The Dallas Stars announced today that the club has signed defenseman Patrick Traverse and right wing Mathias Tjarnqvist to one-year contracts, and forward Vojtech Polak to a three-year contract. Per club policy, no financial terms were disclosed.
“We’re pleased to have reached agreements with these three talented players,” said Stars general manager Doug Armstrong. “We expect Patrick and Mathias to contribute to the depth of our organization this season, and we plan on having Vojtech continue his development with the Iowa Stars.”
Traverse, 31, was originally signed by Dallas to a one-year contract on September 9, 2004 and after a year with the Houston Aeros of the American Hockey League, has been re-signed by the Stars for 2005-06. The Montreal native posted six goals and nine assists for 15 points and 28 penalty minutes in 72 games for Houston a season ago. He skated in 80 games with Hamilton (AHL) in 2003-04, recording 26 points (five goals and 21 assists) and 31 penalty minutes.
A 6-foot-4, 218-pound defenseman, Traverse has appeared in 278 career NHL games with Ottawa, Anaheim, Boston and Montreal, and has tallied 14 goals and 51 assists for 65 points with 113 penalty minutes. He also appeared in six playoff games with Ottawa in 2000, his only Stanley Cup Playoffs appearance.
In 381 career AHL games with Houston, Hamilton, Quebec, Hershey, Worcester, P.E.I. and New Haven, Traverse has registered 34 goals and 86 assists for 120 points.
Tjarnqvist, 26, was originally Dallas’s third-round pick in the 1999 Entry Draft and spent the 2004-05 campaign with HV 71 Jonkoping in the Swedish Elite League, tallying eight goals and nine assists for 17 points in 46 games. The 6-foot-1, 183-pound right wing split the 2003-04 season between Dallas and the Utah Grizzlies, then the Stars’ top development affiliate in the American Hockey League, where he appeared in 60 contests, registering 28 points (15g, 13a) and 51 penalty minutes.
Polak, 20, was Dallas’s second-round pick in the 2003 Entry Draft. The 6-foot, 183-pound forward split the 2004-05 season between Dukla Jihlava and Karlovy Vary HC in the Czech Republic, posting two goals and seven assists for nine points with 16 penalty minutes in 42 total games. A native of Ostrov Nad Ohri, Czech Republic, Polak represented his country at the 2002 World Under-18 Championships and the 2004 World Junior Championships.
