GROSSMAN THE FIRST TO GO

The Stars traded 27 year old Nicklas Grossman to the Philadelphia Flyers Thursday for a 2nd round pick in 2012 and a 3rd rounder in 2013. Grossman has been a steady defender for the Stars over his career so far, but he’s an impending UFA at the end of the season and it looks like GM Joe just wan’t interested in giving him any type of raise. It’s not like Grossman couldn’t have been of use to he Stars down the road, but there is an abundance of average to decent defensemen in the Stars lineup at the moment and someone had to go. Grossman doesn’t bring much at all in the way of offense and is far from that shut down guy like say Derian Hatcher or even Richard Matvichuk was.  Someone else on the blue line may be on the way out before too long here, and what the moves will do is give an opportunity to fill a role via trade or free agency in the off season, as well as have youngsters like Jamie Oleksiak and Brendon Dillon compete next year.