Dallas Stars Have 3 Players They Could Move To Open Up Cap Space

Mason Marchment & Matt Dumba, Dallas Stars

The Dallas Stars have reportedly tested the waters on interest in Jason Robertson as the team has some extensions kicking in, a good deal of impact players to sign or fill their holes in the lineup, and need more cap space than they have. This could cause the Stars to look quite a bit different than they did this season, and that remains to be seen whether that is for better or for worse.

The Stars have lost in three consecutive conference finals and with the core group that they have, are good enough to get back there every year. I think it would be a mistake to trade Robertson, so to free up space to make the necessary moves and keep the team at a very high level, here are three players that the team could move off of this summer.

Mason Marchment

Mason Marchment has had two strong offensive seasons in Dallas even though he gets into penalty trouble. While the Stars have Jamie Benn, Matt Duchene, Mikael Granlund, and Evgenii Dadonov to deal with as UFAs, Marchement has one year left on his deal at $4.5 million and has a 10 team no trade list. I'm thinking the Stars would like 2-3 of those pending UFAs back over Marchment for next year, regardless of the age. There's a solid chance Marchment leaves after next season anyways. Trading him shouldn't be that tough considering he scored 22 goals and 47 points in 62 games this season.

Matt Dumba

Matt Dumba hasn't been the player he once was for many years and it showed again this season for Dallas. He was signed to a two-year deal, which turned out to be 1-2 years too long. He played 62 games and had a goal and 10 points while sporting a 46.2 goals for %. Injuries have hurt his career and he is a long way from the 14 goal, 50 point season he put up in 2017-18. His cap hit is $3.75 million next season and it has to be moved. I would take Nils Lundqvist and test the free agent market before bringing Dumba back, especially at that cap hit. A buyout may be necessary.

Ilya Lyubushkin

Ilya Lyubushkin's contract isn't as bad as Dumba's, but he is more expendable than most on the team. He is one of six defensemen signed next season and plays the right side which is weaker, but his cap hit is also a bit high for what he brings. He would ideally be a third pairing d-man who also plays on the penalty kill, but his role is and has to be bigger right now for the Stars. He has two years left on his contract at $3.25 million AAV, but his contract is actually tradeable.