There were no major surprises from the Dallas Stars when it came to qualifying their restricted free agents. On Monday afternoon, the team released the full list of players qualified as well as released to unrestricted free agency.
All four restricted free agents who spent the full season on the NHL roster last year received qualifying offers, including Radek Faksa, Brett Ritchie, Jamie Oleksiak and Patrik Nemeth. The offer means the team retains negotiating rights and, if another team comes in with a higher offer, the Stars would receive draft pick compensation.
Gemel Smith, who saw spot duty in injury relief, and Matej Stransky also received qualifying offers while Mattias Backman, Nick Ebert, Justin Hache, Henri Kiviaho and Maxime Lagace were allowed to enter UFA status.
There were some hopes for Backman when he was acquired from the Detroit Red Wings along with Mattias Janmark in exchange for Erik Cole, but the writing was on the wall last season when he was sent to the AHL team in Hershey rather than finishing out the season with the Texas Stars. Kiviaho and Lagace were part of a system-wide goaltending morass last season.
Qualified RFAs can either accept the qualifying offer or continue to negotiate throughout the offseason. The Stars already completed the signing of a pending RFA Monday morning when the agreed to a two-year contract extension with defenseman Esa Lindell.
The full release from the team is below:
Dallas Stars General Manager Jim Nill announced today that the club has issued qualifying offers for the following players, thus retaining their negotiating rights:
PLAYER – POSITION
Radek Faksa – C
Patrik Nemeth – D
Jamie Oleksiak – D
Brett Ritchie – RW
Gemel Smith – C
Matej Stransky – RW
The following players were not issued qualifying offers and will become unrestricted free agents on July 1:
PLAYER – POSITION
Mattias Backman – D
Nick Ebert – D
Justin Hache – D
Henri Kiviaho – G
Maxime Lagace – G