In late August last summer, general manager Jim Nill announced that the Dallas Stars had signed veteran forward Jiri Hudler. At the time, the move was slightly curious in that it seemed the projected forward corps for Dallas was going to be quite crowded with his addition.
My oh my, how that narrative changed in a hurry.
Not long after Nill stated that he saw Hudler as a “top six forward” for Dallas, the news that restricted free agent Valeri Nichushkin was signing a two-year contract in the KHL came to light. That made the veteran forward’s signing make a little more sense, in that Dallas had several young players that ready to make the jump to the NHL and having another veteran leader with Nichushkin’s departure couldn’t hurt.