What moves have the Dallas Stars made this offseason?

The Dallas Stars have been busy during the early part of the offseason, making trades, signing free agents and letting a few familiar names leave the organization.

The Stars are coming off of a Stanley Cup run where they lost in the semifinals to the Vegas Golden Knights.

Throughout June and early July, the Stars have signed 13 players to new contracts or contract extensions. They also made a couple of trades.

Trades

▪ The Stars sent Fredrik Olofsson to the Colorado Avalanche for future considerations. Last year, the left wing played in 28 games, scoring one goal and tallying three assists. He also played 37 games for the Texas Stars, where he scored five goals and tallied nine assists.

▪ Dallas traded away their first-round draft pick last year to acquire Nils Lundkvist. This year, they traded to acquire a fifth-round draft pick in the 2025 draft. In return, the New Jersey Devils received Colin Miller.

▪ Miller played with the Stars for one season. Over 79 games, he tallied six goals and 15 assists. Over his eight-year career, he has played in 466 games, scoring 35 goals and 122 assists. He spent time in Buffalo, Vegas and Boston before Dallas.

Additions

▪ The Stars announced the signing of defenseman Derrick Pouliot to a one-year contract. He played eight games for the San Jose Sharks in the 2022-23 season. He also played 37 games for the American Hockey League San Jose Barracuda where he scored four goals and assisted 21 times. The 29-year-old Pouliot has also played with Pittsburgh, Vancouver, St. Louis, Vegas and Seattle.

▪ Also joining the team is Scott Reedy, a 24-year-old forward, on a one-year contract. His NHL experience is all of one season with the San Jose Sharks in 2021-22 where he played in 35 games, totalling seven goals and two assists. Two of the goals were game winners. Last season, he played 38 games with the AHL San Jose Barracuda, scoring five goals and eight assists.

▪ Another one-year contract was signed by forward Nick Caamano, who appeared in a total of 36 games with Dallas for two seasons in 2019-20 and 2020-21. Since then, he has played with the Texas Stars, including playing 47 games in the 2021-22 season with eight goals and six assists. Last year, the 24-year-old Caamano played in 29 games with two goals and nine assists.

▪ Next is 29-year-old defenseman Gavin Bayreuther, who signed a one-year contract worth $775,000. Bayreuther will make his return to Dallas after playing 19 games with them for the 2018-19 season. Last year, he played 51 games with the Columbus Blue Jackets, tallying five goals and 23 assists.

▪ Matt Duchene will also join the Stars on a one-year contract, worth $3 million. The 32-year-old forward leaves the Nashville Predators. The Preadtors bought out his contract after four seasons. He has also donned the jerseys of Columbus, Ottawa and Colorado. Last year, he played in 71 games for the Predators with 22 goals and 34 assists. He also has 32 games of playoff experience, where he has tallied 10 goals and 15 assists.

▪ Forward Sam Steel signed a one-year $850,000 contract. The 25-year-old played in 65 games with the Minnesota Wild last year, scoring 10 goals and 18 assists. It matched a career high of games played in his NHL career, which he first achieved in 2019-20 with the Anaheim Ducks. In that season, he scored six goals and 16 assists.

▪ The Stars continue to seek depth in the forward position with the addition of Craig Smith, who inked a one-year, $1 million contract. He comes over from the Washington Capitals, who he played with for one year, playing in 22 games, scoring five goals and assisting once. He played with Boston for three seasons before that and with Nashville for nine years before that. Over his career, he has 853 games played, 200 goals and 214 assists.

Returners

▪ Returning to the Stars on a two-year contract is Joel Hanley, a 32-year-old defenseman who has played with Dallas for the last five seasons. Before his time with Dallas, he spent a combined three seasons with Arizona and Montreal. Last year, Hanley played in 26 games with zero goals and two assists. In the year before, he participated in 44 games with two goals and four assists.

▪ Another defenseman, Alexander Petrovic, also signed a one-year deal with the Stars after playing in 71 games in back-to-back seasons with the Texas Stars. In those years he combined for 14 goals and 32 assists. Before that, Petrovic played in the NHL for Edmonton and Florida, combining for 263 games with five goals and 45 assists.

▪ The last move involving a defenseman is a one-year contract extension announced for Jerad Rosburg. He is going into his age-27 season, spending his first four seasons after college with the Texas Stars. He played collegiately at the University of Michigan. During his time with the Texas Stars, he has played in 115 games with six goals and 20 assists.

▪ The Stars also re-signed goaltender Matt Murray to a one-year contract. In his first full professional season, Murray started three games with the Stars, earning one win and two losses. He had a save percentage of .844 in those three games. Murray played collegiately at the University of Massachusetts for five years.

▪ Another familiar face that signed a one-year contract is 25-year-old Frederik Karlström. The forward played in five games for the Stars last season, tallying one assist. He spent most of the season with the Texas Stars, playing 47 games with 10 goals and 16 assists.

▪ Evgenii Dadonovoc, a 34-year-old veteran forward, inked a two-year contract extension worth a total of $4.5 million for an average annual value of $2.25 million. Before his single season with Dallas last year, where he scored 3 goals and put up 12 assists in 23 games played, he played with Montreal, Vegas, Ottawa and Florida. Over his career, he has totaled 131 goals and 167 assists in 486 games.

Free agents

The Stars did not issue qualifying offers to these players, who officially became unrestricted free agents as of July 1:

▪ Dawson Barteaux: The defenseman was in between the Texas Stars and Idaho Steelheads for the last three seasons. Last season he only appeared in three games for the Stars, completing most of the season with the Steelheads, where he played in 62 games with two goals and 22 assists.

▪ Oskari Laaksonen: Another defenseman that was not on the Dallas Stars, but on the Texas Stars. There, he played in 29 games with two goals and six assists. He also played for the Rochester Americans last season, where he played in 10 games with two assists.

▪ Adam Scheel: The goaltender shared time between the Texas Stars and the Idaho Steelheads over the last three seasons. Last year, between the two teams, he played in 39 games without a start. He gave up 78 goals in 1,091 shots against.

▪ Marián Studenič: The left wing played with Dallas for three games last season, not making much of an impact. He spent most of his time with the Texas Stars, where he played 67 games, tallying 21 goals and 27 assists.