Dallas Stars: Blackout Dallas Predicts 2015-2016 Season

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Dec 29, 2014; Dallas, TX, USA; Dallas Stars defenseman Jordie Benn (24), goalie Kari Lehtonen (32), defenseman Alex Goligoski (33), and center Jason Spezza (90) celebrate after defeating the New York Rangers 3-2 at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

The Season Of The Stars:

by Allison Scott, Staff Writer

Greatest Strength:

Scoring. Without a doubt the biggest advantage the Stars have over their opponents is their ability to not only skate extremely well, but to score a heck of a lot of goals. I don’t think anyone would argue that the forwards are the best players on the team because they’re just that good.

Greatest Downfall:

Defense. On the other end of the ice it’s an entirely different story. Dallas has continually had issues defending the crease and being hard to play against defensively in part because of budget and in part because of the focus on the forwards.

New addition Johnny Oduya could certainly change this, but he isn’t going to be the end all be all solution. As far as losing Trevor Daley goes his absence will hurt offense more than defense because he seemed to be more focused on that part of his game than most defenders. Plus the dynamic of merging Antti Niemi’s style of play with Dallas’ system will create problems.

Leading Goal Scorer:

Tyler Seguin, and he’ll score 44 goals. Although he seems like the obvious choice it’d be pretty hard to predict anyone other than him. Jamie Benn might have a shot at this, but him having just come back from his offseason hip surgery, I don’t think he’ll be scoring more than number 91.

Leader In Points:

Jason Spezza will tally 75 points this year and lead the team. He’s entering his second year with Dallas and he’s proven to be a great forward in the past, so I don’t see why he wouldn’t be this year. It all depends on which line he ends up centering, but I think this could be a solid year for him.

Biggest Surprise Player:

Valeri Nichushkin will finish the year with 53 points (21G, 32A). He missed all of last season but eight games and I think a lot of people have forgotten about him. He was so highly praised even earning recognition from the great Jaromir Jagr, but the NHL and the Stars haven’t seen him play for almost a year, which leaves a lot of room for questions.

It also leaves room for surprise because he’s been training post-rehab and that will make him a force to be reckoned with in my opinion.

Biggest Bust Player:

John Klingberg will finish with 30 points (11G, 19A). As much as it kills me to admit it I don’t think he can live up to the expectations he created from such a stellar season last year. I don’t think he’s going to be bad by any means, but I feel like he’ll be the biggest disappointment because he’s expected to be so good.