Stars Fantasy Season 2009-10: Free Agent Frenzy!
This is a continuation of a on-going “what if” series I am doing about the Stars upcoming season. If you haven’t already read An Introduction: Stars Fantasy Season 2009-10, please do before reading on. And, please, tell me what you think!
As July 1st dawned, and with nearly 14 million dollars of cap space burning a hole in my pocket, I went right out and made my first move as the new General Manager of the Dallas Stars. I signed….a backup netminder (Something the Stars might have been well-off to do today in real life, but I digress…). Yes, it lacked the splash of a big-name signing, but it was an important move, nonetheless. I brought Manny Fernandez back to the Dallas Stars with a 3-year, $6.45M contract. A bit pricey, yes, but it also protects the Stars should they need someone to step up into the main role if the younger players aren’t ready next season and Turco decides to move on. I was thinking big picture, for sure.
The Fernandez signing was the only signing on the first day of free agency. A far cry from how things went down today, isn’t it? Over the next few days, a few “smaller fish” made signings, but no big names. It appeared that agents wanted to see what was available from all the clubs. On July 4th, the Stars made it known that they were serious about competing in the Western Conference: they signed Jay Bouwmeester to a 6-year, 40.2M contract ($6.7M annually). This filled a major need on defense, and as the GM had permission to spend to the cap…why not get the best guy at the spot? But, the Stars weren’t done.
As you may remember, Modano had retired, and so there was a need at center. The top two lines were well taken care of, but the third line still needed someone to produce. I wanted to field a team that had three solid lines on the ice every night, and we needed another strong center to do that. On July 6th, the Stars announced they had signed Joe Sakic to a 2-year, $9.5M contract ($4.5M annually). After rounding out the signings by getting Kyle Calder (2 years, $2.55M total), who is a solid journeyman/grinder, I had a roster I was happy with. This was a team I *knew* could compete with anyone in the NHL, as long as the chemistry stuck. That would remain to be seen, obviously. So, I give to you the 2009-10 SFS Dallas Stars:
- 1st Line: Loui Eriksson – Joe Sakic – Fabian Brunnström
- 2nd Line: Brenden Morrow – Mike Ribeiro – James Neal
- 3rd Line: Kyle Calder – Brad Richards – Jere Lehtinen
- 4th Line: Brian Sutherby – Toby Petersen – Krys Barch
- 1st D Pairing: Trevor Daley – Jay Bouwmeester
- 2nd D Pairing: Stéphane Robidas – Mark Fistric
- 3rd D Pairing: Darryl Sydor – Matt Niskanen
- Goaltenders: Marty Turco – Manny Fernandez