Dallas Stars: Five Surprise Players From The 2018-19 Season

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5. Anton Khudobin

While this one doesn’t necessarily follow the trend that was being established by the younger players, it’s still an important piece of the overall puzzle. That’s the play of Anton Khudobin.

When the Stars first signed Khudobin to be their new backup goaltender on July 1, 2018, they were simply looking for a goalie that could fill a decade-long void. The backup goalie position had long since been one of their weakest areas, with the Stars trying well over 10 candidates for the spot over the previous ten seasons.

And after Kari Lehtonen fumbled down the stretch in 2017-18 and contributed to the Stars missing the playoffs, it was time to look for yet another band-aid.

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But Khudobin didn’t serve as a band-aid this past season; instead, he granted Dallas with a 1A-1B system.

Coming into 2018-19, Khudobin had spent the previous nine years of his career bouncing between four different teams. At each stop, he was always known as the backup and had only broken the 35-game mark once in his career. But that didn’t seem to phase his belief in himself.

“You know, my situation is that, how I know, always everyone was saying, ‘Backup, backup, backup.’ But, if you look at my stats and look at my career, I could always play at the number one,” Khudobin said about his NHL roles on July 1.

In this past year, he proved that he is in fact more than just a standard backup goalie. Not only did he serve the Dallas Stars in a starting capacity for much of the year, but he also became one of the keys to their success.

The Dallas goaltending was electric this season, using a two-goalie approach to push the team forward. In other words, when Ben Bishop wasn’t in the lineup, they knew that Khudobin was going to buy them a chance to win. And on most occasions, he did in impressive fashion.

Khudobin finished the year 16-17-5. That may look as though he turned in a rough performance, but it was very much the play of the team in front of him that often led to an unearned loss for the net minder.

Looking past the records, Khudobin’s numbers set the tone for his admirable season. He posted a .923 save percentage (his highest mark since 2013-14 and second-highest of his career) and 2.57 goals against average (fourth-highest of his career) as well as two shutouts (career-high). Khudobin finished the year with one of the highest quality start percentages of his career and helped make a significant impact.

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And while Khudobin saw less than 12 minutes of action throughout the Stanley Cup Playoffs, it didn’t matter. His presence throughout the regular season put a lasting mark on the Dallas crease. From picking up the weight when Bishop was injured, to setting records against the Nashville Predators, to being one of the funniest and most random guys in the locker room, he quickly became a fan favorite and provided the Stars with a two-headed monster in the crease to end their decade-long search. More important than anything, he provided stability.

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