Cameron Gaunce's New Two-Way Deal Begs the Vet Question

Cameron Gaunce (Credit: Josh Rasmussen/Texas Stars)
News broke quite late on Friday that Cameron Gaunce had been re-signed by Dallas on a one-year deal. The team did not release details, as per policy, on the 'wayness' of the deal. CapGeek had confirmed by this morning that it is a two-way deal. Gaunce's long-term future in the organization is more than a little muddy now.

Gaunce will qualify as a veteran under the AHL's veteran rule next season for the first time. Also qualifying for Texas and already under contract are Travis Morin and Maxime Fortunus. The signing of Gaunce puts an interesting question to the Stars' management. Where do you 'spend' your remaining veteran spots? The Stars already have two on defense but only one on offense. Does Texas get Derek Meech under contract to provide even more veteran savvy at the blue line?

More important than signing another on defense is getting someone else on offense. It's not like Travis Morin is all alone in terms of skill, but his likely linemates, McKenzie and Ranford, are only second-year players. Both exceeded expectations in their rookie years and could suffer sophomore slumps. Where the Stars need more depth is veteran wingers. With the losses of Kevin Henderson, Colton Sceviour and Mike Hedden from last year's squad, there is talent but not a lot of experience on the wings. Next year's crop does not feature a single LW or RW with more than 76 games of regular season AHL experience.

So who's out there? The top unsigned AHL winger is Aaron Palshuaj, according to the Citizen's Voice Free Agent Big Board. He also made $175,000 last season on contract to Carolina in Charlotte. Dallas is close to the NHL max on contracts (50), having used their most recent one to lockdown this year's top pick Julius Honka. This includes anticipated contracts for RFAs Dillon, Glennie, Roussel and Eakin. However, Honka's contract only counts if he plays in the professional ranks this year (in Europe or North America). I'm guessing the Texas Stars would ask for Dallas's assistance to meet a 175k price tag.

Is Texas rolling the dice without more veteran forward clout?


Comments

  1. Or re-sign Wathier as a veteran winger if he doesn't get a two-way NHL contract.
    - PBG

    ReplyDelete
  2. after last season and the production Texas players had you might think players would love to come here. Of course Willie leaving might effect that but hopefully not much. I have faith that whoever comes to Texas will have a very good season simply based on the talent around them.

    I'll toss out a couple of interesting names.

    Austin Fyten looked pretty darn good when he was here with OKC and is young, He isn't a vet but has 50+ Ahl games.

    Spencer Machacek is only 25 but has had 5 years in the AHL. Has average points per game looks similar to Morin's minus this year.

    Mark Mancari 29 years old but has had 9 NHL/AHL seasons. Good scorer.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thanks for commenting. Remember to keep it civil. Using a name will help us identify replies and build a Texas Stars community.