5 free agents the Dallas Stars can sign to get back to the playoffs
By C.L. Kohuss
No. 1: John Tavares
I couldn’t settle on Erik Karlsson or John Tavares, so we’ll go with Tavares on this one.
As you might have noticed, nowhere on this list did you find a defender. That’s not to say that Dallas doesn’t need help on defense. It absolutely does. But with the likely scenario that Miro Heiskanen takes to the ice in 2018 to man a spot on the blue line, we have to guess their defense won’t be any worse than it was this year. And for vast stretches of the campaign, they were just fine.
They’re likely to lose or rid themselves of defensemen Greg Pateryn and Dan Hamhuis, but their depth in that department shouldn’t take a hit. With Julius Honka still waiting to see more playing time and Dillon Heatherington seeing some minutes already, the addition of Heiskanen will make up for what they’re losing.
But on to the pipe dream. Center John Tavares will get paid. P-A-I-D. He’s one of the best young centers the league has to offer. He knows it. His team the New York Islanders know it. Everyone else is aware of how talented Tavares is.
And he’s going to make someone an immediate Cup contender. That is, when he goes to a place that’s the right fit and where he has other talent around him not forcing him to carry the load.
Really, any team in the NHL would love the services of Tavares. If he signed with Dallas, their scoring would be rocket fuel to a club lacking any sort of lift beyond the top three. And if they play defense as well as they did for long periods throughout this past season, they might be elevated to top five most likely to win it all.
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That all sounds incredible. But it isn’t happening.
The Stars could very well sign Tavares to a massive contract, but the point is moot if they can’t resign stud center Tyler Seguin. They will be right where are at this moment: Would-bes looking in from the outside.