Texas Stars Sign Vet D Derek Meech to AHL Deal

Derek Meech (Credit: Christina Shapiro/Texas Stars)

The Texas Stars have re-signed a key piece of their championship push this afternoon, inking veteran defenseman Derek Meech to an AHL contract for the coming season. Meech joined Texas mid-season after playing the beginning of the 2013-14 campaign in Belarus. He earned his second Calder Cup with Texas and contributed veteran leadership on the blue line along with 3 goals and 8 assists in 21 playoff games.

The Meech re-signing occupies one of the Stars' veteran spots. Other players on the list include Cameron Gaunce, Travis Morin and Maxime Fortunus. It also makes for a crowded blue line. If you make the foregone conclusion that Patrik Nemeth is headed to Dallas, here's what we've got in no particular order:

Oleksiak-Meech
Jokipakka-Fortunus
Gaunce-Klingberg
Vance

Seems pretty legit to me. Note that Ludwig Bystrom is headed to Sweden next year given this logjam at D. Texas could still sign another AHL D-man to fill the 7 role and allow Vance a lot of top pairing minutes in Idaho.

This signing is big for the Stars. It helps to reinforce the stalwart defensive corps that Texas is known for. But it does create questions about the remaining veteran spots. Is there room for another veteran forward in the fold to replace what was lost with Chris Mueller and Dustin Jeffrey going elsewhere? Time will tell.