Dallas Stars: What We Learned In First Half Of 2018-19 Season

The Offense Still Needs A Resurgence

As crazy as it may sound, the one thing that the Dallas Stars are lacking more than anything else through the first 41 games is consistent offense. And that’s not just talking about Benn and Seguin’s lack of production; it revolves around the whole team.

The Stars currently sit tied for 26th in the NHL in terms of goals per game with an average of 2.76. While that puts them 0.55 goals away from the Los Angeles Kings who sit in last place, it pins them 1.41 goals away from the top spot which is currently held by the Tampa Bay Lightning.

That’s a far cry from a team that has been used to scoring 3.00+ goals per game over the past few seasons and sitting 18th or higher in the league standings. The Dallas Stars have never been a team significantly lacking offense, but they seem to be now.

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Seguin (13-23-36), Alexander Radulov (13-21-34), and Benn (17-15-32) currently lead the team in scoring, but even their numbers are down when compared to their averages.

The depth scoring has produced better than the abysmal level it hit in 2017-18, but there is still a need for more.

Only three players have scored more than 10 goals this year. The next few names? Heiskanen has nine, Radek Faksa has seven, and Jason Spezza, Esa Lindell, and Tyler Pitlick are in a three-way tie with six.

The production is lacking throughout the entire lineup and three of the top nine goal scorers are defensemen. That should never happen.

Devin Shore was good early but has hit a dry spell, Mattias Janmark is having an unusually quiet year in terms of scoring, and Valeri Nichushkin has been almost non-existent in the offensive zone with zero goals and seven assists through 32 games.

Now, things are starting to look up. The Stars have scored 14 goals in the past four games and put up 40+ shots in three of those four contests. The offense is looking more dominant and hungry, and that’s translating to more success.

“I expected it to happen post-Thanksgiving, to be honest,” Montgomery said at practice on Thursday. “It’s just taken a month longer than I expected. But, you’re starting to see the consistency of how we want to play in every zone and we’re becoming a much better hockey team because of it.”

This Dallas Stars offense is in need of some sort of spark, though. Maybe it will come from the top duo of Benn and Seguin after a reaming from Lites or maybe it will come from the other 10 forwards stepping up and putting up the necessary numbers.

Either way, the Stars got to the second round of the 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs primarily due to the fact that they owned the highest-scoring offense in the NHL. Defense and goaltending are crucial elements, too, and Dallas seems to have both of those locked down. But good, playoff-bound teams know how to score early and often. The Stars will need to find some sort of offensive kick throughout the next 41 games if they want to stay in good standing. Offense is critical.