Quoting: mnwild1790
Even with a flat cap the Stars do have some money to spend. Around 19 Mil I want to say? Anyways, I can see what your talking about for elevating youngsters roles. It's what us Wild fans are going through right now. Since you're in a win mode, I could see you guys adding a piece or two via free agency. Maybe a Vladislav Namestnikov? Tyler Ennis? Carl Soderberg? There are some names available that you can pick up that won't dip too much into cap or term and could help support the offense. You could still put Hintz, Gurianov, etc. up on the top lines with Benn, Radulov, Seguin, but these players could help ease the pressure of needing the top players to score so much.
Plus this way if the cap doesn't raise much for 2021 off-season you still have plenty of cap leftover to play with. Just my thoughts.
The Stars have two massive organizational needs. Obviously scoring help is one of them, but the other is RD depth. The Stars have 1 goal scoring prospect (Robertson), and 0 current or potential NHL'ers on the right side of their blue line, outside of Klingberg & Johns.
You are correct that the Stars do have a bit of money they can spend this offseason. Currently, they have just over $19M to spend on re-signees and free agents. I don't see Gurianov or Hintz getting their big contracts this offseason. They should see bridge deals for similar value. Add into that Faksa's contract extension (personally, I'd trade him, but we'll keep him for the sake of this post) and you're sitting around $10M in salary cap for those 3.
Now is where things get a bit more tricky. Dallas has roughly $9 left to spend on a backup goalie, fill 2 defensive spots (Sekera & Polak), and fill 2 forward spots (Perry & Janmark). If I'm Nill, I take a serious look at bringing Perry back on another 1-year deal. Love him or hate him, he did well as a 4th line winger for Dallas this season, and is extremely affordable. Like someone alluded to above, I also believe that Robertson & Harley will be full-time NHL players next season (if Dallas moves Faksa, add Dellandrea to that group as well). The biggest question is what happens in the backup goalie spot?
If they're smart with their money here, they should have somewhere between $6-7M in cap space to spend on a goalie and a defenseman. Dallas doesn't really have the cap space to realistically go after someone like Pietrangelo, but they could go after someone like Kevin Shattenkirk as their 2RD and still leave enough cap to potentially re-sign Khudobin. If Khudobin is looking for too much money, then go after a cheaper backup on a 1-year deal. Oettinger is the future between the pipes and should see NHL time as the backup as soon as the 2021-2022 season.
TL;DR - Dallas doesn't realistically have the cap space for the biggest names like Pietrangelo (unless they can move some cap space out), but should be able to go for a guy like Shattenkirk and rely on their few good prospects to fill out the remaining roster spots.