A surprise new team looks to trade for Kessel!

While we now have to forget about a Phil Kessel trade to the Minnesota Wild, the latest chatter around the Pittsburgh Penguins forward might have motivated one team to look at the possibility of acquiring the veteran. 

As Pierre LeBrun pointed out last week, Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford is still discussing a Kessel trade with teams around the league and said that "it's a question of when, not if, for Kessel to be dealt but where exactly remains to be determined."

This prompted Josh Lile of the Dallas Morning News to suggest that the Stars try to land the 31-year-old this summer. The Stars have $16.4 million in cap space on a projected $83 million cap and Lile writes Kessel "easily fits" in the team's cap picture.

On top of that, it has been revealed that veteran forward Jason Spezza will not return to Dallas and so Kessel could be a better faster replacement in experience and leadership. 

Rutherford was tempted to move Kessel to Minnesota for the return that was Jason Zucker, however, Lile writes that the Stars don't have a player of Zucker's calibre to part with… He nonetheless suggests Radek Faksa, Valeri Nichushkin and Julius Honka could used as returns for the Penguins and the Stars could also take back another hefty contract to get the deal done - we all are thinking of Jack Johnson here… 

Lile believes the Stars could manage to keep their 2020 first-round pick by trading for Kessel instead of re-signing Mats Zuccarello, who would cost them that conditional pick that’d be sent to the New York Rangers as part on that trade. 

And it’s great time for the Stars: Kessel's current contract will expire in three seasons, just as defenseman John Klingberg will be in need of a new deal.

Sounds good. But good enough to pull the trigger?