Dallas Stars: 6 Potential Free Agents the Stars Should Pursue This Offseason

In the past two seasons, the Dallas Stars have fallen short of a postseason berth in the final week.

Common consensus is that the Stars are only a few players short of making a run at the cup. Expect this to be the season that Dallas makes a splash in the free agency market.

Now that the Stars have a new owner to supply a cash flow, general manager Joe Nieuwendyk will not have to dig for contributors in the bargain bin.

This is a list of the top potential free agents for the Dallas Stars.

Zach Parise

Zach Parise, the captain of the New Jersey Devils, hits the free agency market this year.

This season, he put up 69 points in a bounce back from last year when he only played 13 games. Since his sophomore campaign, he has put up 62 or more points every year excluding last year’s shortened season.

The Dallas Stars struggled putting the puck in the net last year, so offense will be their first priority. Adding a first-line scoring threat would go a long way to curing some offensive woes for the Stars.

Ryan Suter

Ryan Suter of the Nashville Predators will be the second most pursued player in free agency.

Suter is a destructive force in the defensive zone. The Dallas Stars are solid at the defenseman position but there is room for improvement. If the Stars could partner Ryan Suter with Sheldon Souray (if the Stars re-sign him) it would form one of the most formidable defensive pairs in the NHL.

Suter will not come cheap, but neither would goals against the Stars. His signing would also allow current Dallas Stars defenseman Trevor Daley to be more aggressive on the offensive end of the ice.

Alexander Semin

Alexander Semin of the Washington Capitals is another strong offensive option for the Dallas Stars.

Even though he was playing with Alexander Ovechkin, he has posted a 20+ goal season every year but his rookie season. The drawback to Alexander Semin is that he has never played all 82 games in a season.

With missed games, he will still give the Stars around 50 points like he has with the Capitals. Putting Alexander Semin on the same line as Michael Ryder would open up a lot of looks offensively for Dallas.  

David Jones

Much like Alexander Semin, David Jones hasn’t shown he can be counted on to play every game in the season.

His offensive numbers aren’t as large as Semin’s but he may cost about half of the price.

A move like this would give the Dallas Stars more room to sign a bigger free agent like Ryan Suter. David Jones does however bring his size to the table. At 6’2" and 210 pounds, Jones can crash the net and get physical with opposing forwards.

Physical play from the wing positions has been something that Dallas has missed from anyone not named Brenden Morrow.  

Dennis Wideman

Dennis Wideman is another Washington Capital in free agency. Wideman adds another offensive threat at the point.

The Dallas Stars could use another defenseman with goal scoring ability to go with Trevor Daley.

Wideman doesn’t spend a lot of time in the penalty box either so you can look forward to him playing nearly every shift. If the Dallas Stars sign Dennis Wideman, look for him to join the Stars' power play unit that struggled all season.

Jamie Benn

Jamie Benn is currently a restricted free agent for the Dallas Stars. He will sign but the key here is to lock up the 22-year-old to a long-term deal.

Benn has been pegged as the future of the franchise and everyone from the hotdog vendor at the American Airlines Center to Joe Nieuwendyk agrees.

Before any other free agent deals are signed, this deal should be the first finished.

Despite missing 11 games this season, Benn was able to put up his best point total yet.

Jamie Benn still has plenty of years left in his career and it looks as if the Stars are planning that most of them are in Dallas.