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JN 2016-17 Season Preview: Dallas Stars
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Art Middleton
Sep 27, 2016, 13:30 EDTUpdated: Invalid DateTime
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Today we at Jets Nation start off our series taking a look at our fellow Central division rivals going into the 2016 – 2017 season. Once again the Central Division is being looked at as perhaps being the toughest in all of hockey with all seven teams (yes, even the Jets) being legitimate playoff threats.
What better way to kick off our series of Central Division previews by featuring the defending regular season division champion Dallas Stars?

HOW THEY DID LAST YEAR

The Stars posted a 17 point improvement from their rather disappointing 2014-15 campaign with a 50–23–9 record which was good for 109 points and helped them claim the regular season Central Division crown as well as the number one seed in the Western Conference.
They did this by leading the league in goals scored with 267. Of course the offense was led by their version of “The Triplets” in Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin and Jason Spezza who combined had 107 of those 267 goals. Beyond the three big names that everyone has heard of however, they also boasted impressive offensive depth with 8 other players scoring 10 or more goals.
The problem was the defense and more to the point their goaltending was suspect all season long and in the end became their undoing. They escaped a strong first round challenge by the Minnesota Wild that exposed some key flaws but ended up losing in the second round of the playoffs to the St. Louis Blues.
Neither goaltenders Antti Niemi or Kari Lehtonen could truly find a way to step up and be the team’s true number one goalie that they likely needed for a deep playoff run.

AGAINST THE JETS LAST YEAR

It should be no surprise that the Jets struggled against the Stars last season posting a 1-3-1 record. The Jets penchant for taking plenty of penalties played right into the wheelhouse of the Stars as 7 of the 21 goals scored against the Jets were power play tallies.

WHAT THEY DID THIS SUMMER (ADDITIONS & SUBTRACTIONS)

Dallas didn’t need to do much to improve their forward situation but in a way they did as they picked up Jiri Huder via free agency. In effect Jiri replaces the outgoing Vernon Fiddler and should be considered a bit of an upgrade. They also added Adam Cracknell for bottom six forward depth.
On defense they signed Dan Hamhuis who should be a fairly good replacement for the outgoing Alex Goligoski. Other key departures for the Stars on defense included Jason Demers and Kris Russell who ended up being a trade deadline rental.
The other big loss for the Stars was middle-six youngster Val Nichushkin who signed with CSKA Moscow on September 20.
But maybe more important than what the Stars did in the summer is what they didn’t do and that is not finding an answer in goal. There had been strong rumors of the Stars being in the running for Ben Bishop out of Tampa Bay, but for the time being the Stars have not yet found a way to get a much needed upgrade in net.

WHAT TO EXPECT THIS SEASON

Dallas – a team once known for its stifling defensive prowess – should once again be lighting up scoreboards around the league. They could be looking at a bit of an injury issue early on as Jamie Benn is still recovering from abdominal surgery. He’ll miss some pre-season games but the belief is the Hart Trophy contender should be good to go for the regular season. Tyler Seguin suffered a heel injury at the World Cup and he too will miss some playing in the pre-season but should be ready for their season opener.
The top nine at forward remain deep and among the best in the league with a few ‘happy’ questions as to who will fit in where. Cody Eakin, Patrick Sharp and Radek Faksa will all get long looks as guys who can fill out the top two lines. Losing Nichushkin stings, but that could be a boon for Mattias Janmark who is looking to improve on his rookie season of 15 goals and 29 points and will also have a chance to crack the top six.
The Stars defense is now young and quite inexperienced which doesn’t bode well considering the issues they had in goal with the same pair of goalies they’ll have to start this season. The hope is that promising youngsters Patrik Nemeth and Jamie Oleksiak are ready to take a next step and become key parts of the Stars blueline. Otherwise they’ll be leaning a lot on John Klingberg and Hamhuis to carry the load and that may be asking a bit much.
GM Jim Nill should still be working the phones early on to see if he can get some help in goal as both Lehtonen and Niemi  posted numbers only slightly better than the likes of Ondrej Pavelec. If neither of those two men find a way to grab control of the #1 spot – and there is nothing in either’s history that suggests they will – and Nill can’t bring in someone to be that number one guy, the Stars might not have any other choice but than to win games via the old-school fire wagon way.
And with the forwards they boast, it’s not a stretch to suggest they couldn’t.

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