On the matter of the Stars' potential free agents: we've signed Stu for $900,000, and now we're giving qualifying offers to Jokinen, Lundqvist, Miettinen, and, most importantly, Ribeiro (I left out players expected to play in the minors). That's $770,000, $594,000, $495,000 and $1.9 mil, respectively. Expect all of them to accept the qualifying offers, because the cost (draft picks + salary) is too high for other teams to bother with the Restricted Free Agents. Together, that's $3.759 million for the RFAs.
Then there's the $38.425 million signed into contracts before the end of the season. This brings the total to $42.184 million either already signed or soon to be so.
Just by what we already know, this is the roster for the 2007-2008 Stars:
Forwards:
Modano, Lehtinen, Morrow, Halpern, Ribeiro, Barnes, Ott, Jokinen, Hagman, Eriksson, Miettinen, Lundqvist, and Barch.
That's 13 forwards.
Defensemen:
Zubov, Boucher, Norstrom, Daley, Robidas, Baumgartner, and Grossman (from what's been said, Grossman's expected to get called up next season).
That's 7 Defensemen.
Then there's Turco and Smith, which brings the total to 22 players. A normal roster is 20 players active (12 forwards, 6 defensemen, and 2 goalies) with a couple of scratches for depth.
The salary cap for next season is expected to be as high as $48 million. That means we have somewhere around $5.816 million to spend. Since we already have a full roster, that means that entire chunk can go toward picking up one or two (one forward, one d-man) players.
Some people feel that we should hold onto that cap space until the trade deadline, so that we can pick up a big player to fill a hole that we identify during the season. I disagree with that for two reasons: 1) because we KNOW what the hole in our game is going to be next season. It'll be the same as last season. Scoring. 2) because trade deadlines tend to have minimal returns both because the player is struggling to adapt to a new system and because the deals are usually a lot more rushed than deals early on and thus aren't as well thought out. So I think we ought to use that cap space now, and help the team as early on as possible.
Here comes the fun part: the pure, unfounded speculation.
If it were my team, I would call the defensive corps good enough. Its a good mix of quality veterans and up and coming young guys. Any changes I made would be through trades, not FA signings. I would be spending that entire salary cap on a forward. And not just any forward, one who can really score while still being at least acceptable defensively.
Here are the players I would be looking at, divided by how likely they are to sign a contract for in a range the Stars could afford (last contract amount in parentheses):
Probable:
Alexi Yashin ($7.6 mil). This is my personal preference among the guys I know the Stars could get. Yashin scored 50 points in 58 games in what was considered a disappointing season. Part of the problem was an injury, part of the problem was the Captaincy and way too high expectations. He could easily be a point per game or more player on a team where he wasn't expected to lead and could just do his job, which is Yashin's strength. He's getting older, but still has a few good years left in him, plus he could be acquired for relatively little, since the Islanders are paying two thirds of his old salary (due to the buyout of his enormous contact) and other teams will likely be hesitant to pick him up because of his troubles in New York.
Jason Blake ($1.558 mil). He actually seems to be improving as he ages and with the new rules. Expect his peak to be in the next two years. He'll likely be looking at 60-70 point seasons for the next two or three years.
Paul Kariya ($4.5 mil). Good player, if on the declining side of his prime. Of course, that still translates to 70-80 points a season.
Possible:
Scott Gomez ($5 mil). Gomez, along with Drury, are the guys I think the Stars could manage to get with a little luck and some talks. Gomez had the second-worst season of his career (60 points), and so will likely sign for the same $5 mil figure or a little less. Otherwise, he's a player capable of scoring in the 80 point range.
Chris Drury ($3.154 mil). I'd prefer Drury over Gomez, but so would most teams, meaning he will likely get more than Gomez, and could therefore be signing a contract out of the Stars' price range. It will be close though, and the Stars could have a shot. He doesn't score quite as much as Gomez (in the 60-70 point range), but is a hardnosed player who can play D when he needs to. He would also fit pretty well into the Stars' system.
Less Likely:
Ryan Smyth ($3.5 mil). He will probably sign a contract for $6+ mil, but it wouldn't hurt to at least float him as good an offer as Dallas can manage and see what happens.
Daniel Briere ($5 mil). He won't get quite as much as Smyth, and could therefore be obtainable, but don't count on it. Could be getting close to $6 mil, but again, it couldn't hurt to send him an offer.
When I was putting this together, I was looking for proven scorers, and so I've passed up many prospects with potential to score high. The Stars have plenty of prospects already. We just need a guy who we know can score consistently and help ease the scoring load. I'm also not bringing into account any possible trades to free up cap space. There are just too many possibilities for me to cover everything. I'm sure I've missed plenty of guys who would be a good fit, so feel free to suggest players in the comments.
The actual salary cap is announced on June 30, plus trades/free agent signings begin on July 1, so another post once all that begins.
The actual salary cap is announced on June 30, plus trades/free agent signings begin on July 1, so another post once all that begins.
Salary figures came from http://www.nhlpa.com/ and http://www.nhlnumbers.com/, both of which are invaluable and wonderful to hockey nerds like me. Unrestricted Free Agent lists came from about.com, which has information on everything about everything.
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