How Active Will the Dallas Stars and Other Teams Be This Deadline Season?
Dave Pagnotta of the Fourth Period joined Sirius XM NHL Network Radio with Steve Kouleas and Nate Thompson on Wednesday and was asked about the Dallas Stars being active to replace Tyler Seguin, who could be out for the remainder of the season.
NHLRumors.com Transcriptions
NHL Rumors: Don’t Expect Trades Before the Holiday Freeze
Nate Thompson: “Talk about the trade deadline and how it’s right after the Olympic break. And you see last night (Tuesday night), Tyler Seguin went down, and the Dallas Stars are obviously being a contending team now, and you’re seeing throughout the league this parity, like, is there going to be a trader earlier rather than later? Like, are GMs going to be moving, moving faster on trades and the trade market than years past?”
Dave Pagnotta: “I think so. I mean, I think there are teams that more so, because of the cap flexibility that a lot of teams have, there’s a lot more wiggle room. Now, some teams are right up against it. Obviously, it’s going to make things difficult for them, but you have a number of teams that have a little extra wiggle room earlier on in the season.
Now they’re going to continue to accrue space, but it gives them the leeway of making a move earlier on in the season than having to wait till the trade deadline. And as you said, the Olympic Break wraps up the trade deadline is 13 days later, I suspect you’re going to see some teams now first of all, some GMs will tell you, if you can make a trade today that improves their team, they’re going to do it, of course, obviously, but when you get closer to the Olympic break and players that aren’t going to the Olympics anyway and can be acclimated to their surroundings a little bit sooner, depending who you talk to within each team.
Some teams kind of view that as a potential trade deadline scenario, where you can make moves ahead of time, get your guys acclimated, if they have to bring their families over, just make things a lot easier and smoother because of that break in the schedule. But more so than anything, it’s the cap flexibility that these teams have to make these types of moves.
NHL Rumors: Will There Be Another Alexandre Carrier Type Trade This Season?
The Stars are a team that’s checked in on Kiefer Sherwood in Vancouver. $1.5 million cap hit. A lot of teams are very attracted to that figure, plus the physicality and the goal scoring he brings. But it wouldn’t surprise me to see a team like the Dallas Stars load up a little bit here, trying to go for a Stanley Cup.
Now, obviously, the injury to Tyler Seguin is significant, and they’re going to get a second opinion here and re-evaluate him to see what that timeline truly is going to be. If he’s going to miss effectively, the full playoff run, if they do go through to a Stanley Cup Final that’s mid to end of June, if he’s not going to be available for that, they can put him on season-ending LTIR, and utilize his full cap hit to their advantage in that sort of thing.
Obviously, they want to have Seguin back in lineup. But these are the cards, unfortunately that everybody’s dealt with. But Dallas is going to be active. I think a number of other teams will. And because of the cap flexibility some teams have, sooner than closer to the trade deadline, I think some teams are willing to be more active.”
Have you subscribed to our YouTube channel? Rumor roundups and hot topics from around the league. We’re also posting some stuff on Instagram.
