Thomas Harley found out the Stars had considered trading him, and he called it a difficult week without dressing it up.
Lia Assimakopoulos carried the comments Thursday morning and the post has already crossed 12,400 views.
He is still in Dallas and said he is grateful for that. No hard feelings, in his words, which is a more generous read than most players would offer.
Now the uncomfortable part. Thirty six points across 70 games with a plus-3 rating is not the season that makes a front office stop returning calls.
There was real value in there. Four of his six goals ended up as game winners.
Then April arrived and everything stopped. Six playoff games, zero points on the board.
He also finished that series at minus-6. When a defenceman puts up a line like that, phone calls happen.
" Thomas Harley said it was a difficult week when he learned the Stars had considered trading him. He said he's grateful to still be here and that there are no hard feelings. "
-
Thomas Harley breaks his silence after learning the Dallas Stars considered trading him
That is the context nobody should skip. Dallas went 50-20-12 and finished third overall in the league.
They scored 278 goals and allowed 226. Every number on that team said contender right up until the games mattered.
Minnesota ended it in six. The Stars lost the last two by scores of 4-2 and 5-2 with the season on the line.
He was not the only one underwater either. Miro Heiskanen finished that series at minus-9 and Esa Lindell came in at -7.
The forwards were no better. Mikko Rantanen put up seven points on a $12 million cap hit and still landed at -8.
Jake Oettinger gave them a .893 save percentage across those six games. One win in the whole series.
None of that erases what the roster did over 82 nights. Jason Robertson scored 45 times and Wyatt Johnston buried 27 on the power play alone.
Look at the money and the picture sharpens. Harley plays on $4 million while Heiskanen sits at $8.45 million for the same job description.
So which one of those contracts was Jim Nill really going to move?
Learning your club shopped you is like spotting your own house listed online while you are still living in it. The sign comes down. You remember the photo.
Lian Bichsel is 22 and pushing from underneath on $918,333. Glen Gulutzan has some decisions to make about who plays where, and one of his defencemen already knows exactly where he stands.
Were the Stars right to shop Thomas Harley after he went pointless in that playoff series?
Also read on Markerzone.com:
Leafs fans feared the worst about Auston Matthews - he just confirmed it
