The NHL trade deadline now looms only three weeks away (Feb. 27) and for the fourth straight season, it seems the Stars are stuck in no man's land. Dallas isn't quite good enough to make the playoffs (or go very far into them if they manage to sneak in) and aren't quite bad enough to be completely out of the picture. In those past seasons Dallas has actually been buyers on the market. The first of those moves was the huge Brad Richards trade of the 2007-2008 season.

Since that season Dallas has made more big trades near deadline time and most of those have come from a buyer's prospective at the deadline. Lesser names like Brandon Segal and Jamie Langenbrunner have come and gone in ill-fated attempts to bolster for playoff runs.

Dallas has been more than willing to make big deals though. Kari Lehtonen arrived during the 2008-2009 via trade and last season Dallas made one of the biggest moves of the year by trading James Neal and Matt Niskanen for Alex Goligoski.

This season should provide much of the same as Dallas is again on the cusp of the playoff race. Owner Tom Gagliardi and GM Joe Nieuwendyk have hinted that Dallas will be active come deadline time. Dallas has 12 games before that dead though, so they should have a good view of where they stand in the West by then. If these moves do take place, who should the Stars put on the trade block and just how valuable can they be? Here's a look at where I would put each of the players that have seen significant time with Dallas this season.

more after the jump

Final

Dallas 6 - Anaheim 2

Boy, I'm not sure the Stars could have asked for a much better start after the game last night. The Stars had one of their most complete games of the season as six different players scored a goal and Kari Lehtonen flashed his number one goalie skills again. Eric Nystrom, Sheldon Souray and Michael Ryder got themselves back onto the goalsheet, Stephane Robidas scored a power-play (POWER-PLAY!!) goal and Jamie Benn had an absolutely filthy goal as he turned Jonas Hiller inside out.

There were initial signs of rust for Dallas when the game started but that faded away after the first ten minutes of the game. The freshly healthy team looked spry and energetic, the first and third lines especially. Super accurate Jamie Benn had a grown-man's goal when he got in behind the defense, deked Hiller out of his pads and then roofed the puck with considerable force. His return had an immediate impact on the team.

Dallas had a bit of trouble on the defensive end as the Ducks forwards had some wide open point blank shots but Lehtonen was more than up to the task. He stoned Corey Perry three times in the third period as the Ducks were trying to mount a comeback and he was incredible in the second. Overall, Lehtonen stopped 33 of 35 shots. If Dallas can play anywhere close to this for the rest of the season, they'll be in the playoffs.

About the only really questionable thing about this game was the choice of the three stars. The first and third were understandable (Benn and Souray, though Kari should have been in this somewhere) but the second star of the game was Ducks forward Andrew Cogliano, who had no goal or assist and only one shot in the game. I'm not sure how the hell that could happen, but it did.

Dallas has had the Duck's (and specifically Hiller's) number this year. Dallas has won four out of the five matchups this season. They shut out the Ducks in one game and scored 5+ goals in two of the others. The only game that the Stars have lost this season to Anaheim was a game in which fourth-string goalie Jeff Deslauriers started.

more after the jump

Dallas Stars (25-21-2, 52 pts) @ Anaheim Ducks (19-23-7, 45 pts)

9:30 PM CT, February 1, 2012

Honda Center, Anaheim, California

Hey ya, welcome back to hockey. It's been seemingly forever since the Stars have played a game and it's good to have hockey back again tonight. Dallas gets Anaheim again, the team that they played (and beat 1-0) in the game just before the All-Star break.

Dallas comes into this game finally healthy. Jamie Benn (super accurate Jamie Benn) and Brenden Morrow are off the IR and ready to roll again. The lineups should be back to what they usually were and expect Loui Eriksson to get back to his point-gathering self.

Benn missed five games while Morrow was out for just one. Dallas went 1-3-1 in the time without Benn and dropped down into 10th in the West (or at least tied for 10th with Calgary and Phoenix) with 52 points. They're three points behind the Minnesota Wild for the last playoff spot and have two games in hand.

Dallas shutout the Ducks in the last game that they played as Kari Lehtonen put in another stellar performance and Alex Goligoski got a little bit of luck with a deflected goal. Dallas made a few roster moves after that game by sending down some of their younger guys (Philip Larsen, Tomas Vincour, Matt Fraser). Only Larsen was recalled to the team as Dallas looks like it's going with eight defensemen. Whether this is a precursor to a trade is unknown but it certainly seems like a possibility now.

Kari Lehtonen gets the start tonight and there are shockingly no injuries of note for the Stars.

more after the jump

Overall, January was a pretty down month for the Stars. As a result of injuries and inconsistent play, they ended up going 4-6-1 this month and now find themselves sitting in the 10th spot in the Western Conference, 3 points out of the playoffs.

Dallas had a stretch of games in which they were without both of their top centers, Mike Ribeiro and Jamie Benn, and it really showed in how the team played. Offense struggled mightily and the team just couldn't find any kind of consistency in their play.

The way Dallas played was eerily similar to what happened to the team last season around this time (massive injuries and dropping in the standings) so hopefully Dallas can get back on track after the All-Star break.

Dallas played in 11 games in January. Two of these games went into overtime. Kari Lehtonen started nine of games while Richard Bachman started the other two. For the month of January, the team's PP went 2 of 29 (7%) while the PK went 29 of 34 (85%).

For the PP and SH stat boxes, I first put the amount of time that they had in the month and the total time that the player has on the season in parentheses. 

As a small comparison, the league leader among forwards in ice time this season is Devils forward Ilya Kovalchuk with 24:48 of TOI/G. He has 1066:36 total time on ice on the season. For defensemen, the league leader is Rangers defenseman Dan Girardi with 27:22 of TOI/G and a total of 1286:37 total ice time on the season.

more after the jump

Final

Dallas 1 - Anaheim 0

Finally. Finally the Stars got a little bit of luck to go their way. For the past two weeks it seemed like everything was just going against them: Every bounce had been for their opponents, shots that could have gone in for Dallas hit posts instead and the Stars just couldn't seem to find their feet. In the final game before the All-Star break, the bounce was finally in their direction.

Kari Lehtonen was stellar in this game, stopping all 27 shots that he faced for his first shutout of the season. The Stars needed every single one of those stops as they could only get a goal off of a lucky bounce. An Alex Goligoski (freshly rich Alex Goligoski) shot from the point bounced off of Cam Fowler's hip area and took a crazy deflection past Jonas Hiller. That first period goal proved to be enough on this night as Lehtonen turned away shot after shot (though it did get really close at the end).

The win ended a five game losing streak for Dallas and ended a five game winning streak for the Ducks. Going into the All-Star break, the Stars sit in 10th place, three points out of the playoffs.

Dallas struggled for much of this game as they looked listless during much of the first two periods and some of the third. I'll be honest, I fell asleep watching some of the second period cause this was a snoozefest but in the end the win was all that matters, not how pretty the game was. The mosst exciting part of the game was probably all in the last minute as Anaheim was in desperation mode. Lehtonen made a last second, literally a last second, save on Corey Perry as he was trying to stuff the puck in from the side of the net as the clock hit 00:00.

The win gives some good feelings to Dallas heading into the break and a chance for guys to heal up. Their first game back will be against these Ducks again.

Stars fans got a look into the future of this team as Alex Goligoski got himself a nice payday yesterday, inking a new contract that's going to keep in Dallas for the next four years for $18.4 million. His contract will be staggered, earning a little bit more each season. Year 1 - $4.2 million, Year 2 - $4.4 million, Years 3 and 4 - $4.6 million. The cap hit on the team each season will be $4.6 million.

With the deal, the defense of the future seems to be set. Goligoski will be here a while; Trevor Daley is contracted to be on this team till the 2017-2018 season and Stephane Robidas is still under contract until the 2014-2015 season (though I expect him to be traded by then). The years are fine with me, but the money that was just thrown down at Goose's feet seems a bit much, especially for a guy that hasn't had a breakout season yet.

A breakdown of his stats:

In his time in Pittsburgh, Goligoski benefited a whole lot from the talent that the Penguins had (IE: Crosby, Malkin, Staal). He's a fine player, but I continue to think that his points and assists numbers, especially on the power-play, were inflated a bit as a result of the teammates that he had in Pittsburgh.

He's been the number one power-play quarterback on this team this past season, but hasn't been able to do much. Whether it's the system or the guys around him (though that's tough to fathom with the likes of Benn, Eriksson, Ribeiro, etc...) he's just not getting the same point totals. He's also had some trouble staying healthy, something that is absolutely necessary for the number one offensive defensemen on the team.

He's been a solid player in his short (59 games) Stars career so far, but hasn't really stood out. Hopefully Dallas can get some more guys around him to help so that he can improve his numbers.

Now I really like Goose and think he's the type of player that's really needed on this team, but giving him an average of $4.6 million a year seems a bit much. Then again, this is the team that's giving Adam Pardy $2 million a year so this deal with Goose might be a bargain. If nothing else, this shows that the new ownership is ready and willing to spend big bucks to try and improve this team. There will be a new CBA after this season though, so this might not be as expensive as previously thought (or it might be more, who knows).

The numbers on his contract ($4.6 million cap hit) puts him around the likes of Jack Johnson, Joni Pitkanen, Dan Hamhuis and Kevin Bieksa. Goligoski's numbers that he put up in Pittsburgh are comparable to what these guys have had since 2008-2009. 

Totals for these guys since that season.

Johnson: 253 games, 27 goals, 83 assists and 110 points.

Pitkanen: 235 games, 21 goals, 105 assists and 126 points.

Hamhuis: 272 games, 17 goals, 78 assists and 95 points.

Bieksa: 241 games, 24 goals, 89 assists and 113 points.

Goligoski: 233 games, 33 goals, 85 assists and 118 points.

Again, being in Pittsburgh helps a lot, but I really hope that Goose can start to put up some numbers again. Until then, I'll approach this contract with some trepidation because he'll need to stay healthy and be around the top 15 in scoring defensemen to make this deal worth it.

Anaheim Ducks (18-22-7, 43 pts) @ Dallas Stars (24-21-2, 50 pts)

8:30 PM CT, January 24, 2012

American Airlines Center, Dallas, Texas

At this point, it comes as a relief that the All-Star break is upon the Stars. Dallas comes into this game having lost five in a row and six of the last seven games. The only win was in a shootout over the LA Kings. Injuries, sloppy play and a little bit of bad luck have all contributed but the bottom line is the same, this team is floundering.

The loss of Mike Ribeiro and Jamie Benn have hit this hard. In the past five games without those two guys, Dallas has failed to score more than two goals in any of those games. That includes scoring only one goal against the worst defensive team in the NHL, Tampa Bay.

The latest loss for Dallas was an embarrassing 5-2 beatdown by the Minnesota Wild, one of the worst offensive teams in the league. The Wild scored three goals in 61 seconds in the second period of the game, basically dooming Dallas after they had taken a 2-1 lead. That game was only the second time in the past month and a half that Minnesota scored more than four goals in regulation.

Dallas gets some reprieve tonight (or at least they should) with the probable return of Mike Ribeiro. A playmaker has been sorely missed recently, especially for Loui Eriksson and Michael Ryder, so his return is a welcome one. Dallas is currently sitting four points out of the last playoff spot going into tonight so getting points tonight is a must.

However, as is customary with this team, as one guy returns another one leaves. This time it's Brenden Morrow that's out with an injury. It's the second time this season that Morrow has been placed on IR; this time it's for a neck injury.  

To make up for Morrow's loss, the team called up Matt Fraser from the Texas Stars to make his NHL debut tonight. Fraser is a scorer, something that Dallas really needs. In 40 games with the AHL affiliate this season, Fraser has 21 goals and 14 assists. His 21 goals is by far the most on the team (10 more than anyone else) and he's second on the team in points and fourth in the AHL in goals. Nine of his goals came on the power-play so who knows, he might get some time with that unit to try to give it a boost. He'll probably be relagated to one the fourth line though, so don't expect too much.

Kari should be in net tonight. Dallas will be without Morrow (neck) and Benn (appendectomy).

more after the jump

Tampa Bay Lightning (18-23-4, 40 pts) @ Dallas Stars (24-19-2, 50 pts)

7:30 PM CT, January 20, 2012

American Airlines Center, Dallas, Texas

Struggle, struggle, struggle. That's the name of the game right now for Dallas. Down their top two centers and at the edge of the playoff picture, Dallas has struggled to get points in the past week. Since Jan. 20, Dallas has managed to get only 3 out of 10 points (1-3-1) and find themselves tied with two other teams for the 10th spot in the Western Conference. These close races are mighty stressful no?

Dallas has been playing solid hockey but just haven't had enough offense (or luck) to win in the last week. They've lost each of the last three games by only one goal (the last one a shootout) so this team is definitely trying, but sometimes effort just isn't enough. In all truth, Dallas probably should have beaten the Wings but Alex Goligoski's series of unfortunate events led to an own goal going off his skate.

At first blush, this game looks like something that the Stars should definitely win, but then again this is a team that's gotten beaten up by the Blue Jackets and Ducks recently and the Lightning are a very potent offensive team. Kari Lehtonen needs to play well again tonight against the likes of Steven Stamkos and Martin St. Louis. I would say that Dallas needs to keep this score low to win this game, but Tampa has a terrible defense so this could be a shootout.

These two teams played once last year in Tampa, a game that the Lightning won 5-4.

Lehtonen should be getting the start tonight, the first game of another back-to-back.

Dallas will be without their offense in Jamie Benn (appendectomy) and Mike Ribeiro (knee). Philip Larsen was just activated off of IR so he might play in this game, but there's not really a spot in the lineup for him right now unless Dallas goes with 7 defensemen.

more after the jump

Detroit Red Wings (29-15-1, 59 pts) @ Dallas Stars (24-19-1, 49 pts)

7:30 PM CT, January 17, 2012

American Airlines Center, Dallas, Texas

Here we go again. Second night of a back-to-back with a tough team coming to town. The Stars' difficulties on these situations is well documented this year. Dallas is 0-6-0 in games like this so far on the year and have been outscored 24-8. Whether it was home or road (though 5 of these were road games), Dallas just didn't seem to have the energy on these second nights and it gets only worse in this game without the services of Benn and Ribeiro.

The Stars have actually played the Red Wings in a back-to-back before this season. It was way back on Nov. 12 in Detroit, a game that Dallas lost 5-2. Alex Goligoski had just gotten injured in the game before and the Stars were starting the human sieve, Andrew Raycroft.

While tonight's starter, Richard Bachman, will inspire a lot more confidence than Raycroft, the lack of offense on this team could easily be this team's downfall tonight. Tom Wandell, Vernon Fiddler and whoever else is left as centers need to find a little oomph tonight and try to make some plays to get the wingers on this team some good shots. Eriksson and Ryder can do a lot on their own but getting the puck to them in good postions can do worlds of good for this team.

One piece of good news for Dallas tonight is that Tomas Vincour could make his return to the team. He was activated from the IR today and recent call-up Francis Wathier was sent back down. Either Vincour returns to the lineup in his place or the Stars go with 7 defensemen today. Vincour has been out with a knee injury since Dec. 15 against the NY Islanders.

Bachman gets the start in goal tonight. His last game was a 4-1 win over the Edmonton Oilers on Jan. 7.

Dallas will be without Benn (appendectomy), Ribeiro (slight MCL tear) and Philip Larsen (concussion)

more after the jump

Final

Dallas 0 - St. Louis 1

Dallas played its first game last night without the top 2 centers on the team, and boy did it ever show. The Stars offense last night might have set hockey back a year or two. The team just couldn't get anything going without its playmakers and while Jaroslav Halak had an excellent night, he didn't exactly have to do a whole lot to make his 22 saves. For all I can remember, Dallas only had two really really good chances to score a goal.

One was an early chance from Eriksson and the other was an Eric Nystrom breakaway chance that didn't work because he was too tired from a long shift. Nystrom just went straight at Halak and tried to five-hole him but Halak made an easy save. The only reason Dallas had a chance to get a point out of this game was because of Kari Lehtonen. Lehtonen had one of his best games of the season, saving 31 of 32 shots and most of them in spectacular fashion (Toby Peterson also had a kick save of his own when Lehtonen was left out of the net after a save).

The only shot that got past him was from TJ Oshie. Oshie beat Nick Grossman on a rush to the net and received a pass from David Perron. Lehtonen looked to have him squared up but Oshie made a fantastic move and deked Lehtonen, just barely outstretching his left leg to put the puck into the net. Grossman has had major struggles recently and it's even more glaring when the defense has to be perfect in order for the Stars to win.

more after jump