The Dallas Stars have acquired prospect defenseman Nils Lundkvist from the New York Rangers in exchange for a first-round draft pick in 2023 and a fourth-round draft pick. Both picks are reportedly conditional, per Shayna Goldman, with the first rounder sliding to the next year if that pick is in the Top 10.

The Rangers get: a better pick (likely) than the one that was used to draft Lundkvist in the first place (28^th overall in 2018), plus an additional pick in the middle round. Pretty good asset management, when looked at it from that standpoint.

The Stars get: a right-shot prospect defenseman who just one year ago was widely considered as one of the two or three highest upside defensemen outside of the NHL. While Lundkvist struggled a little acclimating to North America, keep in mind that he was a stranger in a strange land. With a year of experience under his belt acclimating to the language, the culture and the bigger rinks, the 22-year-old is better equipped to handle the 2022-23 season.

Three years from now we could be talking about the Heiskanen-Lundkvist pairing as one of the greats. Potential is sky high
— Dobber (@DobberHockey) September 20, 2022

Fantasy players impacted: Lundkvist gains huge here. In fact, I'm trying to think of a better landing spot for him than Dallas – and I'm coming up empty. He was a premier right-shot defenseman stuck on the one team in the league loaded with premier right-shot defensemen! What are the odds that the one team he is on boasts the (right shot) former Norris Trophy winner Adam Fox, the (right shot) team captain Jacob Trouba, and another top (right shot) prospect already acclimated to North America in Braden Schneider?

Now he goes to a team that boasts on the right side, uh… Colin Miller. Okay, fine – Jani Hakanpaa.

Lundkvist was holding himself out of training camp because he wanted to be traded to a team that would put him in the NHL this season and give him quality opportunity. Mission accomplished. If only he had a elite 23-year-old left-shot defenseman to ride shotgun. Oh wait a minute, wait a minute – he does! A fella by the name of Miro Heiskanen. Does that name ring any bells?

I'm not saying that those two will form instant chemistry as a pairing on Day 1. Or even Month 1. Hell, it wouldn't shock me if the two of them needed next season to get going. But these two high-end talents 'theoretically' should click.

So far Heiskanen has been mostly paired up with (left shot) Esa Lindell and (left shot) Ryan Suter. This move should ('theoretically') help him as well. We look forward to seeing this theory in practice.

On the Rangers side of things, the pressure is off to play Lundkvist over Zac Jones now. So Jones is free to make this team out of camp instead of politics holding him in the minors. Ditto for Schneider, who should see more ice time as a result.

Oh, and yes – the Fantasy Guide has already been updated with this trade, and impacted projected points adjusted. If you didn’t pick this up yet, you can do so here.

Fantasy Players this helps, in order