On Dec. 19, 2017, the Dallas Stars made a move that seemed inevitable. The Stars traded defenseman Jamie Oleksiak to the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for a conditional 2019 fourth-round pick.
The move was more numbers-based than anything for Dallas. As they entered the 2017-18 season, the Stars had an overstocking of defensemen on their NHL roster and spent the first two months struggling to keep their blue line balanced. Some players were used in a variety of fashions while others were left relatively unused and confined to the press box on most game nights.