The Dallas Stars made moves this week that seemed to signal a desire to free up cap space to re-sign their priority unrestricted free agents: defenseman Chris Tanev and forward Matt Duchene. They bought out the last year of 39-year-old defenseman Ryan Suter’s contract, freeing up about $1.3 million in cap space this season to give them some financial wiggle room.
It appears that may not have been enough to get Tanev back into the fold for the coming season, though.
The Stars traded his rights to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday during the second day of the NHL draft, a couple of days before free agency opens on July 1st.