Stars GM denies he must slash team's payroll.(The Dallas Morning News)

Byline: Mike Heika

Dallas Stars general manager Doug Armstrong denied a report in Sunday's Denver Post that said owner Tom Hicks had ordered the team to slash its payroll 25 percent from $66 million to $49.5 million.

"There's no credibility behind it, there's nobody's name behind it," Armstrong said of the report, which credits "sources in the Stars' organization."

"Mr. Hicks has said on the record that we will not raise our payroll, and I think it's natural that we will look to make the deals that our best for our team," Armstrong said, inferring there could be some cuts. "But we still have a very good core group of players and we're going to continue to build around that."

Hicks could not be reached for comment.

With several players under guaranteed contracts for next season and some having no-trade clauses, it might be logistically impossible to reach a $49.5 million payroll. Mike Modano is scheduled to make $9 million, Bill Guerin $8.8 million, Pierre Turgeon $7.5 million, Scott Young $3.4 million and Claude Lemieux ($2 million). They each have no-trade clauses, giving them a combined salary of $30.7 million.

Turgeon has been put on waivers and offered a buyout, but that buyout money would go on the 2003-04 budget, Armstrong said. Turgeon has turned down the buyout, though his agent said he would be open to a trade.