One team that wasn’t active in free agency chasing defensive help was the Dallas Stars. Turns out there’s a good reason for that.
Stars GM Jim Nill is a big fan of the young defensemen the team has in the pipeline and gave his thoughts on just what they’ve got waiting in the wings as Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News shared.
“I’m excited about our defense,” Nill said. “We’ve got three or four young kids that are knocking on the door from the Calder Cup championship down in Texas. We think we’ve got lots of different options. We know they’re all going to get better. We think we’re going to be just fine.”
The list of big, young blue liners the Stars have is a solid one. Jordie Benn, Brenden Dillon, Kevin Connauton, Jamie Oleksiak, and Patrik Nemeth jump to mind right away with the first three having already been solid contributors last season in Dallas.
The Stars have an interesting mix of young and old on defense as it is. Sergei Gonchar, Trevor Daley, and Alex Goligoski round out the group and Gonchar is the only actually senior member at 40 years old. Daley (30) and Goligoski (28) have been around a bit but aren’t exactly old.
After the other moves Dallas has made this summer, it’s probably time to start thinking of them as serious contenders out West.