from the CP at NHL.com,

The Stanley Cup isn't won in the off-season. If it was, start engraving the trophy for the Dallas Stars.

With the signing of defenceman Johnny Oduya on Wednesday, the Stars put the finishing touches on an off-season that didn't transform the roster but filled the kind of holes that should put them back in the playoff picture.

"We're in the beginning of, I think, where we should be starting to make the jump," general manager Jim Nill said.

Dallas acquired and signed Antti Niemi to a deal that strengthens its goaltending, even if it's at a hefty price of US$4.5 million over three years. The Stars then traded defenceman Trevor Daley and bottom-six forward Ryan Garbutt to the Chicago Blackhawks for scoring winger Patrick Sharp and defensive prospect Stephen Johns.

Signing Oduya, who won the Cup with the Blackhawks last month, to a $7.5-million, two-year deal was "the last piece of the puzzle," according to Nill. What it did was effectively replace Daley and make the Sharp trade look even sharper.

Oduya is 34 now, perhaps a step slower than he was as a teenager when Nill scouted him. But he's an immediate upgrade on the Dallas blue line.

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