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Dallas Stars Daily Links: Was The Hanzal Signing Necessary?

Posted on by Shawn Ladd

Mike Heika had his weekly Q&A session on Monday. Heika thinks the signing of Martin Hanzal was unnecessary due to Jason Spezza  having to be moved to wing with the plethora of centers.

Manhockey

Mike, I like you am puzzled by the decision to sign Martin Hanzal.  Pre-expansion draft it was explained that Cody Eakin was too expensive for a fourth line center since Hitch was committed to using Spezza as the second line center.  So Eakin gets selected by Vegas and Nill goes out and exacerbates the problem by signing Hanzal who appears to have no intention of playing wing.  Now we are told that Spezza will likely play wing, although I don’t recall hearing any warm embrace of that idea from the Spezza camp.  You are exactly right, this is shades of Pierre Turgeon whose confused role as an excess centerman contributed to Hitch getting fired the first time.  Unless Nill is angling to trade Spezza (probably not much of a market for a slow center that doesn’t play defense and is overpaid), wasn’t adding Hanzal just a case of Nill panicking in an effort to make a big offseason splash?

MikeHeika moderator

@Manhockey @Manhockey  I’m not sure I can label what exactly this move is, until it plays out, but I think it was unnecessary.

I like Martin Hanzal, I understand what he adds to the mix as a big body who can win faceoffs late in a game.

That said, you are paying Jason Spezza $7.5 million for the next two seasons, and this move directly affects his ability to be a successful player. He prefers center, he likes to carry the puck, he has a history of making the most of power play time.

There is a chance he will not play as much center, that he will not carry the puck near as much, and that he will not play on the first power play unit. That’s not getting the most out of him.

Maybe Hitch will convince Spezza to shoot more (always a criticism Spezza has dealt with) and will get a great season out of him. But then you look at Faksa, Shore and Dickinson and ponder how these young centers are going to be able to play center when Hanzal is here for three years.

It’s very confusing.

Hanzal said at his presser he likes to play center and feels he’s at his best when he’s playing more minutes. He said his time in Minny was difficult because he had to adjust to a different role than he had in Arizona. That’s scary to hear.

We’ll see what happens, but it just seemed like an unnecessary add when the organization has plenty of depth at center.

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Texas Stars:

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Talking Points