Comments / New

Dallas Stars Daily Links: How Does Jim Nill Fix The Defensive Logjam?

Posted on by Shawn Ladd

In case you missed it on Friday but the Stars signed defensemen Jamie Oleksiak to a 1 year deal for $964,688. This move did two things it officially gave the team 9 defensemen heading into camp and it put them over the salary cap, which will have to be rectified before the season starts in October.

Last year the team carried 8 Dmen because GM Jim Nill likes to hoard defensmen in case of injuries. So what is the solution to sort things out. The top 4 would seem to be John Klingberg, Marc Methot, Dan Hamhuis and Esa Lindell. Dallas protected Stephen Johns in expansion so he would seem to be #5 and the overripe Julius Honka is #6,

That would leave Oleksiak, Patrik Nemeth and Greg Pateryn fighting for the 7th spot.

So what about after those five? It sure looks like there could be a competition in camp between Oleksiak, Stephen Johns, Patrik Nemeth and Greg Pateryn to win the sixth and seventh spots on defense. Oleksiak has been in the system for five seasons and has 119 games in the NHL. He missed time with a hand injury last season, but he also has had plenty of healthy scratches.

Oleksiak’s size is his greatest asset. He has tremendous reach at 6-7 and also has the ability to be very physical. However, he’s been criticized for not being physical enough and he does seem to have a very low-revving motor.

The Big Rig, Johns and Nemeth all seemed to have struggles in the Lindy Ruff system how will this new regime help out the young defensemen.

All three of Oleksiak, Johns and Nemeth struggled under the old regime. Lindy Ruff’s system asked a lot of the defensemen in regards to moving the puck, taking chances with your feet, and still being able to recover. All three should be better under Ken Hitchcock’s system, which protects defensemen and puts more of the pressure on the forwards to play two-way hockey.

Because of that, everyone is curious to see how these three defensemen respond. Will Oleksiak use his size to become a fantastic defender? Will Johns find calm in a more structured game? Could Nemeth be the best mix of physicality and skill among them?

The ideal solution would be to trade Oleksiak and Nemeth to give them fresh starts with new teams and keep Pateryn who wouldn’t mind being scratched as the 7th Dman. (SportsDay DFW)

Mark Stepneski has the official release of the Oleksiak signing. (Between the Blue Lines)

And a look at the current cap situation.

I am sure Stars fans would love if Nill could pull this trade off.

The Stars history would have been a lot different if they had drafted King Henrik Lundqvist back in the 2000 draft instead of his twin brother Joel or both of the twins ala the Sedins. Sean Shapiro finds yet another entity to write for.

Sean also had his weekly mailbag session last Friday, with a new sponsor. (Wrong Side of the Red Line)

Dallas is tied with the Blackhawks for the 3rd best odds of winning the Stanley Cup. (Bar Down)

In case you missed it the US team finished the Summer Showcase undefeated after their 7-5 win over Canada on Saturday. Dallas had 3 prospects left after Jason Robertson was cut and they faired pretty well. (Between The Blue Lines)

The Jets Dustin Byfuglien was none too happy with recent acquisition Tyler Pitlick. (language warning)

No surprise but Kari Lehtonen has the worst for the Stars in this team by team look at the worst contracts for each team. (SB Nation)

Current Dallas goalie coach Jeff Reese had a trade anniversary on Saturday.

The Stanley Cup champs Penguins have about $3m in cap space to try and bring in a 3rd line center and a look at the John Tavares and Matt Duchene situations. (The Hockey News)

Can the Pens pull off a 3 peat? Something that hasn’t been done for over 30 years.

2005 was a dark day for hockey fans when ESPN stopped broadcasting NHL games. Current analyst John Buccigross thinks when the NBC deal expires in 3 years that ESPN will return to broadcasting NHL games. (BSN Denver)

Interesting debate:

After his arbitration hearing Nate Schmidt signed a 2 year deal with the Golden Knights. (Knights on Ice)

Vegas is another team that has a plethora on their blueline. What will they do with all the defensmen?

Another team with good young defensive depth are the Ducks. Most hockey experts predicted they would lose one of their better young Dmen to Vegas in expansion. GM Bob Murray was able to swing a deal to keep his blueline intact. Hampus Lindholm may be the most underrated of the bunch. (The Hockey Writers)

Winnipeg’s Paul Maurice is the top coach on the hot seat this season. (FanRag Sports)

Finally a look at some goalies going crazy including Ed Belfour’s chop to Martin Lapointe’s nether regions

Talking Points