Ben Bishop Traded to Stars in Exchange for 4th-Round Pick in 2017 NHL Draft

The Dallas Stars bolstered their goaltending depth Tuesday by adding veteran Ben Bishop via trade.

The team announced it acquired Bishop from the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for the Montreal Canadiens' fourth-round pick in the 2017 NHL draft at the end of June.              

Scott Bell of the Dallas Morning News noted the Stars had control of the pick because they received it for defenseman Jordie Benn. Bell also wrote Dallas has exclusive negotiating rights with its newly acquired goaltender until he can become an unrestricted free agent on July 1.

Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News called the odds of the Stars signing Bishop "good" and explained "teams that trade for a player's rights typically find a way to get a deal done."

Heika said Bishop could sign a five- or six-year contract valued somewhere near the $5.95 million cap hit he had last season, which "would give Dallas by far the highest goaltending cost in the NHL next season" with Kari Lehtonen ($5.9 million) and Antti Niemi ($4.5 million) under contract.

That would be the case even if the Stars bought out Niemi with a $1.5 million cap hit for two seasons.

Still, Bishop has the potential to be one of the best goaltenders in the NHL. He was a Vezina Trophy finalist in 2015-16 as a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning with a league-leading goals-against average of 2.06 and save percentage of 92.6.

He has also played for the St. Louis Blues and Ottawa Senators, and he boasts a career goals-against average of 2.32 and a save percentage of 91.9. Dallas allowed the second-most goals against per game in 2016-17 (3.17) and missed the postseason after winning the Central Division last year, so an upgrade between the pipes was apparently in order.