Dallas Stars Grade Report – Veteran Defense
Hello Stars fans! Over the next few weeks I will be taking a closer look at the Dallas Stars position by position and assign them a grade through this point of the NHL season. We are over a third of the way through the season and it has been a struggle so far for the Dallas Stars. Nobody has struggled more than the defense, as the Stars come into today dead last in goals against per game. Although the defense has had its troubles, there have been bright spots at times. Let’s take a look at each defensemen and grade their performance so far this season. I will start with the more veteran defensemen and the “kids” will be on a future article.
Alex Goligoski
Alex Goligoski has been a tough player to read this season. His Corsi statistics are middle of the pack in the NHL (overall he is a +11 in the corsi department). The stat that really stands out when you look at Goligoski is the quality of competition he faces. Of defensemen who have logged at least 300 minutes this season, Goligoski is tied for 3rd in the league as far as the quality of competition he is up against every night. So when the opponents who have some of the top corsi percentages in the league are on the ice, chances are so is Goligoski. He’s second on the team in blocked shots and leads the team in average time on ice per game. He does have a lot of giveaways but he also has the puck a lot so that is to be expected to an extent. On top of it all, Alex Goligoski is battling several injuries that has been keeping him off the ice for morning skates and some practices and he is seemingly always that way for the past few years. He is playing heroically and has probably been the best defensemen for Dallas this season.
Grade: B+
Trevor Daley
No defensemen in the NHL got off to a hotter start than Trevor Daley. At one point early in the season, he was leading the league in power play goals and total goals by a defensemen. While he is still picking up goals, his season has dropped off pretty dramatically. His corsi % is by far the worst on the team and nobody is really even close. While he still leads the Dallas defensemen in points and goals, his defensive abilities have suffered significantly. That offensive game we saw down the stretch and in the playoffs is still there for Daley, but the defensive game has disappeared. He faces the same quality of competition as Alex Goligoski (they are tied for 3rd in the league in QoC) however his corsi is drastically lower. The one bright spot of his defensive game so far this season is that he leads the team in blocked shots. If he can cut down on the turnovers and return to his late season form from a year ago, Trevor Daley will be a force in this league.
Grade: C-
Jordie Benn
Oh Jordie. Last season seems just so very long ago for Jordie Benn. He has a -15 turnover differential and if you have watched Stars hockey at all this season it seems like every single one of Benn’s turnovers has led to a goal against. His corsi % isn’t actually that bad at 52.1 (in fact it is the best on the team) and his PDO is far away the worst on the team (to simplify PDO, it is essentially shot % + save %, a lot of luck is involved). The underlying numbers really don’t show that Jordie Benn has been playing bad at all, in fact he has been playing quite well but has had his run of bad luck to start this season. He has been scratched several times this season, indicating the coaching staff was not too pleased with his play. I’m thinking Jordie is going to have a good second half and his luck will turn around.
Grade: C-
Jason Demers
The early season acquisition of Jason Demers started with a bang. His first game in a Stars uniform and he lays out Jarret Stoll with an open-ice hip check and scores a goal. He was brought in as a right-handed shot to attempt to stabilize the back-end and I think he has helped that quite a bit. He is 6th among NHL defensemen in takeaways this season and that has definitely been on display lately. Like Jordie Benn, his PDO is relatively low and his corsi % is relatively high, so I expect Demers will continue to get comfortable and improve on the Stars blue line. He has another year on his contract so an offseason in Dallas should benefit Demers greatly. Not a big sample size so far, but I like what I’ve seen from Jason Demers.
Grade: B
Next time we will take a closer look at John Klingberg, Jamie Oleksiak, and Jyrki Jokipakka. Thank you for reading and keep visiting Blackout Dallas for your Stars updates!