On the eve of training camp 23 year old RFA's James Neal and Matt Niskanen have agreed to terms with the Dallas Stars. According to Mike Heika, Neal will sign a contract with a cap hit of 2.875 million dollars, and Niskanen will be on the books for a cap hit of 1.5 million dollars.
Now can we end the rumors about James Neal leaving, or even being available? The Stars aren't the Blackhawks. They aren't pressed up against the salary cap. They're short on funds for the coming season, but the sale should be completed well in advance of 2011. If they had to they could have just waited for the sale to go through. It wouldn't have been ideal, but it makes more sense than trading him. In this case it appears that Neal's agent had an average value in mind, and the Stars had to make it work financially. There was never any real indiciation that he was available, and there never should have been. Neal is 23 years old. He's the full package. A team in transition like the Stars would be beyond foolish to even consider moving him.
As far as the Niskanen deal goes, this is good for both sides. Niskanen gets some security. The Stars take him through age 25 at a relatively small salary for NHL standards. In the past he has shown the talent of a top notch NHL defender. Reports have him working exceptionally hard this offseason which is what you need to see from younger developing players. If he is able to put together anything close to his rookie campaign the Stars have gotten a steal. I'm interested to see how a unit of he and Severin Blindenbacher would work.
The start of camp is approaching, and the Stars have everyone on board. Now if somehow the sale would happen in the next few hours....
I'll have more about Jonathan Cheechoo coming up soon. Stay tuned. For my first projection of the Stars Opening Night roster click
here.
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