Dan Hamhuis

Trade deadline outlook: Dallas Stars

Published Feb. 24, 2016 10:25 a.m. ET

foxsports

Buyers or Sellers?

Buyers. The Stars actually have a pretty well-rounded roster, and while the results are not there every night, this current roster has the potential to go deep in the playoffs if it plays its best hockey. That said, the trade deadline is the perfect opportunity for the Stars to pick up the minor upgrades they might need to gear up for the postseason, and GM Jim Nill is the type of executive who tends to find a way to make good moves.

Team needs

The one obvious area where the Stars could improve is on defense, where there is plenty of talent but a lack of consistent depth. Although the Stars have the best offense in the NHL, their defense is still among the bottom 10 in the league. That's especially frustrating for a team that focused on upgrading its defense during the offseason. Luckily, there are a few decent depth defensemen available on the market such as Vancouver's Dan Hamhuis and Montreal's Alexei Emelin. But the Stars do not have a ton of players worth shipping away, so if Dallas makes a move at the deadline, do not expect it to be a big one.

Key Players

Cody Eakin

Because the Dallas offense is so good, the Stars could afford to lose some talent up front in order to upgrade their back end. Eakin might be a tough player for Nill to trade after the Stars signed Eakin to a four-year contract extension ahead of this season, but he could create the start of a great trade package to get the solid defenseman the Stars need ahead of their playoff run. Eakin has potential and is still young, but does Dallas really need to preserve so much offensive talent at the risk of not upgrading on defense?

Jamie Oleksiak

Sure, it's hard to lose a 23-year-old defenseman with great size (6-foot-7) like Oleksiak, but the former first-round pick has been in the Dallas system for four years now and still isn't ready to make the leap to a full-time NHL role. For a Dallas team ready to compete right now, it might make sense to flip Oleksiak to a team who can wait for him to develop in exchange for a player who can jump into the Stars' roster and help in this season's playoff run.

Arielle Aronson covers the NHL and special features for FOX Sports. You can follow her on Twitter @aharonson28.

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