February 2015 Analysis of the Dallas Stars

The shortest month of the year has nearly come to an end, which is good for the Stars being that they went (4-6-3) during their thirteen game campaign. If their record wasn’t bad enough, they also lost key players to injury throughout the month as they fell further out of contention for the wildcard positions in the Western Conference.

Positives

Despite the less than impressive month the Dallas Stars did have some good aspects to their game.

Scoring

If there is one thing this Dallas Stars club can do it’s score. In fact, they’re third in the league in goals-for and eight Stars have ten or more goals on the season. Jason Spezza and Jamie Benn went on lengthy point streaks during the month and have really led the team in that regard. Defenseman Trevor Daley has had a career year in points this season with 32 (16G, 16A) including 7 points (4G,3A) this month alone. That’s pretty impressive for a team that isn’t in the playoff picture and it’s something Dallas can hopefully continue in seasons to come.

Recoveries

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Injuries piled up for the Stars during the month of February. The laundry list of players that missed at least a game this month includes: Patrik Nemeth, Ales Hemsky, Kari Lehtonen, Patrick Eaves, Travis Moen, and Tyler Seguin. Although the injuries themselves are an obvious negative, the fact that most of the players listed are either already back in the line-up or are making strides in their respective recoveries is positive. Hemsky and Lehtonen have returned to action, while Eaves has been skating with the team. Nemeth is doing a conditioning stint with the Texas Stars and Seguin is said to be ahead of schedule in his knee therapy. These accelerated recoveries are a step towards health for Dallas and will only help them be more successful down the line.

Lack of Trades

The fact that General Manager Jim Nill hasn’t traded the free agents of the Stars is in and of itself a positive. Dallas currently has a group of players that could be traded before Monday’s deadline, but as of right now the team is still in tact.

Negatives

In a month that saw three points given away during overtime or shootouts, lost leads, and injuries galore it’s no wonder that there are more negatives than positives.

Losing Leads

Teams that fail to protect multiple goal leads have minimal success in the NHL. Dallas surrendered two-goal leads twice in the game against Detroit and gave up another two-goal advantage in last night’s shootout loss to Colorado. If this trend doesn’t change soon the Stars will be mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, while getting a middle of the pack draft pick.

Goaltending Issues

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Dallas Stars goalies have one thing in common this season: inconsistency. Some nights Kari Lehtonen can steal games and make unreal saves and others it’s as if he’s purposely moving out of the way. Lehtonen’s 2.97 GAA and .905% save percentage are worse than the stats he had last season (2.41 GAA, .919 S%) and prove a rather large decline in his performance. Not to mention the array of back-ups that have gone in and out of Dallas, all of who have failed to win the games in which they start. When it comes down to it goalies are the most important players on the ice and lackluster performances by them can be detrimental to a team’s success.

Injuries

Every team deals with injuries. Not many, however, can comeback from losing their number one center and best player from the season unharmed. Dallas lost Tyler Seguin to a knee injury after Florida Panthers’ defenseman Dmitry Kulikov hit him low in the game on February 13^th. Since then the Stars have gone (1-4-2) and lost a handful of players for small stretches of time. Dallas can only hope that Seguin and all the other fallen Stars can come back fully healthy and ready to help the team as best they can.

Overall the Dallas Stars can be happy to leave the month of February behind them in hopes of a better March and end to the 2014-2015 season.

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