Dallas Stars Discover Drive In Least Likely Places

After some setbacks that could have been season-dooming, the Dallas Stars are finding themselves nearly assured of a playoff spot thanks to the extra ambition of some underrated yet invaluable team players.

Leadership can be such a fuzzy concept. When the chips are down and things are starting to look bad, sometimes you just can’t tell who is going to come out leading the pack when the smoke clears.

For the Dallas Stars, last season’s leadership question was a bit more cut and dry. After a heartbreak of a season in which the Stars never did get up and running on all cylinders, Captain Jamie Benn metaphorically hoisted the team onto his back and, with the help of his scoring buddy Tyler Seguin, helped pace the Stars through an exhilarating season’s end, which earned him the Art Ross.

That was in the midst of injuries, exhaustion, and other obstacles. All things that the Dallas Stars are still familiar with this season.

But things are a little different now. Hovering consistently around the top of the league standings, the Stars have come a long way. But for a while this season, it was unclear who would step up to the plate to help carry the Stars through a nail-biting dry spell.

Thankfully, many players stepped up to this task and kept the team afloat while its usual heavy-hitters were more or less MIA. And the fact that the Stars were able to find solid, successful leadership from some pretty unlikely sources bodes well for this team’s chances come playoff time. In these players, Dallas has not only depth in talent but depth in direction.

Jason Spezza, of course, has been a consistent and dependable force. He was a valuable team player before, but in the last month he has stepped up and made goals happen exactly when they needed to. With ten goals in his last ten games, Spezza is moving up the charts for league best, is the third points leader on the team, and is proving he knows how to work the same net-front magic we’re accustomed to from Benn and Seguin.

Ales Hemsky, too, has become one of those unexpected go-to players. After some reparative hip surgery over the summer, he’s come back faster and stronger than ever, and has really brought some energy recently. Not only did he seal the deal with an empty netter against Chicago on Friday, but he’s generated some stunning scoring opportunities which just keep paying off.

Alex Goligoski has the fifth highest assist numbers for the Stars. Considering that Benn, Klingberg, Seguin, and Sharp are the only players ahead of this defenseman, you know that he has a penchant not only for being in the right place at the right time, but also for noticing when others are, too.

Speaking of defensemen, Kris Russell and Stephen Johns, I think, count as half notable team players and half miracles. When Nill made the trade for Russell, he had no clue that the Dallas Stars’ defense situation would go so south, so fast. With Jordie Benn, John Klingberg, and Jason Demers all out for differing periods of time, the addition of first Russell and then Johns from the AHL has provided the Stars with a bit of dependable, physical blue line play that has injected the confidence back into their game.

More stars: Dallas Stars' Defensive Free Agents: Alex Goligoski

And there are other players, too, who deserve honorable mentions. Mattias Janmark, Colton Sceviour, Valeri Nichushkin, and recently Cody Eakin have all had their shining (and some maybe slightly more embarrassing) moments that have helped the Stars keep their heads above water.

Now, with both Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin seemingly on the road to recovery after their alarming slumps, the Dallas Stars seem poised and ready to fire from all angles and push into playoffs this year a much more rounded, determined team than they have been in seasons past.

Next: Dallas Stars Keys To Postseason Success

Thanks to the dependability of the Dallas Stars’ team players, we’ve got depth and reliability developed enough to take us, oh, I don’t know- perhaps to the stars and back.