Dallas Stars: Way Too Early Opening Night Defense Pairing Predictions
Two staples of the Dallas Stars’ defensive core left this summer in free agency, but there’s plenty of defensemen in the pipeline ready to take their place.
The Dallas Stars have had a defensive log jam for years now, but that’s been alleviated some with the trades of Patrik Nemeth and Jamie Oleksiak as well as the free agency departures of Greg Pateryn and Dan Hamhuis.
Yesterday, we took a look at a possible option for the Dallas Stars forwards, so now let’s move on to defense.
Esa Lindell – John Klingberg
Just like with the line of Jame Benn – Tyler Seguin – Alexander Radulov, there’s no reason to switch this pair up. Klingberg had a season that earned him a lot of Norris talk and he did it with Lindell across the ice. They’ve been together for the better part of two seasons now and they should stay partners for next season as well.
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While Klingberg is a more offensive defenseman, Lindell is versatile in a way that complements him perfectly. If they both can keep up the good work and potentially improve next season, it’ll go a long way towards helping the Dallas Stars make the playoffs.
Marc Methot – Erik Karlsson
I’m kidding. What I mean is:
Marc Methot – Stephen Johns
The defense is going to look a lot different next year with Pateryn and Hamhuis gone. If Methot stays healthy through the season this year, these two make a logical second pairing, allowing Honka and Johns to both play on their natural side by splitting them up.
Johns has improved greatly in the last year and deserves a proper spot in the line-up after the recent defense departures, but he’s still got his defensive liability moments. Methot missed over half of the season last year and he’s not a top pairing defenseman without his former partner in Ottawa. At this point, they’re both playing like second pairing guys, so it works out perfectly to have them here.
Miro Heiskanen – Julius Honka
Last year, both Nolan Patrick and Nico Hischier made their debuts with the teams that drafted them. Patrick had an alright season and Hischier had a much better one, but neither of them were at the level that top draft picks have been in the few years preceding. Instead of following their lead, Heiskanen elected to stay in Finland for another season, but he should cross the pond and make the roster this fall.
Honka has struggled over the past season, partially due to poor development on the Stars’ behalf and a lack of playing time as there were way too many defensemen in the system. He played with Heiskanen at Worlds this summer, though the team was eliminated early in the bracket. If they can find a good chemistry, they have a lot of potential.
Next: Way Too Early Opening Night Forward Lines Predictions
As the off-season winds down and training camp starts up, there’ll be a clearer picture of what the lines might look like, but for now, what do you think? What are your projected lines for opening night?