Stars quiet on first day of free agent frenzy
/Andrew's Dallas Stars Page
As expected, the Dallas Stars were quiet on day one of NHL free agency Wednesday. And what a busy day it was.
Things got rolling just before free agency opened at 11 am, when Vancouver kept the Henrik and Daniel Sedin off the market by signing the pair to 5-year, $30.5 million deals, and continued into late in the evening when word came that Martin Havlat, who had been with Chicago, had signed with the Minnesota Wild.
In between there were some other big name players who moved. Defenseman Mattias Ohlund was the first player to move, signing a seven-year deal with Tampa Bay. Marian Hossa bolted Detroit and signed a 12-year contract with Chicago, Marian Gaborik went from Minnesota to the New York Rangers, Brian Gionta left New Jersey and signed with Montreal, Mike Komisarek went from Montreal to Toronto and Nikolai Khabibulin signed with Edmonton. Defenseman Scott Niedermayer stayed put, re-signing with Anaheim for one year. And there were many other deals.
Of particular interest to the Stars were some of the backup goaltenders on the market. While the Stars' top option for a backup goaltender continues to be Swedish netminder Jonas Gustavsson, the Stars need other options in case Gustavsson opts to sign somewhere else.
Some of those possible other options moved quickly on Wednesday.
- Craig Anderson signed a two-year, $3.6 million contract with Colorado
- Ty Conklin signed a two-year, $2.6 million contract with St. Louis
- Scott Clemmensen signed a three-year, $3.6 million contract with Florida
"It's a bit frustrating, but we have confidence in the player and we want to see if he picks us,'' Nieuwendyk told the Morning News. "We're hoping the decision will come (Thursday).''
Gustavsson was expected to make his decision on whether he would play in Dallas, Toronto, San Jose or Colorado before free agency opened Wednesday, but he decided to hold off and wait until after July 1. There's still no definitive word on exactly when he would decide.
Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke is expected to meet with Gustavsson in Sweden in one more attempt to Toronto. Burke was in Sweden Wednesday in hopes of opening talks with Daniel and Henrik Sedin, but moved onto Gustavsson after the Canucks re-signed the Sedins and took them off the free agent market.
Free agent notes
- Among the Stars eleven unrestricted free agents,
only one found a new home on Wednesday. Center Steve Begin signed a
one-year, $850,000 deal with the Boston Bruins.
- There was no significant news on unrestricted
free agent defenseman Sergei Zubov, who hit the market on Wednesday.
The Stars remain an option for Zubov, who is seeing what is out in
the market.
- On the rumor front, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported that the Stars were among one of several teams interested in defenseman Rob Scuderi early in the day. Scuderi was still unsigned as of late Wednesday.
