The second in a series of Central Division teams and what they have done (or not done) to improve themselves in the offseason. I started at the bottom of the division and am working my way up. Next up, last season’s sixth place team… the Dallas Stars.
Last Season – 42-32-8 – 92 points… finished 6th in the Central Division, 10th in the Western Conference. Missed playoffs by 3 points for Dallas’s second consecutive playoff miss.
Key stat from last season – 225 and -10 – Goals against and goals differential. A high powered offense and a defense that struggled at times and finished horribly. Giving up 225 goals is not terrible, that performance was good for 6th in the conference, but when they were given up. That’s the rub. Combine that with only 235 goals scored? A team that was supposed to score their way into the playoffs just didn’t do it.
Subtractions - Head Coach Ken Hitchcock, F Antoine Roussell, G Kari Lehtonen, D Dan Hamhuis,
Additions - F Valeri Nichushkin, F Blake Comeau, D Roman Polak, G Anton Khudobin
The BIG Question - How does an NCAA head coach make the transition to the NHL? There is not much history to look at here as this is only the 4th time this has happened in the NHL. After the bottom dropped out on the Stars last season, Ken Hitchcock’s return was shortened to only one season. Dallas GM Jim Nill is throwing a Hail Mary in the hiring of former University of Denver head coach Jim Montgomery. Montgomery spent five years at Denver, winning the NCAA championship in 2017. If you look at Dave Hakstol’s transition in Philly, the last college coach to make the leap… well… if it goes that way the Stars playoff drought extends to 3 seasons.
2018/19 Outlook - This is a very talented team with a lot firepower. With Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin, Jason Spezza, Alexander Radulov and John Klingberg scoring goals shouldn’t be an issue. They have some young talent on the rise including their 2018 pick, defenseman Miro Heiskanen. The young talent is the main reason given for Montgomery’s hiring. The key add for this team could be Nichushkin, returning to Dallas after two seasons in the KHL. If he has matured at the age of 23, he could be a difference maker. The defense is solid, Ben Bishop in net, when healthy is also solid. This team depends on it’s offense.
The elephant in the room is the extension of Tyler Seguin. Talk about an unfair situation to make a new head coach deal with. Seguin is a true 1C that Dallas got in a steal from Boston. The 26 year old continues to develop his game and does not appear to have hit his ceiling. This kind of situation can turn into a huge distraction for a team, there is still quite a bit of time between now and the start of the season. Count this observer as one who would be shocked if a deal is not completed by October 4.
Best Case/Worst Case - Best case for this team is that Jim Montgomery gets the attention of the vets and develops the youth into a team that can contend for a President’s Trophy. They have that much talent. Worst case is that Montgomery’s learning curve is more significant that GM Jim Nill expects, the team takes a step back misses the playoffs again
If the Dallas Stars were in a different conference, they would have a much easier path to redemption, it’s going to be fascinating experiment in Big D.
Next up, the St. Louis Blues.
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Random Notes
- The ice is in and it gets painted this week at Bridgestone Arena. The new glass and dashers are installed and ready to go.
- The entire team is back in town and most are participating in non-team organized skates at both Centennial Sportsplex and Ford Ice Center.
- The propsepct report Thursday for their camp... they leave Friday for Florida.
- I expect Nick Bonino to have a monster year this year, he is healthy, got a full season of workouts and can go through the entire training camp.
- The latest update from Bovada has the Preds in the top five for odds of winning the cup… Toronto and Tampa are the favorites, next is Winnipeg then followed by Nashville, Vegas and Washington.
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