Now that the dust has settled after the Dallas Stars signed goaltender Ben Bishop last week, it’s time to start looking towards other holes the team has on their roster going into next season. These include some top six forward help and hopefully some defensive help. They’ll attempt to fix these through either trade or free agency.
So how much cap space do the Stars have to work with now that Bishop’s contract is on the books and captain Jamie Benn’s new deal kicks in? Answer: quite a bit, actually. With the big cap hits of guys like Patrick Sharp, Ales Hemsky, and Jiri Hudler coming off the books, that opens up a lot of cap space.
Of course, some of that cap space should be used by giving Radek Faksa a hefty raise over his $863,333 from last season, as well as increases for Esa Lindell, Brett Ritchie, and other restricted free agents this summer.
The Stars have nine forwards, four blueliners, and three goaltenders on the books for next season at this time. Here’s the snapshot of the cap situation today, courtesy of CapFriendly:
The cap picture for the Dallas Stars will change in the next month, of course. They’ll work to sign their restricted free agents as well as preparing to lose a player to the Vegas Golden Knights in the expansion draft.
They’ll also need to make a decision on goaltending, as they’re unlikely to carry three goaltenders next season. Should they decide to buyout a goaltender, the cap space dedicated to the position will decrease, though at a lower rate than if they can find a team to take a contract off their hands.
Another thing to keep in mind when it comes to the cap next season, Dallas will have no retained salary on their books next season for the trades of Ryan Garbutt and Johnny Oduya. This means that they’ll be able to make trades in which they retain salary if desired, as teams can carry retained salary for up to three players on a given season.
Even with expected raises to RFAs and the goaltending cap space to be dealt with, what is clear is that the Stars will have plenty of cap space to make deals to upgrade their roster further next season. There won’t be many players they won’t be able to pursue in terms of money for next season.
Now the Stars just have to decide what piece they believe will fit their shopping list this summer and go out and acquire it. Luckily, with the cap space available to them, they’ll be able to pursue creative ways to fill in their top six and defensive holes next year.