Flurry of moves caps first offseason for GM Tang

 After a dissapointing 2nd half and a 4 game sweep at the hands of their rivals, The Nashville Predators, GM Tang set his sights on changing up the look of his team. For a lot of the year their top line of Kaprizov, Pastrnak and Lindholm was the best in the league, but there was not a lot of depth. Tang tried to counter the lack of depth with some trades, but nothing worked as even that top line starting slipping and was even split up come playoffs.

 The Stars went in to the offseason with a 3 part plan. 1.) Re-sign their top line and franchise defenseman (Roman Josi) 2.) Find depth to fill out the rest of the lineup. 3.) Try and fit another top pairing defenseman in the fold (Victor Hedman, or another). Offseason got started hot as all three of the big RFA's were signed with no problem, as well as Franchise Player Josi. They tried to secure the rights to Hedman again, but as expected multiple teams offered him a max deal that the Stars didn't want to do. "We had the cap space, but figured for the better of our team we needed the money to go to more depth," stated GM Tang.

  Then came the signings. Getting more middle six Forwards that are also able to play top line minutes should they need was the main goal. By most accounts they suceeded. All 3 forwards, Nino Niederreiter, Marcus Foligno, and Blake Coleman were all secured deccently early. "We wanted to get some good middle six forwards that could also score, but also boost our defense for the forward position," exclaimed Tang when asked about FA. 

 When it came to trades, Tang had to make some tough decisions. In an attempt to clear some more space, the Stars said goodbye to their franchise goalie, Carey Price. Price leads the Dallas Stars in everything goalie related by a massive margin. The Dallas Stars have never seen another full time starter in their EHE history. "Moving off of Carey in his twilight years was not an easy decision, but one that I felt was necessary to get us where we wanted by the end of the offseason. There were plenty of moves I wanted to make this offseason, but having financial flexibility during the season is just as important." After missing out on Hedman, the Stars made another big move to bring in top pairing D-man, Jared Spurgeon. With Spurgeon, the Stars are getting a former captain and a D-man that is used to play big minutes and should hopefully be a perfect fit with Josi. 

 The last move of the offseason also seen Tang ship off a lineup mainstay in Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. Coming back in the deal is youngster Alex Newhook, D-man Jacob Bryson and then a couple futures in Daemon Hunt, and a coupjle late picks. "With some of the guys we got in free agency, we felt as if we could move RNH and be okay. We obviously love what RNH brought, but it is my job to build a team for this year, but also in the future, and with Newhook we were able to get a young player that will hopefully step into a top 6 role very soon, while also preserving some cap space for this season," stated Tang.

 The Stars are hoping the moves this offseason will help translate into more success come the postseason and add to its EHE leading 3 Stanley Cups.

Projected Opening Night Lineup:

Kaprizov - Lindholm - Pasta

Niederreiter* - Jenner - Foligno*

Newhook* - Cirelli - Coleman*

Aston-Reese* - Beagle - Ladd

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Spurgeon* - Josi

Trouba - Montour

Hamonic - Bryson*

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Husso

Forsberg*

*Denotes newcomer to team