Dallas made it to the Western Conference Final last season, and are expected to be in the mix to make the Stanley Cup Final again, but they have been without veteran center Tyler Seguin since December, when he underwent hip surgery. The Stars’ injury woes have not been limited to just Seguin, as the club lost winger Mason Marchment to facial injuries in December, and top defenseman Miro Heiskanen to a knee injury last month.
GM Jim Nill preemptively made a deal with San Jose, acquiring center Mikael Granlund and defenseman Cody Ceci for draft picks, but it is thought that Dallas will continue to load up for a potential Cup run.
Here is the main area and secondary area of need that each club will likely address before the March 7th trade deadline:
New Jersey Devils
Main Need: Top-six forward
The Devils currently are 11th in NHL scoring with 174 goals but are heavily dependent on their top two lines centered by Hischier and Jack Hughes, with wingers Jesper Bratt (17 goals) and Timo Meier (15 goals). New Jersey is expected to get Markstrom and Hischier back before the end of the season, but to improve their chances of getting out of the Metro, they likely will have to use the $3.82 million in available cap space (per Puckpedia) to provide more scoring depth, unless Fitzgerald believes that Stefan Noesen, Paul Cotter and veteran Ondrej Palat can continue to score at the pace they are maintaining now.
Secondary Need: Defensive depth
New Jersey put forth a great deal of effort to upgrade their blueline last summer, adding veteran free agents Brendan Dillon and Brett Pesce to a talented group that includes Dougie Hamilton, Luke Hughes and Jonas Siegenthaler. But, the slow development of second-overall pick Simon Nemec has head coach Sheldon Keefe using hulking defender Johnathan Kovacevic on the bottom pairing. Depending on the confidence the Devils have in pressing youngsters Nemec or Seamus Casey into a playoff scenario, adding an experienced depth blueliner would seem to be prudent.
Dallas Stars
Main Need: Top-four defenseman
Defense would have been the top target for Nill even if Heiskanen had not been run into by Mark Stone, but now it has to be a priority with them also losing Nils Lundkvist for the season. Ceci is adequate in limited minutes as a depth defender but can be exposed as a liability as his ice time gets higher. Heiskanen, Thomas Harley and Esa Lindell are legitimate top-four blueliners, but it is risky to assume that he will be as good as new coming off late-season knee surgery. Ceci, Matt Dumba, Ilya Lyubushkin and rookie Lian Bichsel are better bottom-pairing fits, so adding a defenseman capable of playing 20-plus minutes a night would be the best course of action.
Secondary Need: Bottom-six forward
The Stars have the benefit of a deep group of young developing forwards in Logan Stankoven, Mavrik Bourque and Oskar Back, but every contending team can use another veteran forward to add intangibles and playoff experience. After the trade for Granlund and Ceci, Dallas has only five draft picks in 2025 (the highest being a third-rounder), but adding a depth center, winger or penalty killer would not be costly.
