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Dallas Stars Move Down Johns, Tighten Defensive Race

By Josh Clark

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The Dallas Stars will take on the St. Louis Blues tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the American Airlines Center. This will be the Stars fifth of seven total preseason games as well as the second meeting with the Blues. In the last matchup, the Blues brutally routed the Stars 6-0.

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In the first game, the Stars defense looked lackadaisical and poorly put together. To be fair, the Stars team was made up of a fair amount of prospects while the Blues started some of their most powerful threats. But the fact that the Stars gave away six goals with starter Kari Lehtonen in net.

It was interesting to see that the defense was the main problem, especially considering who was on the blue line. Among other prospects, Jordie Benn, Stephen Johns, Jamie Oleksiak, and Patrik Nemeth all started for the Stars. These four were in competition for the final two spots on the Stars opening night roster. The performance they put on would leave one to believe that none of these players deserved a spot on an NHL roster.

The Dallas Stars entered their 2015 training camp with one big unanswered question: who would start on defense on opening night?

There were several young candidates that joined who are considered to be knocking on the big wooden door of the NHL. Though they are highly talented for their age and proving it in tournaments and the AHL, the Stars defense is overflowing with prospects and NHL-caliber players.

Going into camp, there looked to be nine frontrunners competing for the six available spots on the blue line. These players were separated into three categories: regular NHL starters, sophomore sensations, and on the doorstep.

In the regular starter column is Alex Goligoski, Johnny Oduya, Jason Demers and Jordie Benn. The sophomores included John Klingberg, Jyrki Jokipakka, Jamie Oleksiak, and Patrik Nemeth. The only on the doorstep candidate was newly acquired Stephen Johns.

The most interesting thing is that these divisions mean practically nothing. The only players who will surely start on opening night are Goligoski, Oduya, Demers, and Klingberg. The final two spots are up in the air for whichever defensemen want them the most.

On Monday, the first candidate fell out of the race. Stephen Johns, who came to Dallas on July 10th as a part of the blockbuster deal between the Stars and Chicago Blackhawks.

Johns knows how to use his size to ignite physicality and is always looking to lay a big hit. His skills were praised heavily by Chicago media just before the trade occurred, giving Stars fans hope that he could end up improving the struggling defense in multiple ways.

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But Johns was a part of the roster reduction the Stars finalized Monday morning. Johns was loaned to the Texas Stars of the AHL. He will more than likely be one of the first called up in the event of an injury, but for now he will start the year in the AHL.

With Johns gone, the race has opened up as well as tightened for the remaining four candidates. While there is one less competitor, the Stars are starting to eliminate potential candidates, so these four need to stay on their toes.

Each of the final four candidates has plenty of NHL experience to be a legitimate contender for the final spots. Jordie Benn is set to open his third full season of NHL play in the coming year. Patrik Nemeth will be aiming for his first full season in the NHL, but has been a consistent member on the Stars roster since just before their playoff run in April of 2014.

Jyrki Jokipakka will begin his second season of NHL play, though he only played for a part of last season. Jamie Oleksiak has been on the Dallas Stars roster multiple times over the past few years, but only for short stints before being sent back to the AHL.

It will be interesting to see how each of these players respond to the increased suspense. At Monday morning’s practice, the Stars ran all eight players in four separate pairings. It’s anyone’s guess right now as to who the Stars will play opening night. If I had to take an educated guess for opening night, the defensive pairs would look like this:

Alex Goligoski – John Klingberg

Johnny Oduya – Jason Demers

Jyrki Jokipakka – Jordie Benn

Jokipakka and Benn have played well in the preseason so far and could very well snag the final two spots. But that is what the final three games of the preseason are for, and they start tonight against the Blues. Nine days until opening night vs. the Penguins. Things are about to get interesting.

Next: Stars Most Likely Players To Earn Final Assistant Captain Job

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