Dam Hamhuis Seeing Stars

Dam Hamhuis is on the move. And he's seeing the stars in his line of sight.

The Dallas Stars announced today that they have signed defenseman Dam Hamhuis to a two-year, $7.5 million contract just hours after the NHL free agency period opened for business. Dam Hamhuis is yet another veteran adding to the strong young group of blue liners.

The 33-year old veteran comes over from the Vancouver Canucks, after spending six years there and six years in Nashville before that. Hamhuis comes to replace two veteran blue-liners. They traded away Alex Goligoski to the Arizona Coyotes and it looks like they will not be re-signing Kris Russell.

GM Jim Nill wanted to find a way to take care of the inconsistencies they had last season in front of their goalie net minders of Kari Lehtonen and Antti Niemi. Nill intends to bring back both net minders, but remains the question of who will ultimately get the No. 1 job.

I don't believe that Hamhuis is that much of the upgrade. Although he does play sort of the same style as Johnny Oduya, who they signed from Chicago last year, replacing two veterans in always tough. Goligoski was a solid player for the Stars and it was amazing to see that he got traded to a team that is on the up-and-up, but not exactly there yet.

The Dallas Stars still have a lot to do this free agency period, but at least they took care of their needs in signing Dam Hamhuis. Now we wait to see if he can be a difference-maker in helping the Stars take care of their inconsistencies.