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Dallas Stars Holding Out On FA Defender Is Perfectly Alright

By Josh Clark

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The Dallas Stars are on the verge of a 2015-2016 with a lot of expectations. After taking a step back from their 2013-2014 successes that ended in a playoff berth, they know they owe it to their fan base to get back to their former ways. In Jamie Benn’s post game public address, he noted that they were as disappointed as the fans were and that next year was going to be different. Let’s hope it will be.

When you take a look back on the 2014-2015 season, the difficulties were out in plain sight. While the offense was high-octane and clicking almost every night, the problems rested in the back end. The goaltending was sloppy and ultimately one-dimensional, and the defense lacked consistent force.

While the Stars finished 2nd in goals for this past year, they capped off at 26th in goals against. Kari Lehtonen turned in one of his worst career seasons in the crease, finishing with a career high in wins yet a career low in save percentage. The Stars also continually changed their backup net-minder, and ended up starting three different players.

So, the Dallas Stars did something about it. On the second day of the NHL Draft this past year, they traded for the services of G Antti Niemi. He signed a few days later and now the Stars have two competent starting goaltenders that they can trade out whenever the situation calls for it.

But now that the goaltending problem seems to be fixed (at least for now), the defense remains in the air. While the Stars blue line did show signs of life towards the end of the season, the uncertainty that they will be able to carry that performance over still lingers. As a result, Stars fans have been calling since early April for the Stars to either trade for or sign a top-four skilled defenseman that will round out the defensive corps.

The only problem is, GM Jim Nill has made it known that he will not be diving into any free agency pools in hopes of finding a valuable defenseman, even though there were a few decent ones around once the market opened. Nill was open to a trade offer, but only if the perfect one came up. So, in other words, at this point it looks like the Stars will be holding onto their current defensive makeup and moving into the regular season the way they finished last year.

What many Stars fans don’t understand is that this isn’t such a bad idea. While there is a concern that their defense may return to its ugly form this coming season, there is the same possibility that it could be better than ever. Everything that is excellent never started that way. Instead, it eventually grew to it’s current status. It’s the way things go.

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If you take a piece out of Jason Spezza’s exit interview this past year, he admitted that he had a slow start to the year because he was trying to gel with the team. Once he finally found chemistry with the rest of the offense, he was nearly unstoppable.

So let’s call the 2014-2015 season a first take. Now, that’s not to say that adding a new defenseman such as Johnny Oduya or Cody Franson. But the fact of the matter is, there’s a chance it could end up creating more problems and starting all over again. Or not, it’s all up in the air.

But the Dallas Stars defense has a bit of a decent look to it. Currently with John Klingberg, Alex Goligoski, Trevor Daley, Jyrki Jokipakka, Patrik Nemeth, Jason Demers, Jordie Benn, and Jamie Oleksiak, they have a few options. Certainly none of these players are truly superstar status, bar Klingberg. But they are a mixed up bunch, and that can be good.

It all comes down to the mentality. Whether the younglings lost focus throughout the year or the veterans took a rest, there were multiple nights where we saw a lack of effort. It’s obvious that the defense tightened up down the stretch, simply because of the threat of being eliminated from playoff contention.

So, will a new name find their way onto the roster? Or will Jim Nill stick with the same theory he resolved to last year? Except this time, the theory is stronger and more conjoined.

There is all the right in the world to be worried. But there is also reason to have hope. We’ll just have to wait and see how it goes. Don’t worry, just 98 more days to stew over it.

Next: How Do You Feel About Antti Niemi's New Deal? VOTE

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