Dallas Stars Young Defensemen Will Turn New Leaf Under Ken Hitchcock

The Dallas Stars’ blue line turned in quite an atrocious 2016-17 campaign. Despite what you might think about the young defenders, they will finally have a chance to reach their true potential next year under Ken Hitchcock.

Whenever something goes wrong, there has to be change. That’s the stipulation that sports fans live under.

If a team begins struggling or suffers a long drought, the head coach typically needs to be replaced or the front office needs a shakeup. If a player struggles for a consistent period, it may be time to trade them away or simply not re-sign them and give the spot to another player that could help change the landscape.

It’s how things go in the sporting world. Just a constant refreshing, like drawing up a master plan on an Etch-A-Sketch and then erasing it at the end of the year to devise a whole new plan.

The Dallas Stars had plenty go wrong for them in the past year. A 34-37-11 record, a 30-point drop-off from the 2015-16 season, 11th place in the Western Conference, and an early offseason to stew over all that didn’t go their way.

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Two factors that led them to such a wrongful season were the inconsistent goaltending and the abysmal defense. They finished 29th in the NHL in goals against average at 3.17. The offense was unable to score their way out of problems and the bad news just piled on from there.

In an attempt to mask confusion, you may have caught yourself blaming certain members of the defense for their inefficiencies at one point or another during the season. Stephen Johns, Jamie Oleksiak, and Patrik Nemeth seem to be the three candidates that were accused a fair amount as the season went on, though every Stars’ defender received a verbal beating every once in a while.

Going into the offseason, they were still pinpointed by Stars fans as players who needed to “go,” whether it was to Vegas, through trade, or simply by not receiving a new contract.

But that’s not a great idea. In fact, these players don’t deserve the blame for last season’s woes and still have a lot to offer the team.

The fact of the matter is that these three young defenders are not bad defensemen; they were just used in the wrong ways.

Under head coach Lindy Ruff, the Dallas Stars adhered to a “high risk, high reward” system that thrived on offensive pressure. With offense being the primary goal, defense was swept under the rug a lot of the time.

Johns, Oleksiak, and Nemeth are three of the Stars’ biggest defenders and are most assuredly considered “defensive defensemen.” They aren’t expected to put up 40 points a season like John Klingberg or Julius Honka. That’s what the “offensive defensemen” do. Points don’t matter when it comes to these big-bodied defenders.

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And luckily for the Stars, these defenders will get a new opportunity to show off their true skills in the 2017-18 season. With Ken Hitchcock coming in as head coach, the Dallas Stars will be transformed from an offensive-first team to a defensive-first team.

Hitchcock is known for his defensive supremacy, something that Dallas has struggled to find over the past few years. With a defensive mindset, players like Johns and Oleksiak will be able to reach for their full potential. They’re hard-hitting defenders who grind out minutes on both the forecheck and back check. With Hitchcock behind the bench, they will finally get an opportunity to set up in the defensive zone and show off their talents.

None of the Dallas Stars’ defensemen are “bad,” per say. Some have just been stuck in the wrong system for years now and their performances have suffered because of it.

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With Hitch, all of that will change. That will, however, mean that there are no more excuses. But something tells me that this young defensive core is ready for the change and ready to finally show what they can do.