Dallas Stars: 5 important storylines to follow this summer

Dallas Stars’ Free Agents

Every offseason has the capability of changing the faces on an NHL roster and this year is no different for Dallas. The Stars have five restricted free agents in Jason Dickinson, Rhett Gardner, Joel Kiviranta, Nicholas Camaano, and Miro Heiskanen. Dallas hopes to resign all players including a possible huge extension for Heiskanen. Dickinson is an important part of this teams’ future and management knows that it is a huge loss if they are unable to keep him in the lineup.

In terms of unrestricted-free agents, Dallas has eight in Andrew Cogliano, Blake Comeau, Justin Dowling, Taylor Fedun, Tanner Kero, Jamie Oleksiak, Mark Pysyk, and Sami Vatanen.

The biggest names on this list are the veteran forwards Cogliano and Comeau, along with the top-four defenseman in Oleksiak. The Stars best line over the past few years has consisted of Comeau and Cogliano on the wing with Radek Faksa at center.

The “F-C-C” line, as it is known in Dallas, matches up against the best players in the world and adds some offense when they can. While the Stars have a large group of young forwards that could fill this role eventually, the veteran core is vital when trying to make a run to the Stanley Cup. Oleksiak has proven himself to be a perfect match with Heiskanen on the second pair.

The Stars will hold out on signing Oleksiak until after the Seattle expansion draft in July but General Manager Jim Nill has made it clear that he is very important to the team and they will do what they can to bring him back.

While the Dallas Stars would love to bring back some of these veterans, there are no guarantees. With where the team is heading, it is something to keep an eye on this offseason.