Montreal mostly small moves

Stars don't necessarily need "depth" scoring. They need 2nd line scoring. Their 3rd and 4th lines are good at what they are supposed to do. They put up some points, while playing a solid checking game that is supposed to keep other teams top lines in check (no pun intended). Byron could be a decent 2nd line guy, but he's likely not a permanent fixture in the top-6. I know we are only giving up picks, but Dallas should be looking to Free Agency to find their 2nd-line forward.

And yes Jordie played alright in Dallas, but they have no space for him on their blue line. With Klingberg, Lindell, Honka, Methot, Johns, Heiskanen, and Heatherington there would be no place for him to slot in on our blue line. A 4th round pick for Jordie is fair value, I just don't see Dallas as the team to make that trade, with the logjam they have on the blue line.

Byron had more goals and a higher ppg than all but dallas’ top 3 forwards. I highly disagree with you about Dallas not needing more depth scorers. They need at least 2 forwards in ufa. I agree they need 2nd liners but no one is trading any for 3rd round picks.

At defense, I don’t know if heatherington / heiskanen will be on the team next season. Heatherington isn’t better than Benn right now imo and it’d be stupid to carry a 22 year old as a 7th defenseman when he could be playing games. Methot has never played more than 75 games in his entire career including under 70 all of the last 4 seasons. Dallas should have a veteran #7 who can play #6 for 20+ games. They can’t afford to lose any points next season and still make the playoffs.

At the end of the day you have to look at cost as well. 2 mid rounders to acquire a teams top scoring middle six forward and a reliable depth defender is a bargain. It’d probably cost a 2nd + 3rd to wait until the deadline to add these players.

Benn-Seguin-Rads all obviously had higher PPG than Byron, as you alluded to. Mattias Janmark had just about identical production in goals and PPG, as did Radek Faksa. Janmark put up those numbers with a rotating door at Center and at RW. Val Nichushkin is coming back from Russia next season, so that solves the 2nd line winger issue. He slots on the RW side really well. So that leaves the issue of getting one more forward to fill out that 2nd line. Byron may not be an awful option, but there are far better options in free agency. Guys like JVR, Neal, Perron, etc. are all available. May cost a little more than Byron, but the Stars have the cap space to make it work, and they would get to hold on to their draft picks as well. If the Stars traded for Byron, they'd be going for option F when options A, B, C, D, and E are all still available, if that makes sense.

In regards to the defense, Heatherington played a fantastic shutdown style of hockey in the brief time he was in the NHL last season, and has played fantastic for the Texas Stars (Dallas' AHL affiliate). You are right when you say that Methot does get injured very frequently, which is why I would be okay with have a 22-year old get those 20+ games that he's injured. Heatherington has developed just about as much as he's going to in the AHL. It's time for him to see NHL action. Heiskanen may not start the season in the NHL, but he'll be there by December. The kid has absolutely torn up the highest leagues in Finland.

Bottom line, picking up Byron and Benn wouldn't help the team much, if any at all, and it would just create further log jams for positions in which Dallas has players primed and ready to take their shot at the NHL.