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STARS MAILBAG: Thoughts on trades, UFAs, windows, and visors

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Today is Friday the 13th, one of two Friday the 13ths in 2017.

So let’s get over paraskavedekatriaphobia (the fear of Friday the 13th) together with a Dallas Stars mailbag.

Let’s get started:

I don’t think Patrick Sharp will be part of the Dallas Stars next season.

While the concussion has hurt his production this season, Sharp is overpaid and underperforming this season with seven points in 17 games. His role can be filled by a younger, less expensive player than the 35-year-old. In addition, parting ways with Sharp would give the Stars more cap room to hand out a couple raises to pending restricted free agents Brett Ritchie and Radek Faksa, while Dallas would be more flexible to make a move for a goalie in the summer.

If the Stars fall out of the playoff race Sharp could be traded before the deadline. He’d be looked at as a veteran addition for a buyer at the deadline, and the Stars could bank a draft pick.

Officially? His foot.

Unofficially? I think he still hasn’t fully recovered 100 percent from physically or mentally from the surgery this past summer. Does not take over games like he used to, and doesn’t physically impose against opponents. He’s trying to do too much as a “skilled player” when his game still requires those moments of brute strength in a corner or driving to the net.

I’m not worried about Hansson’s play in Sweden, from what I’ve seen and been told, he’s played better than stats reflect.

But I do think it would have been a benefit to have him play in the AHL this season. Speed up his timeline and get him more comfortable in North America.

He spent a couple weeks in Dallas after the initial injury but has rejoined the Idaho Steelheads in the ECHL.

Idaho recently lost ECHL-contracted Brandon Komm, who signed a PTO with the Bakersfield Condors, so Kiviaho could be backing up Philippe Desrosiers this weekend.

Players deserve some blame as well, opportunities were given for others to step up and they haven’t filled those roles like coaches and management expected.

That being said, I think it’s something Stars general manager Jim Nill should take a hard look at this summer for a diagnosis of the root of the problem. I wouldn’t fire an assistant coach in the middle of the season, unless I was also firing the head coach.

Depends on how you define value.

As a trade chip, I think Johnny Oduya and Patrick Sharp are both valuable pending unrestricted free agents that a buyer at the traded deadline would be interested in.

As a future member of the Dallas Stars, I think Patrick Eaves is the unrestricted free agent you want to bring back. While I think youth will be important during the 2017-18 season, Eaves is a veteran that is willing to play on any line and has succeeded no matter where he’s been put in the lineup this season.

Trading Patrik Nemeth would likely bring back a mid-level prospect or a fourth-round pick in return, if used as the main piece of the deal.

Nemeth has a very friendly cap hit at $900,000, and with so many teams fighting the cap a cost-friendly defenseman is a valuable commodity. If handled correctly, and if Nemeth turns some heads during his AHL conditioning stint, the Stars could justifiably set up a minor bidding war amongst other teams to get the prospect or pick they want.

The Stars will likely finish this season with Kari Lehtonen and Antti Niemi in goal. That may not be the most ideal situation, but it’s the most likely situation.

I don’t think the Stars should take aim at Ben Bishop or Marc-Andre Fleury. Instead they should copy the route the San Jose Sharks did with Martin Jones, go after a younger goalie currently behind an established starter and give him an opportunity.

Young by goalie standards in my mind is 26 to 28 years old. Goalies typically enter their prime around 30, and I look at a player like Chicago Blackhawks back-up goalie Scott Darling — who will be an NHL starter somewhere next season.

It depends on how you look at last season. If last season was an open window, it closed.

The Stars are still in the playoff hunt — with a tons of work to do — but don’t look anywhere near a team that can compete deep into the playoffs.

The Stars could open another window next season if they make the right decisions in the off-season. That would require trusting some of the younger pieces in place, and finding a goalie that can be consistently trusted for the next three or four seasons.

Editor’s note: a prior version of this story incorrectly listed that Cody Eakin was not wearing a visor this season. Thanks to Zach Johnson for catching the mistake. 

I believe Cody Eakin, who was 24 last season, was of the youngest players in the NHL without a visor before he started wearing one.  Jamie Benn, 27, doesn’t wear a visor and he could be in that conversation with a long career.

As far non-Stars go, I think Andrew Shaw with Chicago could be in that conversation.

He could be a good fourth-line penalty killer next season, but I’d like to see what happens with the health of Mattias Janmark and how far Jason Dickinson progresses in the AHL this season first.

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