Dallas Stars Midterms: Grading Each Player At Season’s Half

The Dallas Stars are just one game past the halfway point in their 2015-2016 campaign. It’s been a fun season to say the least, but where does each player stand in terms of their performance?

The typical NHL season for every team is an 82-game slate filled with ups, downs, and emotions like you could not imagine unless you have experienced it firsthand.

The Dallas Stars are following the pattern perfectly so far in 2015-2016. Their start to the year has been nothing short of exceptional, and they set a record for their greatest start in franchise history.

The Stars boast a record of 28-10-4 with 60 points, which is good enough for first place in the Western Conference. They are now 42 games into the season, and have 40 to go before the NHL postseason begins. While nothing is guaranteed, the Stars are in good standing to qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs come April.

That would be quite the accomplishment, considering the Stars missed out on the playoffs last season by seven points.

But where did their success come from? Of course it’s come from the beautiful work as GM from Jim Nill that brought some of the new stars to Dallas over the past few summers. It’s also from the brilliant coaching job of Lindy Ruff.

Overall, the main place that their success comes from is the players. But just how successful has each player been this season?

I took the liberty of grading each player based on their performance this season. Of course when you factor in the Stars success, it’s obvious that the majority of them are going to have above average grades. It is interesting to take a look at each player’s success so far this season though and decipher which ones are excelling above their normal production rate.

So here we go:

A+

Jamie Benn – Benn may currently be in a funk, but the Dallas Stars captain has put together his best season ever. His league-leading 24 goals and second most 52 points back him up on that fact. This one is too easy. The captain has earned it this year in leading his team.

He is useful and unique on both the power play and penalty kill units. This is highly uncommon among forwards in the NHL, making Benn all the more special. Not to mention his +18 on the ice.

Tyler Seguin – Seguin is every bit as sharp as his partner-in-crime Benn this season. Though he is also experiencing a funk, Seguin has 23 goals and 50 points on the season, putting him just below Benn in both sets of standings. Seguin and Benn continue to wreak havoc on the NHL and deserve these rankings. He continues to be a force on the power play and is a beautiful +14 this season.

John Klingberg – There were rumors at the beginning of the season that Klingberg would not be able to replicate his strong rookie showcase that he put together in 2014-2015. He has all but silenced those critics. He currently has six goals and 38 total points.

That is only two points behind his total from last season, and he has 23 games in hand. Not to mention his superb defensive skills that have yet to rust. He is an impressive +10 on the ice this season and rarely slips up in getting the puck effectively out of the zone.

A

Alex Goligoski – Partnered with Klingberg on the top pair, Goligoski has used his veteran leadership to turn the top pairing into a fearsome duo. He has three goals and 20 points, along with a +12 rating. He is very effective on the power play and helps it run smoothly.

Along with his impressive defensive skills and his ability to shut down offensive attacks, this is shaping up to be one of Goligoski’s best seasons with the Dallas Stars.

Patrick Sharp – Not much can be said about the first-year Star other than that he turned out to be the best one of, if not the best offseason pickup by Nill. Sharp has an 11 game point streak after an assist against the Winnipeg Jets Thursday night.

But with 14 goals (two on the power play) and 35 points in 42 games, Sharp already has more goals than the entirety of his 2014-2015 season. He is also shooting 12 percent on the season.

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A-

Jason Spezza – After coming to Dallas in the summer of 2014, Spezza spent the first half of last season adjusting to the Stars tempo and pace. After that, he was near unstoppable. On the second line this season, Spezza has helped guide and lead other young players while having a successful year himself.

With 14 goals and 33 points, Spezza is proving that his four-year extension was well worth it. He offers the Stars a one-two punch in the dot behind Seguin.

Antti Niemi – Niemi came to Dallas in a trade back in late June 2015, and many Stars fans wondered if he would be taking the number one goalie position. Instead, Jim Nill crafted the new plan of using a two-goalie tandem with the two veterans. The two goalies would switch out and help each other strive to succeed.

So far, Niemi has played exceptional. Some nights, he is simply left out to dry. But he does not let that stop him from playing exceptional hockey. Niemi is 16-7-4 this season with a 2.42 goals against average and a .913 save percentage. He has three shutouts this year and continues to heat up as the season goes on. We’ll hope that this continues to be the trend.

B+

Jason Demers – Demers has had an excellent season on the Stars blue line. Though he only has four goals and 14 points, his job is to be a defenseman, and he’s done that. His +15 on-ice rating is second best on the team and he has been a dominant force in sealing off the offense and retaining puck possession while under attack.

The only reason he is not in the A’s is because of some of his poorly-timed mistakes. Demers has been suspended once and ejected twice this season for illegal checks and elbows. Demers is also second on the team in penalty minutes. But nonetheless, he’s had a terrific season for the Stars.

Mattias Janmark – On March 1, 2015, the Dallas Stars shipped veteran F Erik Cole to the Detroit Red Wings in exchange for Mattias Janmark, Mattias Backman, and a draft pick. Janmark was expected to be two or three years away from NHL play, but shocked everyone when he dressed out for the Stars season opener this year.

Janmark did not disappoint, either. He scored his first NHL goal on his first NHL shot just moments after the first puck drop. He has nine goals and 15 points on the year, along with a +11 rating. For a rookie, these are some impressive numbers. He and Jason Spezza create a lethal two-line partnership for the Stars on their top two offensive sets.

Johnny Oduya – Oduya is in his first season with the Stars, and so far he has fit in well. He brought leadership and veteran experience to a blue line that lacked it when he joined in July 2015. Oduya has four goals and 14 points along with a +15, just like Demers, which makes sense considering they make up the Stars second pairing. Oduya is also shooting 10.8 percent this season, which is excellent for a defenseman.

Cody Eakin – In the most recent offseason, Eakin signed a four-year extension with Dallas that locked the young forward to the Stars for a while. It may not seem like he is making a big impact with the Stars this season, but when you look closer it is clear that he is.

Eakin has nine goals and 19 points this season in 42 games, and a +5 rating. Eakin helps round out the power play as the center on the second unit and is very aggressive and physical when in pursuit of the puck.

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B

Valeri Nichushkin – The Dallas Stars 2013 first round draft pick missed the majority of the 2014-2015 season due to recovering from hip surgery. But he has come out in 2015-2016 picking up where he left off in the playoffs of 2014.

Nichushkin started the year slow but has since tallied six goals and 15 points in 39 games. He is doing this in the lowest amount of average ice time he’s ever seen, primarily serving on the second and third lines. Val continues to become smarter every game and has been on a streak with two goals and a disallowed one because of an offsides call in the past two games.

Colton Sceviour – In the final year of his contract and plenty of hungry rookies just below him looking for his spot, Sceviour has answered the call that is required for a new deal.

With five goals and 12 points in 39 games this season, it seems as though Sceviour is improving with each passing game. He has four goals and six points in the last eight games. Not bad for a guy averaging 13:13 on the ice this season. Sceviour has also proven to be one of the Stars most effective defenders and penalty killers this season.

Vernon Fiddler – Another forward in the final year of his contract, Fiddler has been a joyous surprise for the Stars this season.

Fiddler continues to be a capable and effective penalty killer and fourth-line center for the Stars, as he has been for the past few seasons. Averaging a mere 12:07 on the ice this season, Fiddler has six goals and 15 points on the year. He is producing some quality numbers for a 35 year old veteran on the bottom line.

Antoine Roussel – Amidst the enjoyable physicality and willingness to drop the gloves, Antoine Roussel is having a successful fourth season with the Dallas Stars. He has seven goals and 14 total points while playing on the third line and finding some excellent chemistry with Eakin and Sceviour for an average of 13:06 per game, the lowest of his career since rookie year.

What is interesting about Roussel this season is that he is shooting 17.1 percent this season. He has the second highest shooting percentage on the team, behind Jamie Benn. Roussel constantly fights the puck into the zone and looks for the openings in front of the net, so it’s no surprise he is shooting at such a high percentage. Let’s hope he keeps it up.

B-

Jordie Benn – Among many others, Jordie Benn is also in the final year of his contract. This is also coming on the heels of the worst year of his career last season. Nothing ever seemed to go right for Benn, and as a result the majority of Stars fans resorted to blaming him for all the losses.

But Benn has resurrected his play just in time for this season and has played excellent team defense this season. As a member of the third pairing with Jyrki Jokipakka this season, Benn has one goal and nine points along with a +3 rating. He’s doing all of this in an average of 16:18 on the ice, about two minutes less than he got last season. His defensive work and participation on the forecheck has led to an improved season.

Jyrki Jokipakka – Jokipakka came into this season after re-signing with the Stars in the offseason. His rookie season was not the prettiest one, and he made first-year mistakes often that would lead to excessive time hemmed in the defensive zone and goals against.

But Jokipakka has learned from his mistakes it seems and turned his performance around this year. With one goal and five points this year as well as a +8 on-ice rating, Jokipakka continues to mold into an NHL-caliber defenseman with each passing game.

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Kari Lehtonen – Last season was a rather unforgiving one for Kari Lehtonen. With the Stars still in search of a capable backup goaltender, Lehtonen was forced to start a majority of the games. With a mainly young and inexperienced defensive core in front of him, Lehtonen could not get the job done. Though he tied his career-high in wins at 34, he dipped to the lowest save percentage of his career at .903.

This season with Niemi joining up, Lehtonen came roaring out of the gate. In early November, Lehtonen was 8-1-0 with a .921 save percentage and a 2.38 goals against average. But since then, he has seen a decrease in production that has included a few games where he was pulled in favor of Niemi. His stats are currently a record of 12-3-0, along with a .907 save percentage and a 2.85 GAA. He still has the fire in him to be a top-tier goaltender, he just needs to find it again. Hopefully he can tonight in net against the Jets.

C+

Ales Hemsky – Last season, Hemsky had a relatively off season due to time spent trying to adjust to the new environment, as well as a nagging hip injury that required surgery in the offseason. But this year has not been entirely friendly to the 32-year old winger either.

Hemsky had a hot start this season on the second and third lines. He scored a goal on opening night and had six points through the first six games. But over the past 31 games, he has only put up seven points. He is now on injured reserve after blocking a shot and taking a puck to the leg. He is still a quality defender and can help on defense, but the forward will need to get back to his offensive scoring ways once he’s back in the lineup.

Patrick Eaves – Last season was one where Patrick Eaves just could not avoid the injured reserve list. He ended up taking a puck that shattered his leg in December, as well as another puck to the face that gave him a mild concussion in February. But after both injuries, Eaves came back all the more stronger and more prepared. He ended the year with 14 goals and 27 points in 47 goals. This performance was good enough to earn him another one-year deal with the Stars.

Sadly, this season has not been near as productive as last year. To be fair, Eaves is only seeing an average of 11:58 on the ice each night. But he has only three goals and four points through 23 games this season. An early season injury held him out of the lineup for a while, but a few healthy scratches have also kept him off the ice.

He is useful playing in front of the net and has good chemistry with Spezza, but there are other wingers that have earned the spot next to #90 this season. Not to mention that he has gone from a +12 last season to a -1 this year.

Travis Moen – Moen came to Dallas as a part of the trade that shipped Sergei Gonchar to the Montreal Canadiens in November of last season. He only ended up playing 34 games last season for Dallas, and tallied three goals and nine points.

This season, Moen is simply being used by the Stars as a primarily healthy scratch that could sub in if need be. He’s only played in 12 of 42 games this season and tallied one assist and a -1 rating while skating an average of 8:01. Moen is an extremely hard worker and a physical presence on the Stars offense, but he just has too many skilled forwards ahead of him. This is one of the problems with having a powerful offense that always clicks.

C

Jamie Oleksiak – Oleksiak has been the heathy scratch on defense for the majority of the season along with Patrik Nemeth and continues to wait for his next chance at playing. But the chances he’s been given this season have not turned out incredibly impressive.

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• Dallas Stars Traverse City Tournament: Who had great performances?
• Grushnikov and Stankoven lead Dallas Stars to 6-3 win over Columbus
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• Burn the tapes: Dallas Stars prospects lose 5-1 to Toronto Maple Leafs
• Dallas Stars look to continue success today against the Maple Leafs

Oleksiak has two assists and a -1 rating in 10 games this year. Not to mention his 21 penalty minutes, the most of his career. Oleksiak is used primarily for his big, physical frame that he uses to assert dominance on the ice. His fight against Nicolas Deslauriers was pretty amazing, too. But that -5 on-ice rating is not pretty.

Patrik Nemeth – After a promising rookie year performance in the Stars postseason trip in 2014, Nemeth was a starter on the Stars blue line in October 2014. But after receiving a severe laceration in his arm from a skate blade a week into the season, he would sit the majority of the year out. When he came back, he alternated between starting and the healthy scratch.

This season, Nemeth has only played in eight games, tallying one assist and a -5 rating. This performance has also pushed him back to being the healthy scratch for most of the year. His injury was a badly timed one in 2014, as it gave John Klingberg and Jyrki Jokipakka the opportunity to come up and prove their worth for starting spots. Now Nemeth will need to put a lot of work in if he wants to regain his former status.

So there’s the ratings for the Dallas Stars this season. What do you think of them? Which do you agree with? Which players would you move around? Make sure to let me know in the comments, because I would love your input!

Overall, the majority of Dallas Stars got by with exceptional grades. The worst grade given out was a C, which is still a passing grade. That’s what happens when you’re evaluating the best team in the Western Conference.

Next: Rich Peverley Continues To Influence The Dallas Stars In A Positive Way

The Stars take on the Winnipeg Jets tonight and will look to win their eighth Central Division game this season out of 11 tries. We’ll see how successful they truly are.