NHL Trade Rumors: Stars Send James Neal to Pittsburgh, Brad Richards Next?

The Dallas Stars have traded forward James Neal and defenceman Matt Niskanen to the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for defenseman Alex Goligoski.

The move makes a great deal of sense from Pittsburgh's perspective as the 23-year-old Neal should provide an immediate offensive spark to a club missing its two biggest stars in Sidney Crosby and Evegni Malkin.

Though Goligoski was a solid contributor offensively, second on the team in points from the blue line with 31 and a team-best plus-20, defenders such as Kris Letang, Paul Martin, and Brooks Orpik made the young rearguard expendable for the sake of fortifying the Pens' offense.

The addition of Niskanen isn't at all an equatable replacement for Goligoski, but he should be for the Pens what he was for the Stars: an able third-pair defender.

The Penguins have clearly addressed a need with this trade, but what about the Stars?

Currently in the midst of a four-game slide, the Stars were, not too long ago, just two points behind the Detroit Red Wings for second in the Western Conference.

As of now, they sit in the eighth spot with 68 points, a total they share with three other Western Conference teams.

As tight and competitive as the West is, it seems strange that GM Joe Nieuwendyk would choose to trade away one of his most productive forwards (Neal has 21 goals, 18 assists and a plus-eight in 59 games played) at a time when competing for a playoff spot in the West would cause most teams in the hunt to bolster their offense.

Goligoski could be a good fit in Dallas, but to add him at the expense of Neal and Niskanen seems a bit lopsided, at least, from a hockey perspective.

Financially, the move looks much different.

The salaries of Neal and Niskanen have a combined cap hit of $4.375 million, whereas Goligoski's salary yields a much friendlier $1.833.

Looking at the move from this perspective, one finds that perhaps Nieuwendyk's true goal is to shed salary to make his team more attractive to a prospective buyer, something the current ownership is desperately searching for.

If this is the truth—if Nieuwendyk is truly going into "sell" mode—then it stands to reason that the player with the largest cap hit and impending free-agent status will be the next player on Nieuwendyk's "move" list.

Brad Richards could still do a lot for the Stars (though he is reportedly suffering from concussion-like symptoms), but, if Nieuwendyk is more focused on shedding salary than maintaining star power, Brad Richards' days as a Dallas Star may be numbered.

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