Procrastination pays off and I don't have to write up the Marchment linked to the Leafs story. Yesterday, the Dallas stars signed Matt Duchene to a four-year deal.

Which left them with zero cap space. Both the Fourth Period (print) and Pierre LeBrun (radio) suggested that the Stars needed to clear cap space and LeBrun talked about the difficulties they might have moving out Matt Dumba since they didn't play him in the playoffs.

Instead they made this fairly surprising trade:

Not surprising from Dallas's end but a surprise destination and a fairly dull return.

I've never really understood the Kraken, and I'm not sure what they're doing here other than moving in some medium level players after they traded some at the deadline. Maybe he's meant to become some better picks next spring if they're out of contention again. He also had a 10-team no-trade, making the deal trickier for Dallas.

Scratch one off the Leafs list, though.

Super rat, super troll:

The draft is next Friday, free agency is 12 days away. It's all about to get very busy.

The internet is drenched in words about Connor McDavid so if you want to read all the fanfic built around his carefully vague answers, it's easy to find. All I gotta say is that at least the Tavares to the Leafs long-running gag was both funny and had a happy ending.

Brian has more draft coverage today, and we'll try to keep up with the news as teams sign their own players and make the occasional trade.

From The Branches