It would ultimately be a massive blow to a Canadian team that has already lost defenseman Shea Theodore for the remainder of the tournament. Chris Johnston of The Athletic confirmed yesterday that Dallas Stars’ defenseman Thomas Harley was brought in on a stand-by role should Team Canada lose another defenseman.
Stars Rumors
Dallas Stars Sign Sam Steel To Two-Year Extension
The Dallas Stars have started early in retaining one of their multiple forwards heading to unrestricted free agency next summer. Dallas announced they’ve signed forward Sam Steel to a two-year, $4.2MM extension which will take him through the 2026-27 NHL season.
Steel signed a one-year, $850K contract with the Stars on the first day of free agency in 2023 after going non-tendered by the Minnesota Wild. The former first-round pick responded well, scoring nine goals and 24 points in 77 games averaging 13:15 of ice time per game.
Although his offensive production doesn’t jump off the page, Steel’s work on the defensive side of the puck drew some attention. He had a +10 differential between takeaways and giveaways putting him in the same tier as Radek Faksa, Jamie Benn, and Jason Robertson.
His 52.0% CorsiFor% only ranked 15th on the team but it’s more impressive considering he started 58.7% of his shifts in the defensive zone. For better or worse, some of that has changed this season.
Steel is similarly producing solid possession metrics but his takeaway/giveaway differential has plummeted to -22. Still, in his defense, that is true of every player on the Stars this season.
He’s averaging slightly more offensive production being on pace for six goals and 20 points which has correlated to a mild 1:30 boost in average ice time. Given his consistency in Dallas’ lineup and relative youth compared to other forwards on the roster, the extension should benefit Steel and the Stars.
Thomas Harley To Serve As A Stand-By For Team Canada
Dallas Stars defenseman Thomas Harley will reportedly serve as a stand-by for Team Canada, meaning that he would be first up if there’s another injury to their defense core (as per Chris Johnston of The Athletic). Canada lost Shea Theodore to injury last night in the opener to the 4 Nations Face-Off and will not get him back as he has been ruled out week-to-week due to an upper-body injury.
Canada already has Flyers defenseman Travis Sanheim in Montreal, getting ready for Canada’s game against Team USA. However, beyond him, they no longer had a safety net and needed to get another player in place to serve as insurance.
Harley will travel to Boston tomorrow to serve as a stand-by in case they suffer another injury on the backend. It could provide a good experience for the 23-year-old, who is likely on Canada’s radar for the 2026 Olympics and other tournaments in the future. Although the role of a stand-by in this tournament is a little unorthodox as Harley can’t take part in practice or formal meetings unless Canada loses another defenseman.
Harley is actually a dual citizen of Canada and the United States, but he has played for Canada in the past in both the World Under-18’s as well as the World Juniors and has built an impressive resume as a pro thus far. In his breakout campaign last season, Harley posted 15 goals and 32 assists in 79 games while playing a shade over 21 minutes a night. This year has been more of the same as Harley has dressed in 53 games, tallying nine goals and 20 assists.
Loui Eriksson Officially Announces Retirement
Former NHL forward Loui Eriksson has officially announced his retirement after 16 NHL seasons (via his agency on Instagram).
Eriksson last played in the NHL during the 2021-22 season with the Arizona Coyotes, posting three goals and 16 assists in 73 games. His final professional season came in 2022-23 when he suited up for Frölunda HC of the Swedish Hockey League.
At his best, Eriksson was a reliable 25+ goal and 70-point forward for the Dallas Stars. However, the Gothenburg, Sweden native fell on hard times after signing a massive free agent deal with the Vancouver Canucks in 2016 and was never able to get back to the numbers he posted in Dallas.
The 39-year-old was a staple of the Stars in the late 2000s and early 2010s before he was the central piece in the blockbuster trade that sent Tyler Seguin to Dallas and Eriksson to Boston. With the Bruins, Eriksson struggled in his first season but regained his form two years later when he posted 30 goals and 33 assists in 82 games and cashed in with the Canucks on a six-year $36MM deal.
In Vancouver, Eriksson became a beacon for criticism during the Jim Benning era, particularly in 2020 when the salary cap flattened out and the Canucks were forced to watch several talented players leave via free agency when they didn’t have cap space to sign them. Eriksson scored just 38 goals and 52 assists in 252 games with the Canucks before he was sent to Arizona as part of a package that was used to acquire Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Conor Garland.
Eriksson finished his NHL career with 253 goals and 360 assists in 1,050 career NHL games. He was a six-time 20-goal scorer and had the best season of his career in 2010-11 with Dallas when he registered 27 goals and 46 assists in 79 games.
All of us at PHR extend our best wishes to Loui as he enters the next chapter of his life.
Trade Deadline Primer: Dallas Stars
With the 4 Nations Face-Off break upon us, the trade deadline looms large and is less than a month away. Where does each team stand, and what moves should they be looking to make? We continue our look around the league with the Dallas Stars.
The Stars have barely missed a beat following an offseason that raised more questions than it answered. Questions arose about their defensive depth for the first time in a while, but they’ve managed to keep their two-way system alive and remain a legitimate championship contender. After making two notable adds last month in Mikael Granlund and Cody Ceci from the Sharks, could there be more for Dallas to do to improve their roster in the wake of injuries to key players?
Record
35-18-2, 2nd in the Central
Deadline Status
Buyer
Deadline Cap Space
$5.52MM on deadline day + $12.3MM LTIR pool, 0/3 retention slots used, 46/50 contracts used, per PuckPedia.
Upcoming Draft Picks
2025: DAL 3rd, NJD 5th, DAL 5th, DAL 6th, DAL 7th
2026: DAL 1st, DAL 2nd, DAL 3rd, DAL 5th, DAL 6th, TOR 7th, DAL 7th
Trade Chips
While Dallas may have already made their big splash, they’ve got plenty of financial flexibility to make another with Nils Lundkvist and Tyler Seguin on long-term injured reserve, and both are expected to remain out through the regular season. None of their top trade chips from last year’s deadline are available – Lundkvist was one of them, as were then-AHLers Mavrik Bourque and Logan Stankoven, who are now top-nine forwards on the NHL roster and won’t be going anywhere. If general manager Jim Nill still wants to make a big splash for a defenseman, he could make 2022 first-rounder Lian Bichsel available. Still, even he’s working his way into a third-pairing role on the Stars’ defense with injuries to Lundkvist and star Miro Heiskanen.
Their prospect pool is thinner than in years past (for a good reason; they’re reaping the rewards), but they still have a recent first-rounder in winger Emil Hemming to leverage if they’re able to swing a significant upgrade for a thin right side on the blue line. The 18-year-old was the 29th overall pick last year and jumped to North America from his native Finland. He’s suiting up for the Ontario Hockey League’s Barrie Colts and has done reasonably well amid a deep forward group there, posting 14-22–36 through 44 games. He also scored once and added three assists in seven games for the Finns en route to a silver medal at last month’s World Junior Championship. The 6’2″ sniper likely checks in as a B-tier prospect in terms of his trade value, though – too valuable to leverage for a lower-level rental stopgap but not valuable enough on his own to land a big fish.
Regarding roster players who could move out, they likely don’t need to do any salary-matching in any other acquisitions they make, given their vast in-season flexibility. But they have a substantial free-agent crop this summer, including Jamie Benn, Matt Duchene and Wyatt Johnston. They’ll likely be tight fits even with the salary cap increasing to $95.5MM, so if there’s an opportunity for the Stars to send out a contract with term in a swap, they may take it. Dealing from a position of need may be puzzling, but 30-year-old Mathew Dumba has underperformed in the first year of his two-year, $3.75MM AAV deal. If he has any positive trade value left (or even if he doesn’t and the Stars need to attach a draft pick with him), it wouldn’t be surprising to see him head out the door to make room for a more dynamic player on the right side.
Outside of Hemming, another prospect who could draw interest is forward Antonio Stranges. The 23-year-old was in the ECHL as recently as two seasons ago but has exploded in the AHL this season, leading the Texas Stars in scoring with 17-22–39 through 41 games. The 5’11”, 185-lb left-winger was a fourth-round pick in 2020, and while his development may have been a bit of a slow burn thus far, his breakout indicates he still has fringe top-six potential.
Other Potential Trade Chips: F Matěj Blümel, F Justin Hryckowian, D Christian Kyrou
Team Needs
1) Right-Shot D Upgrade: Ceci’s acquisition gives them a serviceable second- or third-pairing stopgap (and is a Dumba upgrade if they can move him), but they’re missing a secondary offensive presence behind Thomas Harley in Heiskanen’s and Lundkvist’s absence. Even when healthy, Lundkvist had emerged as arguably their top right-shot option – not a particularly strong one for a championship contender. Even without Heiskanen, the left side is set in the interim, with Harley and Esa Lindell anchoring the top four. Rasmus Ristolainen and David Savard are some of the top options available, but don’t put up the point totals of the archetype they need. Could they be among the few teams making sense for a Seth Jones trade?
2) Cheap Forward Depth: Scoring isn’t what the Stars need – they’re a top-10 offense that’s already added Granlund. Their AHL call-up options are high-ceiling, but they’ve been given minimal ice time when dressed. A more experienced fourth-line piece/13th forward could be more desirable for head coach Peter DeBoer to rotate in along with Oskar Back, Colin Blackwell and Sam Steel.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Miro Heiskanen Out Month-To-Month Following Knee Surgery
Feb. 4: Heiskanen had successful knee surgery this morning and has been downgraded to month-to-month, DeBoer told reporters Tuesday (including Mike Heika of NHL.com). It’s unclear if he’ll be back during the regular season.
Jan. 30, 1:21 p.m.: Heiskanen has officially been ruled out of the 4 Nations Face-Off, per Chris Johnston of TSN and The Athletic, robbing Finland of their top defenseman. They’ll need an injury replacement in short order, presumably the Rangers’ Urho Vaakanainen or the Sabres’ Henri Jokiharju.
Jan. 30, 11:38 a.m.: Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen is out week-to-week with the lower-body injury he sustained in Tuesday’s overtime win over the Golden Knights, head coach Pete DeBoer told reporters Thursday (including Lia Assimakopoulos of the Dallas Morning News). As a result, the star blue-liner has been ruled doubtful for next month’s 4 Nations Face-Off, which would have marked his first international appearance for Finland since the 2022 World Championship.
Heiskanen left the game in the third period after a controversial collision with Vegas captain Mark Stone. The Golden Knights winger, who alleged he tripped over the stick of Dallas center Roope Hintz, fell into Heiskanen’s left knee and thigh (video via ESPN) and was assessed a minor penalty for tripping. Heiskanen needed assistance leaving the ice.
DeBoer said the initial injury designation came after Heiskanen underwent an MRI on Wednesday. They’ll have a firmer idea of his return timeline after a meeting with a specialist today.
Aside from his participation in the 4 Nations tournament, Heiskanen’s absence is a humongous loss for a thinned-out Dallas defense group in the lead-up to the break. The 25-year-old has taken on increased importance this season after they lost Chris Tanev and Jani Hakanpää to free agency and bought out Ryan Suter, averaging north of 25 minutes per game for the second time in his career.
Still, the ever-steady Heiskanen is having a down season offensively. That can partially be attributed to Dallas’ struggling power play – he has just seven points with the man advantage through 50 games after notching 21 power-play points in 71 appearances last season. But overall, his 0.50 points per game is his lowest pace in four years.
While he still leads Dallas blue-liners in scoring, possession metrics also point to Thomas Harley, not Heiskanen, as their most effective two-way threat this season. That’s not to say Heiskanen has been concerning defensively by any stretch, but the Stars control 55.5% of shot attempts with Harley on the ice at even strength compared to 53.5% with Heiskanen. They’ve spent a decent portion of the season on different pairings after routinely serving as partners last season, but Heiskanen’s possession numbers still improve when paired with Harley this year.
Nonetheless, Dallas’ weakened blue-line depth will be tested with news that Nils Lundkvist is also dealing with an upper-body injury after sitting out the last three games as a presumed healthy scratch, DeBoer told Assimakopoulos. The team announced they’ve recalled defenseman Kyle Capobianco from AHL Texas in a corresponding transaction, and he’ll make his season debut against the Canucks on Friday.
Capobianco, 27, signed a two-year, two-way deal with the Stars over the summer after two years in the Jets organization. He cleared waivers to begin the season and headed to AHL Texas, where he’s served as their top power-play option and leads team D in scoring with 28 points (2 G, 26 A) in 35 games. His +13 rating also leads Baby Stars defenders. Tomorrow will mark his first NHL game since suiting up once with Winnipeg in the 2023 postseason.
Initially a third-round pick by the Coyotes in 2015, Capobianco has 12 points (5 G, 7 A) in 73 career NHL appearances. Forty-five games came with the Yotes in the 2021-22 campaign, his final season in the organization. He’s historically graded out slightly below average defensively in his NHL minutes and will likely see far more limited even-strength usage than Heiskanen, although he could be in line to take a chunk of his power-play minutes with Lundkvist also sidelined.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Stars Activate Mason Marchment From Injured Reserve
Stars winger Mason Marchment has been activated from injured reserve Sunday, per a team announcement. The team opened roster space by reassigning forward Kyle McDonald and defenseman Christian Kyrou to AHL Texas, leaving them with an open spot.
Marchment, 29, will draw into the lineup this evening for the first time in over a month. The power forward needed surgery after taking a puck to the face against the Wild on Dec. 27, keeping him out of Dallas’ last 17 games.
The Ontario native was having an extraordinarily productive campaign before his injury. He had 12 goals and 15 assists for 27 points through the season’s first 33 games, still placing him fifth on the team in points per game with 0.82. He’s on track for his best offensive season as a Star and his finest showing since his breakout 2021-22 campaign with the Panthers, when he notched a +29 rating and 47 points in 54 games and finished 18th in Selke Trophy voting.
Marchment is now in the third season of the four-year, $18MM deal he inked with Dallas in free agency in 2022. He has 111 points in 182 games as a Star, ranking ninth on the team in scoring since his arrival and ranking third in hits (240).
A career-high 15.0% shooting rate explains some of Marchment’s re-emergence as a bonafide top-six piece, but he’s also recorded figures in the 14% range twice in his six-year NHL career. His possession impacts this season have also been standouts, ranking second on the team behind Mavrik Bourque with a 55.5 CF% at even strength.
He’s another weapon in a Stars offense that’s figured things out in recent weeks, ranking fifth in the league with 3.29 goals per game in Marchment’s absence. His return to the lineup should coincide with Mikael Granlund’s Dallas debut after they acquired him from the Sharks yesterday, supercharging their already strong offensive depth.
McDonald and Kyrou were recalled yesterday as the Stars entered long-term injured reserve for the first time this season. Neither was ever expected to play, with their cap hits solely being added to the active roster to optimize their LTIR capture when they moved Tyler Seguin there and added Nils Lundkvist after news broke that the latter would miss the remainder of the season with an upper-body injury.
Stars Acquire Mikael Granlund And Cody Ceci From Sharks
Earlier today, the Stars made a series of roster moves geared toward setting up and optimizing their LTIR pool. They wasted little time using it as they acquired center Mikael Granlund and defenseman Cody Ceci from San Jose in exchange for Dallas’ 2025 first-round pick and Winnipeg’s 2025 fourth-round selection. That pick can elevate to a third rounder if Dallas reaches the Stanley Cup Final. Both teams have announced the swap. Stars GM Jim Nill released the following statement:
We are excited to welcome both Mikael and Cody to Dallas. We see both players as addressing immediate needs for our team — Mikael is a proven scorer who will bolster our forward group at both even strength and on the power play, and Cody will add a stabilizing and physical presence to our blueline. Both players will bring valuable postseason experience to our group, and we are looking forward to seeing their contributions to the Stars as the season continues.
The Stars have been missing a key middleman for the last two months when Tyler Seguin underwent hip surgery which is expected to keep him out for the remainder of the regular season. They’ve been trying to fill that spot internally with Jamie Benn spending some time down the middle while Sam Steel has been elevated to the third line at times as well but there has been a general expectation that Dallas would need to look outside the organization to fill that spot at some point.
Granlund certainly helps fill the void. The 32-year-old had a resurgence last season in his first year with San Jose, recording 12 goals and 48 assists in just 69 games. Granlund has shown that the improvement wasn’t a fluke as he has 15 goals and 30 helpers through 52 games this season, putting him on pace for 69 points which would tie his career-high set back in 2016-17.
That said, Granlund shouldn’t be counted on to produce at a similar rate with the Stars. With San Jose, Granlund has been an all-situations number one center, logging nearly 21 minutes a night for the second straight year. That won’t be the case with Dallas with them still having Roope Hintz, Wyatt Johnston, Matt Duchene, and Benn all in the mix in the top-six. More likely is that Granlund would be counted on to anchor the third line with some secondary minutes on both the power play and penalty kill.
Granlund is in the final season of a two-year, $10MM contract. It’s worth noting that the Sharks have already used all three of their available salary retention slots (on Brent Burns, Erik Karlsson, and Tomas Hertl) so they will not be able to retain any money to help facilitate a deal. Accordingly, either Dallas absorbs the full $5MM into their LTIR pool (one that’s around $12MM per PuckPedia at the moment) or they will need to get a third team involved to pay down some of the contract.
As for Ceci, he’s in his first season with San Jose after being acquired over the summer from Edmonton in what amounted to a cap-clearing move from the Oilers. The 31-year-old is playing a bigger role than he has been accustomed to in recent years but is holding his own with 15 points, 100 blocked shots, and 52 hits in 54 games while logging over 21 minutes a night.
Ceci has over 800 games of NHL experience over his 12-year career, largely spent ranging from being a second to a fourth defender. He may get the opportunity to remain in that role with his new club for the time being with Miro Heiskanen out on a longer-term basis while Nils Lundkvist’s season has come to an end after undergoing shoulder surgery. Additionally, offseason signing Mathew Dumba hasn’t quite panned out as planned so there should be an opportunity for Ceci to play an impactful role in Dallas.
Ceci is also in the final season of his contract, one that carries a $3.25MM cap charge. If Dallas isn’t getting any third-party retention in this move, then they’ll be using about two-thirds of their LTIR pool in one move (barring any roster players going the other way) although they’ll also be filling a pair of important needs in one swap.
Dallas didn’t necessarily have to trigger using LTIR today as they still had enough regular cap space to operate outside of it. The fact they committed to using it now suggested they had a move in the works. This certainly qualifies as they give themselves a big boost in the highly competitive Central Division.
For the Sharks, while they’re losing arguably their two most prominent pending UFAs, they’re also adding a legitimate future asset with the first-round selection. Being able to add one of those in spite of not being able to hold back money is a solid piece of business for GM Mike Grier. He’ll now likely turn his focus toward trying to find new homes for his other expiring deals including forwards Luke Kunin and Nico Sturm along with defenseman Jan Rutta.
ESPN’s Kevin Weekes first reported the two sides were discussing a Granlund trade. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman was first with Ceci’s inclusion. TSN’s Darren Dreger first had the return for San Jose while Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic first reported the conditions on the Winnipeg selection.
Photos courtesy of Imagn Images.
Stars Announce Several Roster Moves; Nils Lundkvist Out For The Season
It’s a busy Saturday in Dallas. The team announced (Twitter link) that defenseman Kyle Capobianco has been assigned to AHL Texas while blueliner Christian Kyrou and winger Kyle McDonald from AHL Texas. To make room on the roster, winger Mason Marchment was placed on injured reserve. The team then revealed that defenseman Nils Lundkvist has undergone season-ending shoulder surgery and that he and Tyler Seguin have been placed on LTIR.
Capobianco made his season debut on Friday and had some early struggles in his first taste of NHL action in two years. The 27-year-old has been quite productive with Texas, however, tallying 28 points in 35 games. Depending on how the back end of these roster moves shuffle out, it’s possible that Capobianco is back with the big club pretty quickly.
It’s the first regular season recall for both Kyrou and McDonald. On the surface, they may be short-lived ones as it’s likely those moves were made to optimize their LTIR placements. Kyrou has 13 points in 26 games with Texas in his sophomore year professionally. McDonald, meanwhile, has just five points in 31 appearances, a big drop after picking up 26 points in 51 outings last season.
Marchment has been out since late December due to a facial injury. Assuming the Stars filed the paperwork to make his placement retroactive, he can be activated at any time and is believed to be aiming to return before the upcoming break so he might not be out for much longer. He was off to a strong start before the injury with 12 goals and 15 assists in his first 33 outings.
As for Lundkvist, he had missed the last week and a half with an upper-body injury which we now know was a shoulder issue. His season comes to an end on a pretty quiet note as he finishes with five assists, 34 blocks, and 23 hits in 39 games while averaging just over 15 minutes a night. He joins blueliner Miro Heiskanen on the shelf as Dallas’ defensive depth starts to get tested.
The 24-year-old is slated to be a restricted free agent with arbitration rights this summer where he’ll be owed a $1.25MM qualifying offer. Dallas declined to tender him last summer when the qualifier was only $874K to avoid giving him arbitration rights so it wouldn’t be surprising if they go that route again if a deal can’t be reached before the end of June.
Seguin, meanwhile, underwent hip surgery back in December, a procedure that carried an expected recovery timeline of four to six months although it’s expected he won’t be back until the playoffs.
Accordingly, by placing both him and Lundkvist on LTIR, Dallas can exceed the cap by up to the amount of their cap hits minus any remaining regular cap room at the time of placement. (Kyrou and McDonald’s recalls allow them to reduce that regular cap room as much as possible to maximize how much LTIR space they have). All things considered, Dallas should have somewhere around $11MM in full-season contracts that they can add between now and the March 7th trade deadline, making the Stars a team to watch for in the coming weeks.
Heiskanen Likely Needs Surgery, Should Be Back Before End Of Season
While it was known that the Stars would be without their top defenseman through the 4 Nations Face-Off, it appears Miro Heiskanen will be out even longer than that. Lia Assimakopoulos of the Dallas Morning News relays that the blueliner is expected to require surgery with the recovery time being unknown at this time. However, head coach Peter DeBoer expressed optimism that Heiskanen would be able to return before the end of the regular season. The 25-year-old, who was placed on IR today to open up a roster spot, has 25 points in 50 games this season while logging over 25 minutes a night. Now that he’s expected to be out longer term, it wouldn’t be shocking to see Dallas look to add some help on the back end between now and the March 7th trade deadline.