Texas Stars Swap Defensemen with Hershey, Sending Mattias Backman to Bears

(Credit: Andy Nietupski/Texas Stars)

Ahead of today's AHL trade and movement deadline, the Texas Stars have swapped players with the Hershey Bears. Defenseman Mattias Backman will head to the Bears while Washington will send back Darren Dietz. Both will stay on NHL contract with their original NHL organizations.

Generally, trading a player away from their parent club's AHL affiliate indicates the end of the line for that player inside the NHL org. This has been the case in the past with players like Francis Wathier, Ray Sawada and Mathieu Tousignant.

In return, Texas receives defenseman Darren Dietz, who has played in 39 games for Hershey this year (6-6=12). He will not be available for tonight's game against Grand Rapids.

Here's the release:

The Texas Stars, American Hockey League affiliate of the NHL’s Dallas Stars, announced Wednesday that Dallas has reassigned defenseman Mattias Backman to the AHL’s Hershey Bears. In exchange, the NHL’s Washington Capitals have reassigned defenseman Darren Dietz from Hershey to Texas.

Dietz (DEETZ), 23, has appeared in 39 games this season for Hershey with 12 points (6-6=12). The 6-foot-1, 213-pound defenseman has appeared in 205 AHL games in his career with Hershey, the St. John’s IceCaps and Hamilton Bulldogs. The Medicine Hat, Alberta native also has 13 games of NHL experience with the Montreal Canadiens with a goal and five assists.

Dietz was a fifth-round pick of Montreal (138th overall) in 2011.

Backman, 24, was in his third season with Texas after arriving in a trade between Dallas and the Detroit Red Wings on March 1, 2015. The 6-foot-3, 185-pound blueliner appeared in 111 games with the Stars and tallied 43 points (11-32=43). The Linkoping, Sweden native has played in 131 AHL games in his career between Texas and the Grand Rapids Griffins.

Backman was a fifth-round pick (146th overall) of Detroit in 2011.