Dallas Stars: Player Power Rankings For Month of February

When Dallas Stars starter Ben Bishop took a puck to the face on the bench in a Kari Lehtonen start, the Stars were forced to recall a netminder from the American Hockey League’s Texas Stars. As Mike McKenna had received this promotion twice before this season, the vet was expected to get the call again, until Dallas announced they had recalled rookie Landon Bow.

Bow has been dynamite for the AHL squad, going 15-11-1 with a .903 save percentage and a goals against average of 2.87, which is strong in front of a suspect defensive core in Cedar Park. He got to sit on the bench and serve as Lehtonen’s backup after being undrafted out of junior hockey, so that’s a win.

Jason Dickinson has been 24th for three months in a row, and it is kind of sad because it really isn’t his fault. Dickinson can’t crack a lineup in which Brett Ritchie is on the top power play, and that has nothing to do with his own play.

Dickinson went scoreless in two February games, totalling five shots on goal, 24:31 time on ice, and a plus one. I really hope murmurs of a Dickinson trade don’t stop the Stars from utilizing this offensive force.

Dillon Heatherington’s job in his short Dallas Stars stints this year is to 1) be a decent defenseman and 2) line up a full-time job for the 2018-19 season. He impressed in January, and in one February game, the former Columbus Blue Jacket did the same.

He garnered his first career point with an assist against Pittsburgh, which helped his plus-minus reach +1 – it’s also just the second game in his career during which he didn’t take a penalty. I like Heatherington, and he could be a staple of the future Stars lineup (it helps when you’re tall and you play for a 117-year-old head coach).

From a team-first perspective, Antoine Roussel is doing a splendid job as one third of a very effective checking line. From an individual perspective, Roussel has just five goals and 10 assists, with just one February point.

I’m getting a little scared that our lovable Frenchman will be let go at the end of this season. On that note, I’m gonna wipe the tears off my keyboard really quickly.

WHEN MARC METHOT GETS HEALTHY, IT’S LIKE ACQUIRING A NEW PLAYER. WHEN MARC METHOT GETS HEALTHY, IT’S LIKE ACQUIRING A NEW PLAYER. WHEN MARC METHOT GETS HEALTHY, IT’S LIKE ACQUIRING A NEW PLAYER. WHEN MARC METHOT GETS HEALTHY, IT’S LIKE ACQUIRING A NEW PLAYER.

Yeah, and it also means the far superior Julius Honka sits for a guy with one point this season (came in February, but still). I like Methot’s gritty, 1990s style of defensive play, but I want to see consistency in the lineup out of a guy that costed us a future second-round pick.