The Dallas Stars kick off their free agency frenzy by re-signing unrestricted free agent-to-be Patrick Eaves. Per Mike Heika:
I’m hearing Patrick Eaves has agreed to a one-year contract with the Stars at $1.15 million. He made $650,000 last season.
— Mike Heika (@MikeHeika) July 1, 2015
Eaves was a great fit throughout the lineup for the Stars last season. He was able to fit in nicely with the top duo of Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin, picking up some goals of his own along the way. He is a great net-front presence for a power play that often was lacking guys to get to those hard areas.
The salary will not be high enough to hamstring the team from being able to make additional moves should the right deal come along, though general manager Jim Nill has emphasized not overpaying on any moves this summer.
He has said those things before and then gone out to make a trade that almost nobody saw coming. Will he do that again today?
After all, with Eaves signed the forwards look pretty set:
Jamie Benn – Tyler Seguin – Valeri Nichuskin
Ales Hemsky – Jason Spezza – Patrick Eaves
Ryan Garbutt – Cody Eakin – Antoine Roussel
Curtis McKenzie – Vernon Fiddler – Brett Richie
Travis Moen/Colton Sceviour
The defense seems to have a logjam, however, of guys that are slotted into the NHL lineup or, in the case of Oleksiak, would have to pass through waivers in order to be sent back to the AHL:
Patrik Nemeth
John Klingberg
Alex Goligoski
Jyrki Jokipakka
Jason Demers
Jordie Benn
Trevor Daley
Jamie Oleksiak
If the Stars make any free agency signings the rest of today, we would expect that there would be some corresponding moves at either position in order to make space on the roster for the new acquisition to fit.
We’ll wait and see what Jim Nill has up his sleeves for the rest of the day.