Perron's 20th Season Starts in Dallas, but the Depth Chart Still Has Holes

David Perron signed a one-year deal with the Stars on Friday, his 20th NHL season now on the books. At this stage of his career — a veteran winger who has bounced through several organizations and knows how to play in a playoff environment — he is a reasonable addition. The Stars needed bodies up front after Matt Duchene went down for roughly three months following core muscle surgery, and Perron can play right wing or slide into a center-adjacent role in a pinch.

The fit makes sense on the surface. Behind Mikko Rantanen at right wing, Dallas has essentially nothing that registers — Emil Hemming and Dylan Hryckowian are the options, and neither has produced at a meaningful level. Perron at least brings experience and some secondary scoring credibility built over two decades in the league.

That said, I wrote earlier this week that the Duchene injury exposed a real problem at center, and Perron does not change that math. Wyatt Johnston is the only center on this depth chart producing at any real clip, and the names behind him — Aram Minnetian, Michael Sgarbossa — are not answers to a playoff-depth question. Perron helps the wing situation at the margins. The center problem is still sitting there.

One-year deal, veteran presence, some insurance at right wing. That is what this is. Dallas needed to do something; they did something small.