Making moves: Stars make small splashes, round out lineup in first day of free agency

Have you ever been absolutely amped for the release of a new movie? The casting is perfect, the plot is full of enticing twists, each new trailer hypes you up a little bit more and then, when you finally walk out of the theater, you realize it didn’t live up to your towering expectations?

That was kind of how the first day of the 2025 free agency frenzy played out in the NHL.

After spending the past few weeks dreaming of Mitch Marner, Brad Marchand, Sam Bennett and Aaron Ekblad hosting bidding wars between a number of NHL clubs on July 1, the big day itself was relatively quiet. Marner was signed to an eight-year deal and flipped to Vegas to keep him from the open market. Florida pulled off an incredible juggling act by managing to re-sign Marchand, Bennett and Ekblad to long-term extensions. Heck, even Brock Boeser likely would have had plenty of suitors, but decided instead to re-up with Vancouver.

John Tavares re-signed with Toronto a few days ago, Patrick Kane signed an extension with Detroit on Monday evening and Ivan Provorov inked a long-term deal to stay in Columbus.

The Dallas Stars followed suit. General manager Jim Nill reached agreements with Matt Duchene, Jamie Benn, Mavrik Bourque and Nils Lundkvist in the previous weeks to take care of most of the team’s internal free agents.

As a result, there weren’t many big splashes around the NHL, which are usually plentiful on each July 1.

“We knew going in that there was not a lot of depth in this free agent group, at least on the high end in that,” Nill said. “A lot of that is the cap increased a lot, so teams were able to sign their own guys. That’s probably the major part of it. Some years, you’re going to have some guys available and some not. I think the biggest part is the cap. We saw an increase this year, and teams were able to fit guys in. It really changed the [free agency] period.”

But that didn’t keep the Stars from at least making a handful of moves.

In addition to officially naming Glen Gulutzan as the team’s new head coach and elevating Texas Stars head coach Neil Graham to an NHL assistant role, Dallas made two smaller signings that will have an NHL impact in the seasons ahead.

The first involved a reunion with center Radek Faksa on a three-year deal ($2 million AAV). After being picked 12^th overall by Dallas in the 2012 NHL Draft, Faksa spent the first nine seasons of his NHL career with the Stars. But after cap constraints came into play in the 2024 offseason, Dallas was forced to move him to St. Louis on July 2.

Faksa had 15 points and won 57 percent of his faceoffs in 70 regular season games with the Blues last season, and followed it up with an impressive five points (one goal, four assists) and a plus-seven rating in seven playoff games.

“We missed Radek this year,” Nill said. “He’s been a big part of our team for a long time. He’s a big, heavy body. He’s very good defensively, a great penalty killer, very good on draws and he’s got a physical element to his game. It’s something that we thought we were really missing in the playoffs and he brings that. We watched him closely in St. Louis and he was a force for them.”

The 31-year-old will get a chance to build on an already-sturdy resume in Dallas that includes 638 games, 200 points and a number of historic moments in Victory Green.

Speaking of depth, Dallas also re-signed journeyman forward Colin Blackwell to a two-year deal ($775K AAV). Blackwell was impressive in his first season with the Stars, posting six goals and 17 points in 63 games. He averaged 11:34 time on ice per game, including 1:54 shorthanded (second among Stars forwards). Similar to Faksa, his physicality and tenacity will be welcomed additions to the team’s bottom six.

On the other side of the revolving door, the Stars parted ways with a number of free agents. Mikael Granlund (3 years, $7 million AAV with Anaheim), Cody Ceci (4 years, $4.5 million AAV with Los Angeles) and Evgenii Dadonov (1 year, $1 million with New Jersey) all hit the market and signed with new teams. Both Granlund and Ceci got a number on the open market that the Stars wouldn’t have been able to match under their current cap situation.

And while Nill acknowledged that the team lost some good players, he’s confident that the organization has the necessary solutions to fill the void.

“All the guys loved it here,” the GM said. “But there’s a cap in place in our business and it is a business. We have a lot of younger players and we’re fortunate. We’ve got a good core group of young players, but they have to be paid also. The numbers just didn’t add up.”

With Faksa and Blackwell signed, the Stars now sit roughly $1.8 million over the cap (according to CapWages.com). But Nill isn’t worried, mentioning that the team has until October to make any necessary trades or roster moves to get back into compliance. He also mentioned that the Stars are keeping their eyes on the market for any other potential fits that may arise or circle back.

“We’re still looking at some things and we’re open, but we’ve got flexibility,” Nill said. “You get to that point in free agency now when the rush has happened. Now, is there somebody that we thought was going to get more money that’s high on our list and we’re like, ‘We can’t say no to this.’ We’ll monitor that over the next 3-4 days.”

In the here and now, however, the focus can now start to shift towards what the 2025-26 Dallas Stars might look like. With a new head coach, new assistant coach, and a few old friends back in the fold, the team will now forge ahead towards its goal of contending for the Cup.

The belief is that they took a positive step forward in that pursuit on Tuesday.

“A lot of our work was done back in February and I kind of knew that,” Nill said, pointing to the blockbuster acquisition and long-term signing of Mikko Rantanen.

“Now we’re just trying to add some pieces around that and we’re looking for some internal growth also. I think some of our players are going to continue to get better. A lot of these players are 22, 23, 24, 25 years of age and are still hitting their prime. A lot of good things here.”