Dallas Stars Have Dark Horse All Star Team Candidate

It seems as though the Dallas Stars will be well represented at the 2016 NHL All Star Game. But Kari Lehtonen could very well be considered a dark horse candidate that could find a spot on the team.

As Thanksgiving week approaches and gives everyone the warm feeling that is attached to the holidays, the Stars have a lot to be thankful for. The star players on the team, the improvements on various fronts, their 17-4-0 start that sets them atop the NHL as the best overall team, to name a few.

But after Thanksgiving passes, Christmas will follow a month later. But after the calendar turns to 2016, there are no foreseeable joyous occasions. That is unless you are a dedicated Dallas Stars fans.

As the Stars continue their dominance of the NHL and stand firm in first place, they are showing off all their valuable assets. This includes superstar forwards like Tyler Seguin, Jamie Benn, and Jason Spezza. All the while they are giving us a second look at dominating defensemen like Alex Goligoski and John Klingberg.

Some of these names could be receiving an invite to the NHL’s celebration of top-tier talent: the 2016 NHL All Star Game.

There has been a rather significant change to the All Star Game format which will be put into effect this coming season. Here is an excerpt of how the teams will be determined and how the games will go from NHL.com. The link to the entire article can be found here.

* The 2016 Honda NHL All-Star Game will be a three-game tournament played in a 3-on-3 format with a prize pool of $1 million to be paid in its entirety to the tournament’s winning team.

* The tournament will feature four teams, one team representing each NHL Division: the Pacific, Central, Metropolitan and Atlantic.

* Each team will be made up of 11 players: six forwards, three defensemen and two goaltenders.

* The 2016 NHL All-Star Fan Vote will allow fans to vote for one All-Star player from each Division, without regard to position. The top vote-getter from each Division will be named NHL All-Stars, as well as Captain of his respective team.

* The remaining 40 NHL All-Stars will be named by the NHL Hockey Operations Department for a total of 44 All-Star players, with at least one player selected from each NHL team.

* The 2016 Honda All-Star Skills Competition™ returns to a matchup between the Eastern Conference and Western Conference All-Stars on Saturday evening, with the winning conference earning the right to select when their semi-final matchup will be played; first or second on Sunday.

* Each game in the three-game, 3-on-3 2016 Honda NHL All-Star Tournament will be 20 minutes in length.

* Teams will change ends at the 10-minute mark of each game. Games that are tied after 20 minutes will be decided by a shootout.

* The Central Division All-Stars will face the Pacific Division All-Stars and the Atlantic Division All-Stars will face the Metropolitan Division All-Stars in the two Semi-Final games.

* The winners of each Semi-Final game will play each other in the All-Star Game Final to determine the overall tournament champion.

* The four division-leading NHL coaches (best points percentage following the completion of games on Jan. 9, 2016) will be named coaches for each of the four All-Star teams.

So take a moment to digest all of that before making any crazy assumptions.

Right off the bat, it is pretty clear that the Central Division has the greatest chance of walking away with the $1 million. The division has been a tightly contested battle each of the past two seasons since its origin, and the maximum number of Central teams that can make the playoffs have in both 2013-2014 and 2014-2015.

So a total of 11 players will be selected from the Central Division, with at least one player representing each team. So the Stars will at least have one player out of the first seven selected. That could be anywhere from Jamie Benn to Tyler Seguin to John Klingberg.

But those final four spots are where things will get interesting. Considering the Stars are currently the best team in the league (heck, Lindy Ruff may even be named to coach the Central), they have a good chance of scoring one, two, or possibly even three players on the roster.

That leads most to wonder which other players could make it besides the three mentioned above. Really, there is one other name that truly deserves to be in the running: goaltender Kari Lehtonen.

Lehtonen has put on a grand show in 2015-2016 and is one of the Western Conference’s best goaltenders at the moment.

After a disappointing and subpar performance in 2014-2015, fans were unsure if he was truly the goaltender that could lead the Stars to a championship. It turns out that Jim Nill may not have been sold on the fact either, and in turn traded for Antti Niemi during the offseason.

More from Blackout Dallas

• Dallas Stars Traverse City Tournament: Who had great performances?
• Grushnikov and Stankoven lead Dallas Stars to 6-3 win over Columbus
• Dallas Stars prospects look to wrap up tournament with a win
• Burn the tapes: Dallas Stars prospects lose 5-1 to Toronto Maple Leafs
• Dallas Stars look to continue success today against the Maple Leafs

The acquisition was supposed to not only help solidify a one-two punch in the Dallas Stars crease, but also to challenge Lehtonen to be better considering there was another veteran starter striving for his position.

The results so far are fantastic. Lehtonen boasts a record of 9-1-0 with a .923 save percentage and a 2.34 goals against average. This constitutes as his best start in over four years. He and Niemi have evenly split time, with Niemi starting his eleventh game of the season last night to break the tie. Lehtonen has outplayed and outdone Niemi’s numbers, leaving some excellent solidarity in the crease.

So it looks like Kari Lehtonen truly did feel the heat this past offseason and responded rather well to the pressure. Now his name could be tossed in the running for one of the Central Division’s two goaltenders.

Not just because he is experiencing a terrific comeback after a rough outing last season, but because his numbers are hard to match amongst other Central Division goalies. When looking at basic statistics, Lehtonen is the second best in the Central in terms of save percentage, third in goals against average, fifth in wins, and eighth in games played.

Next: What Can The Dallas Stars Do With Their Defensive Problems?

If Lehtonen can keep it up, the 32-year-old could very well find himself accepting an invitation to the first All Star Game of his career. While it may not be so much overdue, it is definitely well-deserved.