Go and get yourselves the Dman that you need to leads these guys and suddenly you're terrifyingly good.

Heiskanen will be that D-Man. Heatherington is a great shut down guy to pair with Johns, and Heiskanen will be a phenomenal pair with either Klingberg or Honka. Not to mention, we'd finally get to see Honka full time. Our defense has been good this year, and they get better next year, if they go this route.

He could be, but I don't know that you want to trust a 19 year old dman to be THE guy when you get into a playoff series against the Anaheim's, Nashville's and Winnipeg's of the world. Those teams control play and pound the life out of defence groups. Trusting that these guys are the guys would be like trusting that Kari Lehtonen could get the job done if Bishop was hurt...

The Stars biggest defensive issue this season, and in seasons past, is the fact that they can't exit their zone cleanly. Klingberg, Lindell, and Honka are the only three that can effectively move the puck out of our zone. Sure, Klingberg has some turnovers, but that's going to happen when you are playing as much as he does. He's on par with guys like Carlsson, Burns, and PK when it comes to turnovers per breakout attempt. Honka has been in the press box most of the year, in favor of guys like Methot and Pateryn, neither of whom can get the puck out of their own end. You run with the defense I have aligned, you have two solid breakout lines that can control the puck in all three areas of the ice, and a 3rd pair that is great at shutting down opposing teams. We aren't going to be the biggest or the fastest defensive core, but we could very well have some of the best puck movement, and that has been an issue that has plagued Dallas for the last 3+ years.

In regards to Lehtonen, he's done what he's supposed to do this season. He's played good enough when he's been in net. He's given our team a chance to win the majority of the games he's played in. Can't fault him for the fact that our offense has been pretty nonexistent for the past couple of months. He's already played more games than he should have played. Lehtonen plays great when there's no pressure on him. When he's spot starting for Bishop is when he's at his best. The fact that he's been the go to guy for a good chunk of the season, due to Bishop's injuries has taken away from the incredible start to the season he had, when he was only starting once every couple of weeks. He's a good backup, but is below average as a starter, which is what the Stars have asked him to be lately.

What might help is not resigning lehtonen, and getting a cheaper backup goaltender.

So basically, we get better when we...
- Buyout our 2C
- Play the winger of that line as a center
- Acquire a new winger for that former winger's place
- Get our former player back from a "loan"
- Let two UFA D's walk and replace them with two d-men with no experience?

It's just been disappointing to lose all the work we've done this season in a spun of 10 games time.
If this is the way to prevent this from happening the next season, I'm all for it.

Yeah, there are cheaper backup goalies out there, but given Bishop's injury history, I'd rather have a decent goalie that can keep my team in games (Lehtonen) as opposed to a cheap, below-average goalie that is going to throw my team to the wolves every time he is between the pipes. The only available BACKUP goalies this offseason, that have better stats this season than Kari, that have the potential to keep us in games if/when Bishop goes down are Anton Khudobin, Jonathan Bernier, and Carter Hutton. I expect Hutton to get a decent payday because of the season he has had. The Blues should, and probably will, resign him because of the questions surrounding Allen. Bernier is essentially a clone of Kari, in terms of stats. Lehtonen has already stated that he wants to stay in Dallas, and if that means getting him at a much discounted rate, then why should the Stars pay more for Bernier, when they can get essentially the same production for slightly less?

I'm not gonna say Kari is a great goalie, but he had a great season until he got throw into the starting role. He has had a great season as a backup. He spelled Bishop nicely and was pretty stellar during the limited number of starts he had. Even since Bishop went down, he's kept the team in just about every single game. I can't fault him for the fact that our offense has been pretty invisible for the past couple of months. The Stars have had many problems this year, but he has not been as big of a problem as many Stars "fans" would have you believe.

- Buy out the 2C that hasn't done anything all year. We are essentially paying $7.5M for a 4th line center, and that is a gross over payment
- Janmark's natural position is Center. He played Center all throughout his pre-NHL days. He only started playing wing with Dallas. He is more than capable of sliding back to Center, if the circumstance calls for it.
- JVR is arguable the best winger available on the free agent market this offseason. No need to give up a prospect, pick, and roster player for Hoffman or Pacioretty if you can get JVR without giving up anything.
- Nichushkin leaving was the best thing for him. He wasn't going to develop under Ruff's system, so he did the best thing in terms of his development. He has been playing extremely well in Russia and will slot into our top-6 nicely next season
- I let two defensemen walk because the replacements are better at fixing the Stars biggest defensive weakness. The biggest issue the Stars defense has had (and it's been exposed over the past month and a half) is their ability to move the puck. Pateryn and Hamhuis are two guys that seem to struggle breaking the puck out of our zone. They also have issues getting the puck through neutral ice cleanly. Right now Klingberg, Lindell, and Honka are the 3 defensemen that can move the puck fairly regularly, and have a much better time breaking out of our end. Honka almost never plays, because of guys like Methot and Pateryn, neither of whom are good puck movers. Kind of hard to mount an attack when we turn the puck over at our own blue line, or we have to dump it down the ice, because we can't make crisp passes. Bringing Honka in full time helps with that problem, and bringing Heiskanen up full time really helps as well. It gives us 2 pairs of defensemen that are adept in all 3 zones and can move the puck, and it gives us a 3rd pair in Johns & Heatherington that can shut down opponents in our own zone.

There is no "quick fix" to the issues that have plagued us the past few years, but this path prevents us from having to give up players in order to get players in return.

Sign him to a one year deal then and give yourself flexibility for a great dman fa class in '19

Only reason I give him two is because after those two years there are a couple guys playing for the Texas Stars (Landon Bow and Philippe Desrosiers) that could be ready for an NHL backup role. If they aren't ready after two years, then you let Kari walk and pickup a slightly younger backup for Bishop, until either Jake Oettinger or Colton Point are ready for NHL action.