NHL Free Agency: Grading the Stars’ signings

3. Colton Point & Valeri Nichuschkin

Point: Goaltender

Contract: 3-Year Entry Level

Nichuschkin: RW

Contract: 2 years/$2.95 million per

We’re going to combine these two into a single grade as they’re a bit hard to define. Though neither are free-agent signings in the natural sense, both moves occurred on Day 1 and both are clear flares by Jim Nill as to what he thinks of his roster and what he wants to have happen in the future. They are tied to everything else he has done so far since the market opened.

Let’s start with Point. Dallas’ 2016 fifth-rounder has spent the last two seasons playing for Colgate University, notching a .918 save percentage in 10 games his first time out before emerging as arguably the best netminder in college this past season. In 33 matchups, he went 16-12-5 with a 1.74 goals against average and a mind-boggling .944 save percentage.

It was good enough to warrant Hobey Baker consideration, and good enough for Nill to give him a three-year entry-level deal that suddenly puts him on the mountaintop as the best goalie prospect in the organization. No, we haven’t forgotten that Jake Oettinger is one year removed from being a first round selection.

But it speaks to the faith they have in Point that they would reward him this way, that he’s now going to compete for starts in the AHL as opposed to simmering another season or two in college, especially since his fantastic season at Colgate is an incredibly small sample size.

It also speaks to the changing-Nill, as does the entry-level signing in May of second round pick Jason Robertson. Robertson tore up the OHL as a right-winger in 2017, his first season. Now he too will be competing for time in Texas. It’s a-typical given Nill’s track record of letting these guys fester in the minors.

With the signing of backup goalie Anton Khudobin to two years and not three or four, it’s clear there’s some sort of fast-tracking process that’s begun here. The expectation is evident that Point will make waves in Texas and move quickly to the NHL. Nill has implied as much in exit interviews, and we have no reason to believe he will go back on that now.

For Nichuschkin, it’s a homecoming after spending two full years in the NHL before leaving to play in Moscow. The idea was always there that the former first round pick would return, but no one was really sure what the Stars would be getting when he came back.

Well, we still have no idea. Nill believes that Val (or “Nuke,” as we affectionately call him) is a better player and that Dallas is getting the prospect they hoped for when they drafted him, but who really knows? He was decent his rookie season of ’14 when he dropped 34 points in 79 games.

Then he went to the AHL, came back to the NHL and scored another 29 before netting 51 points in 86 games in Russia. The 27 goals in just beyond a full season is nice and makes us happy, but how that will translate back home is yet to be seen.

What we can tell you is that he’s going to slot in somewhere on the roster, which has to be another reason they didn’t go looking to fill the scoring void with a ton of bodies on the market. There’s that faith again.

If nothing else, we give the organization major points for not quitting on five-year-old draft choices who spurn you to play on another continent. So much so that you’d forego available talent that’s proven and with more experience. We as fans have beaten the dead horse on developing our farm, so here it is. The kids are coming, and it seems pretty soon.

Grade: B