Dallas Stars World Championship: Mattias Janmark Building Strong Start
By Josh Clark
There’s no Dallas Stars hockey to talk about, but there are still Dallas Stars players to cover. As the offseason gets into full swing, there’s one name that keeps coming up overseas. That name is Mattias Janmark, and for good reason.
Five Dallas Stars are in Denmark right now competing in the 2018 World Championship.
Forward Radek Faksa is competing with the Czech team, defensemen Miro Heiskanen and Julius Honka have suited up for Team Finland, and defenseman John Klingberg and forward Mattias Janmark are playing with Team Sweden.
Each player is showing levels of progress and promise in the tournament that just started at the end of last week. But one player is finding a way to stick out with his production.
It’s not Faksa, even though he is skating heavy minutes and has an assist. And it’s none of the defensemen either, although Heiskanen leads all Finns in time on ice and Klingberg is doing Klingberg things.
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It’s Mattias Janmark. Yes, this is the same Janmark that missed all of the 2016-17 season while recovering from a serious knee injury. It’s also the same Janmark that had a 20 percent chance of never fully recovering from the surgery and never being able to play hockey again. Yes, that Janmark.
But if you watched the Dallas Stars during their 2017-18 regular season campaign, you’ll know why this shouldn’t come as a shock.
The 25-year-old had a stellar first year back from his battle with osteochondritis dissecans. In the regular season, Janmark finished with 19 goals and 34 points while skating on various lines under Ken Hitchcock. He progressed greatly throughout the year and showed few signs of having lost a step.
His performance helped earn him a nomination for the Masterton Trophy, which is awarded to one player in the NHL who “best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to hockey.” And while he didn’t win the award, his story is nonetheless impressive and pretty unbelievable.
And now he’s still finding a way to turn heads in the tournament. In three games so far with Sweden, Janmark has two goals and three assists for five total points along with a +6 rating. He’s excelling on Sweden’s top line and is putting on quite the show.
He’s had two multipoint games so far and is eighth in the entire tournament in points tallied. He’s second on Team Sweden behind only Rickard Rakell, who has seven. The two are skating on the same line together in the tournament.
Mattias Janmark is putting together yet another solid push and his efforts have Sweden in an undefeated position so far. It will be interesting to see how the team continues to progress with Janmark at the top of the order.
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One thing is for sure, though: Janmark doesn’t seem to have an off switch and seems to love working when the odds are against him. That definitely bodes well for the Dallas Stars in the years to come.