Why the Dallas Stars Traded for Tyler Myers

A big, right-handed defenseman arrives in Dallas at the trade deadline, again

For the third year in a row, Jim Nill has acquired a veteran right-shot defenseman. And this year’s edition is the biggest one by far, at least in raw size.

Dallas acquired the 6-foot-8 Tyler Myers on Wednesday morning from Vancouver in exchange for a 2027 2nd-round pick and a 2029 (which I’m told is a real year) 4th-rounder. That latter pick might be payment for the Canucks’ retaining 50% of Myers’s salary for this year and next, which brings Myers’s $3.0 million annual cap hit down to $1.5 million. That’s a price the Stars can stomach, as it still leaves them with their 2nd-rounder for this year, as well as their 1st-round pick in 2027.

Here’s what the Stars’ GM said of the trade today:

“Tyler is a veteran defenseman that will immediately add to our group,” Nill said. “His ability to play on the right side will give us an added element of flexibility on the blueline. We would like to welcome Tyler and his family to Dallas.”

“Flexibility” is the key word there, and we’ll circle back to it in a moment here. But first, let’s talk about the deal itself.

The acquisition cost was likely lower than it would have been if the 36-year-old Houston native had not had a full no-move clause on his contract that limited his market. While there were rumblings about Detroit looking to acquire him in recent days, Vancouver’s Rick Dhaliwal reported that Myers made it clear Dallas was his preferred destination, and the Stars and Canucks finally worked out a deal on Tuesday.

Myers also played with Jamie Benn back in the day, both on the same Kelowna team in the WHL as well as Canada’s U-20 Worlds team in 2009. It never hurts to have a friend in the room.

Just as interesting is this: Myers will become the first native Texan to play a regular season game for the Dallas Stars.

You can bet that everyone will be clamoring to see Myers and Lian Bichsel on a pairing at some point, if only to make a “twin towers” reference. But if the past is any indication, Myers is likely to get a look at some second-pairing minutes with Thomas Harley at some point, too.

The move gives Dallas options ahead of a tough playoff path, and Jim Nill has always liked having options on the back end. Myers isn’t a shutdown defenseman by any stretch, but he still grades out as more of a net neutral player night-to-night. That’s a solid improvement over last year’s acquisition for that role in Cody Ceci, who tended to cause more problems than he solved.

Importantly, Myers is also a more reliable, 20-minute right-side defenseman than either Ilya Lyubushkin or Alex Petrovic, which gives Dallas depth. And that leads us to the real crux of the whole discussion: where this leaves Nils Lundkvist.