Matthew DeFranks of The Dallas Morning News: (mailbag) The Dallas Stars main priority should be improving their third line with some more scoring. They need to add forwards so that Radek Faksa and Blake Comeau can get fourth-line minutes.
Free agent targets could be Blake Coleman, Barclay Goodrow, Alex Wennberg, Brandon Saad, Zach Hyman, David Krejci and Mike Hoffman
The Stars may not have the assets to land Buffalo Sabres Sam Reinhart. Other trade targets could be Alex Killorn (Lightning), Phil Kessel (with Coyotes retaining salary), and Rickard Rakell (Ducks).
A three-year bridge deal makes the sense for both the Stars and defenseman Miro Heiskanen. This would help the Stars keep the salary cap number down as they are not buying any of his unrestricted free agent years. The Stars can then try to extend defenseman John Klingberg next offseason. For Heiskanen, in three years the salary cap should start to increase and there could be more money available for him. There also the threat of long-term offer sheet from someone.
If the Stars don’t lose Anton Khudobin in the expansion draft, their crease could be crowded if Ben Bishop is healthy. It may not be bad to have Jake Oettinger in the AHL developing for another year.
Matthew DeFranks of the Dallas Morning News: The Dallas Stars won’t have a ton of salary cap space to work with this offseason, they will have a bit to play with.
Trading or losing Anton Khudobin in the expansion draft would save the Stars $3.333 million.
The Stars need to re-sign RFAs Miro Heiskanen, Joel Kiviranta and Jason Dickinson. Dickinson needs to be qualified at $1.6 million and could get a $2 million a year deal. Heiskanen could be around $6.25 million on a bridge deal.
The Stars would like to re-sign pending UFA defenseman Jamie Oleksiak. Could they get Oleksiak re-signed for $3.5 million a year? If they lose Oleksiak, other potential free agent defensemen include Ryan Murray, Derek Forbort, Cody Ceci, Erik Gustafsson and Mike Reilly.
Would the Stars be able to afford Tampa Bay Lightning pending UFA forward Blake Coleman. He may get $4 million on the open market.