Dallas Stars: Last Year’s Grade, Next Year’s Guess: Martin Hanzal

Last summer, the Dallas Stars signed Martin Hanzal to a contract in free agency.  Today, it’s his turn to be featured in our grade and guess series.

When the Dallas Stars signed Martin Hanzal, they were hoping for someone who could come in and strengthen the second-line center position. Instead, they ended up with a bit of a mess.

Last Season

Martin Hanzal’s 2017-18 Grade: D

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It should come as no surprise to fans that Hanzal’s getting a low grade for his play last season. He was given a three-year, $4.75M AAV contract and then proceeded to have arguably the worst season of his career. Part of that is because of injuries, but he also underperformed when he was actually playing.

His health was a question mark before he came to Dallas and he has yet to play a full 82-game season in his career. While in Dallas, he went on injured reserve three separate times and missed over half the season. His year ended when he needed back surgery and now he’s not projected to be back until November or December.

As with Methot’s grade, it’s hard to blame the injuries entirely on him. In this case, Jim Nill was fully aware of Hanzal’s medical history when he offered the contract. However, his play when he was healthy was far from what was expected of him.

Coming into last season, Hanzal was just over a point per game in his career, but last year, he dropped down to 0.26 points per game. He had 5 goals and 10 points over 38 games, which is fine for depth guys not making much but isn’t good enough for his contract or expectations. He also finished the season with a -14, the lowest non-Shore plus/minus on the team.

Next Season

Hanzal’s going to miss the start of next season because he’s still recovering from his surgery, something that will do him no favors with an already-annoyed fanbase. However, this surgery could help him stay healthier over the next two years of his contract once he’s healed.

When Hanzal’s healthy, he’s a regular on the special teams units, where he’s decent. If he can get back to where he was in previous seasons, he could be an improvement in those areas, as well as potentially provide a little bit more depth scoring than he did this year.

The problem is that even if he gets back to top form, Hanzal’s career numbers aren’t great. Unfortunately, there’s not much of a chance that he lives up to his contract.

Stop by tomorrow for Julius Honka’s grade and keep checking in throughout the month for the rest of the grades as we count down returning players in order of games played.