Radic Fox is Ratic Fox. It would be nice to see him back in in victory green, but you just you look at that that roster, man. Stars are Stars going to be asking some guys to to play some heavy roles. I I’m just really fascinated now. Um, and who knows, Stars could make more decisions here in the next, you know, week or so about what these lines are going to look like because I think I think the easy decision would be to elevate why Johnston back on that top line with Robo and Roe. But do they give Ro, Robo, and Rantin a chance to marinate a bit more? And now you have I I mean just looking at right like you have Ben, Beck, Foxa, Blackwell, and Bourc who I I are kind of just in that I you could throw Steel into that conversation like they’re bottom six right at this point. Like Ben is at this point in his career, but you’re going to be asking it. It just feels like at this point like maybe a Sam Steel um Bourke uh as well to play some heavy minutes or or play some of those um I guess rigorous minutes as well. And it could be make or break for some of those those guys. And it could be make or break for the stars uh as well next season just because it it’s not like they have this plethora of, you know, top six talent to just kind of work off of. Like they got some older, you know, Shane’s in his mid30s, Ben Sean, they’re all kind of in that area. And and don’t get me wrong, like this is not the sky is falling for the Dallas Stars. Um the Stars should be a team I I think will make the playoffs, be comfortably um within the top three, the Central again. Um and if if they stay healthy and all that good stuff. Uh but uh I I just think it’s going to be a fascinating conversation just because I I don’t think the Stars are better than they were last year going in to last season. Um I remember this time last year I said, “Did this Dallas Stars got did they get worse?” Um, and I don’t think they really did in a lot of ways, but they kind of did once the postseason came. Like the regular season was one thing, but once the playoffs started, I think it’s safe to say they were kind of worse than they were last season. Although, what they survived one less game this past year um against Edmonton. Uh, but yeah, I I just um for the most part though, the Stars are just running it back. So, uh, yeah, they don’t have Granlin, but again, they didn’t pick up Granland till the trade deadline. So, uh, they’re running it back in a lot of ways with Ratic Foxa. Um, and they’re going to probably ask more out of Borc and some others, which, um, I think is fine. Um, and I think is good. Like, we’re going to see what we have in some of these guys. Um, and the the blue line is just going to be what the blue line is. And I think, you know, in November, December, we’re going to be talking about who’s out there that the Stars can go out to acquire at the deadline to try to bolster the blue line because it’s going to be a problem again. And I I don’t know how they’re going to retool it at this point if uh they didn’t really get it done today. It’s just I think it’s going to be a really really tough ask for them to try to do that over the summer. I just think they’re going to kind of be like, “All right, this is what we’re rolling with.” And um and yeah, like this is what we’re rolling with and we’re going to roll the dice and it’s going to be uh a trade deadline away again, which is frustrating because we’ve been saying that now for three years. Uh but to be fair, stars have gone out and done pretty well at the trade deadline and and improved for for the most part. But the Stars um are just they’re in this situation now like it it it was it they they they strangled themselves by what they did last year. Um and and I think the the underwhelmingness of this of this um of this free agency maybe for some of for some of you Stars fans out there. Well, really it’s it’s it’s from last year. It’s kind of the the karma or the recourse of of what the Stars did last year. And again, signing Leouchkin and Dumba at like, you know, kind of the last minute to $7 million combined, just not great. Not great at all. So, we’ll see how they they get through it. And they didn’t buy him out. They missed the deadline to do that. So, um it’ll be um it’ll be fascinating. We’re going to have lots of lots of tough conversations over the summer and it’ll be fun. But um that will do it for um day one of free agency. It doesn’t look like the Stars are making any more moves. Um Jim Nil’s already talking, so it’s as we speak. So uh that’s uh that’s going to do it. Um but uh want to thank you for the love and support as always. Hit the subscribe button, drop a comment about how you’re feeling uh about the Stars going into next season. Glenn Goldson official and Neil Graham. Um hit the notification bell, never miss an episode of Locked on Stars. continuing to do this every single day. As I mentioned, in a few weeks, we’ll be dropping down to about three episodes per day just because the news is going to get very, very light and we’re going to have to come up with some fun conversations, maybe some fun segments, have some more guests as well. So, be prepared for that. But for now, still grinding every day and plenty to talk about with Glenn Goldson uh being official and Neil Graham now promoted. So, some good stuff there. But have a great rest of your day, Stars fans, and uh we’ll see you tomorrow. So long.

On today’s episode of Locked On Stars, Joey Erickson reacts to the Day 1 of Dallas Stars Free Agency that saw them re-sign Colin Blackwell and sign Radek Faksa. Joey goes over the Stars quiet day in free agency and his opinion on both Blackwell and the return of Faksa after being traded last summer. We also break down the contracts of players such as Mikael Granlund, Cody Ceci, and Matej Blumel who are departing from Dallas and a general look at NHL Free Agency as well. The Stars also made it official that Glen Gulutzan will be the next Dallas Stars Head Coach and the promotion of Neil Graham to an Assistant Coach. Joey wraps up the show with his thoughts on the roster as a whole and how Dallas will have to address it next season.

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