3 Last-Minutes Roster Moves the Stars Still Need to Make Before the Season

Dallas Stars fans are counting down the days to the start of the 2023-24 NHL season. The Stars open up the new campaign at home against the rival St. Louis Blues on Thursday, Oct. 12, meaning it won't be long before we're watching meaningful hockey again.

Just like the other 31 clubs, the Stars are in the process of reducing their training camp roster. It won't be much longer until we find out which 23 players will start the season with Dallas as we aim to win our first Stanley Cup of the 21st century.

If the Stars want to ice the best possible roster on opening night, here are three last-minute roster moves they must make.

3 Stars Roster Moves Before 2023-24 NHL Season

1. Trade Radek Faska

One thing preventing the Stars from further improving their roster is the salary cap situation. With less than two weeks before the 2023-24 campaign begins, Dallas currently sits at $317,829 above the salary cap, per CapFriendly.

Creating more cap space is necessary, especially if we want to be buyers once the trade deadline comes around. That's why the Stars should consider trading Radek Faska in the coming weeks.

Faska has been a consistent part of Dallas' bottom-six forward for the last eight seasons, however, his price tag doesn't match his production. He carries a cap hit of $3.25 million over the next seasons, which is expensive for a player who only tallied 12 goals and 11 assists across 100 games between the regular season and playoffs last year.

Faska isn't a bad player by any stretch, but he turns 30 in January and is who he is at this stage of his career. He's not going to magically find another level that justifies his cap hit. Trading him would free up money that can be used to improve other areas of the Stars' roster (more on that on the next slide).

It'll be tough for a lot of fans to see him in another jersey, but it's clear that the perfect time to move on from Faska is sooner rather than later.