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UFA of the Day: Jason Demers

Jason Demers, Justin St. Pierre

Jason Demers, Justin St. Pierre

AP

Every day until June 30, we’ll write about a pending unrestricted free agent. Today’s UFA of the Day is…

Jason Demers

He’s not the flashiest player, but he’s probably the best right-shot defenseman that could hit the market, and that means he’s going to get paid.

Demers, 27, had seven goals and 16 assists in 62 games for the Stars in 2015-16. He logged 20:52 of ice time per contest, spending time on both the power play and penalty kill.

Dallas GM Jim Nill has three UFA d-men to decide on: Demers, Alex Goligoski, and Kris Russell. And with right shots John Klingberg and Stephen Johns under club control, Demers could be deemed expendable. (There’s been speculation that Goligoski will be the one Nill pushes to re-sign.)

If Demers does test the market, his list of potential suitors could be a long one. The Panthers just cleared a bunch of cap space, and they’ll need to replace Erik Gudbranson after trading him to Vancouver. The Oilers badly need more capable defensemen, and their coach, Todd McLellan, knows Demers from their time together in San Jose.

Demers could end up being a consolation prize of sorts for teams that are unable to land a right-shot d-man in a trade. Kevin Shattenkirk, Tyson Barrie, Sami Vatanen, and Jacob Trouba have all heard their names comes up in rumors, but it remains to be seen if any of them will actually be moved.

Other pending UFA d-men that shoot right include Luke Schenn, Ben Lovejoy, and Roman Polak. And if the Penguins don’t qualify Justin Schultz, him too.

Click here for all our 2016 UFA profiles.