Nazem Kadri and Rasmus Andersson could be big-time trade targets for the Stars
The Dallas Stars have started the season 17-10-0, and recently announced forward Tyler Seguin would be out for at least four-to-six months due to requiring hip surgery. Seguin earns $9.8 million AAV against the salary cap, so it begs the question about how Stars’ GM Jim Nill will get creative with his newfound financial flexibility.
Earlier this week, Daily Faceoff’s Jeff Marek published a report stating the Stars were going to be aggressive on the trade market, looking to go ‘big-game’ hunting leading up to the March 7 trade deadline. Would a potential deal with the Calgary Flames involving Nazem Kadri and Rasmus Andersson be the type of impact trade that Nill considers?
Kadri has posted 17 points in 28 games this season. The veteran forward earns $7 million AAV against the cap, and has four years remaining on his contract, including a no-movement clause for this season and next. Meanwhile, Andersson has registered 15 points in 28 games, and is on the books at $4.5 million AAV through next season, while holding modified no-trade protection against six teams.
On Tuesday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Tyler Yaremchuk and Colby Cohen discussed the Stars and Flames as potential trade partners this season.
Yaremchuk: Jeff Marek’s The Sheet blog yesterday started with this – ‘the Dallas Stars are going big-game hunting’. And it got me interested to look around and maybe do a little mock trades myself, on who exactly could they be targeting. As we sit here, and granted it’s only December 10th, it got me thinking there’s really no one on the trade market.
I started to look at the pending UFA’s, and the big names that are out there, and big cap hits, I should say, they are Mikko Rantanen and Mitch Marner, there’s no doubt in my mind those guys are playing out the year with their current teams. But, what makes Dallas really interesting from a salary-cap perspective, is the fact that Tyler Seguin is on LTIR and can likely be on LTIR for the rest of the regular season.
When you look at their cap picture heading into next year with some big money coming off the books, the Stars could go out and add a big cap hit for the rest of this year, and not be worried about too much of the salary-cap gymnastics next summer. Colby, I look around at who’s out there that would qualify as a ‘big-game’ move, what, Brock Nelson as a rental? I don’t see it, is there anyone you see out there as a potential fit?
Cohen: I’ve got two guys in mind, and they play on the same team. It’s Nazem Kadri and it’s Rasmus Andersson. We know what Calgary is looking to do, we know they’re in the middle of a rebuild, we saw last year the cooperation between (Flames GM) Craig Conroy and Jim Nill when they got the Chris Tanev deal done.
I think a lot of teams speculated that Tanev was going to Toronto, but clearly there was business to be done from these two GMs. Kadri’s got a couple of years left on his deal, Rasmus Andersson has had a solid year and is doing big work for the back end, the way he’s breaking out pucks by himself, physicality that he brings, I don’t mean running guys over, just the way that he ends plays.
I think they’d be two massive upgrades for the Dallas Stars, and are they big flashy names? No, but these are the types of guys that help you win when the games get ugly, and the games get dirty in the playoffs. We’ve seen Kadri be a winner before, so I think those are the two guys to keep your eye on if you’re looking to see who the Dallas Stars are going to go big-game hunting for.
For more on the very latest from around the league, including trade buzz from the Flames, Stars and Nashville Predators, watch the full episode below.