Pretty crappy signing. He's a POS, he's not good, and he gets injured a lot. He's played 60 games or more twice out of the last 7 seasons

And with all of these defensemen signings today, it looks like they're content with Bichsel playing in the AHL. What are we doing?

He's 1000% earned some benefit of the doubt, but it doesn't mean I have to like it. Just needs to benefit us on the ice.

I'm ok with lybushkin and Smith. Just read about lybushkin and he was Torontos best d man in the playoffs and a right handed shot which we needed.

I'll say this. Jim Nill has earned the benefit of the doubt.

Dumba is a physical presence and right-handed shot, if nothing else.
Lyubushkin is a big bodied right handed shot.
Smith is fine as a 3rd pairing guy and a potential penalty killer.

BUT
Dumba is a jerk and isn't very good.
Lyubushkin is bad and we way overpaid.

And now we've re-signed Lundkvist. None of this makes sense, and now Bichsel has a huge hill to climb to make the NHL roster.

I don't think it was ever the plan for Bichsel to start next year in Dallas. That was more of us fans penciling him in.

Nil does not like to rush young players and Bichsel still hasn't played much in North America.

I definitely got the sense the plan was to start him in the AHL, but they've now put so many contracts ahead of him, it's like they have no desire to even give the kid a shot. To me, it made sense to let Petrovic be your 7th defenseman and let Bichsel get some seasoning in Cedar Park. Then, call him up later in the year. By bringing Lundkvist back, there will have to be two injuries for Bichsel to get playing time. And honestly, Bichsel is better than Lundkvist, without question in my mind. DeBoer was even prepared to play him over Lunkvist in the WCF if Tanev had to sit. Guess Nill doesn't agree.

Right now our 6th d-man is Smith/Nils. Smith can also fill in at forward and provide depth there. Any injury to a defenseman will put Bichsel in the mix.

I think Nill was just nervous about having to rely on Bichsel and this provides the depth needed to give him time. He can still come up at mid season if needed.

Having said that, I'm not thrilled with today either. This was definitely not plan A being rolled out. Nill had to move to plan b or c.

I don't understand Dumba signing at all. Not only is he a mediocre defenseman (at best), he is a POS. If we're going with that criteria I would've just kept Suter.

And while I don't necessarily hate Lyubushkin as a third pairing defenseman, we WAY overpaid. And he's slow.

I have a feeling our D is going to get torched next year. But hey, at least we didn't sign Hakenpaa like Toronto I guess...

I also hate the Dumbass signing. I don't think I can root for him in any capacity. *sigh*

Also signed Kyle Capobianco. Two-way in year 1 and one-way in year 2. He was the top scoring defenseman in the AHL last season.

The only thing that makes sense at this point is that Smith will be a flex player (13th forward & 7th defenseman). They can't afford to add another forward, short of a trade.

They have signed several more that will be two way ( AHL and NHL) players. Crazy. We've stocked the Texas Stars with free agents.

Hoped the Locked On Stars podcast would have a positive spin. Nope.

Roll the Bones said:

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I also hate the Dumbass signing. I don't think I can root for him in any capacity. *sigh*

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Think this messes with team chemistry.

Eh, Hockey players make it work most of the time. We have a great core so I'm sure Benn and Co will put him in his place.

The folks I follow sound like they're in the same boat. The best I can say is that we're probably better than we were 2 years ago, and maybe better than we were heading into last season (that's a big maybe), but we're worse than the team that ended this past season.

That could all change, but some young guys are really going to have to step up, and the veterans can't have a big drop off (ala Pavelski in the playoffs).

As it stands, I think we're back to "be in a playoff position at the deadline, then make some moves to improve amd see what happens". This team won't be a Stanley Cup favorite to start the season though. Before yesterday, I think we had the 3rd or 4th best odds. I'd expect we'll drop at least a couple of spots by the time the season starts. That is, unless we make some other moves.

So basically, hope is certainly not lost, but it's very disappointing. We all wanted to make a great team even better by plugging the few holes we had, and it doesn't appear we did that. In fact, we may have created all new ones.

Faksa being traded to the Blues for future considerstions. Salary dump.

He's gone!!!! Thank you for your service Faksa, and thank you for the cap space now as well.

I don't understand this offseason in the slightest. Why did we dump his salary, did we need the space to resign Harley or is something big afoot?

Had to dump salary somewhere, and Faksa was the obvious choice. Harley's contract will have put us over the cap, with no 13th forward on the roster.

Colin Blackwell has been signed as Faksa's replacement.

Dumba is a 3rd line/enforcer and is noticeably better than Haakanpa at both. We got as good as we could for as short of commitment from 2 defensemen for the replacement of Tanev. This team is probably better than it was pre-Tanev and with 6 defensemen instead of 5. With a healthy Roope Hintz, we are a very similar team.

Tanev was overall similar in talent to Lindell at this stage in his career but better on defense. He still was not in Miro's class.

Whatever Nill is doing, we know it is the best move on paper for the long term good of the franchise. My read is that we are going all out in 1 or 2 years and not this year. Benn's contract should go from $9.5 to $3 million next year, which should add an elite defenseman.

Fun night! And the jerseys are some of the best giveaway items I've ever seen. Unfortunately, by the time we got to the table, they only had XL & XXL. Weird they didn't have any players at the game (must be on vacation) but our youngest loved Victor E Green making an appearance! And it was awesome hearing a Stars version of the anthem at Globe Life.

If you wanna sell your XL or XXL I'd buy it off ya. Those are sick.

I used a friend's tickets and got an xl and xxl for him not knowing what size he would want. I can let you know after I get them to him.

sburg2007 said:

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I used a friend's tickets and got an xl and xxl for him not knowing what size he would want. I can let you know after I get them to him.

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Awesome, please do

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5609449/2024/07/01/nhl-free-agency-2024-winners-losers/?source=user_shared_article

Athletic had us as a Day 1 Free Agency loser

"Dallas Stars

Just a few weeks ago, Jim Nill won the Jim Gregory Award for the second consecutive season. His work since? Pretty underwhelming!

Aside from extending Matt Duchene, the Stars' free agency work has been a bit suspect. Casey DeSmith is a downgrade from Scott Wedgewood. Ilya Lyubushkin tends to drag down his team's offensive creation and doesn't help enough defensively to make up for it. The price may not be back-breaking but it's above his market value. The two-year term isn't exactly favorable, either. The same is true with Matt Dumba's contract. Committing $7 million to these two defenders isn't the best cap management when the team will have to face some big rising costs next year, like Wyatt Johnston and Jake Oettinger's next contracts."

dave94 said:

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Stars night at the Rangers game was awesome! Great Peagle themed sweater, and they played a ton of good ole AAC metal tracks. And Rangers win 7-0!

Peagle sweaters go too hard. @DallasStars x #StraightUpTX pic.twitter.com/Bx9dKdF4gm

— Texas Rangers (@Rangers) July 3, 2024

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found one for me on Ebay