Dallas Stars attempting to trade their former first round pick.

Stars looking to make a move.

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 4 years ago
Dallas Stars attempting to trade their former first round pick.
Chris Szagola/CSM/Zuma

We have a very interesting report from the Dallas Morning News, one that suggests that the Dallas Stars have given up on one of their former first round draft selections.

According to a report from Matthew DeFranks the Dallas Stars are actively trying to trade defenseman Julius Honka, a young defenseman that has failed to break through to the main roster. Honka was the 14th overall pick at the 2014 National Hockey League Entry Draft but he has only gone on to appear in a combined 87 NHL games for the Dallas Stars since he was selected. It now appears that after flunking out with the organizations current coaching staff that the Stars believe a fresh start would be best for both parties involved.

It is quite clear that the Dallas Stars still place considerable value on Honka as a player in spite of their desire for a trade, based on the way they utilized him last season alone. Honka appeared in 29 games for the Stars during the 2018 - 2019 campaign and it appeared that the coaching staff had seen everything they needed to see at that point. Stars head coach Jim Montgomery would make Honka a healthy scratch for literally every game that followed the 2019 NHL All-Star break and every game that the Stars played in the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs, but still the team showed that they valued him.

Honka requires waivers to be sent down to the American Hockey League and you would think that a player in his situation would be sent down to the AHL for continued development, but that was not the case. Honka was instead scratched for 48 straight games in order to keep him on the main roster and to protect him from the waiver process, further indication that the Dallas Stars want to find a trade here and get something out of a former top 15 first round draft selection.

DeFranks believes that as teams draw closer and closer to the start of the 2019 - 2020 NHL regular season a defenseman like Honka will see his potential trade value rise. Teams that need a depth option on a cheap contract could seek to acquire him from the Stars, although how much value he has left at this point remains to be seen.

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