The Dallas Stars are 30 games into their 2018-19 regular season, and Julius Honka has been a rather minor factor in it all. Considering his lack of usage by the new coaching staff, what might his future with the organization look like?
Almost one year ago to the day, I was walking the streets of Philadelphia with a handful of friends from high school. We had saved up for a few months in preparation for a trip to Philadelphia and New York City to start our winter break from college. The main point of the trip was to catch the Dallas Stars as they paid a visit to the Flyers.
As we walked the cold streets a few hours before puck drop, we came across a handful of Stars fans in town for the occasion as well. I struck up a conversation with one in particular who wanted to talk about the game.
One of the topics that arose during the conversation was the fact that Julius Honka was slated to start in that night’s game against the Flyers. It would be Honka’s fourth start in a row, which might seem like a natural occurrence; but, it was a noteworthy topic at the time.
Honka had just been recalled from the AHL a few weeks prior. After starting the season with the Dallas Stars but being sent down one month into the year, the young defender was back up and earning consistent time. That by itself was a big story.
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After an impressive 16-game showing in the 2016-17 season, the rookie and former first-round draft pick looked to be a cornerstone of the Stars’ defensive future. But, following the hiring of Ken Hitchcock and a training camp battle for position, it was looking as though Honka was being swept under the rug.
He spent the first half of the season battling with Jamie Oleksiak for the final spot on defense, matching speed up against size. So, for the many fans who groaned whenever Honka was not in the lineup like the one that I met in Philly (who referenced this article I had written the week prior, which made the conversation even more intriguing), it was a welcomed sight to see him starting against the Flyers.
All in all, Honka played in 42 games for the Dallas Stars in the 2017-18 season. He scored just one goal and notched four points, which is questionable for a high-powered offensive defenseman, and skated just 13:01 a game.
But, following Hitchcock’s retirement, “the plan” for Honka to be a full-time NHL centerpiece seemed to be back on. The Stars hired Jim Montgomery, a young coach out of the NCAA that used young players to his advantage and played with speed and offensive pressure. Those were all characteristics of Honka, making the new hire even more appealing to members of the #FreeHonka movement from the 2017-18 campaign.
Yet, here we are in mid-December, and not much has changed. Dallas will play game 31 of their regular season tonight in Anaheim, and Honka will spend the game sitting in the press box. The press box has once again become a familiar spot for no. 6 this season, who has been the healthy scratch in nine of the past ten contests.
Honka was scratched on opening night (much to the dismay of Stars fans) in a game against a struggling Arizona Coyotes team. Montgomery decided to play Roman Polak and Connor Carrick in his place, which gave many Stars fans a chance to once again play the “he’s not getting a fair chance” card.
SenShot
But here we are in game 31. Honka has played in 19 of those games, tallying no goals and three assists in an average of 14:04 on the ice. While those numbers are respectable, they aren’t earning him consistent time in the lineup.
In media scrums with Dallas Stars head coach Jim Montgomery, there almost always seems to be a question about Honka’s status and lack of playing time. As a result, the quotes are beginning to pile up.
“We want to see him play with more pace and take away time and space better,” said Montgomery prior to Honka’s scratching on opening night.
“We’d like to see more consistency in reading rushes defensively and puck pressure down low,” Montgomery said back on Nov. 23. “He gets caught watching and he’s not the only one.
“I don’t think he’s tentative,” the head coach added about the young defender. “He’s not processing the way we want to play quick enough and that’s why he looks tentative but he’s not. He’s a very aggressive kid.”
Montgomery has mentioned on a few occasions that he simply wants Honka to be an everyday NHL player and to find that consistency. He apparently has not done that yet, and it’s costing him playing time.
This is a weird time for the Dallas Stars defense. Going into training camp, it was assumed that their starting six would look something like this on opening night:
Miro Heiskanen – Stephen Johns
Marc Methot – Julius Honka
Roman Polak
That group of players has yet to touch the ice together this season. Johns has been out for the entire year with post-traumatic headaches. Klingberg has missed the last month while recovering from surgery on his hand. Methot has been in and out with lower body issues. Carrick was acquired through trade just before the season began, but has since been sent to injured reserve with an ankle injury. And finally, Honka has only played in a little over half of the games.
As a result, several Texas Stars players are receiving valuable playing time. Gavin Bayreuther, Ben Gleason, Taylor Fedun, and Joel Hanley have all stepped in at different points and are helping the Dallas defense stay afloat and in the race. Meanwhile, Honka is still in the press box, being surpassed by players who were deemed AHL-caliber in the preseason.
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That can potentially be blamed on the new call-ups surpassing expectations and putting up solid performances. But, another part of it has to be blamed on Honka’s inability to consistently play the style that Jim Montgomery wants to see.
And that leads us to the question on everyone’s mind: what does Julius Honka’s future look like?
I’m not a huge fan of playing armchair GM, so I don’t necessarily feel inclined to try and predict or assume what the Dallas Stars management is planning on doing. They might not have any plans at all. Maybe the plan is to let Honka continue adapting to the system (not everyone can learn at the same speed) and see where he is as the season goes along.
But, there’s always the debate to be had that his time in Dallas might be approaching an end.
That can add some salt to the wound. After all, Honka is a former first-round draft pick, something that the Stars have struggled severely with over the past decade. They have had trouble with making the right selections in round one, and Honka was supposed to be one of the solutions, not another problem.
Julius Honka’s future is an uncertain one at the moment. He’s been through three different coaching staffs. With Lindy Ruff, Honka didn’t emerge as an NHL option until the head coach’s last season. Even so, he was sent back down to the AHL after a handful of games before being called up once the season was deemed lost.
But with Hitchcock and Montgomery, he just cannot seem to do what they expect from him. There’s no real concrete answer as to why, but he’s not getting playing time and doesn’t seem to be approaching a breakthrough.
And with names like Bayreuther, Heatherington, and Carrick apparently leaping him on the depth chart, his time in Dallas could be in questioning. He will be a restricted free agent in the 2019 offseason, meaning that a decision on his future could come down to this season.
Honka will once again sit in the press box for tonight’s contest against the Anaheim Ducks. And with his usage becoming less consistent and Montgomery’s coaching staff starting up a new era, the question must eventually be posed: does he have a future with the Dallas Stars?
Only time will tell.