The rumor that wouldn’t go away finally came to fruition just an hour before the free agency deadline as the Dallas Stars acquired center Jason Spezza from the Ottawa Senators.
The whole deal ends up being Spezza and the $1 million NHL cap hit of Ludwig Karlsson (a winger who spent much of last season in the AHL) for Alex Chiasson, Nick Paul, Alex Guptill and the Stars’ second-round pick in next summer’s draft.
Confirmation comes to us via, well, everywhere, but here’s Mike Heika:
Stars trade Alex Chiasson, Nick Paul, Alex Guptill and 2nd pick in 2015 for Jason Spezza and Ludvig Karlsson.
— Mike Heika (@MikeHeika) July 1, 2014
Spezza has a $7 million cap hit but a $4 million salary this season and is set to become a free agent next summer. He had 23 goals and 66 points last season in 75 games with the Senators and obviously slots into the second-line center hole Dallas has been working hard to fill.
Early returns on the trade are fairly positive for the Stars:
No team’s fortunes have turned around faster than the Stars the last two years. Amazing what Nill’s done.
— James Mirtle (@mirtle) July 1, 2014
Great move by Nill. Don’t wait for the Stastny domino to fall. Get ahead of it.
— Nick Cotsonika (@cotsonika) July 1, 2014
We’ll have so much more on this trade as the day goes on. But for starters, nearly entirely turning over the top six in just two summers, especially if you count the key position switch for Jamie Benn, is quite a coup for Jim Nill.