The Dallas Stars finished an up-and-down 2013 season last night with a desultory 3-0 shutout loss at home against a Detroit Red Wings team that had plenty of motivation. The Stars put up little resistance to the Wings as Detroit clinched a playoff spot for the 23rd straight season.
There are games where the final raw stat sheet is deceptive about the territorial play within the actual game on the ice. This wasn't one of them. The Stars got outshot in the game by a 37-17 margin (Dallas also failed to generate a single shot on goal in three power plays), outchanced by an equally lopsided margin, committed 13 giveaways to just 6 by Detroit (a reflection of Detroit's superior forechecking in the game) and had numerous defensive breakdowns in front of Richard Bachman.
Henrik Zetterberg was a one-man wrecking crew for the Detroit yesterday, scoring both the first and second Detroit goals. The latter came shorthanded early in the third period. Zetterberg also assisted on the extra insurance goal that Jonathan Ericsson provided about five minutes later.
There were few standouts for Dallas in this game. At least Dallas center Jamie Benn competed to the very end, although he did not statistically have a good game. He attempted a team-high six shots although four got blocked. He also registered several good hits. It would be a big surprise if Benn is not named Brenden Morrow's successor as team captain when a new one is formally appointed next year.
Apart from Benn and a few other select players on the ice yesterday for Dallas (Brenden Dillon, to name one), the Stars looked like a team that just wanted to get the season over and avoid going into the summer with any brand new injuries.
On the whole, however, this underdog Stars team fought through a lot of injuries and lots of key roster turnover in what was a transitional year for the team. They battled hard during the stretch drive but then lack of depth and defensive shortcomings got exposed as they dropped all five of their final games (0-4-1) after a rousing home win against Vancouver put the Stars in the driver's seat to control their own playoff fate.
There is much to look forward to in seasons to come. With the exceptions of Ray Whitney and Stephane Robidas, must of the core group of players are either young players or guys in their prime. There are building blocks already in place, and the Stars should land a fine prospect picking 10th or 11th (assuming they don't win the Draft lottery) in a deep 2013 Draft class.
It has widely been reported -- although not yet made official via press release -- that the Stars have fired Joe Nieuwendyk as general manager and replaced him with Detroit assistant general manager Jim Nill. Without question, the fact that the Stars missed the playoffs in either their final or next-to-last game in each of the last three seasons (and have been out of postseason play now for five straight years) came into play.
Personally, I think Nieuwendyk generally did a decent job working around a lot of budget constraints and the ownership uncertainty that preceded Tom Gaglardi's acquisition of the team following its bankruptcy. He was particularly good at identifying inexpensive players and castoffs from other teams who came in and played effectively -- players such as Eric Nystrom, Vernon Fiddler, Adam Burish and Sheldon Souray come to mind.
Where Nieuwendyk fell short was in largely standing pat two straight years at the trade deadline. The team lost out on the playoffs and key Dallas unrestricted free agents who could have fetched assets via trade ended up departing with the Stars having nothing to show for it. This year, he severely pared down the roster by moving key pending UFAs (Jaromir Jagr, Derek Roy, Morrow) and the club fell just short of the playoffs yet again.
Outside of Dallas, the big strike against Nieuwendyk is that he's known as the GM who overpaid for Alex Goligoski by trading James Neal and Matt Niskanen to the Penguins. At the time, although everyone in Dallas had seen enough promise from Neal to know he had 35- or 40-goal potential, the Stars felt they could eventually work around Neal's departure -- Benn, who was still playing wing at the time, was just starting to come into his own -- but there was both a short-term and long-term need for more speed, creativity, puck movement and power play presence on defense. At the time, former 1st round pick Niskanen was buried deep in then-coach Marc Crawford's doghouse and needed a change of scenery.
The deal has obviously ended up being lopsided in the Penguins' favor. Goligoski has been OK in Dallas despite issues with injuries and inconsistency in each of the last two years after playing very well immediately following his acquisition midway through 2010-11. He was a healthy scratch in one game this season but eventually regained his form. He had some stretches of very effective play and some not-so-hot stretches (especially in his own end of the ice).
Neal has become one of the NHL's top snipers and Niskanen is a generally reliable mainstay on the Pittsburgh blueline, so it would be very tough for Goligoski to singlehandedly make up for that. However, anyone who regularly watches the Stars play knows that there are stretches where Goligoski has helped elevate the team's offensive potential on breakouts and pinches in the offensive zone. He just needs to do it more consistently again, the way he did in his first half-season in Dallas. Staying healthier in the future would absolutely help that.
Nill, who is expected to be formally named GM tomorrow, has gained a reputation as a good talent evaluator. Hopefully, he can guide the team through the next phases of its on-ice makeover that Nieuwendyk started this season.
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