Trade talk

ESPN’s Scott Burnside was another national writer who was in Dallas recently and he worked up a story on the Stars’ prospects of making a move in wake of all the injuries, including this latest issue involving Sergei Zubov.

In the short term, Zubov’s absence, coupled with the long-term absence of Morrow and the departure of troubled forward Sean Avery, suggests the Stars will be looking to go shopping between now and the March 4 trade deadline.

Not so, said co-GM Les Jackson.

The Stars’ plan of action—at least at this point in time—is to look for answers from within.

There are a couple of reasons for that.

First, the team’s disastrous Avery experiment is still fresh in the minds of ownership and management.

Craig Button, a national broadcast analyst and former GM in Calgary, recalled a conversation with owner Tom Hicks that took place when Button worked for the Stars. Hicks told his hockey people that a million dollars well spent was a good investment but a dollar misspent was a waste.

Avery’s misspent four-year, $15.5 million contract is a strong cautionary story for the Stars when it comes to getting through the rest of the season, and beyond.

And if there is a certain gun-shy factor after the Avery signing, there also is the big picture to consider.

“We’re learning a lot of lessons this year,” Jackson said. “We have to manage our money; we have to manage our personnel.”

The Stars have worked hard to develop quality depth in their system. If Jackson and co-GM Brett Hull start beating the bushes to bring in another defenseman or forward, what message will it send to the rest of the organization?

Jackson acknowledged it’s hard to resist the temptation to go shopping. There is room, at least in theory, with Morrow’s and Zubov’s salaries off the books, at least in terms of cap space. Depending on what happens with Avery, there could be even more room.

“It’s hard to say no to other teams because you want to be competitive,” Jackson said.

You want to reward fans with a good product. You want to reward ownership for its support.

“But all it is is a short-term fix. You’re better off to fix it internally,” Jackson said.

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