Dallas Stars: Five Questions Facing The Team In 2019 Offseason

5. Is There A Need To Address The Depth Scoring?

One of the more prominent issues within the Stars’ system over the past few seasons has been their lack of quality depth scoring.

In 2017-18, Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin, and Alexander Radulov combined for 54 percent of the goals scored by Stars forwards that skated in at least 70 games. In other words, the bottom nine forwards combined for 46 percent. And while every team will be a little top-heavy when it comes to offensive production, the Stars were much too top heavy.

And for much of the 2018-19 season, the same issues came up. Although scoring as a whole was down significantly from the year before, it was still Benn, Seguin, and Radulov doing the majority of the heavy lifting.

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But then Mats Zuccarello came around, and everything seemed to take a turn for the better. Jason Dickinson and Roope Hintz became legitimate threats in the offensive zone, the lineup evened out, and the contributions from outside of the “big three” became more consistent.

Even so, there still may be a need for help on offense.

When looking at the production from Dallas depth forwards during the past season, there’s a lot left to be desired. Radek Faksa led the depth scoring charge with 15 goals. Roope Hintz had nine. Jason Spezza and Tyler Pitlick each netted eight. Blake Comeau chipped in seven. Mattias Janmark and Jason Dickinson posted six apiece. Brett Ritchie and Andrew Cogliano combined for seven. And finally, Valeri Nichushkin couldn’t find the back of the net at all in 57 games played.

In other words, it was another relatively dry year for the Dallas depth scorers as the Stars finished 28th overall in league scoring at 2.55 goals per game. And when three of your top seven scorers are defensemen, it’s obvious that something isn’t working in the offensive end.

And so, the question remains: should the Stars make a move to help their depth scoring out?

There’s a few ways this could play out. On the one hand, signing Zuccarello would greatly boost their second line but also leave them with less cap space to make a significant move. The potential for a trade is also there, though, with a handful of players currently on the roster presumably being “available.”

Finally, the Stars may end up sticking to their guns in hopes that players like Hintz, Dickinson, Faksa, Janmark, Gurianov and others can step up and provide a scoring punch. After all, with a healthy Zuccarello potentially in the fold for the entire year, the entire offense should take a step forward.

These are just a handful of the questions facing the Dallas Stars in the offseason ahead. The answers to these questions will not only help in determining what the Stars’ next step looks like, but could also play a major role in determining the long-term success of the franchise.

That’s what the offseason is all about. No pressure, though.