The Duchene deal projects to be great value until year 4.

Mixed feelings about the signing. Good AAV but don't like the term or that he has all but disappeared in the playoffs two years in a row. And we need D...

I don't see anyway we sign a RHD now that this deal is done. As of right now we have signed for 2025-2026: 9 forwards, 6 D, and Jake and DeSmith, and only 450K in cap space. This is just my opinion of course, but we still need to sign Bourque (RFA), Blumel (UFA-Group6), Benn (UFA) and possibly Stranges (RFA).

Bourque isn't going anywhere, and I feel pretty certain Benn is coming back even though I have serious reservations on if it's good for this team. Blumel and Stranges are up in the air imo. I personally really like Blumel, but he's 25, has had two great AHL seasons and is a UFA now. I think it would kill the organization to let him walk, but money is tight and idk if they feel like they could get more impact from FA or if they could get priced out. I do think they will sign Stranges as an RFA, but who knows.

I still feel it's likely Marchment is getting traded, so that bumps cap back up to 5+MM, and probably one of Lybu or Dumba, so that's around 8.5MM. I just don't see that being enough to sign significant D help and resign those mentioned above, OR go out and get a new flavor of forward to help what we don't have.

FWAppraiser said:

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David Castillo has proposed the Stars making a run at Brown to play with Robertson & Johnston. I honestly don't hate that idea at all. Doubt Edmonton is going to be able to re-sign him.

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Connor Brown is a fourth-line player with the Oilers who has topped 40 pts once in his career. Unlikely he'll be playing with Johnston and Robo if acquired.

Benn is likely gone so they need to add toughness. Sam Bennett is a UFA. In that case, they'd have to see who goes to wing. Bring in Marchand on a short-term deal?

Stars have some serious cap issues.

djktamu said:

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FWAppraiser said:

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David Castillo has proposed the Stars making a run at Brown to play with Robertson & Johnston. I honestly don't hate that idea at all. Doubt Edmonton is going to be able to re-sign him.

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Connor Brown is a fourth-line player with the Oilers who has topped 40 pts once in his career. Unlikely he'll be playing with Johnston and Robo if acquired.

Benn is likely gone so they need to add toughness. Sam Bennett is a UFA. In that case, they'd have to see who goes to wing. Bring in Marchand on a short-term deal?

Stars have some serious cap issues.

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Brown has played on the top line with McDavid quite often. You don't bring him in to score goals. You bring him in to free up ice for your two snipers (Johnston & Robertson). And that's exactly what that line needs.

Benn is coming back, by all accounts. No way we can get Bennett or Marchand. Brown is a great, inexpensive option to play wing on the 2nd or even 3rd line (with Duchene).

I'd die for Bennett, but he's about to get maybe 8.5MM+ for 6 years maybe. Plus I see no way he's walking away from Florida right now with how good they are humming. The only way he leaves Florida is if someone offers him an absurd contract. Ekblad was the guy from Florida I was eyeballing, but idk where you find the money anymore.

Duchene needed to stay year to year. Nill is slipping.

Right on cue. Roughly $5M to work with. Now we just need to dump Dumba and Lyubushkin's salaries.

Does that return feel a little small? I guess it's a salary dump that was needed, but thought he could get more back than that.

Feels about right to me. I was hoping for a 3rd, maybe a 2nd. Getting two mid round picks is good. He's a unique player with only one year left on his deal. Crazy we'll only be paying Duchene what we were paying Marchment.

It's a pretty good return. I forgive Nill for giving Duchene at least one too many years.

I'll stick up for Mush some here too. I like him and think he can be a good player, but he was so clearly not a PDB guy and his best assets were coached out of him to play under PDB. I could see him getting back to his old self in Seattle.

We knew we would have to clear space. Ready to see Dumba is no longer a Star

Maybe maybe not. The last 2 years here were the best of his career in terms of points, but he's pretty wild and can't be relied upon to control himself in important games

Dang, I like Mush. It makes sense though. This is probably his highest value point in his career, and he's not a consistent top 2 liner.

Signing Duchene till he's 39 is a head scratcher to me

We had to dump Mush's salary and the whole league knew it so we weren't going to get a premium return given our lack of leverage.

I'm fine moving on from him, but we just lost one of the only two physical forwards we had.

FWAppraiser said:

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djktamu said:

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FWAppraiser said:

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David Castillo has proposed the Stars making a run at Brown to play with Robertson & Johnston. I honestly don't hate that idea at all. Doubt Edmonton is going to be able to re-sign him.

---

Connor Brown is a fourth-line player with the Oilers who has topped 40 pts once in his career. Unlikely he'll be playing with Johnston and Robo if acquired.

Benn is likely gone so they need to add toughness. Sam Bennett is a UFA. In that case, they'd have to see who goes to wing. Bring in Marchand on a short-term deal?

Stars have some serious cap issues.

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Brown has played on the top line with McDavid quite often. You don't bring him in to score goals. You bring him in to free up ice for your two snipers (Johnston & Robertson). And that's exactly what that line needs.

Benn is coming back, by all accounts. No way we can get Bennett or Marchand. Brown is a great, inexpensive option to play wing on the 2nd or even 3rd line (with Duchene).

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Free up the ice? Brown is not a setup man/playmaker. McDavid set him up. Any player is going to improve his scoring playing with McDavid. Brown is a hustler, not a tough guy and not a top liner. Agree, he could play with Duchene since he is a setup guy. Johnston and Robo are goal scorers. Not necessarily passers. Brown gave Edmonton a huge home team discount last year as he majorly disappointed in 2023. He's expecting his last big contract as a UFA since he'll be 32 next season, so he may not come as that cheap of an option. His speed is better suited as a forechecker/penalty killer. Stars already have speed and a decent setup man in Hintz to play with Robo and I favor Rantanen still on the RW. If Benn stays, he'll be taking a deep home-team discount. I know he wants to be in Dallas, but it should be at an even friendlier number than what Duchene took.

Still open to trading Robertson for the right deal. Otherwise it's looking like we're not really fixing problems regarding speed and physicality

He's not talking about a setup man, he's talking about a guy willing to go below the net, battle on the boards and win those battles, and then sit in front of the net. As the other poster posted above, we just traded Marchment who was one of our only real physical players. Meaning he would crash boards, crash into players and battle in front of the net. That is what we need even though I think it was coached out of Mush the last few years.

Robo and Wyatt don't board battle or sit in front of the net at all. Duchene and Seguin don't really do that either, and while I think Hintz and Rantanen can do those things, they don't do it often.

This, and I'll add: Brown is a guy who will draw attention. Players have to account for him. It frees up ice for his linemates. Plus, he's very good on the rush which is where the Stars thrive. Oh yeah, and he is really good on the PK (a bonus). That, and he can probably be had for $2M.

We need to balance the top two lines. Plugging a complimentary winger on those top two lines is the way to go, IMO. Rantanen/Hintz, Robertson/Johnston will provide the offense.

Steve Spott to Boston.

On the Spott.

The #NHLBruins have added Steve Spott to the team’s coaching staff as an assistant coach.

📰: https://t.co/lmFfugpzhR pic.twitter.com/1IRknarbLj

— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) June 20, 2025

I think out of the coaching staff Spott was the one who was probably not coming back the most. He and PDB are beyond close.

Yep, and the only one among Nasreddine, Donskov, and Reese that I strongly felt needed to go.

Bourque and Lundkvist signed to 1 year deals

Our Dallas Mav's staying put! 😎

We have signed Mavrik Bourque to a one-year contract extension through the 2025-2026 season.

📰 MORE: https://t.co/uLCdJ9Bb1W@shift4 | #TexasHockey pic.twitter.com/aYilKU8u9A

— Dallas Stars (@DallasStars) June 20, 2025

Lundy’s back for more! 🇸🇪

We have signed Nils Lundkvist to a one-year contract extension through the 2025-2026 season.@shift4 | #TexasHockey pic.twitter.com/6V4aGeKGeC

— Dallas Stars (@DallasStars) June 20, 2025

Nice. Don't sleep on that Bourque deal. That's a great number for the Stars, and he was a prime offer sheet candidate.

Benn should reasonably fit in the cap space left. That leaves you with salary dumps (potentially $7M) to fill out the rest of the roster.

For illustrative purposes only:
Rantanen-Hintz-Bourque
Robertson-Johnston-Free Agent
Seguin-Duchene-AHL guy
Benn-Steel-Back
AHL guy

Heiskanen-Harley
Lindell-Free agent
Bichsel-Lundkvist
Free agent/AHL guy

If Benn will take $2M there's almost enough space currently to also accommodate Hyry or Hryckowian. That would be ideal. Then you have one less spot to use that (potential) $7M.

Lundvist is a bit of a head scratcher unless there was no market for him.

He's also a another guy who was never a PDB guy and could get to another level under a new coach imo. He's never going to be Mr. Defensive Stalwart because of his size, but could we at least get him to a point where he plays 15+ minutes a night and is an active player in the offensive zone? That's the hope.

The fact that he got himself out of DeBoer's doghouse is a really good sign. He was playing well until that injury. Pairing him with Bichsel and giving them 15 minutes a night would be a good thing. Best 3rd pair we've had in quite some time.

Yeah, good points.

Signing him makes a lot more sense to me than Dumba.

He's also fleet of foot compared Dumba, Lybu, Ceci etc.