Stars add Hyry, Shlaine and Halverson in free agency move
Dallas used opening day of free agency to patch three Texas Stars needs: scoring depth, a developmental winger and a goalie with a proven AHL track record.
Dallas spent its first move of free agency on three players who change the Texas Stars picture in different ways. Jim Nill announced the signings on July 1, and the list was more than a pile of depth pieces: Arttu Hyry brings AHL scoring, Artem Shlaine gets an organizational promotion, and Brandon Halverson enters a goalie race that now has real stakes.
Hyry is the most ready-made fit for Texas because he has already shown he can score at that level. The 25-year-old right wing from Oulu, Finland, played 27 games for Texas last season and finished with 19 points, then added 20 NHL games for Dallas and scored his first NHL goal on March 29 against Philadelphia with a short-handed strike. Over two seasons with the Texas Stars, Hyry put up 68 points in 94 games, the kind of production that says he is no longer just a call-up option. Dallas signed him to a two-year contract that begins in 2026-27, with the first season as a two-way deal and the second year a one-way contract worth $900,000.
Shlaine is the cleaner developmental bet. Texas had already signed him to an AHL contract for 2025-26, and he turned that into a season that forced a harder look from Dallas. He scored 19 goals and 38 points in 67 regular-season games for Texas, led the club with five game-winning goals and then added four points in five Calder Cup Playoff games, including three goals. The former Arizona State standout had 38 points in 31 games in 2024-25 after missing the first six games with an injury, and the new one-year, two-way NHL contract through 2026-27 gives Dallas a player who earned his way up by producing in games that mattered.
Halverson changes the goaltending conversation most sharply. He arrived with a 24-11-6 record, a 2.42 goals-against average, a .905 save percentage and six shutouts in 43 games for Syracuse, and those six shutouts led the AHL last season. In 152 career AHL games across Syracuse, Tucson and Hartford, he has 71 wins and 12 shutouts, which is the profile of a netminder who can stabilize a crease and pressure everyone else in the room. Dallas signed him to a one-year, two-way deal through 2026-27, and his resume already includes Syracuse’s IOA/American Specialty AHL Man of the Year award and a Yanick Dupré Memorial Award finalist nod for his Halvy’s Saves for Recovery initiative.
Put together, Dallas did not just add bodies. It gave Texas a winger who can drive offense, a younger forward with a clear growth path, and a goalie who can reshape the order behind the starter.
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