Dallas Stars Daily Links: Could Ryan Suter End Up in Dallas?
The defenseman has been linked to the Stars practically since he was bought out by the Wild. Plus, NHL Draft grades, Free Agency rumors, and more.
Free Agency starts tomorrow, and boy does is it shaping up to be an interesting one. Several marquee players are set to hit the market, from Gabriel Landeskog to Doguie Hamilton. And in a flat cap world, no destination is off the table,
For the Dallas Stars specifically, the team needs to replace Jamie Oleksiak — who was selected by the Seattle Kraken in the NHL Expansion Draft — to round up their Top 4. And the most prominent name for the past week has been former Minnesota Wild defenseman Ryan Suter:
Suter’s side has made it clear that he wants to play for a contender and wants a multiyear deal. On Monday, The Athletic’s Mike Russo reported that Suter has “multiple multiyear options” to choose from and that “Dallas, Florida and others are still in the mix.”
Russo indicated that Suter would likely fetch a four year deal, and that Suter would likely command a salary in the $3.5-4M range. That kind of deal would be pretty pricey for a 36 year old defensemen, which could hurt Dallas down the road:
Around $4 million is not likely to look good unless Suter is demolishing Father Time... The Stars will need to weigh how much value they see in Suter compared with the other options and if the heightened urgency of a championship this coming season is worth some dead weight down the road.
You can read more about Suter and the Stars’ other potential free agency targets from Saad Yousuf here.
Stars Stories
The Stars have selected qualifying offers to all of their pending RFAs, save for former 2014 14th overall pick Julius Honka. He is finally free:
We have issued Qualifying Offers to 7 players. #GoStars
— Dallas Stars (@DallasStars) July 26, 2021
📝https://t.co/U8IphETwuc pic.twitter.com/tqB373ZXKv
Dallas landed quite the haul at the 2021 NHL Entry Draft, ending up with 10 picks over the weekend:
Extra picks 'huge' for Stars, who restock the prospect pipeline via draft https://t.co/5bWaUdbNTX via @NHLdotcom
— Mike Heika (@MikeHeika) July 25, 2021
Around the League
Scott Wheeler felt the Star’s had the second best second day at the draft:
2021 NHL Draft winners and losers: @scottcwheeler ranks every team’s Day 2 picks ⤵️https://t.co/hG95sH2Sco
— The Athletic NHL (@TheAthleticNHL) July 25, 2021
And here’s Corey Pronman’s breakdown of all 223 picks, in which he gives the Stars’ a B+ for their haul:
2021 NHL Draft grades: @coreypronman evaluates every pick by all 32 teams ⤵️https://t.co/rnH9FYFl4i
— The Athletic NHL (@TheAthleticNHL) July 25, 2021
If might have balked at Suter’s contract earlier, but defensemen are expensive these days — the Winnipeg Jets sent two second rounders to the Washington Capitals for Brendan Dillon:
Winnipeg addresses its defensive issues by acquiring Brenden Dillon from the Washington Capitals on Monday evening.https://t.co/zIQjO4wpOe
— The Hockey News (@TheHockeyNews) July 27, 2021
They’re even expensive to offload! /s
Official: We’ve acquired defenseman Anton Stralman, defenseman Vladislav Kolyachonok and a 2024 2nd round draft pick from the Florida Panthers in exchange for a 2023 7th round draft pick. https://t.co/jcAo00xMXY
— Arizona Coyotes (@ArizonaCoyotes) July 27, 2021
Elliotte Friedman pens his thoughts heading into free agency:
Quickie blog heading into a wild week. Enjoy! https://t.co/uqLMx4lpfu
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) July 26, 2021
The ESPN+ crew also put on their fortune telling hats and try to look into the future:
NHL Free Agent Frenzy is upon us! The outlook and predictions for all 32 teams. Wysh x @emilymkaplan production. https://t.co/ClrUCXoxm3
— Greg Wyshynski (@wyshynski) July 27, 2021
Finally, UFA almost always ends up as a disaster for everyone involved, so let’s instead cap off looking at the other end of the spectrum:
Everyone knows the UFA market can be perilous. GMs play it at their own risk. But with that risk comes the potential for great reward.@Nick_Emanuelli has five UFA signings from the past seven off-seasons who won Cups the next year:https://t.co/t0NJNHghqG
— The Hockey News (@TheHockeyNews) July 26, 2021