SEASON REVIEW: What's next for the Dallas Stars?
Loss against Calgary in Game 7 overtime is a gutting way to end your season, however, it was probably the most the Stars could do this playoffs.
This season was really nothing short of a spectacular. When you look at it from the outside, you see that the Stars almost reached the magic plateau of 100 points in regular season and pushed one of the best teams in the entire league to the brink of elimination and overtime in Game 7. They haven’t reached a 100 points mark, or come close to it, since that magnificent 2015-16 regular season. That’s when you look at it from the outside.
Going deeper, you may find out that 13 out of 16 teams that qualified for the playoffs reached 100 points in regular season and the Stars were only 15th best team out there, barely hanging on to a final wild card spot – only to climb to the first wild card in the final minutes of the season.
That was probably a key for having prolonged first round series, as the final wild card team was guaranteed to play the Colorado Avalanche in the Round one of Stanley Cup playoffs. Apart from that, it was a really roller coaster type of a year, when Dallas Stars were sometimes looking unbeatable and other times beat themselves in rather persuasive fashion.
In my playoffs preview, I specifically said that the “only way the Stars could win a series against Calgary is in 7 games.” And even after claiming that, I said the Flames will still probably be able to win the seventh game, mainly thanks to their depth and the way Darryl Sutter will prepare them for a grueling series ahead.
I knew the Stars would fight, as it is embroidered in their team mentality. Out of 30 hockey analysts Sportsnet polled about this series, only 1 — John Buccigross — predicted Flames in 7. Other 29 had this series wrapped up much sooner in their predictions. One thing is to keep the series tied, another one is to force your play upon the opponent.
The Calgary Flames were simply too much to handle for the Stars. If it weren’t for the sublime performances of Jake Oettinger, who was the best player in all round one - this series would probably end much, much sooner. The Stars weren’t winning the Stanley Cup this season, so that winning goal from Johnny Gaudreau came with a dagger to the heart — but also a weird kind of relief, too.
The Dallas Stars are heading into the offseason and deservedly so.
This offseason will be fascinating to watch due to many reasons behind the scenes and in the front office. The Stars do not have a head coach signed for next season, yet. I have already analyzed the situation about Rick Bowness - and why I think he’s not the right coach for this team going forward.
It is really a matter of perspective, upon which you decide whether you see coming years for the Dallas Stars positively or negatively. A lot is still hanging in the air and will be determined in the next couple of weeks and months by the front office and the owner, Tom Gagliardi.
I just hope their solution has a long-term character and improve the system in place right now. Playing not-to-lose is not the answer. It never was.
Young core emerging
There are things to like, that’s for sure.
Even though lack of depth was really discouraging to see during the playoffs, the Dallas Stars have a true young core emerging in Roope Hintz & Jason Robertson out in front, Miro Heiskanen in back and Jake Oettinger in net. The oldest of which is Hintz, who is 25 years old. Heiskanen and Robertson will be 23 this summer, the same age Jake Oettinger is.
What’s really promising is the amount of talent pushing the door of the Stars roster from the AHL or junior categories. Ty Dellandrea (21) is as ready as he possibly could be, which he also showed during his playoff debut, in Game 7 no less. Riley Damiani (22) is waiting for an opportunity and I really think it’s time to shift focus for the Stars on their youth more. The NHL is a young players’ game now and we’ve seen the older rosters of Dallas Stars or Washington Capitals have problems keeping up.
It’s a good thing Stars have some of the young players already on an NHL Roster. Jacob Peterson (22) was really good, given the expectations this season. So was Marian Studenic (23), my fellow countryman, who turned out to be a great waiver pick-up and injection of speed to the line-up, which really needed that.
Thomas Harley (20) - another great prospect was dipping his feet into the NHL this year, albeit he spent more time scratched, which was probably not the best for his development.
I haven’t even mentioned junior phenoms Stars possess and are very likely to have a prolonged look during the next pre-season in Mavrik Bourque (20), Wyatt Johnston (19) and Logan Stankoven (19). Bourque will probably need some time in the AHL but I’d definitely consider giving either Johnston or Stankoven 9-game try-out to see if they are ready for the NHL. After that sample time, you have a greater dataset to decide whether they need another year of development in the juniors.
Jim Nill’s tough summer ahead
Jim Nill’s job is probably secure enough and I have to say, in tough post-covid times, he’s held his own. He didn’t overspend in free agency (although that Suter deal will be bought out sooner rather than later). He was active just enough at the trade deadline, providing Stars with much needed backup for Jake Oettinger in Scott Wedgewood and also Vlad Namestnikov, who scored in Game 7 against the Flames and was overall a pretty good player for this team.
The key was, he didn’t move much of his draft capital and can continue a good trend in the drafting area with the 18th overall pick in the 2022 Entry Draft. The Stars also have all of their seven picks in the upcoming draft held in Montreal and barring any trades, they will have 2 picks in the Top 50.
Jim Nill’s isn’t afraid to trade up at the draft - he showcased that when he basically acquired Jake Oettinger in the franchise changing 2017 draft. I think that trade will be regarded as one of his best, when all is said and done. He also has a history of trading down, just last year, he let Detroit pick 15th (G Sebastian Cossa) in order to gain 2 extra picks and also picked up Wyatt Johnston in the process.
We’ll be also excitedly looking toward the summer to see which moves this management group has in their sleeves, when it comes to roster building for the upcoming seasons.
I’ve covered the John Klingberg situation deeply here.
The bottom line was the Stars don’t have a replacement for what he brings to the team. They can only re-sign him, trade his rights or simply let him walk for nothing at this point. I’ve also tried to analyze and project their cap situation in the article below. The point of the article was focused mainly on John Klingberg. What has changed since then is the projection of Jake Oettinger contract, who has rocketed his value and deserve every cent the Stars would offer.
There are certainly possible trades to be made to improve the current roster. Denis Gurianov has underperformed in the last couple of seasons and could be a very interesting trade-bait for some teams. I’d much prefer keeping him at a reasonable cost, because we know how good he can be when he’s coached properly.
We’ve heard already plenty about the underperforming Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin. Folks, they are here to stay - so we should focus on how to build a team that can include their albatross contracts instead of buying them out. It’s not even feasible, due to their signing bonuses.
Radek Faksa is certainly replaceable, even though many people in Stars management group probably think the opposite. Same goes for Ryan Suter but at least his contract could be bought out with relative ease. I would think Jim Nill thought about that when signing a 36-year old guy to 4 years. There are some fan-favorite players we probably won’t see again in Stars uniform – mainly Alexander Radulov or even Anton Khudobin.
So buckle up, Stars fans.
This offseason could really be very important when it comes to future success of the Dallas Stars. Some pieces are already there. Some you need to work with and some you need to add. It isn’t an easy fix for Jim Nill - but it’s certainly doable.
That should give us the hope we, the fans, desperately need to believe.