Dallas Stars Player Power Rankings For Month of November

Blackout Dallas brings back the Dallas Stars power rankings with its rundown of the best Stars players of the month of November.

One thing that’s great about making these power rankings is classifying players. We’ve been so frustrated as fans with the constant uncertainty and variability of the Dallas Stars – mostly on something as simple as whether they’re a good team or a bad one – that it’s quietly relaxing to analyze individual players and their contributions.

Other struggles include being ineffective away from American Airlines Center, having little depth scoring at even strength, and the Jamie Oleksiak/Julius Honka debacle.

We’re not even two months into the season and we are practically drained from an emotional standpoint. We deserve some sort of assurance.

Fortunately, we still have a lot to be glad about. Jamie Benn is healthy, Tyler Seguin is a sensational two-way force, Ben Bishop has solidified a goaltending spot that has ailed the Dallas Stars for a decade, and Alexander Radulov is essentially Sergei Zubov playing right wing.

More from Blackout Dallas

• Dallas Stars Traverse City Tournament: Who had great performances?
• Grushnikov and Stankoven lead Dallas Stars to 6-3 win over Columbus
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• Burn the tapes: Dallas Stars prospects lose 5-1 to Toronto Maple Leafs
• Dallas Stars look to continue success today against the Maple Leafs

This and many other things have made being a Stars fan through 20+ games somewhat enjoyable.

Anyways, I should probably shut up and get to the power rankings. If you’re unfamiliar with the format, last month’s power rankings is fit with a decent explanation of our method.

If you are familiar with it, sit back and disagree with us, then prepare to swear at me in the comments section.

Lastly, we like to have some fun with the power rankings, and not all of the listings will come with actual analysis.

Humor is the best treatment for the sickness of sadness, so stick around. Let’s get this underway.

Mike McKenna is a veteran goaltender who has backstopped the American Hockey League’s Texas Stars for the better part of the early season. McKenna was recalled by the Stars after longtime goalie Kari Lehtonen was absent on paternity leave.

In short, our little buddy got to watch a couple of games from the bench, wearing a cool hat in the process. Even if that ranks last on this list, McKenna lived a dream a lot of fans have.

I’m thankful for living in the area of Austin, Texas, so I can watch Jason Dickinson actually play. The former first-round NHL Draft selection played four games with the Dallas Stars, averaging just 11:25 time on ice per game.

Dickinson is a highly-skilled player who is behind a 30-year-old with two points all season long on the depth chart because Jim Nill hates utilizing his prospect core. It’s not Jason’s fault that he’s this low, because if we released a Texas Stars power rankings, he would be top-three.

Sorry, FanSided is a family site that strictly prohibits explicit language. On to the next player.

I would love to talk about the glorious things Julius Honka can do, including the stretch passes, puck handling, slick skating, and wonderfully elusive moves he can pull off with and without the puck. Ken Hitchcock would prefer I do not, apparently.

We went into this season thinking Honka was a potential Calder Trophy candidate, now I get excited with he plays more than 14 minutes a night. Thanks, “OLD SCHOOL HOCKEY, GRIT AND DETERMINATION,” you really messed up.

Marc Methot played just three games in November and didn’t register a point, so why is he higher than other players? Our penalty kill looks more like a broken television trying to display a picture than the behemoth 5v4 unit it was with Methot.

If you were to ask the penalty kill group who the most valuable player on this list is, Methot would be number-one. It’s like that Indianapolis Colts season where Peyton Manning got hurt and they lost like 200 games.

The Stars’ backup goaltender has played well this season, and in November ranks 20th, as he was gone on paternity leave for a little while this month. Which is fine, because a guy whose name is pronounced the same way was way more important recently.

Kari Lehtonen assisted in the production of a Dallas Stars win, an overtime loss, and, you know, an infant child this November. Congrats to the Lehtonen family on three standings points and a human being.

I laughed when the Calgary Flames signed Troy Brouwer to a four-year deal worth, on average, $4.5 million per season. I’m sorry, Flames fans, for I now know the error of my ways.

19th-ranked Martin Hanzal has been pretty bad, and his contract makes that fact worse. He’s killing penalties and winning faceoffs, at least, but he’s also been a walking injured-reserve list.

Remi Elie is a tremendously streaky player. If he was killing penalties, winning loose pucks, and putting the puck in the net at even strength, he’d be higher up these power rankings. But right now, he’s cold, eating up healthy scratches, and looking more like a raccoon with a mayonnaise jar on its head.

At 18th, Remi has work to do. At the very least, he’s gorgeous and he has that going for him.

Tyler Pitlick was much less effective on the scoresheet in November than he was in October (though he was day-to-day with an injury early this month) His four points in November were all assists, aided by playing on the high-energy checking line of Antoine Roussel, Radek Faksa, and himself.

From his salary to his deployment, you can’t ask for much from Pitlick. Just hope he skates until his legs fall off – but not literally, he’s had two ACL surgeries in his career. You know what, forget that.

Brett Ritchie is a massive, rock-solid power forward with a great shot that he loves to release early and often. The problem is, he hasn’t really been that useful this season, and November was a goalless month for #25.

What’s good is that Ritchie is due for a few goals, and he could start to elevate his game if he sees just one fly through the goaltender. What’s not good is that I made a bet with a friend that Ritchie would score 25 goals; I’m way behind in that regard.

Mattias Janmark is a boss. That’s a sentence that needs no additional conveying or explaining, but here goes: The Swede shouldn’t be playing hockey at all and has played every single Dallas Stars game this season. Though his production was not as flamboyant as in October, I would mark a four goal, six point November as a success for a guy playing with a knee and a half essentially.

He is perseverance and confidence personified. Thank you for taking Erik Cole and giving us this unicorn in return, Detroit.

The leader in penalty minutes in the month of November for the Dallas Stars was Antoine Roussel, to the surprise of literally nobody who has ever watched the physical Frenchman play. Quietly, Roussel was Dallas’s sixth-leading scorer with three goals and four assists in the month.

Roussel is a magnificent and versatile forward. Remember when a measurable about of people wanted us to keep Cody Eakin over Antoine in the June Expansion Draft? Pepperidge Farm remembers.

If Jason Spezza gets hot, watch out, National Hockey League. For once “Jason Spezza’s back” will be a fun and uplifting sentence to say. Spezza netted four beautiful and all too necessary goals in November, and looks to be on the verge of contributing at something similar to 2015-16’s level.

He looks increasingly comfortable shifting from wing to center and to wing again, and is finding time on the first power play unit with the likes of Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn once more. We’re quickly seeing a transition from “Spezza is old” to the “Spezza of old,” and there’s a big difference.

The biggest power rankings jump belongs to Gemel Smith, who never fails to put a smile on my face. Smith hadsix even-strength points and posted a whopping 54.1 Corsi For Percentage in his November, continually climbing up the Stars depth chart with his blazing speed, deceptive puck skills, and intriguing upper-body strength.

The problem with Smith being this high is that this article is over 2,500 words. I could write twice that about Smith if I felt like it. If you’re reading this, Gemel… hello, I love you so much.

That really cool photo at the top of this slide is Radek Faksa scoring a goal, one of three on the night and a team-high seven in the month of November. If you hadn’t heard already, Faksa is a certifiable, stone cold killer. With his ice time rising constantly, the Czech first-rounder is giving Ken Hitchcock and the Stars no reason to stop promoting him.

More From Blackout Dallas: Faksa’s Hat Trick Makes History In Stars’ Win Over Vegas

Years ago, Faksa suffered a season-ending shoulder injury and was dismissed by many as a bust. Now, Faksa shows his undying willingness to improve and his relentless battling ability as a future All-Star in Dallas. Fak ’em up.

The good thing about this Dallas Stars team is the premier talent atop the lineup. This allows Jamie Benn, a world class player, to not be the only player contributing (see: 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs). His November featured four goals, three assists, and just generally being a cool dude.

The League’s great players make an impact even if they aren’t scoring goals and racking up assists.  Benn was 51.9 CF% in the season’s second month and has been shifted to center, away from Tyler Seguin, to help balance the scoring throughout the lineup. That’s a freaking captain, y’all.

For the next six years, all Ben Bishop has to do to succeed for the Dallas Stars is be somewhat decent. That, at the very least, would be an upgrade from the disasters in the Dallas crease over the past decade. It only helps when the 6’7″ American has been bordering on elite.

Bishop was 6-5-0 in November with a .905 save percentage and a goals against average of 2.71. If he turns into the two-time Vezina Trophy finalist he was with the Tampa Bay Lightning, I would be afraid to be in another team’s camp. What’s also cool is that there’s a little town in Nueces County called Bishop, so he and Seguin have Texas towns bearing their names. Thanks for reading my unnecessary nonsense.

Below is a list of all the defensemen in the National Hockey League that, by the date of writing this, have more points than Norris Trophy contender John Klingberg:

1. literally nobody

Alexander Radulov is as good as he is because he’s accustomed to the cold atmosphere of a hockey rink after being born on a distant planet far away from the sun, on which the average temperature is about -700 degrees. On a team with few playmaking wingers, Radulov has become both a fan favorite and a coach’s pet with his ability to just take over games at will.

Radulov tied for the lead in points with 12 in November, coupled with his power play prowess and wondrous physicality. Radulov’s point total might consist of three times the amount of teeth he has by 2017-18’s end.

Tyler Seguin is playing all kinds of situations at different positions with different linemates and still producing like one of the best centers in hockey (because he is). His November featured six goals, six assists, and a beautiful crowd-pumping hat trick against the Calgary Flames in Dallas that might have blown the roof off of the AAC.

Next: What We Learned About The Stars In November 2017

Seguin is the uncontested number-one asset for the Dallas Sta- wait wait wait hold on, fam…

Alright, I guess that’s fair.