Dallas Stars Whittle Down To-Do List

There are a few items left on the Dallas Stars’ to-do list that they could come close to crossing off this season.

I’m a big fan of making lists. My desks throughout my educational career were always littered with post-it notes of various sizes and colors, lined and unlined, for me to use to keep up with my many lists.

Lists of the things I needed to accomplish that day, grocery store lists, lists of leisure reading I wanted to do over the summer (which, come to think of, is probably one list that never got more than a few items crossed off it).

Either way, a big part of my reliance on lists has to do with the fact that lists are oftentimes precursors to efficient game plans. You have to take stock of all the moving parts in order to diagnose an error in the machine, right?

The Dallas Stars have done a pretty good job over the last few seasons of crossing things (in parts or in whole) off the list.

If the Stars have got defense, offense, and goaltending on their to-do list, they’ve addressed each item in some way, but still have a ways to go. For each part, they still have some areas to address before they can cross each thing off their list, breathe a sigh of relief, and call it a day (and finally chuck all their used post-it notes. Or maybe that’s just me).

For goaltending, the Stars have come a long ways. By bringing in Antti Niemi and new coaching staff and instituting the tandem goalie set-up, the Stars were able to help Kari Lehtonen aspire to a much better performing season and keep both goalies from getting too taxed mentally or physically.

Jim Nill has said that he doesn’t plan on getting rid of goalies, but there is a lot of drive among fans to see the Dallas Stars bring in a goalie like Ben Bishop or Marc-Andre Fleury. Considering that Dallas has traded away a past prime pick in Jack Campbell, they could be on the hunt for more depth in their goaltending. However, Philippe Desrosiers is also a promising prospect.

For the Stars to feel confident and rest easy in their goaltending this season, they will need to improve upon what they started last season. Increased dependability on the part of both Niemi and Lehtonen will be mandatory, whether or not the Stars make moves to bring more talent to the team.

In the area of offense, the Stars have been blessed. Over the past several years, trades from Jim Nill and well-cultivated players from Texas have brought a richness to Dallas’ offense that will keep them looking good on paper for many seasons to come.

However, there were rough patches last season in which scoring seemed the most difficult thing in the world for some of the Stars’ top forwards. Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin saw less action than they had in the scramble at the end of the season before last. Their line combination with Patrick Sharp didn’t create as much sustainable electricity as fans would have liked, either.

I would consider last season a bit of a melding season in which new players, both prospects and trades, were able to feel out the team. Likewise, Lindy Ruff got a lot of opportunities to shuffle lines and see which players worked well together.

This season, I would expect to see slightly more solidified lines, as the Stars have had a chance to see what works and what doesn’t. Saying goodbye to players like Vernon Fiddler and Colton Sceviour will give the Stars an opportunity to work in newer forwards to even further experiment with good fits.

So after players get a chance to rest and recover from injury in the offseason (looking at you, Seguin), the offense could be primed to used all its existing parts to come back stronger than ever.

And finally, that troublemaker, defense. The Dallas Stars have been chipping away at that item on the list for some time. Their defense this last season came closer to being good than it has in a while, but as well as know, it still could improve greatly.

must read: Could The Stars Be Bringing In Marc-Andre Fleury?

This offseason has seen a lot of moving and shaking for the Stars’ defense. That included saying goodbye to familiar faces like Alex Goligoski and Jason Demers, and opening up the doors for new talent like Dan Hamhuis.

In many ways, the Dallas Stars will be working with a half-clean slate. That could mean that this season, kind of like last season was for the offense, will be a figuring-out season for the Stars when it comes to the blue line.

They embrace a more aggressive, physical, intimidating style of play defensively (or aspired to) last season, and it seems like they will ride the line between this style and an offensively-focused style of defensive play.

I believe a balance can be struck between these and needs to be, but it could take the Stars a stretch of time to effectively find that balance between the core of players like Stephen Johns and John Klingberg. But once they do find it, can you imagine the potency of that defense?

Next: Dallas Stars Mailbag: An Intriguing Season Lies Ahead

Well, as far as I can tell, those are the main items on the 2016 Dallas Stars’ to do list. They’ve been chipping away at them for a while, but we could see them come closer this season to crossing these items off the list than they’ve ever been before.

In terms of goaltending, offense, and defense, what still remains on the Stars’ to-do list before they can pitch that post-it note in the trash and take a Stanley Cup? Let us know what you think in the comments!