Dallas Stars: Last Year’s Grade, Next Year’s Guess: Roman Polak

The Dallas Stars open training camp today and the new season is finally upon the fans. Along with the end of the off-season, today marks the end of our series of player grades.

Despite not really needing more defensive depth, the Dallas Stars signed Roman Polak to a one-year deal this summer.

Last Season

Roman Polak’s 2017-18 Grade: D+

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Polak’s year was hampered by a knee injury in the 2016-17 playoffs. It was clear when he fell that he’d be out a long time and the video of the incident is not pretty to watch, but he came back part-way through the season after surgery and rehab.

Taking into consideration the severity of his injury, it made sense that he wasn’t going to come back and be a top player, but his numbers last season were pretty similar to the rest of his career.

He’s a total defensive defenseman, a stay-at-home type of player that isn’t going to have offensive numbers, so his 0.3 offensive point share and 12 points aren’t surprising.

His possession numbers weren’t great, but they never have been. He’s been a negative relative Corsi guy every season he’s been in the league, except his first year when he played just 6 games.

His problems with possession lead to him usually being high in hits and blocks, and last year was no exception. Despite missing 28 games, he was still third on the Leafs in hits and fourth in blocked shots. He’s 6’2″ and 235 pounds, and he plays a physical game, but that’s not an excuse for bad possession.

Next Season

The good thing about Polak is that he isn’t coming in to fix the line-up. Nill just apparently feels like they need some depth on the blue line, even though they don’t. He should spend most of the season sitting as a healthy scratch, which is a relief, but one that seems a bit unnecessary.

The Stars have a few young defensemen waiting for their shot. Though they did move Patrik Nemeth and Jamie Oleksiak last year, they still have Dillon Heatherington ready to take a shot at the NHL, along with a few other minor league players who could benefit from some time with the NHL club. However, Heatherington is better off getting ice time in the AHL and Polak’s development isn’t going to be hurt if he doesn’t play.

Polak probably won’t see much action next year, unless something goes wrong. If he does, fans shouldn’t expect much, but maybe he’ll pleasantly surprise them.

That concludes our player grade series, but there’s plenty of fun coverage around the corner as the season gets into full swing.