The first order of business for the team was to name a new head coach. They decided to go with Jim Montgomery, who is a former NHL player. He was the head coach of Denver University before taking the job with the Stars. He will have the players to compete in his first season, but the real question is how fast will the players grasp his system.
Dallas then signed Jason Robertson, a second round 2017 Draft pick, to a three-year entry level contract. They then made sure that they got Stephen Johns, an important part of their blue line locked up to a three-year extension. One of the bigger stories in the offseason for the Stars was the fact that they re-signed right wing Valeri Nichushkin to a two-year contract. Nichuskin played in the KHL in Russia for the past two seasons.
The key offseason free agent signings included depth defenseman Roman Polak, left wing Michael Mersch, defenseman Joel Hanley, left wing Blake Comeau and goalie Anton Khudobin. The Stars blue line has the potential to have some youngsters back there, but it is always good to have some depth defenseman in case of injuries. Blake Comeau will add something to the third or fourth line and he can also be used on the penalty kill. The Stars needed to upgrade in the crease and they did exactly that with signing Khudobin, who is a viable option should Ben Bishop get hurt for an extended period of time.
Dallas lost goalie Kari Lehtonen, defenseman Greg Pateryn, defenseman Dan Hamhuis and left wing Antoine Roussel. Lehtonen was not going to be re-signed after struggling in his time with the Stars. Pateryn could turn out to be a big loss on the blue line, but that is an area that is overcrowded for Dallas right now. Hamhuis' leadership and veteran presence has a chance to be missed on the blue line, but he would have been the seventh defenseman for the Stars. Roussel was an energy guy who could play on any line. He also added a few goals, but the Stars have younger options to fill that role.
The Stars went to work giving their own player some new contracts. The first player was goalie Colton Point, who signed his entry level deal. Dallas then re-signed the following players to one-year deals: left wing Remi Elie, center Jason Dickinson, goalie Philippe Desrosiers, defenseman Dillion Heatherington, center Mattias Janmark, and center Gemel Smith. Devin Shore signed a new two-year deal.
The biggest move of the offseason came when the Stars gave Tyler Seguin a contract extension. The new contract is for eight years, $78.8 million. The deal comes with a $9.85 million cap hit per season.
The Stars were pretty quiet this offseason, but did upgrade the goalie situation, while managing to re-sign key parts of their roster.
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