5. Greg Pateryn
Not many NHL players can say that they went through what Greg Pateryn has gone through since joining the Dallas Stars a little over a year ago.
After being traded to Dallas by the Montreal Canadiens in February 2017, Pateryn became a bit of an isolated project. He played a minor role in the end of the 2016-17 season and entered the 2017-18 season under a new head coaching staff with one year left on his contract.
Following training camp, Pateryn was faced with a tough uphill battle. He was labeled as the eighth defenseman in the system on opening night, with Jamie Oleksiak and Julius Honka standing between him and a starting spot.
But here we are at the end of the season, and Pateryn is in an entirely new situation. He played in 73 consecutive games to close out the season and proved to be one of the Stars’ most consistent defensemen.
“He’s a real pro,” Hitchcock said of Pateryn back in November. “He could have taken it the wrong way because he was placed at 8 or 9 at the end of training camp. But he stayed there, did all of the extra work and he worked hard with Rick and went to film sessions. He acted and behaved like a 5/6. He didn’t give up or get discouraged when he was at 8/9 and then when he got in, he stabilized a pair.”
Pateryn posted one goal and 12 assists on the year, including a +6 rating. All of those numbers were career highs.
But he’s a defensive defenseman, so scoring stats aren’t really his forte. Let’s talk about what he did in the defensive end instead.
No. 29 had a career year in a lot of categories. He posted 155 hits, skated an average of 19:37 per game, and played heavy minutes on the penalty kill. He was aggressive on the back check, constantly hounded the puck carrier, and blocked 148 shots on the season. Pateryn wasn’t afraid to give up the body and did anything he had to in order to shut down an offensive rush.
Even though he digressed a bit down the final stretch, he turned in the best year of his career. His defensive skills improved significantly under the new coaching staff and he helped make up one of the Stars’ most consistent defensive pairings.
To start the season as an 8/9 and end the year as a 3/4 is pretty incredible for a guy that hadn’t played a complete NHL season up to this year. That’s not too shabby for a 27-year-old.