Dallas Stars’ Blue Line: Current Make-up

By Allison Scott |

With the signing of twenty-two year old defenseman John Klingberg to a seven-year 30 million dollar contract the Dallas Stars have secured one-sixth of their defensive core. Klingberg’s average salary of just over 4.25 million dollars a season gives Stars fans a good look into the plans the organization has for the young d-man, but what about the other five defensive spots?

Below are the players the Stars ended the 2014-2015 season with, but that by no means has an implication of which players they’ll start the 2015-2016 campaign with.

Player: Trevor Daley

Age: 31

Contract Expires: 2017

Average Salary: $3.3 million

Key Stat: 38 points (16G, 22A) in 68 GP

Daley has been a long-time Dallas Star, in fact, he is the only remaining player from the 2008 Stanley Cup run. After having a career year for the Stars last season offensively Daley will aim to continue that trend in the final two years of his contract. Defensively, however, Daley struggled ending the season with a shocking plus minus of minus-13. He is a possible piece Dallas could trade if they could get a good return, but it is doubtful that a team would trade a true number-one defenseman for an offensive one, so the Stars would have to part ways with other players as well.

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Player: Alex Goligoski

Age: 29

Contract Expires: 2016

Average Salary: $4.6 million

Key Stat: 23:59 average time on ice last season

Goligoski was acquired in a trade with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2011 in exchange for Matt Niskanen and James Neal. Although many regarded the trade as a Penguins “win”, neither Niskanen nor Neal are still playing for Pittsburgh, while Goligoski is on the top defensive pairing for Dallas. That may not be the case after this season, though, being that Goligoski is entering the last year of his contract and the Stars could do without his rather high price tag.

Player: Jordie Benn

Age: 27

Contract End: 2016

Average Salary: $700,000

Key Stat: 16 points (2G, 14A) in 73 GP

Jordie Benn has long lived in the shadow of his younger brother and Dallas Stars captain Jamie Benn, but he has developed into a mainstay on the Stars’ blue line. Although he doesn’t always make the best defensive decisions in a pinch, he is expected to continue improving over the next few years. He is also a very versatile defender because of his ability to play on a pair with nearly any of Dallas’ other defensemen.

Player: Jason Demers

Age: 26

Contract End: 2016

Average Salary: $3.4 million

Key Stat: +3 in 61 Games for Dallas, -6 in 20 for San Jose

Jason Demers was acquired from the San Jose Sharks in a trade early on in the 2014-2015 season in exchange for Brenden Dillon. Since coming to Dallas he has been a reliable guy, but still doesn’t fill the number-one spot that the Stars so desperately need. Demers is another versatile player and he can be partnered with just about anyone successfully and his offensive game and point shot are both quite impressive.

Other blue liners the Stars used throughout the year include Jyrki Jokipakka, 23, Patrik Nemeth, 23, and Jamie Oleksiak, 22, all of whom are promising prospects with Nemeth and Oleksiak playing for the Texas Stars of the AHL in the playoffs right now.

The off-season is one of the most unpredictable times during the course of a year for the NHL and the Dallas Stars could shop some of the players with contracts ending next year, or sign a big-name free agent defenseman. It’s no secret the defense is the Achilles heel of the Stars, but I would bet on that changing this summer.

What changes do you think will be made to the Dallas Stars blue line this off-season? Leave your opinions in the comments and, as always, thanks for reading!

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