Offseason Review: Will The Dallas Stars Stay Healthy?
From the top, all the way to the bottom.
The Dallas Stars’ 2020-21 was one filled with lows not long after a 2019-20 campaign that saw them make the Cup Final.
The Stars weren’t bad, per se, but they struggled mightily to close out games when it mattered most.
What happened in 2021?
Dallas floundered to a rough 23-19-14 record losing the most games in overtime of any team in the league — a stat that stings and can be pointed to as a reason they missed the playoffs. They were on the outside looking in in the Central Division and missed the postseason by a mere four points. Ouch.
There were things to like, however, as they placed 18th in goals and 9th in goals against. Respectable numbers in what was a fairly competitive division.
A 36-year-old Joe Pavelski (25-26—51) led the way offensively, while young guns Jason Robertson (17-28—45) and Roope Hintz (15-28—43) weren’t far behind. On the backend, Miro Heiskanen (8-19—27) is still trying to find his way, but the team clearly believes in him as they gave him an eight-year deal this offseason with an AAV of $8.45-million. But John Klingberg (7-29—36) and Esa Lindell (5-11—16) both had strong seasons for the Stars.
In net, the Stars split games between Anton Khudobin (12-11-7, .905 sv%, -2.4 GSAA) and Jake Oettinger (11-8-7, .911 sv%, 2.4 GSAA) as Ben Bishop missed the season due to injury.
What did they do in the offseason?
Notable Additions: Ryan Suter, Jani Hakanpaa, Braden Holtby, Michael Raffl
Notable Subtractions: Stephen Johns, Julius Honka, Jamie Oleksiak, Andrew Cogliano
The Stars had a fairly active offseason and addressed the backend more than the front. Suter and Hakanpaa both have been brought in to address the losses of the trio of Johns, Honka and Oleksiak, while Holtby will help depth in net.
Raffl and Luke Glendening, who were also added this offseason, will help revamp the clubs’ bottom-six.
What to expect in 2021-22?
If Tyler Seguin, Ben Bishop and Alex Radulov can stay healthy this year, and Jamie Benn can bounce back after a down year, Dallas could be a team to watch this year in the Central Division. They’ll be in tough, however, with Colorado, Winnipeg and Minnesota all boasting strong rosters as well.
It will be the second full campaign for Rick Bowness behind the bench, and the team will need to cut out the overtime errors that led to so many losses last year.
One bold prediction…
Seguin returns to form and is a point-per-game producer this season. He’s going to finally be healthy and flashed with two goals in three games at the end of last season. But this year? He’s back.
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