Dallas Stars Have World Of Potential With Stephen Johns
By Josh Clark
The Dallas Stars are seeing more and more of their young players hitting stride and becoming valuable NHL players with each passing year. They will hopefully see this happen in the defensive group this season, especially with one defender specifically.
As I sat at my desk contemplating what to write about this afternoon, I stumbled across an article that was retweeted on my Twitter feed. The headline read something to the tune of, “Zdeno Chara to Stars?” so obviously I was intrigued.
After clicking on it and reading through, I finally figured out what I was going to write about. See, in the article, there was a report that the Stars had called Boston about trading for the 39-year-old (yes, 39) Chara. While Chara is a towering defender with plenty of weight and the ability to bruise up opponents, the trade scenario was atrocious.
When I say atrocious, I mean that you might gag a little. The article suggested that it would be a fair trade for the Dallas Stars to deal young and promising defenders Patrik Nemeth and Stephen Johns for a guy on the last leg of his career. Feel free to chuckle if you want to.
But after reading that, I realized that I had never put up an article about how influential Johns could be down the road for Dallas. Sure, Nemeth can do some big things for the club also, but Johns’ potential is through the roof.
Stephen Johns became a member of the Dallas Stars on July 10, 2015 after he was traded by the Chicago Blackhawks along with forward Patrick Sharp.
After playing the majority of the season with the Texas Stars, Johns was called up for his NHL debut against his former team on March 11, 2016. He remained with Dallas for the rest of the season and into the playoffs. His presence on the ice gave an influential boost to the Stars in terms of size on an otherwise small blue line.
He logged a whopping eight hits in two different games last year, giving the Stars a physical presence they severely lacked throughout the year.
By the end of the regular season, Johns had played 14 games and tallied one goal and three points in the span. He also finished with a plus-minus rating of -6 in an average of 17:50 on the ice. Not to mention his 55 hits and 21 blocked shots.
Johns also played in all 13 of the Dallas Stars’ playoff games. He did not log any points and finished with a 0 plus-minus rating, but finished off 41 hits in an average of 14:41 on the ice.
The thing is, Johns is the defenseman of the future for the Stars. Over the past few years, the Dallas blue line has consisted of small, quick defenders. The kinds of defensemen that can get the puck up the ice and play the offensive zone, but cannot deliver a check or absorb one well.
Johns can do that easily, along with putting in decent production on the offensive side. As a result, it looks as though the Stars are trying to build their new blue line around Johns.
After losing three starting defenders through trade and free agency this past offseason, the Stars needed some significant changes to their defensive group. They added Dan Hamhuis, a big-bodied veteran defender with plenty of experience, through free agency. John Klingberg and Johnny Oduya are returning to the starting lineup as well. These four defenders round out the top two pairings.
Johns and Oduya had some excellent chemistry towards the end of the season last year, so they will probably be paired up again this coming year. Hamhuis will more than likely hit the top pairing with Klingberg, leaving a mixture of Jordie Benn, Patrik Nemeth, Esa Lindell, and Jamie Oleksiak to take on the bottom two spots.
Besides Klingberg and Oduya, all of the other Stars’ defensemen this year will be over 200 lb. and above 6-1. That’s quite a difference from the defense last season.
Johns is an excellent building block to use as the base, especially considering his upside. His rookie season was spectacular, and he has only played in 27 NHL games. There is a lot of hockey left for him to continue growing and eventually turn into a mobile and targeting defender before he even reaches his peak.
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The Central Division requires size to compete, and the Dallas Stars now have arguably more than any other team in the division. The question is whether the youth will be able to grow and effectively produce. The last thing Dallas needs at a time like this is another youthful collapse on defense like they had in 2014-15. The team is too strong to go to waste.
Stephen Johns is the centerpiece of this new defensive era. The big American could end up having a monumental year this coming season which could further solidify his spot on the team for many years to come. Things are looking bright for the Pennsylvania native.
One thing is clear: all of those reporters back in July 2015 were right when they said that Johns was just as influential, if not more of a trade piece as Sharp was. Stars general manager Jim Nill knew exactly what he was getting.
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Stephen Johns could easily be the new franchise defenseman for Dallas and stick to Victory Green for life. He’s the kind of defender that every team needs at least one of. All that’s left to do is sit back and continue to watch him blossom. Something tells me it’s going to be a fun process to watch.