The Sheet Blog: Dallas Stars are going big game hunting in trade market

The Dallas Stars are going big game hunting.

With the unfortunate Tyler Seguin injury, GM Jim Nill is planning to be aggressive with his cap space. Internally, the feeling is this is THE year to go for it, and everyone from owner Tom Gaglardi on down is aligned. And I mean big-name, big-ticket players both up front and on the back end.

And if you’re going to get, you have to give, It will be tough for Nill to hang on to Dallas’ big three young stud prospects – Logan Stankoven, Mavrik Bourque and Lian Bichsel. Dallas will certainly try, but this is going to be a challenge.

I do wonder, however, if Dallas waits to pull the trigger on deals until after the 4 Nations Face-Off out of caution about the health of netminder Jake Oettinger. If he gets injured in the tournament, it might give Nill cause for pause. The story of Dominik Hasek’s injury at the 2006 Olympics in Italy and how it crushed the Ottawa Senators‘ Stanley Cup hopes still sends shudders down GMs’ spines.

Dallas is also looking to get tougher at the bottom end of the lineup. If he doesn’t re-sign with the Columbus Blue Jackets, I could see the Stars making a play for Mathieu Olivier.

Trouba on receiving end of the hammer for once

Jacob Trouba is an Anaheim Duck and nobody should have any problem with that.

I understand that Trouba may be upset at how the New York Rangers got him to agree to waive his no-trade clause in order to retain some modicum of control over where he ended up, but at the end of the day the Rangers behaved as all players should assume their teams will behave – in their own best interest.

For some, the “threat” of waivers may be distasteful, especially when dealing with a captain, but as former Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen used to say, “Sometimes the team has the hammer, sometimes the player has the hammer.” In this case the team had it and used it.

Trouba is not a young hockey player, he knows how this all works, he just saw something similar play out with former teammate Barclay Goodrow. It’s not fun but this is all part of the game.

Now you could make the argument that by handling the Trouba situation the way they did, the Rangers may have soured the room, and that’s fine, but that’s part of the calculation New York GM Chris Drury made when he got the Trouba trade ball rolling.

As an aside, let me make a point about ‘No Move’ clauses. I agree with Kelly Hrudey on a very specific point here. Kelly has been consistent in his belief that teams should not be allowed to ask a player to waive an NMC since that is something negotiated in good faith and as such the player should not be asked to surrender it.

Now, with a new CBA on the horizon, I hope both sides address this issue, because it’s not going away. Here’s what I propose: come up with a number or percentage of contract a player can be awarded for agreeing to waive a No Move clause. At that point it becomes a deal. You waive and I give you X, because right now the team offer towards a player asked to waive is, “Give me something in exchange for nothing.” And I know the NHL doesn’t want to allow any money outside the system, but for me this one shouldn’t count against the cap. But again, that can be negotiated.

Who says no?

Buffalo’s problem goes way beyond lack of palm trees

I said what I had to say about the Kevyn Adams presser last week on The Sheet and I don’t want to pile on the Buffalo Sabres GM. We all know where Adams went wrong with his words, and it quickly became a target of ridicule.

What the Sabres need from a PR stance is a charm offensive, but that’s going to be tough now with a hostile fan base chanting, “Where is Terry?”

To me the story of the Sabres in this era is inexperience and not just on the ice. Kevyn Adams is a first-time GM, and outside of Jason Karmanos (who has an impressive resume) there doesn’t seem to be a lot of experience around him. On the one hand I do admire Adams’ strength of conviction about his ideas and beliefs but, as we’ve seen, that can lead to onerous contracts and decisions that players aren’t ready for.

On the ice they’re just not ready to compete consistently. Too many young players have been rushed into the NHL, and thankfully the Sabres have realized the best thing for netminder Devon Levi ‘s development is to stay in AHL Rochester.

Again, I ask – is there a player whose development was hurt by starting their pro career in the AHL?

Tales of the Kraken

Someone dared me to mention this, so here goes…

Shane Wright has more goals than Juraj Slafkovsky.

*ducks*

Speaking of the Seattle Kraken, a quick story involving goalie Ales Stezka who on Nov. 11 was an emergency recall from the Coachella Valley Firebirds after Philipp Grubauer got hurt in a home accident. The Czech-born netminder arrived the night before a game against Columbus, picked up a rental car, valet parked it at a downtown Seattle hotel and when the goalie woke up the next morning, he found his car window smashed and his gear stolen. The equipment was never retrieved, and the team spent the day scrambling to get Stezka on the ice that night to back up Joey Daccord, including the assistant equipment manager from Coachella flying to Seattle with Stezka’s old gear.

Question for goalies – is this a common nightmare for you?

PWHL smartens up on social promotion

A subtle change by the PWHL this weekend in how they announce visiting teams’ goals on social media.

Opening weekend we saw tweets like this:

But a week later across the league we saw a change:

This is smart and ultimately good for the league. The PWHL is in the process of establishing and educating its fan base about players not only on their home team but also league wide. Generic “They score” tweets achieve nothing and generate zero engagement.

Great move by the league.

Moving Day in QMJHL

As I mentioned on Twitter/X over the weekend, expect the QMJHL Board to approve the sale of the Acadie-Bathurst Titan to a group that will relocate the team to St. John’s, Newfoundland towards the end of the week. No idea when the official announcement is planned.

Throwin’ teddy bears, throwin’ hands

And finally, last week I mentioned a Belleville Bulls/Oshawa Generals game teddy bear toss game I was at where, after the bears hit the ice and everything got cleaned up, Jake Marchment and Hunter Smith threw down.

But I never thought I’d see players fighting while the bears were reigning down.

Barrie Colts, Ottawa 67’s over to you…

OHL expansion south of the border?

I reported over the weekend that OHL representatives visited Youngstown and Muskegon over the weekend as the league is currently going through the process of evaluating the potential for expansion. Expect a decision soon on both, as the USHL needs to know by late December which teams are returning for next season and which teams are not.

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