MCKENZIE: IS STARS CAPTAIN MORROW AVAILABLE FOR TRADE?
Morrow has this season and one more with an annual cap hit of $4.1 million, and he has a no-trade clause.
So if Morrow doesn't want to move, he's not going anywhere and the Stars are certainly not in a position where they necessarily "need" to trade their captain. And because of the NTC, they're not about to aggressively shop him either.
But that doesn't mean there aren't contenders interested in targeting him as a possible acquisition.
Could Dallas look to trade Morrow?There were rumblings the team was thinking of trading Brenden Morrow. I'd be shocked, but looked into it. He has a no-trade, and, unless things have changed in the last few days, he hasn't been asked to waive it.
Are there any interesting players out there for the Stars to add?As we referenced earlier, the Stars are in jeopardy of slipping beneath the salary cap floor when healthy, and are looking for a player to add who could help the team and boost the payroll.
So who could be available?
It appears that for a new player to help the floor situation, he would have to make $1.2 million or more a year. Young winger Tomas Vincour is on a two-way contract, so he would be the candidate to move to the AHL to make way for a more expensive player. Because Vincour makes $800,000 a year and because the Stars could fall about $300,000 under the floor (it's a complicated formula in which that number changes daily, but that's pretty close), the Stars need to add a pretty healthy paycheck.
New York Rangers' demotion of Sean Avery could force Dallas Stars to acquirThe Stars are studying moves to add a player because of the sudden possibility that they could drop below the NHL-mandated salary floor of $48.3 million.
The Stars have been paying half of Sean Avery's salary to the New York Rangers since losing him on recall waivers in 2009, and that $1.9 million has also counted against the salary cap for the Stars.
However, the Rangers last week assigned Avery to the their minor league team in Connecticut , and the NHL notified the Stars that they could not count Avery's cap hit while he is in the minors, even though they still must pay the salary.
That puts the Stars perilously close to the cap floor.
Stars GM Joe Nieuwendyk: We could trade down in NHL draftIn recently asking Stars GM Joe Nieuwendyk a couple of questions on the this weekend's draft, he said the odds of the team trading up are very slim, but the odds of them trading down are pretty good.
"I think moving down is a more realistic possibility,'' Nieuwendyk said. "Our guys feel that after a certain point in this draft there are a number of good players and you'd be happy with acquiring any one of them. We don't have our third round pick, so trying to get an additional pick is something that will definitely be discussed.''
Jamie Langenbrunner is going to be a Dallas Star once again.The New Jersey Devils have arranged a conference call for 10:30am et where they are expected to announce that they've traded the 35-year-old forward back to his former team. Going to the Devils is a third-round pick with a possible conditional element attached to it.
Dallas Stars waive former hot prospect Fabian Brunnstrom What started out as a much-hyped experiment three years ago could end today for the Stars.
Once-ballyhooed free-agent winger Fabian Brunnstrom was placed on waivers Friday, and the Stars will find out at 11 a.m. today if another team has claimed him.
Brunnstrom has value, as he is a skilled player who makes only $675,000 on a one-year contract. However, he has not been able to break into the Stars' lineup on a regular basis, and GM Joe Nieuwendyk said it was time to allow Brunnstrom the chance to play someplace else.
Stars Changing Their StripesThe Dallas Stars are no longer a franchise capable of competing financially with the other big market teams. Ownership issues have forced the team to be very frugal when it comes to spending and in turn has seen them jettison several long time veterans to save cash.
The initial results were not great as the team missed the playoffs. This season may prove to be difficult as well. But, there is plenty of talent here still and some good young players to build around. Its been an adjustment to the new philosophy and to the team’s new style of play. Its not out of the way to assume things could come together here and the team could string together enough success to get back to the playoffs.
