The dismantling begins

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Stay hard, Nick

A day after the Dallas Stars fell significantly short in Detroit and it was pretty obvious to most that the nail had been hammered into the coffin, the Dallas Stars' unloading has begun.

The Stars shipped defenseman Nick Grossman to the Philadelphia Flyers for a second-round 2012 draft pick and a third-rounder in 2013. Knowing next to nothing about the value of NHL draft picks, I defer to Defending Big D's Brandon Worley, who surmises that it's a good booty for the 27-year-old blue liner.

Honestly, sounds a lot like the 2007 amateur draft for the Texas Rangers when they acquired two first rounders and three supplemental first rounders in what was considered a really nice draft in A) restocking the minors and B) acquiring big-league talent.

As for Grossman, he was an unrestricted free agent after the season and was unlikely to return to the Stars. At 6-4 and about 230, you'd think he would have been a unholy terror on the ice. Instead, he was more of a gentle giant. Almost the opposite of Derian Hatcher. Nonetheless, he was good -- probably the Stars' better defensemen.

He made his debut in 2007 the same year as Mark Fistric and Matt Niskanen -- the core of new, young talent on the blue line that helped the Stars into an unpredicted Western Conference Finals. None of that talent has necessarily panned out. Niskanen flopped around and was sent to Pittsburgh last year. Grossman played well, rarely made mistakes and turned into a really good penalty-killer, but he can't handle the puck and he's not throwing his body around. I've always like Grossman. But he never blew my skirt up.

Anyway, the Stars have showed their hand a little. Expect more moves and watch out for the talent in the minors that might finally get some ice time.

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