After a season that featured sixty games played, a good amount of power play time, and extended minutes alongside former Art Ross Trophy winner Jamie Benn that culminated into just 12 points, the Dallas Stars left defensive center Cody Eakin unprotected and eventually lost the 26-year-old to the Vegas Golden Knights.
In choosing to keep hefty wingers Brett Ritchie and Antoine Roussel over Eakin, the Stars needed to fill a void for a faceoff-winning, relatively skilled center like Eakin, when at 100% health, was. June 21st’s expansion draft left every team rearranging their depth chart, but in Dallas’s case, it was harder having lost a key sparkplug from the past few seasons.