Depending on how Stars General Manager Jim Nill wants to play this, the Stars might not re-sign any of their four free-agent defensemen this summer.

At the heart of the discussion revolving around Alex Goligoski, Kris Russell, Jason Demers and Jordie Benn is the fact the team carried nine defensemen in the playoffs and has to make room for rookie Esa Lindell, who will be a lock to play in the NHL next year. That's 10 defensemen, and the guess is the Stars will carry only seven next season.

So, with four players having no contract commitment, the game of musical chairs could come down to only one chair left.

Let's fill a few spots to get things started.

John Klingberg is 23. He has six years remaining on his seven-year contract that averages $4.25 million, and he is the core of this defense for many years moving forward. If you lose Goligoski, Klingberg could be paired with Johnny Oduya, Esa Lindell or Patrik Nemeth. Or Nill could make a trade for a top-minute lefty

Lindell is 22 and played in the AHL this season, but he already has been selected by Team Finland to play in the World Cup of Hockey in September. He is 6-3, 215, and should be a big part of the Stars' defense. The question is whether he can handle big minutes in his first season or if he has to be worked in slowly.

Lindell played most of the season with Stephen Johns, 24, in the AHL, and Johns was fantastic in his first taste of NHL play this spring. So, you could leave Johns (who averaged 17:49 in ice time during the regular season) with Oduya, 34, or play him with Lindell.

That could leave you Nemeth, 24, and Jamie Oleksiak, 23, to play on the third pair or at least compete in a trio for the 5, 6 and 7 spots. This format would mean you would be letting go of Goligoski, Russell and Demers. That group was among your leaders in minutes played on defense, and Goligoski has been the de facto leader of the defense for the last five seasons. He led again in time on ice at 23:50 and was second on the team in plus-minus at plus-21.

He drives positive possession, and that's one of the reasons he will probably be the most coveted unrestricted free agent defenseman on the market this summer.

So if Goligoski, 30, is that good, why would you let him go? Well, it comes down to fit and future. If you pay Goligoski the $5 million or more he deserves per season for the five years or more he will probably get, you are pretty much saying he will be in your top four in minutes played. He and Klingberg proved overmatched in the playoffs at times because of their lack of size, so that problem could still be there. What's more, if you want players such as Lindell or Johns to take more minutes going forward, you can't be tied long term to a player like Goligoski.

That's why it would be difficult for the Stars to sign him to the money he deserves.

Likewise, Jason Demers will probably get a multi-year deal near $4 million. The scrappy righty is a nice option, but the Stars seem committed to Klingberg and Johns on the right side for many years going forward. They also have a highly-skilled righty in Julius Honka, 20, waiting in the minors. Honka will start his third season of AHL hockey in the fall, meaning he could be ready for the NHL near the end of next season. If Demers wants to sign a one-year deal, then the timing would be perfect for Honka. If he wants more than that, then he could potentially stand in the way of the future alignment of Klingberg, Johns and Honka on the right side.

Russell and Jordie Benn are the wildcards. Russell doesn't have the offensive numbers to command $5 million a season, but he might get $4 million as a UFA. The Stars like his smart controlled play, but his size (5-10, 170) becomes an issue, especially if you sign him long-term and expect him to play beside either Klingberg (6-2, 180) or Honka (5-11, 185).

The Stars have big lefties in Lindell (6-3, 215), Nemeth (6-3, 230) and Oleksiak (6-7, 260), so why not trust that they can get the job done?

Jordie Benn is a very nice depth defenseman and has the trust of the coaching staff, but could you use that last spot to fill in at the top and then slide everyone down the ladder a notch?

If you're still following this logic and you've done your counting, you realize there is a very good chance the Stars let Goligoski, Demers and Russell all walk as free agents. Because San Jose was paying part of Demers' salary, and because the Stars only paid Russell for two months, Dallas would open up about $8 million in cap space by losing that trio.

So then what does that do for the team?

Well, Jamie Benn's raise in two years should be handled by expiring contracts for forwards, and the future raises for the kids should be pretty reasonable, so you could argue that it's possible to invest all of that $8 million into one defenseman if you are so inclined.

Now, it would be tough to spend that on anyone who is available as a UFA. If you want to have debates on Keith Yandle, Dan Hamhuis or Luke Schenn, we can do that later.

But what if a team got into cap trouble the way Chicago did last summer? Would they have to unload a defenseman and would Dallas be a possible destination?

The Jets are scheduled to have cap hits of $7.6 million for Dustin Byfuglien, $5.75 million for Tobias Enstrom, and $5.5 million for Tyler Myers. Is that sustainable in Winnipeg?

Do the Canucks need to ponder moving Alex Edler as they consider a rebuild?

Will playoff success cause big paydays in St. Louis and Tampa Bay, thus forcing players like Jason Garrison, Matthew Carle, Anton Stralman, Kevin Shattenkirk or Jay Bouwmeester to fall into Patrick Sharp range?

And still my favorite bar room discussion: What if Brent Burns doesn't want to sign a contract extension with the Sharks?

Jim Nill last summer had cap space and had built a team that was desirable to a player with a no-trade clause. That's how he was able to acquire Sharp from Chicago. If he's patient, will he be able to work a similar trade on defense this summer? If the opportunity presents itself, Nill seems to have the Stars prepared to jump.

There's a lot of moving parts in all of that talk, but the bottom line is the Stars could potentially have six of their seven defensemen in house for next season and a pretty good chunk of cap space to find a seventh. And as much concern as there has been about the Dallas blue line for the past half decade, that could be a very positive thing.

Twitter: @MikeHeika