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Dallas Stars Daily Links: Sizing Up The Stars’ To-Do List

Posted on by Kathleen Tibbetts

The Dallas Stars have leapt from a long run in the Stanley Cup playoffs into a busy offseason. How will they sort out their priorities during this busy week?

The Athletic’s Sean Shapiro has made a list of chores the team will tackle, as well as some they may have to take on at the last moment. A new contract for Andrej Sekera may have been as good a place as any to start:

Sekera’s signing likely solidifies the Stars defense for the 2020-21 season and indicates Dallas won’t look into the defensive free-agent market later this month.

The Stars now have all six defensemen who played in the Stanley Cup Final signed for next season, while Taylor Fedun and Stephen Johns are also under contract for next season. The Stars also have defensive prospect Thomas Harley, who could be in the mix to make the roster out of training camp.

He also examines some of the more unexpected contingencies the front office may have to factor into their plans:

Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported last week that the Stars are looking to move a big contract. At this point, I haven’t heard anything internally from the Stars to confirm or deny that, but the franchise may lean toward a pennywise philosophy considering owner Tom Gaglardi’s core businesses have been rocked by the COVID-19 pandemic.

That could also put the Stars in a position to be an ideal target for an offer sheet. In normal times there wouldn’t be much of a chance of the Stars not matching an offer sheet to Roope Hintz, Denis Gurianov or Radek Faksa. But if a team with better financials were to offer a frontloaded contract with more real money in the 2020-21 season, the Stars and Gaglardi might have to have some hard discussions.

There’s more behind the paywall. [The Athletic DFW]

Stars Stuff

Matthew DeFranks does his own roster review in his latest piece for The Dallas Morning News.

Josh Bogorad reflects on the long, strange trip the season became.

Around The League(s)

And all of a sudden, it’s goalie season. With a five-year extension from the Vegas Golden Knights, Robin Lehner plans to stick around in Sin City for a while.

Speaking of the Knights, they’re really going all in on that “golden” part with their new third. Liberace would approve.

Are the Pittsburgh Penguins planning to move Matt Murray? Their new deal for Tristan Jarry may be foreshadowing.

With the King Henrik era over in New York, where will Lundqvist land? Pete Blackburn lists some possibilities, from the Washington Capitals to the Vancouver Canucks. [CBS Sports]

Meanwhile, here’s where you can find Ben Bishop in the near future.

The Chicago Blackhawks have moved Olli Maatta to the Los Angeles Kings for prospect forward Brad Morrison.

Matt Larkin lists his top UFAs, from Taylor Hall to Brenden Dillon and from Anton Khudobin to Corey Perry.

It turned out to be a big offseason for Leon Draisaitl, if not the Edmonton Oilers. CBC Sports caught up with him in a new video.

Finally

Taking a little downtime with the fam.

Talking Points