On Guard

Free agency doesn't officially start until Wednesday, but there was plenty of NFL news on Monday, including the expected loss of guard Connor McGovern. Find out what the Cowboys did do and what's next as we recap Monday in free agency.

FRISCO, Texas – While free agency technically starts on Wednesday, the first day of the new NFL league year, Monday marked the first day teams can legally "tamper" with unrestricted free agents.

It's also the time deals can get negotiated and even agreed upon, although they won't be made official until Wednesday.

Yes, there were plenty of moves to be made around the NFL on Monday, but just a few involving the Cowboys.

Here's a look at some of the latest developments for the Cowboys as of Monday:

· Looks like the Cowboys will have a new left guard in 2023. The Buffalo Bills kicked off the free-agent negotiating period by agreeing on a deal with Connor McGovern, according to reports. McGovern is expected to sign a three-year, $23 million deal with the Bills. McGovern, a third-round pick in 2019, started 15 games last season for the Cowboys, mostly at left guard. But he's got position flex to play center, and also lined up at fullback the past two years as well in short-yardage situations.

· With McGovern expected to sign with the Bills on Monday, the Cowboys can probably count on getting a compensatory pick for him this time next year. The team picked up three comp picks last week, one of them was for the loss of Connor Williams (Miami) a year ago. But with that, the Cowboys also have to figure out how to replace McGovern at left guard. Expect them to sign a veteran and perhaps draft one as well. But there's also the chance to move Tyler Smith to left guard, if they like their options at tackle, which should include Terence Steele and Tyron Smith.

· The Cowboys freed up more money on their salary cap on Monday by restructuring the contract to Michael Gallup. The move saves the team about $7 million in space for 2023. That brings their total to about $37 million in just three reworked deals over the last few days after restructuring contracts for Dak Prescott and Zack Martin. With Gallup, the Cowboys considerably lowered his $11 million base salary and converted it to a bonus to be spread out over the next four years. Gallup is coming off an ACL injury at the end of the 2021 season and caught 39 passes for 424 yards and four TDs last year.

· As the Cowboys are freeing up some cash on the salary cap, the focus is to retain some of their 20 unrestricted free agents. Some of those players are testing the market this week to check out on their net worth, but the Cowboys are hopeful to bring many of them back. According to reports, the Cowboys are trying to retain defensive end Dante Fowler Jr., who tied for third on the team lead last season with six sacks. The Cowboys are still hopeful to bring back some of their top-name free agents, such as Donovan Wilson, Leighton Vander Esch and Dalton Schultz.

Dallas hospitality group Milkshake Concepts secures space for four restaurants at EpicCentral in Grand Prairie, according to a news release.

The concepts will occupy space within the 172-acre entertainment and retail park, joining various art, fitness and entertainment concepts such as Epic Waters and Bolder Adventure Park. The company said the new concepts are projected to bring more than 250 jobs to the city.

The hospitality group expects to open its second location of The Finch - Grill & Raw Bar at EpicCentral in April, which serves modern American cuisine and includes a raw bar.

Vidorra 'Cocina de Mexico' is set to debut its third location at EpicCentral in June, with Serious Eats to follow later in the summer, offering sliders and pizza, a full bar and a live-music stage.

The company said a new brunch concept will open alongside the restaurants later in the year. A name was not disclosed.

“Our concepts have shown great success in Dallas and have become staples to the community," Imran Sheikh, CEO of Milkshake Concepts, said in a prepared statement. "These brands will do just that here and be the perfect fit in helping EpicCentral continue to grow and thrive. We’re thrilled to invest in our vision of pushing boundaries while remaining approachable through our unique culinary experiences in a promising city with its dynamic and central location within the metroplex.”

Milkshake Concepts is known for establishing Dallas favorites such as Harper’s, The Finch, Vidorra, Serious Pizza and more.

Ranked by 2020 returns

The Dallas Stars gave up a late goal to the Seattle Kraken on Saturday night, but it didn’t end the game. Dallas went empty net, and the teams six skaters swarmed the Kraken net, tying it up with a tight angle dagger from Joe Pavelski.

In overtime, Seattle cycled Dallas, maintaining possession for much of the session, but when given the opportunity, the Stars new players showed precisely the skills that brought them to the team, setting Miro Heiskanen for the slick one-timer for the win.

The great thing about Max Domi is that the positives are all out in the open. The saucer pass to Heiskanen was clearly the play of the game, and quite rightly made all of the highlight reels. Seeing missed defensive coverage takes a bit more of a trained eye, and it has been on display over the last few games, if you’re watching for it.

On Saturday, the offensive creativity Domi brings won the game for the Stars. As long as the offensive upside outweighs the defensive lapses - especially with Tyler Seguin out for at least a few games - bringing in the high event center will be seen as one of Jim Nill’s better trade deadline deals.

Jason Robertson (21) – Roope Hintz (24) – Joe Pavelski (16)Mason Marchment (27) – Max Domi (18) - Ty Dellandrea (10)Jamie Benn (14) – Wyatt Johnston (53) – Evgeny Dadonov (63)Joel Kiviranta (25) - Radek Faksa (12) – Fredrik Olofsson (42)

Miro Heiskanen (4) – Colin Miller (6)Esa Lindell (23) – Jani Hakanpää (2)Ryan Suter (20) – Nils Lundkvist (5)

Jake Oettinger (29)Matt Murray (32)

Noticeably, the Stars top line was the Stars top line. Lining up against the Kraken’s second line, they dominated play. The Stars second line held their own against Seattle’s top line - lots of shots on both sides.

The matchup that needs some attention is between the third lines, which will likely be something that Seattle looks to exploit against. Johnston’s line pulled a 31.25% shot share, with an expected goal percentage of 21.98, per NaturalStatTrick. With back to back games, these are the types of differences that teams can coach to.

With a game against the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday, Matt Murray should get a start in one of the two games.

Jared McCann (19) - Matthew Beniers (10) - Jordan Eberle (7)Jaden Schwartz (17) - Alexander Wennberg (21) - Oliver Bjorkstrand (22)Eeli Tolvanen (20) - Yanni Gourde (37) - Jesper Froden (38)Daniel Sprong (91) - Ryan Donato (9) - Brandon Tanev (13)

Vince Dunn (29) - Adam Larsson (6)Jamie Oleksiak (24) - William Borgen (3)Carson Soucy (28) - Justin Schultz (4)

Martin Jones (30)Philipp Grubauer (31)

Grubauer was fine for the game, but Jones has been getting the majority of the starts.

Otherwise, there wasn’t too much in the game to push the Kraken to change their lineup.

Top Line Dominance. Does Seattle have the skaters to match up against the Stars first line? If not, Pavelski-Hintz-Robertson could take over the game.

Special Teams. Seattle went one for four on the power play, while the Stars only got one call. 5x5, Dallas seems to have the advantage.

Pride Night. Might not be a key to the game, but the Kraken did a great job on their warm-ups for the game.

2.5

0.5

0.5

It's a small slate on Monday, but it doesn't lack for firepower.

With only six teams taking the ice, Monday will feature four of the top teams for goals per 60 overall, as well as four of the top 10 teams in goals per 60 at five-on-five in the past month. Spoiler: only three of the four teams make both lists.

None of the involved teams rank higher than 13th for goals against per 60 at five-on-five in the past month, so we don't have any goaltenders on a roll to contend with either.

Resources: Goalie depth chart | Injuries | Schedule | How to watch on ESPN+ | Download the ESPN Fantasy App | Daily lines

All times Eastern.

Favorable scoring matchups

Colorado Avalanche at Montreal Canadiens

7:30 p.m., Bell Centre

The Avalanche answer part of the spoiler, as they are 15th overall this season in goals per 60, but rank No. 1 in the NHL in that metric at five-on-five in the past month. Both scoring lines are rolling and Cale Makar is looking the best he has all season. It should be too much for the Habs to handle, even with home ice.

Buffalo Sabres at Toronto Maple Leafs

7:30 p.m., Scotiabank Arena, Watch live on ESPN+

Both the Sabres and Leafs are top 10 offenses in all the goals per 60 metrics I usually look at: overall, five-on-five and five-on-five in the past month. The difference here is that no team has allowed more five-on-five goals in the past month than the Sabres -- and their penalty kill hasn't been anything to write home about either. Load up on both offenses though, as Matt Murray is the confirmed starter. There are some question marks with the Sabres though, as Alex Tuch could return from an eight-game absence, while Rasmus Dahlin is day-to-day despite finishing Saturday's game with 27 minutes. If Tuch misses another one, Jordan Greenway is a streaming option. If Dahlin sits out, Owen Power is the play.

Dallas Stars at Seattle Kraken

10 p.m., Climate Pledge Arena, Watch live on ESPN+

The Stars are the third team that's top 10 for the scoring metrics, and it's the Kraken that are the inverse of the Avs: Fifth overall this season in goals per 60, but only 13th in goals per 60 at five-on-five in the past month. These teams played Saturday, with the Stars securing a 4-3 overtime win. Roope Hintz, Miro Heiskanen and Vince Dunn were the only players with multi-point efforts. Neither team has done well preventing in the past month, with the Stars ranked 24th and the Kraken ranked 27th in goals against per 60 at five-on-five in the past month. Tyler Seguin is out, so Ty Dellandrea is back in the top nine, but that should have minimal fantasy impact.

Mid-tier fantasy forwards

Mason Marchment, W, Dallas Stars (21.2%): With Seguin out, Marchment draws onto the secondary power-play unit. He'll play at even strength with Max Domi and Dellandrea. The new blood at the deadline has invigorated Marchment, as he has six points during a four-game point streak.

See also:

Deep league/Daily Fantasy value forwards

Evan Rodrigues, C/W, Colorado Avalanche (7.1%): The Avs have been moving their forwards around a bit, but the latest configuration has Rodrigues in a plum spot: next to Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen. That has even come with some top power-play time, too.

Alexander Kerfoot, C/W, Toronto Maple Leafs (3.1%): If you don't have a reason to dig this deep for stream options, don't. That said, Kerfoot is playing with Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner in recent games, so he's in prime position to get some by-association points.

See also:

Mid-tier fantasy defensemen

Mike Matheson, D, Montreal Canadiens (20.3%): He hasn't hit the score sheet in the past three games, but he's quarterbacking the power play and playing big minutes still. How big? How about 31:57 on Thursday. Matheson had 11 points the 12 games prior to his three-game drought.

See also:

Deep league/Daily Fantasy value defensemen

Goalies

I don't think there's really anywhere safe to look for a streaming start here. If we learn Alex Tuch and Rasmus Dahlin will both miss the game with the Leafs, maybe I consider Matt Murray. But the Sabres are pretty potent with both those players in the lineup.

Just the Facts:

The Time: 7pm PT

The Place: Climate Pledge Arena in Beautiful Seattle, Washington

Place to Watch: ROOT Northwest, BSSWX, ESPN+ and SN+

Place to Listen: KJR 93.3fm

An Opposing Perspective: Defending Big D

Know Your Enemy:

Just yesterday @skyonair published a wonderful preview of these very same Dallas Stars. So maybe instead of repeating the same information we can have story time.

As I’ve mentioned previously, in the brief period following the departure of the Metropolitans and the arrival of the Kraken, I backed the Edmonton Oilers. This was a great decision in the 1980s and a very bad decision in every other decade since. And in the late 1990s, cheering for the Oilers meant watching them lose to the Dallas Stars in the playoffs.

Pre-salary cap, Dallas was one of the teams that could afford to get and keep star players, while Edmonton, owned by a mishmash of small local businessfolk at the time, was little more than a farm team for richer NHL clubs. Dallas was stacked with talent, with Mike Modano, Brett Hull, Joe Nieuwendyk, the amazing Sergei Zubov and the hideously ugly Derian Hatcher making up the core of a roster that won it all in 1999. The Stars swept the Oilers that year, but a couple years before that, one of the greatest upsets in playoff history occurred.

In 1997 it was a very similar matchup in terms of roster composition. The #2 seed Stars might have been looking past the 7th place Oilers toward a potential matchup against Petr Forsberg and the Colorado Avalanche, but in a classic “David & Goliath” tale, the Oilers took the Stars to seven games, and in the Stanley Cup playoffs, a win-or-go-home game can come down to a single bounce or a single play.

Doug Weight passed it up to the speedy Todd Marchant, but let me tell you, a Todd Marchant breakaway was far from a sure thing. In those days Marchant seemed to get three breakaways a night, though the price for all that god-given speed seemed to be having hands of stone. But on that night, in that moment, Marchant found a way to put it past future Hall of Famer Ed Belfour and the Oilers won the series.

Game Preview

The point of that story is two-fold. First, all you have to do is get into the playoffs and you never know where things might go. My strongly held belief is that general manager Ron Francis should have added a little more at the deadline because you just never know. And the second point is that you don’t want to face Dallas in the playoffs. It was true in the late 90s and is equally true today.

As we saw last game, the Kraken can match the Stars in many aspects of the game. But Dallas found a slight edge in their overtime victory and ultimately a playoff series might go the same way. The Stars found their way to a Cup final fairly recently and they have the pieces to do so again. Coming into this back-to-back series my hope was a split, and having one point in the bank already is promising, but I do wish we’d found a way to get the OT win.

At times I think I’d rather face this year’s version of the Colorado Avalanche before I would want to meet the Stars in the post-season. Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

Game Night Notes:

It’s Pride Night at the Pledge! To celebrate, the Kraken will be wearing special warmup jerseys designed by local artist Simson Chantha, which you can check out below and will be auctioned off after the game with proceeds going to the One Roof Foundation.