UPDATE: STARS SIGN EAVES (7:15 PM EDT)
The Stars added to their bottom-six forward depth by signing veteran Patrick Eaves to a one-year contract for $650,000. The 30-year-old winger is expected to contribute on the penalty kill and in checking situations. Best known for his four-plus season stint with the Detroit Red Wings, Eaves finished last season with the Nashville Predators and has also played for the Ottawa Senators and Carolina Hurricanes.
UPDATE: STARS SIGN LINDBACK (1:50 PM EDT)
The Stars have signed former Nashville Predators and Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Anders Lindbà¤ck to a one-year contract for $925,000. Lindbà¤ck will serve as the backup goaltender to Kari Lehtonen.
The towering Lindbà¤ck was highly regarded a few years ago when he was Pekka Rinne's young backup in Nashville but more or less flopped in Tampa when he had the opportunity to become a starter. When the Bolts acquired Ben Bishop, who took the starting job and ran with it, Lindbà¤ck did not do nearly as well as Bishop when he got chances to play. A potential restricted free agent this summer, Lindbà¤ck became unrestricted when the Lightning declined to present him a qualifying offer.
As a one-year reclamation project who is still just 26 years old, Lindbà¤ck is a viable backup option for Lehtonen. The Big Finn remains the Stars' undisputed top goaltender.
UPDATE: STARS SIGN HEMSKY (1:00 PM EDT)
Another significant roster move: The Stars have signed unrestricted free agent winger Alex Hemsky, who played with Jason Spezza in Ottawa. In a single day, the Stars have added two pieces for the second line to support the top line trio of Tyler Seguin, Jamie Benn and Valeri Nichushkin.
The Hemsky deal is a three-season contract, carrying a $4 million cap hit.
UPDATE: STARS ACQUIRE SPEZZA (11:15 AM EDT)
The Dallas Stars acquired their much-desired second line center today when they acquired Jason Spezza from the Ottawa Senators in exchange for Alex Chiasson, forward prospects Alex Guptill and Nick Paul and a 2015 second-round pick. Dallas also acquired minor league forward Ludvig Karlsson in addition to Spezza.
From a Dallas standpoint, this trade represents a tremendous upgrade. The team is now very strong through the middle with Tyler Seguin, Spezza and Cody Eakin anchoring the first three lines. The primary risk factor right now is that Spezza is an unrestricted free agent next summer and is already carrying a $7 million cap hit.
"There has not been any talks that I know of," Spezza told TSN. "I am open to anything but I am not worried about getting an extension right now. I feel good with where my game is right now, and I think I am real good fit [in Dallas]. I'm excited to get started."
Chiasson is a nice complementary player. The spectacular start to his NHL career (nine goals in his first 10 games) perhaps raised some people's expectations to an unfair level, but he is a hard-working forward with size who can score a bit if he works with the right playmaker.
Guptill and Paul also both have potential to play in the NHL and have good size. Guptill was a very good collegiate player at Michigan while Paul has improved steadily at the OHL level. Neither is likely to become a major impact player in the NHL but both have the elements to have roles down the line.
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STAR GAZING: JULY 1, 2014
* Looking to strengthen a young team that finally squeaked in the playoffs last season after a series of near-misses with more veteran-anchored rosters, the Dallas Stars head into an important offseason as they prepare to build off the 2013-14 season. The club's stated top priorities are to land a proven center for the second line and, correspondingly, to upgrade a power play that struggled much of last season.
Twenty-eight-year-old Paul Stastny is probably the biggest name UFA center who is still in his prime. He is going to get a massive contract wherever he goes.
There are rumors that the Stars may be in the hunt to land center Jason Spezza from Ottawa. However, while that would certainly give Dallas a formidable one-two punch between the Tyler Seguin line and a trio anchored by the 31-year-old Spezza, it is far from a certainty that Stars general manager Jim Nill can or will expend the assets it would take to consummate such a trade. Likewise, there have been rumors of a possible deal with San Jose for Joe Thornton.
One of the alternative trade possibility that would be of much lower trading cost to Dallas would be 34-year-old Vincent Lecavalier, whom the Philadelphia Flyers are actively trying to move for salary cap relief. Last year, shortly after Lecavalier was bought out by the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Stars were reportedly one of the finalists to land the former franchise player. However, Lecavalier is coming off a poor season that saw him struggle with his mobility and move around the lineup (both at center and wing) in failed attempts to find chemistry.
A few years ago, of course, the Stars' top two lines were centered by Brad Richards and Mike Ribeiro. Both are now on the unrestricted free agent market after being bought out, respectively, by the New York Rangers and Phoenix Coyotes. Richards' issues in New York were somewhat similar to former Tampa teammate Lecavalier's problems in Philly -- declining skating being a root cause -- while Ribeiro is plagued by personal problems. Neither player seems to be of interest to Dallas at this point.
It was just three years ago that Richards opted to leave Dallas at a time when the club would have ideally loved to be able to sign him to an extension. The franchise was in a financial mess, and then general manager Joe Nieuwendyk's hands were tied in trying to make moves. Richards was one of the NHL's most sought-after free agents in the summer of 2011. Now, the Stars have stable ownership in place, a general manager in Nill who has come in and made numerous bold but well-reasoned moves and are a playoff team that still has a chance to get better.
Richards always said he greatly enjoyed his time in Dallas. He may welcome a return (realizing that he is going to have to take a big pay cut from his next team while, at the same time, collecting his two-thirds buyout from the Rangers). However, it is now the Stars who are likely to look elsewhere as Plan A or Plan B. Times change fast, especially in hockey!
* The Stars extended qualifying offers to five of their restricted free agents. It was a no-brainer that Brenden Dillon, Cody Eakin and Antoine Roussel would get qualifiers. Former first-round pick Scott Glennie rescusistated his struggling pro career just enough with the AHL's Texas Stars this past season to earn a qualifying offer. Defenseman Cameron Gaunce, who dressed in nine NHL games for the Stars this past season, also got a qualifier.
The team did not extend a qualifying offer to forward Dustin Jeffrey, who dressed in 24 games for Dallas this past season. He will become an unrestricted free agent, along with local product Austin Smith and fellow non-qualifiers Ryan Button, Tristan King and Hubert Labrie.