Dallas Stars Player Power Rankings For Month of October

Jason Dickinson gets an honorable mention here. He didn’t play a single minute for the Stars in October, but the young forward who was formerly taken in the first round of the 2013 Draft received a promotion to the Dallas Stars from his AHL stomping grounds of the Texas Stars.

Dickinson will bring size, speed, and skill to a Stars lineup that he almost cracked coming out of training camp. He has been a reliable force both ways in his short NHL stints over the past two seasons, hopefully getting an extended look at staying up with the big boys this time.

Adam Cracknell had been though so much before coming to Dallas, where last season, he posted 11 goals and 16 assists. Cracknell didn’t experienced the same success under the new coaching regime and looked out of place, therefore Dallas Stars forward Adam Cracknell is no more.

It really feels unfair to put Cracknell here, but rules are rules. Cracknell played one game for Dallas, had two shots, and played nine minutes before being placed on waivers and claimed by the New York Rangers organization. The current Hartford WolfPack forward was always the first on the ice in practice and was truly inspiring as a Dallas Star, even if he couldn’t skate to save his own life.

Jamie Oleksiak is struggling and showing no signs of turning things around, so that’s a clear sign for moving him, right? Nah, let’s let the 6’7″ dude who skates like he’s falling into mud grab himself a spot in the top-six!

Jamie Oleksiak is a tall Jyrki Jokipakka and it cannot be said any other way. Why he’s still playing, or even on the Dallas Stars is beyond me. Maybe he has some embarrassing pictures of Ken Hitchcock and Jim Nill somewhere…

Greg Pateryn has weirdly been both a pleasant surprise and the perfect extra defenseman. Pateryn sat for the entire month of October up until recently, then immediately started playing 20 minutes a night. That’s a testament to his mental capacity and his professionalism, and the Dallas Stars should be thankful.

Pateryn’s ceiling is very low as an NHL defenseman (and he’ll never be our precious Jordie Benn), but he has been great in a small role. As a guy that has been through a lot of healthy scratches and demotions as a hockey player, he deserves it.

Julius Honka should be higher on this list and I will forever be salty that his potential Calder Trophy season has been destroyed. Honka has just been loaned to the Texas Stars in order to get him playing again, BECAUSE WE’RE USING JAMIE OLEKSIAK OVER HIM.

Hopefully Honka is in position to make the impact he’s able to make offensively and transitionally later into the season. His position on this list will be and should be far higher as the 2017-18 season progresses.

Remi Elie is very fast. As a youthful bottom-six, checking line forward, the scoring output has not yet been there for the former Erie Otter, but Remi Elie is very fast. The Stars inserted Elie into the lineup, as opposed to the slower Cracknell, after his speed dominated the American Hockey League.

Elie won’t be a pure scorer at the highest level of hockey, but provides speed and intensity on every single shift. There’s a lot to look forward to from Elie and the rest of the young Stars prospect core. Plus, Remi is absolutely beautiful.

Gemel Smith is a complete NHLer and deservedly so. Smith has puck skills, great strength, quick strides, and speed to burn. All from a guy that, according to a lot of different NHL experts, has surprised many just by playing for the Dallas Stars.

There’s endless potential with Smith as a reliable, speedy, deceptive forward. Smith was recent re-inserted into the Stars lineup after making the team out of training camp, and with his speed and scoring chance generation, he hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down.

Antoine Roussel has zero goals and one assist this season. When you’re killing penalties and skating your legs off every single shift, that’s fine, but you’d expect more out of a veteran of six NHL seasons. Roussel isn’t a scorer, but had the seventh-best points per game rate on the Stars last season.

Roussel has to chip in offensively and increase the Stars’ depth scoring output. If not, he becomes what he was before – just some super fast French dude about to break every bone in your body. That’s okay, too, but score a goal, Rous.

This season, Martin Hanzal has been one of the least effective players in the NHL for the money being sent his way. Hanzal has one goal (an empty netter, seriously), and zero assists in 11 games this season. 17th isn’t a position in the power rankings you want for a guy you’re paying $4.5 million per year.

Hanzal has been great otherwise. The main piece of the top-ranked penalty kill in hockey and a nearly-unbeatable faceoff guy, Hanzal has done his job. Still, you would like to see more point production from a guy getting that paycheck, especially on a team starving for 5v5 scoring.

It’s hard to watch Brett Ritchie’s heavy-shooting, rumble and tumble style of hockey on a Dallas Stars team that plays fast and makes plays before shooting the puck. Ritchie doesn’t really fit anywhere on the ice, or anywhere in the lineup. Brett Ritchie also doesn’t care at all, and is gonna rip pucks on net until the earth explodes.

Hopefully the guy that netted 16 goals last season, earning himself protection from the expansion draft in the process, ramps up his offensive output. Two points in 12 games isn’t enough out of Ritchie – it’s time to put your big boy… um, Britches on.

Stephen Johns’ burst onto the scene in late-2015-16 gave everyone who follows the team an unbelievable sense of hope and potential with the 6’4″ righty. Maybe he won’t be as great as advertised then, but Johns has bounced back effectively from last year’s down season.

Johns, currently out battling a concussion, is playing 18 minutes a night, taking on big PK minutes, and driving offense at all times (55.3 CF%). At 25, there’s still a lot to be seen out of Johns, and I like what he’s shown early on this season. Let’s make that trade look even worse for our friends in Chicago.

Ah, the curious case of Stars center Jason Spezza. Spezza has been relegated to the second power play unit, playing 13 minutes a night IF HE’S LUCKY. It’s extremely worrisome to think of this version of Spezza as the new normal.

Spezza has still been relatively decent for Stars forwards; his five assists is sixth amongst Dallas Stars centers and wingers, although he is still searching for his first goal of the season. Spezza looks slow and out of shape, but remains a smart player with great hands. Hopefully he comes bac- wait don’t say “back,” that wouldn’t be fair.

I have always wanted to see how Kari Lehtonen would perform with a goalie on the Dallas Stars roster who is clearly better than him. It’s safe to say that with Ben Bishop in the room, Lehtonen is the backup, but one of the better reserve goalies in hockey. His experience and dependability will pay dividends later in the season.

His 1-3 record is not indicative of his performance this season. Lehtonen has appeared in relief of Bishop of twice and has started two games, looking increasingly better as time goes on. After his performance against Calgary on Friday night, it looks like the fan favorite is back to his winning ways in the Stars’ crease.

Marc Methot is not an impressive offensive player, but is a flawless complimentary player for guys like that. Methot has seen ice time with Honka, John Klingberg, and others, being the sturdy and reliable blueliner his reputation suggests he is.

Methot has zero points this year on a blueline that has generated a good amount of offense, but that’s much less worrisome than relaxing. Methot is a calming presence with great situational awareness, exactly what Jim Nill brought him in to be. If he’s playing 20 minutes every game and being a force shorthanded, it’s a win.

I don’t want to tell everyone that Dan Hamhuis has been quietly good this season; nobody will believe me. Aside from a bad game or two, Hamhuis has given the Stars reliability and three-zone responsibility. His possession metrics don’t check out (and I’m normally an analytic believer), but Hamhuis has had a decent-to-good impact on the Dallas Stars this season.

If you don’t like Hamhuis, it’s the last year of his contract with the Stars, so take solace in that. If you like winning hockey teams, take pride in Dan Hamhuis surveying the blueline nightly. His legs aren’t the same, but his five points in 10 games alongside Jamie Oleksiak is impressive to think about.

Radek Faksa is playing against the opposition’s top line, creating offense everywhere, centering the checking line of the Dallas Stars, and winning over 54% of his faceoffs – but it feels like nobody is talking about him. Faksa is still flying the “Future Selke Trophy Winner” flag planted after his 2016 debut.

Two goals and three assists, all at even strength for a team that [literally] cannot buy a 5v5 goal, accumulating just two penalty minutes. You’ll find players on the Stars that are more talented than Radek Faksa, but never someone more consistently great. Faksa is on pace to play over 158 shorthanded minutes this season as a defensive center on an impenetrable penalty kill.

New Patrick Eaves! Tyler Pitlick wears the same number #18 and has been just as effective as Eaves in a different role. Pitlick is providing underrated skill and tons of speed on the Stars’ checking line with Roussel and Faksa, culminating into two goals and two assists in 12 games with the Stars.

Tyler Pitlick is making a small (I mean, by NHL standards, of course) $1 million this year to be one of the better speed and possession forwards on the club early on. Little was expected out of Pitlick this season, but he has made a huge splash on the Stars roster despite starting over 70% of his shifts in the Dallas defensive zone.

Don’t watch Esa Lindell highlights from last season, friends, they are a black hole of sadness. This year’s Finnish defenseman, though, is a completely different Esa Lindell. Three goals, two assists, effective time on both sides of the special teams, and the reemergence of his top-pair potential is just the start for Lindell.

His decision making under Ken Hitchcock has improved mightily, and his game from a physicality standpoint is ameliorated. Esa Lindell is no longer the liability wearing #23 last season – Lindell is now a strong, terrific three-zone handyman.

Nothing can ever be said enough about Devin Shore’s superb start to the 2017-18 season. This little chubby faced dude is playing on the first power play, defending late leads, and providing versatility up and the down the lineup. It’s weird to think Devin Shore is carrying his own line, but I promise, that’s the case.

Shore has six assists in 12 games and ranks sixth in scoring for the Stars despite being held goalless. His five power play assists gives the Stars hope for Shore as a 5v4 super-weapon, something the 24-year-old can be. Shore is playing almost 17 minutes per game and has been great up and down the lineup.

Mattias Janmark is playing hockey for the Dallas Stars in 2017, and that’s a miracle in itself. Janmark being as amazing as he has been is not only miraculous, but it speaks to his never-say-die demeanor. The Swede has seven points in 12 games, a fiery start to his first dozen games since the 2015-16 playoffs.

Janmark is a do-it-all utilityman for the Stars on a team with few consistent depth players. His role far exceeds “guy nursing lingering injury” – if you just turn on a Stars game and watch, you wouldn’t know he was hurt. Mattias Janmark is leaving his Mattias Jan… mark.

An elite presence. A number-one defenseman. A wrecking ball of three-zone speed and skill. A dude that literally can’t stop smiling. John freaking Klingberg is the best defensive the Dallas Stars have had since Sergei Zubov wore green and gold for 12 years and he showed it in October.

Klingberg has three goals and a team-high eight assists in 12 games, while playing an average of 24:41 per game. He leads the team in skater time on ice, blocked shots, and shot attempt differential. He’s manning the top power play unit and holding it down on the penalty kill. He’s the complete player he doesn’t get credit for.

Ask any Stars fan what the biggest problem over the last few years is and they’ll tell you it’s goaltending. Well, scratch that, any rationally thinking Stars fans. Some people still blame Alex Goligoski for stuff. Anyways, Ben Bishop has been a savior in the Stars’ crease this season after Jim Nill signed him to a six-year off-season deal.

Bishop is 6-2-0 with a save percentage of .920 and a goals against average of 2.51. The veteran goalie is stealing games for the Stars and being a guiding light for the young defensemen around him, backstopping the Stars better than any goalie since Marty Turco.

As we said on the Twitter account recently, Alexander Radulov eats nails soaked in gasoline and drinks molten lava. He’s the toughest, most enigmatic Stars player by a mile, and his ability to straight up take over games has been evident early on this.

Radulov, formerly the leading scorer in Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League, has posted four goals and six assists as part of an electric and borderline unstoppable top line. The sky is the limit for Alexander Radulov and his helmet that he doesn’t know how to wear.

Tyler Seguin: Offensive Specialist is a player of the past. Please welcome complete three-zone hockey superstar Tyler Seguin. Ken Hitchcock has transformed Seguin into one of the premier two-way centers in hockey without completing destroying his offensive skills, which have resulted in seven goals and five assists in 12 games.

You’re always going to get highlight-reel goals and beautiful playmaking from Tyler Seguin, but the 26-year-old is also out defending late leads and killing penalties with the best of them. To have a complete player like Seguin on the squad before he even hits his “prime” as a hockey player excites me like little else does.

At the top, but not alone there, is Jamie Benn. You could tell from Dallas Stars training camp on that this dude would be tearing the league up this season. He’s a physical beast and a playmaking wonder who finds himself fully healthy for the first time in awhile, and boy, has he been all we could have imagined.

Benn is the Stars’ leading scorer in 2017-18, with seven goals and seven assists in 12 games, an 82-game pace of 95 points. For any other player on the roster that seems staggering and ridiculous, but healthy Jamie Benn can reach that and still has room to grow. Benn is the league’s best player at his position, left wing, and can’t be stopped in the early going.

Next: Recapping The Highs And Lows Of October For Stars

There you have it. Nearly 3,000 words later, the October Dallas Stars power rankings have concluded. Stay up to date on Dallas Stars news, analysis, and game recaps on Blackout Dallas as the season heads into November.