Dallas Stars Direction: Questions for the Off-Season

The off-season is a crucial time for teams, especially in the NHL. It’s when they recuperate from a tough season and begin preparation for opening night in October.

The Dallas Stars fall under this category and will have a few months fraught with big question marks, all of which will have profound implications on the season to come.

The impact of surgeries?

One of the greatest question marks this summer is Jamie Benn, Ales Hemsky, and Trevor Daley‘s respective hip surgeries which all happened earlier this week. Although Benn was casual in his closing remarks in regards to the procedure, it is still a major surgery and could affect his performance next season. Hemsky was just starting to become comfortable in the line-up, so this could put a damper on his abilities as well. Daley’s surgery is different than Benn and Hemsky’s, but still another injury to consider. Daley had a career year in offense last season for the Stars and hopefully his procedure won’t inhibit him from continuing production next year.

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Benn will have surgery on his other hip in about a week, while Hemsky and Daley have already started rehabbing. All three players are expected to be ready for training camp in September. It helps that Val Nichushkin had the same surgery last year and John Klingberg also underwent the procedure about a year before that.

Who will own the crease?

Another key question is goal tending. Kari Lehtonen had arguably his worst season as a Dallas Star last year and will have more determination than ever to succeed; however, it is uncertain whether or not he’ll get the chance. Jhonas Enroth was able to lead the team down the stretch and end the season on a season-high four-game winning streak, but he remains an unrestricted free agent come July 1^st. The Stars will have to evaluate whether or not to put a competing offer in for Enroth, or to move in a different direction. Furthermore, Dallas needs to decide if Kari will be their number-one guy moving forward.

Free Agency?

Off-seasons are unpredictable often times because of free agency. Dallas has a handful of guys whose contracts ended, so they’ll have to negotiate and evaluate their futures with the team. Forwards Shawn Horcoff and Patrick Eaves, as well as aforementioned Enroth fall under this category.

Ralph’s Replacement?

The last question mark for the Dallas Stars is one that doesn’t pertain to players or coaching staff, but still has a profound impact on the organization. Last week long-time play-by-play announcer Ralph Strangis decided to turn a new leaf in hopes of finding a new passion. His leaving the organization is a sad event to say the least, but it also means that the Stars are on the hunt for a new man to be Razor’s partner calling games. Considering the immense perks of the job and the rather bright future of the organization, there is no doubt the Stars will find a highly qualified person to take the spot.

Over the course of the next few months Stars fans will get the answers to these off-season questions, but for now all we can do is speculate.

What do you think is the most important question mark for the Dallas Stars this off-season? Leave your thoughts in the comments. As always, thanks for reading!

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