This isn't the biggest news in the world, because he isn't really the biggest contributor to the the club, but the Dallas Stars did re-sign Tom Wandell to a new 2-year contract extension on Thursday, worth $1.55 million over the two years, working out to be a cap hit of $775,000 each year. Wandell spent some time in Europe in the past few seasons and has seemingly done enough to stick with the team on a regular basis.Wandell has been dealing with a lower-body injury for the best part of the season, but has played in 50 games for the Stars, picking up 5 goals and 10 assists. He is considered to be more of a two-way centre, so scoring isn't exactly his forte.
With the Stars not making the playoffs this year, they will be looking to do a bit of a rebuild, more to the image that GM Joe Nieuwendyk sees for the team and he has a lot of room to work with this summer. With Wandell under contract, their 2011 roster is wide open with only 13 spots filled at a rate of $35.2 million. That leaves them plenty of space to deal with their goaltending situation, which they have completely vacant at the moment, but Kari Lehtonen is a restricted free agent, so its not all lost. Brad Richards, Loui Eriksson, Mike Ribeiro, Brendan Morrow, Stephane Robidas, Jamie Benn and Steve Ott are all a part of the signed contingency, so they have a decent base to build from.
Now, again... I don't see Wandell being a big fantasy player in the coming seasons, so this post is a little bit of a wash, except for the Dallas Stars' cap number, which is interesting. The Stars have lots to play with and could make themselves into a fun club to watch, if they find players that can compliment their scoring talent. I'm expecting them to be a player in July, for whatever free agent market is left.
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