How will the Stars navigate the trade deadline?

The Dallas Stars are an enigma. On one hand, they are a team with long-term, anchor-like contracts to underperforming stars. On the other, they are an exciting roster filled with young, developing talents and one grizzled veteran having arguably the best season of his career. They lost five in a row and nine of 14, just before winning four in a row and eight of 11. They are just one point out of the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference and yet have a negative goal differential (-1).

What kind of team are the Stars as the deadline approaches? Are they buyers, sellers or stay-put-ers? John Klingberg would certainly have you believe they are going to sell at the deadline, at least in his case. The veteran defenseman is on an expiring contract and publicly admitted that the Stars gave his camp license to look for a different fit around the league. There doesn’t appear to be an extension coming in Dallas, meaning the Stars could sell off Klingberg as a top-end rental and get back a number of future assets.

Then there is Joe Pavelski, that grizzled veteran, also in an expiring deal but having the season of his life. At age 37, the versatile forward has 21 goals and 52 points in 47 games. If that pace continues, it would be the first time he has reached the point-per-game mark for a full season, though he has come awfully close previously. Pavelski leads the Stars in scoring and has found a perfect linemate in young Jason Robertson, who appears to be a superstar in the making. If the team decided to sell, Pavelski would be coveted by every contender in the league.

Not so fast, says Sean Shapiro of The Athletic. He tweets that with the Stars in a playoff race, a general manager on the hot seat and an owner “desperate for playoff revenue,” Dallas shouldn’t be considered a seller.

It is true that the Stars are in the playoff race. After their recent stretch of strong play, they are once again within striking distance of the postseason. That of course comes with the caveat that the only spots within their grasp appear — at the moment anyway — to be the wild-card positions, as Dallas remains seven points behind the St. Louis Blues for third in the Central Division, with the Nashville Predators in between the two.

As for the GM on the hot seat, Jim Nill has been at the head of the Dallas front office since 2013. The Stars have reached the playoffs just four times in his eight full seasons as GM, and, other than the Cinderella-like run in the 2020 bubble playoffs when the Stars made it all the way to the Stanley Cup Final, the Stars have never made it past the second round. Nill is on his fourth coach and the one who inked those contracts for Jamie Benn — signed through 2024-25 at $9.5M per season — and Tyler Seguin — signed through 2026-27 at $9.85M per season — that look so daunting now.

Like many teams around the league, Dallas is currently using long-term injured reserve relief to fit everyone in. Ben Bishop, who isn’t expected to play again, is the source of that, meaning the Stars have a little wiggle room to add if they wanted to. Still, it’s not much, and with the team still outside the playoff picture looking in, using futures to add also doesn’t seem like the best strategy. For now, at least until things are sorted further in the Western Conference postseason picture, the Stars remain an enigma.