Player involved in trade rumors sent down for “conditioning.”

The Dallas Stars announced that they were sending one of their players down to the American Hockey League for a conditioning stint, but there may be more than meets the eye here.

That's because the player in question is defenseman Patrick Nemeth a player that Dallas Stars insider Mike Heika has believed the Stars have needed to mvoe for some time now.

From Heika:

They need to move Patrik Nemeth. He is a good person in a bad situation, and they have plenty of depth in the minors. Moving Nemeth would help the mindset of Nemeth, Oleksiak and Johns, and I think it is necessary to help the mindset of these young defensemen right now.

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That also would allow them to carry two extra forwards, and that could allow Lindy Ruff to tweak his lineup more strategically.

Heika initially predicted that the trade would likely come after January 4th an the holiday break, and we are smack dab in the middle of that period now, and there's no shortage of teams who need young defensemen.