The Dallas Stars have acquired defenseman Andrew O’Brien from the Nashville Predators in exchange for forward Mark McNeill, the team announced Saturday afternoon.
O’Brien, who will report to the AHL’s Texas Stars, has played in 21 games this season for the Milwaukee Admirals, the Predators’ AHL affiliate. He’s posted three points, all courtesy of assists, and 21 penalty minutes in 2017-18.
The 6-foot-4, 220-pounder, from Hamilton, Canada, was a fourth-round pick of the Anaheim Ducks in the 2012 NHL Draft. He’s spent each of the five succeeding seasons in the AHL, with stints for the Norfolk Admirals and San Diego Gulls in addition to his time with Milwaukee. In 188 career AHL games, O’Brien has 12 goals and 31 assists.
The 24-year-old McNeill, a native of Langley, British Columbia, has spent the vast majority of his career in the AHL with the Rockford Icehogs, first becoming a consistent contributor for the team in 2013-14. Since then, he’s accrued 178 points in 282 AHL games, all but 21 of which came with the Icehogs. McNeill was acquired by Dallas from Chicago a year ago, along with a fourth-round pick, in exchange for defenseman Johnny Oduya.
The 6-foot-2, 214-pounder’s professional experience isn’t quite limited to just the AHL, though. McNeill has two total games of NHL service under his belt, with the Blackhawks on January 26, 2016, and with the Stars last season on April 8. He posted 11 points in 21 games played with the Texas Stars this season, and will likely be assigned to Milwaukee for further time in the AHL.
