Stars Goaltender May Have Out-priced Himself

Scott Wedgewood bet on himself, but now he might be asking for more money than the Dallas Stars have to offer him.

Two years ago, Scott Wedgewood took a gamble to stay with the Dallas Stars on a cheap $1 million per year deal, and the bet paid off with the most stability and success he has seen as an NHL goalie in his career.

But now that his contract is up for renewal, his personal success might have put his new contract out of reach for what the cap-strapped Dallas Stars are willing to pony up.

After losing in the Western Conference Final in back-to-back years, Dallas Stars General Manager Jim Nill is already hard at work. The Stars announced yesterday that they were buying out the last year of Ryan Suter's contract. This was a somewhat unexpected move by Nill, but all signs point to a plan already being in motion, and cap space needing to be cleared.

As much as players and fans get attached, hockey is a business at the end of the day and not everyone makes the cut to stay. Unfortunately, as the back-up goalie, Wedgewood is feeling the heat. Daily Faceoff's Sam Nestler spoke to Wedgewood, who stated, "we've had our talks and it hasn't been in my favor." 

Nestler goes on to say that Wedgewood believes he deserves a raise but the Stars have given him their number and it is not the same.

In March of 2022, Wedgewood signed a two-year, two million dollar contract after coming over in a mid-season trade the season prior. This was the biggest contract of his career, which had seen him bounce most recently from New Jersey to Arizona before landing in Dallas. 

In his time with the Stars, Wedgewood has been one of the better back-up goalies in the league. This past season was the biggest workload he has seen, playing in 32 games and starting 28. In that time, Wedgewood was 16-7-5 and he stepped up big time when Jake Oettinger was out for well over 10+ games in the  middle of the season.

Wedgewood has been a perfect fit in Dallas, having grown up in the same Ontario town as Tyler Seguin. He fit in seamlessly with the group, and celebrated a couple of personal milestones as well, getting married in August of 2022 and having their first child this March.

And while Wedgewood has proven himself to be a reliable back-up goalie and a staple in the locker room, the financial numbers just may not be there to keep him at what he is worth. After buying out Suter, the Stars have about $19 million to work with, not including bonus overages. With the limited funds, the Stars have three restricted free-agents they have to nail down in Sam Steel, Thomas Harley and Nils Lundkvist. 

The Stars have also been vocal about making it a priority to keep Chris Tanev, who is an unrestricted free agent, along with deciding whether to re-sign other UFAs like Matt Duchene, Craig Smith, Jani Hakanpaa and Wedgewood. It is unclear whether or not the Stars will bring back any or all of them, but adding to the depth scoring is another area of priority that the Stars have been vocal about. 

On the other hand, the number of quality back-up goaltenders in the Stars price range is low. Nill and the Stars could take a chance and go into the season with Matt Murray as the back-up. Murray has played a total of four NHL games, going 2-2 in that time, including one shutout that came in his one start this season. With the lack of NHL experience, Murray has yet to establish that he could be a long-term NHL option, making this gamble quite risky.

If the Stars do look to free agency to fill the back-up role, Nill will be on the hunt for a player like Joey Daccord or Charlie Lindgren. Both goalies hold a cap hit of just over $1 million, which seems to be the price range Nill is willing to commit to. Both goalies are with their respective teams through the 2024-2025 season, and both have showed not only the ability to be a solid back-up, but have taken the reigns as starters or co-starters in the league.

Daccord played in 50 games for the Seattle Kraken, recording a 2.46 goals against average and a save percentage of .916. Daccord's numbers are especially impressive given that the Kraken finished 25th in the league. Oddly enough, Lindgren also played 50 games for the Washington Capitals. In that time he recorded a 2.67 goals against average and a save percentage of .911%, which was good enough to become their starter in the playoffs and for the team to trade Darcy Kuemper and commit to Lindgren being the starter moving forward.

The Stars had a long period of recent franchise history where they just could not find a viable back-up option, and their goaltending tandem took a hit as a whole because no one but the starter was a reliable choice. Although Oettinger is the clear number one goalie for the Stars, acquiring a back-up goalie who can carry the load of a primary goalie in case of injury like in 2023-24 would allow the Stars to give Oettinger necessary rest for the long regular season and playoffs. 

The clock is ticking for Wedgewood to get a contract inked before July 1st when free agency starts, but the Stars might let him test the market to see if he can get the money he is hoping for. 

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