First, Tavares is going to get $11.5M+. Sure, you can sign him and probably re-sign Seguin, but the Stars are pretty screwed when it comes to signing Lindell, Nuke, Faksa, Elie, Johns, Dickinson, and Hintz 2 years from now. Having $30M+ tied up in 3 players is not a good idea for any team. It greatly hamstrings what they are able to do in terms of signing their own players further on down the road. The Stars would be better off looking for someone like Stastny or JVR. They still get a top-6 forward that can put up some solid numbers, and they also get a a guy that will cost roughly $4M less than Tavares. That's $4M that the Stars would be able to put towards signing their pretty young team.

Buying out Spezza isn't a great idea either. The Stars have the cap this year (even if they sign a top-6 forward) to hold on to Spezza and I'd rather eat one more year of a bad contract than have that bad contract spread out over 2 years when we're going to be a little tighter on the Cap. Best case scenario, Stars are able to trade Spezza and retain half his contract. Realistically, the worst case scenario involves Dallas keeping Spezza as a 3rd/4th line center.

Also, you have to take notice of the potential Salary Bonuses. It looks like you have $1.8M in cap space, but in reality you are over $2M over the Salary Cap. Always assume that your players will hit their bonuses because if not, you run the risk of over shooting the Salary Cap, and that could really create some issues for Dallas over the next couple of years.

You also need to re-sign Smith and Heatherington. Both are pieces of the Stars future and will absolutely be getting contracts this offseason.

I think you're mind is in the right spot, and you have some good moves, I just don't see the Stars being able to go this route logistically.

I agree with most of your sentiment. Was just doing this as a 2 year run before it all falls apart. In order to remain competitive after those 2 years, we would have to have some really good drafts.

I think concerns are valid about long term implications the cap in 2+ years. However if we are honest the next lockout in 2020-21 will provide buyout opportunities. Radulov will be a prime canidate, Bishop may in the discussion as well and I think Benn will be a darkhorse considering his injuries in the past, his play style and him being 31. Honestly if you can add Tavares for nothing but money then you do it. Heiskanen extends this cup window and hopefully some forwards come along for a second wind like Robertson/Tufte etc.