Stars don't need a defensive upgrade...they were 7th in team defense this season. Signing Carlson makes absolutely no sense for Dallas. By constantly bringing in veteran defensemen, guys like Honka & Heatherington are going to get pushed out of the lineup. Both of these guys have solid NHL potential. We leave Honka as the #7, he's going to go the way of guys like Oleksiak and Nemeth. Both of those guys have had solid years on their new teams AFTER THEY GOT PLAYING TIME. Stars would be so much better off spending money on a 2nd line scorer. Stone would be great, but there are better options on the FA market that aren't going to cost us a good depth guy and our 1st round pick.

Carlson will probably get more then $6.5 million per, If he signs for that less he'd resign back with Washington. Reportedly he wants at least $8 million per. And some crazy team will offer it to him.

While just signing Carlson makes no sense, it would work better if Methot was also traded. Carlson would then take his (Methot's) place and it would still leave two spots open (since Hamhuis and Pateryn were not resigned in this scenario) for guys like Honka, Heatherington, Johns, Heiskanen (if you want him in the NHL). That being said I agree that a Defensive upgrade is not needed and a second scoring forward would be better. Think JVR, E.Kane, Neal, Vanek. Stone is nice but like mentioned earlier, there are other good FA options. For the Khudobin signing, looks good to me; personally I like Hutchinson better but Khudobin would be a perfect signing if you think Bow will move up within the next yr or so. Lines are okay, contracts need a few minor tweaks (Janmark 4+yrs, 4+M, Johns 3+yrs 2.5-3M), but overall not bad.

I added Stone because he is a RH RW and all the top FA are LH LW except for Neal who I discounted because Dallas traded him away.

Gotta remember that we are getting a RW back in Nichushkin. He'll be returning from Russia next season and will slot on to that 2nd line.

While some people believe shot side matters for which wing you play, I found in my personal experience that wing is the same no matter which side of the ice you are on. And on top of that, I am a LH W and had some of my best seasons on the RW side. Stick is in the middle of the ice instead of along the board. I will give you credit for your research on the FA list.