MAB v. Nisky

I would like to pay the courtesy of giving a realistic answer – such as I can, anyway.

Without going into much detail, you’re going to run into a list of issues. Number one, as has been pointed out, two-way contracts do not always equal the ability to be sent down without having to clear waivers – both ways. But I will say that could alleviate a problem if you actually wanted to lose Niskanen, it would be a good way to do it.

Secondly, there are budgetary restraints and those hamper your ability to make trades or eat salary. We saw what dealing from a position of weakness can do – Turco was not traded at the deadline. I know some people want to say it was because he was too expensive, citing his large contract – but those people also tend to leave out that it is the remainder of the contract for the season; not the whole of it. The actual cap hit at the trade deadline would have been minimal. Dallas, who should have been buyers at the trade deadline were sellers and that is a position of weakness. Nieuwendyk’s demands, whatever they might have been, were too steep.

Ribeiro was another story because he did have years left on his current $5 million / year contract with no relief in cap hit for the remainder because each year pays the same instead of declining. Again, dealing from a position of weakness, plus the bad press, plus the rumors, plus the cap hit and then throw in what happened this summer that, if memory serves, other than Kovalchuk, only one UFA forward was given at or over $5 million (save whose-its in San Jose who never actually hit the open market). There were some slight increases, but overall, not much.

With Grossman locked up, finally, the Stars have an abundance of defensemen who it would cost the Stars real money to get rid of. The players worth keeping because they are young and developing, are exactly that – worth keeping. That includes Niskanen. The others who would be considered marginal players on other teams i.e. Robidas (don’t get me wrong, I’m a fan) and Daley, you don’t really want to get rid of because they are worth having around especially if one day you plan to occupy the number one defenseman position with an actual number one defenseman. This really only leaves you with Skrastins and Woywitka whose names on other teams would be pronounced "healthy scratch."

Were you to actually bring Bergeron onboard, you would be adding his salary (to what I believe is still the third or fourth lowest combined defensive corp salary in the NHL, even still) with no way to get rid of any other without trading away the players you actually want to keep. The only player that falls in the middle of the young players and Robidas is Daley and you would have to lose a pick to get rid of him; partly due to his abilities and again, dealing from a position of weakness.

If you put either Skrastins or Woywitka on waivers, no one picks them up. Especially not this early and especially not at full contract price. If they do make it all the way down, they’re on one-way contracts so you’re still paying full price, which given the budgetary restraints is not a good thing. So, you bring them back up and hope someone picks them off re-entry waivers in which case, you’re still stuck with half of their salary for the rest of the year.

Having gone through all of that (or not) you have to scratch them (and by "them" I do mean one or both) in which case you’re still paying full price for someone to sit in the press-box, plus Bergeron – didn’t want you to forget that. I would not be opposed to scratching either Skrastin or Woywitka in favor of Bergeron at the right price but the Stars have been hammering us over the head with their budget issues – so I doubt that they would.

All of that said, I don’t recall if Sheldon Souray has made it through re-entry waivers but if he’s available, that’s someone you flyer on at half-price without question, regardless of your internal budget restraints. Is Bergeron worth the same consideration? Not in my opinion. As with Bieska, he does not supply the parts needed at the volume needed for this team. He’d be a stop-gap at best but so were Skrastins and Woywitka and Nieuwendyk painted himself into a corner with those two contacts.

I meant also to add, some of those budgetary issues could go away with a new owner, assuming a new owner doesn’t mind eating a couple of million dollars.