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In this edition of the hotstove, we share our choices for most underrated player on the Dallas Stars.
Todd Cordell
Denis Gurianov is my first, second, and third choice here.
The 23-year-old Russian winger quietly turned into quite the sniper during his first full NHL campaign.
He led all Dallas Stars players with 20 goals in 64 games, which equates to ~26 goals over an 82-game schedule. Those are solid totals for anybody – let alone someone seeing such limited action.
Gurianov played less than 13 minutes per night while ranking 11th(!) among Stars forwards in average time on ice. For him to score 20 – beating out the likes of Tyler Seguin, Jamie Benn, and Alex Radulov – is remarkable.
With little ice time to work with, it took remarkable efficiency from Gurianov.
He averaged 1.08 goals per 60 minutes at 5v5, matching the output of Brayden Point. That number bested the likes of true superstars like Nathan MacKinnon, Patrick Kane, Jack Eichel and Sidney Crosby.
Gurianov obviously didn’t deal with the same kind of matchups, but he also didn’t have nearly the same quality of linemates. He spent more time on a unit with Jason Dickinson than any other player on the Stars, after all.
Goal scoring was a *massive* issue for the Stars – only Detroit scored fewer times at 5v5 – and yet Gurianov still couldn’t see the light of day.
Forget about being underrated league-wide. Gurianov was underrated, and underplayed, by his own team.
Sean Maloughney
Question. Which of Miro Heiskanen or Klingberg was the Stars best defenseman in producing chances?
Answer: Jamie Oleksiak.
While his offensive totals (3-7-10 in 69 games) would not suggest it, when Oleksiak was on the ice, the puck was always going the right way for the Stars.
Of all players who appeared in at least 30 games for the Stars, Oleksiak led the team with a CF% of 52.29, shots for % with 52.81, xGF% with 57.39 and HDCF% with 58.50. Oleksiak dominated the third pairing minutes that he played most typically with Andrej Sekera.
Looking at some of the Stars top producers this season in Radulov, Hintz, Seguin, and Gurianov; each of them produced better when on the ice with Oleksiak. He may not have the ability to play top 4 on a consistent basis but at 2.1 million he is one of the most underrated third pairing guys in the league.
James Tanner
The most underrated player on the Stars is Jamie Benn. Now I realize that sounds insane, since pretty much everyone knows that Jamie Benn has been a star player for years, but now that he's had back-to-back declines in points, I've heard people say he's done, won't age well etc.
But Jamie Benn actually had a good year - he just wasn't rewarded for it.
Despite some of the best expected results in the league, the Stars only scored 45% of the goals while Benn played this year, due to a ridiculously low on-ice shooting percentage, a personal shooting-percentage of roughly half his career average.
The fact is, Jamie Benn still creates scoring chances and dangerous scoring chances at an elite clip. With a little luck, he'll still be posting the close-to-a-point-per-game scoring that he's done for the last six years.
If you're in a keeper league, Benn is an excellent buy-low candidate as he should have no problem rebounding next season.
Numbers via NaturalStatTrick.com
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