As much as the offseason may seem like downtime in the NHL, it is the exact opposite. There is no real downtime in the league as Monday passed with the first day of Developmental Camp as well as the deadline for offering qualifying offers for restricted free agents. Let’s take a look at a few big pieces of news surrounding the Dallas Stars offseason as of July 11th.
Day One of Developmental Camp
The Dallas Stars launched their Developmental Camp on Monday morning with a few familiar faces and a few new faces from last week’s NHL Entry Draft.
Having sat in on day one a few things stood out. Logan Morrison took the ice after going undrafted as the OHL Playoff MVP along with top prospect Logan Stankoven. Stankoven is built like a fire-hydrant at 5’8 and stood out to me with an explosive stride and lethal wrister.
Goalies Matt Murray and Remi Poirier both looked solid in the crease with the guise of former Stars goalie Ben Bishop overseeing all activity. Bishop would lean in and give his advice as well as a few stick taps here and there.
Christian Kyrou, brother to NHL’s fastest skater Jordan, was also on the ice and looked poised in his first few laps in victory green. After a few drills, the biggest standout for me had to be Stankoven and London Knight, Antonio Stranges. But it is only day one, and most drills were to target each skater’s abilities on their edges so it will be interesting to see what the coaches roll out for the roster in the coming week.
Stars extend qualifying offers
Stars fans held their breath collectively today as they awaited the qualifying offer news. Thankfully their patience paid off as the Stars extended qualifying offers to Jason Robertson, Ben Gleason, and Jake Oettinger.
Now we wait and see what the contracts look like for all three players.
On the flipside Jordan Kawaguchi, Alexey Lipanov, and Colton Point did not receive a qualifying offer and will all become unrestricted free agents.
While it’s never easy to see this happen, all of the ladder names spent most of their time with the Texas Stars of the AHL. There is still a chance that they re-sign with the Stars organization and remain with the team
The Stars thankfully put in the offers for Otter and Robo though, as they are both cornerstones of the next step for the franchise.
Stars Re-Sign Studenic
Aside from the qualifying offers, the Stars announced that they re-signed Marian Studenic to a one-year extension.
Studenic was claimed off of waivers from the New Jersey Devils in the ’21-’22 season and would spend time in both the AHL and NHL while with the Stars. The 23-year-old made his Stanley Cup debut against the Flames in round one with three shots and five hits.
At 23 there is still plenty of time left in Studo’s career to hit his stride and with the new coaching staff of the Dallas Stars, will be given the opportunity to thrive.
Stay tuned all offseason long for updates as we follow the Stars into replacing names like Alexander Radulov and most likely John Klingberg. Klingberg and the Stars have remained cordial in recent contract talks but as of late, the talks have stalled. Klinger will likely be looking for a long-term contract in the seven to eight million dollar range and due to the cap continuing to be an issue, it is highly unlikely that the Stars are able to make a contract anywhere close to that work.
Speaking of the salary cap, below is a list of notable RFA’s that was not extended a qualifying offer. It will be interesting to see if the Stars kick the tires on any of these skaters in the coming weeks as it has been noted that Jim Nill and co. are still searching for a top-six scoring forward by any means necessary and will likely have to replace Klingberg as well.
- Dylan Strome
- Dominik Kubalik
- Ilya Samsonov
- Sonny Milano
- Nicolas Aube-Kubel
- Kale Clague
- Rem Pitlick
- Victor Mete
- Danton Heinen
- Ondrej Kase
- Evgeny Svechnikov
- Evgeni Malkin
Tune into Whatahockey as we sat down with Logan Stankoven to chat about his standout season with the Kamloops Blazers as well as his recent time in the Stars organization.
The Morning Skate 