The regular season starts in one week for the Dallas Stars and there is still plenty to be sorted out. One of the big decisions has to do with which player will help round out the bottom line on offense.
Hockey is a team sport. Just like any other professional sport, one cannot win and succeed on their own. It takes a dedicated and capable team to reach paramount success.
In the sport of hockey, that means that one player cannot win the Stanley Cup by himself. Neither can one line or pairing. It takes 19 guys on the ice doing their jobs. From the top line to the bottom line and the top pairing to the bottom pairing, everyone has a role.
The Dallas Stars can attest to this. Over the past few seasons, the Stars always seem to fall a few players short of eternal glory. Their defense might be thin, their goaltending might be inconsistent, or their offense might be lopsided. Whatever the case is, there’s always something holding them back.
And that is what GM Jim Nill has been hard at work trying to fix since the 2013-14 season. Nill has added some of the best talent across the league over the past few summers and has brought a new culture to Dallas hockey. Tyler Seguin, Jason Spezza, Patrick Sharp, and Johnny Oduya are just a few of the names that have arrived through a Nill transaction.’
Dallas Stars
But this past offseason might be Nill’s biggest summer yet. In a span of three months, Nill found a way to rope in head coach Ken Hitchcock, goaltender Ben Bishop, defenseman Marc Methot, and forwards Martin Hanzal and Alexander Radulov. While none of these players are “Seguin-caliber,” each one fills a specific void and brings an instantaneous boost to the club. Their talents are hard to argue against and help carry the Stars to a new level.
And now, the Stars have some overstocking problems across the roster. It’s a good problem to have, but needs to be fixed nonetheless.
Just about every Stars fan knows about the team’s defensive issues. After adding Methot, Dallas now has nine NHL-ready defenders to choose from. Only six can make the opening night starting roster, along with one or two healthy scratches. Either way, at least one defender has to be reassigned or traded before the season begins. There are plenty of ways to speculate about this, but we’re not here to talk about the defense.
Instead, we’re going to talk about the offense. Did you know that the Dallas Stars have an overstocking in the forwards group that’s just as significant as the defense?
The Stars are known for their firepower offense, especially on the front lines. Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin, and Alexander Radulov are the projected top line for opening night. That’s a scary combination, especially if the trio can click early. On the second line, names like Mattias Janmark, Jason Spezza, and Brett Ritchie are likely to be found.
As you continue down the ranks, there is a diverse range of experience and skill that the Stars can choose from. But they only have six spots to work with and have a lot of forwards fighting for the spots.
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Some guarantees for the Opening Night roster (barring any injury or significant happening) in the bottom six include Martin Hanzal, Antoine Roussel, Devin Shore, and Radek Faksa. That gives the Stars two spots left to round out the offense.
And, as mentioned above, each player is significant to the team’s success. So the Stars have to make the right choices.
The candidates for these 11th and 12th spots on offense include Adam Cracknell, Tyler Pitlick, Curtis McKenzie, Remi Elie, Jason Dickinson, Gemel Smith, and Roope Hintz. Who will Ken Hitchcock go with for the opening lineup?
Each of these players comes from a different background. Hintz has never played in professional (NHL or AHL) hockey, so he may not be the best assumption for a spot. But he has impressed up to this point and is still on the Dallas roster, so anything can happen.
Smith, Dickinson, and Elie all spent chunks of time on the Dallas roster last year. As the season took a turn for the worst, their roles were expanded in the lineup, and they answered the bell. All three are young assets and valuable pieces of the Stars’ future. Did they earn their spot in the starting lineup with last year’s performance? Or are they headed back to the AHL?
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Then we have McKenzie, Cracknell, and Pitlick. McKenzie and Cracknell played the role of 12th forward for a good portion of last season. Both served well in the role and rebounded strongly when put back in the lineup, especially Cracknell. Pitlick is one of the Stars’ newest assets and has proven to be rather valuable as a depth forward throughout the preseason.
Two of these seven will make the opening night roster. There will likely be one healthy scratch on offense, meaning one of these players will start the season in the press box for Dallas. But what happens to the other four players?
At this point, it seems as though McKenzie, Cracknell, and Pitlick are the three probable candidates. All three have significant NHL experience and are likely too developed to return to the AHL.
But this is not the final decision, and Hitchcock is known for being unpredictable with his lineup. Each of the seven candidates offers Dallas a new perspective, and it all depends on which ones are chosen.
In the Stars’ preseason finale on Saturday night in Minnesota, Hitchcock will likely be going with a young lineup. Expect all seven of these names to be in the starting lineup, fighting for those final spots.
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This will be an interesting battle to watch that carries over into opening night. The 11th and 12th forward spots are just as important as the 1st and 2nd spots, so picking the right players is important. Depth scoring will help carry the Dallas Stars offense this year, so it’s crucial that they pick the best players for the job.
Only one week.