Why the Dallas Stars traded for Mikael Granlund and Cody Ceci

Dallas traded San Jose a 1st-round pick and a conditional 4th-round pick in exchange for two NHL players

The giant LTIR button has officially been pressed, as the Stars made their first big move before the trade deadline. It may not be their last, either.

Dallas traded for two veteran NHL players today, and it only took them a couple of draft picks to do it, though “only” is dependent on how you view the players they got. One of those draft picks was also their first-round pick in 2025, which is the Stars’ best trade asset other than their best young players like Lian Bichsel and Mavrik Bourque, whose departure would have made the team worse in the future, and probably the present, too.

So while the Stars may not be done—and Jim Nill confirmed that the Stars will continue to wait and see what else they may be able to do before March 7, as they still have a few million dollars in cap space—they probably won’t be able to make another big move without giving up a good player in return. Probably.

Jim Nill mentioned that he viewed the first-round pick as being “split” between the two players, so it’s not as though the Stars traded it for one player and the conditional fourth-round pick for the other. This was a calculated decision to solve multiple problems at once, and with the market ramping up for the fake trade deadline before the 4 Nations Face-Off in a little over a week, it seems likely that only so many options were left that Dallas could afford.

Interestingly, the conditional fourth-round pick in the trade (which was actually Winnipeg’s before that) was the same pick Dallas got from San Jose last summer in exchange for Ty Dellandrea. The pick becomes a third-rounder if Dallas makes the Stanley Cup Final.

But we’re burying the lede here: Dallas acquired two NHL players, so let’s start the introduction with their names. I am told this is called “manners.”

Mikael Granlund and Cody Ceci, two pending unrestricted free agents, are both just a tick over 30 years old. Both will be in Dallas for tomorrow’s game (which starts at 5pm, by the way), and I’d expect both of them to play.

Granlund is 5’10”, and will be an alternate captain for Finland in the 4 Nations Face-off later this month. The playmaking center has been playing on San Jose’s top line this year, and he’s also their leading scorer. He formerly played with Matt Duchene in Nashville, so don’t be surprised if you see that duo reunited on the power play as Granlund gets up to speed with Dallas.

Here’s a good highlight package that came out when Pittsburgh acquired Granlund at the deadline in 2023. (I would recommend muting the voiceover.)

How did that trade go, you might ask? Well, uh, not so great actually. Granlund scored just one goal and four assists in 21 games with Pittsburgh, as the Penguins fell short of a playoff spot. So, the Stars will be hoping for much more than that, certainly.

Granlund hasn’t hit 20 goals in seven seasons, and he usually hangs out at around a 60-point pace over 82 games. In the playoffs, he’s scored 44 points in 82 games since his debut in 2013-14, so you can’t really expect his scoring to ramp up when the games get more punishing. But if he’s a supplementary player rather than a top-line guy, that’s probably okay. The Stars’ offense could certainly use some additional playmaking. Sure, things feel rosy when the top guys are carrying the load, but we’ve seen this year that you can’t always count on that, and Granlund is a big help in that regard.

Granlund’s most desirable quality might be that he can help the power play. While the Stars have, to their credit, drastically improved in that area over the last month, Granlund can thrive with time and space, as you can see in the above highlight package. In terms of roster hijinx, he’s also a palyer who can ensure that Sam Steel doesn’t have to get moved too far up the lineup (though Steel has been serviceable when doing so). I could see Granlund being used as the Stars’ third-line center if Pete DeBoer keeps Wyatt Johnston up with Roope Hintz and Jason Robertson, and Bourque up on Duchene’s right wing.

(Also, is it just me, or does Granlund remind you of a Finnish Brent Severyn? You be the judge.)

Personally, I think Granlund is a fine add, especially if Tyler Seguin doesn’t come back looking like his old (older) self. Nill said Seguin is still on track for his original recovery, but they don’t have any update on the original timeline that included the possibility of Seguin’s returning as early as the start of the playoffs. I’d guess we’ll start to know more by the end of February.

But you can’t talk about this trade without talking about the other half of it, and that’s where things are bound to be a bit more divisive, I’d wager. Let’s talk about Cody Ceci.