What a realistic sophomore season will look like for Wyatt Johnston

Dallas Stars fans were excited when Wyatt Johnston got his nine-game tryout coming out of training camp, including me. Johnston looked really good during preseason and training camp last year and deserved his shot at making the roster. He played with a chip on his shoulder knowing he would be going back to the Windsor Spitfires if he did not impress the Dallas Stars front office. It didn’t take long to make an impression in the first game of the season in Nashville.

Now he’s entering his sophomore season which he hopes to continue the success of his rookie season. Wyatt Johnston was a force on the ice under the guidance of the team’s captain Jamie Benn. Benn guided the young 19-year-old to have one of the best rookie seasons by a Stars rookie in a long time. 24 goals and 17 assists isn’t a bad start to your NHL career. With the Stars looking to win the Stanley Cup this upcoming season, they need him to have another stellar season.

Stars’ fans need to realize that Wyatt is not going to pop off in his sophomore season and have a year like Jason Robertson had last season. It would be nice to see Wyatt Johnston have that many assists and goals, but it’s not going to happen. Sometimes sophomores in the league will go through a scoring drought or teams will figure out how to cover him on the ice. It’s something Johnston needs to go through in order to be a great hockey player.

Realistically, Johnston could finish with 34 goals and 29 assists sophomore season. He’s probably going to be paired up with Jamie Benn and Evgenii Dadonov again this season who are two players that can also score. Johnston will probably get double-teamed while he is on the ice this season which is why his assists will increase significantly this season. Teams now know how lethal he is and will do anything to stop him. Goaltenders also don’t want this to happen to them this year.

It’s all up to Johnston on how he wants to be remembered this season. I think he will be a significant factor once again for the offense this year. Fans can’t wait to see the videos of Johnston having the “zoomies” down the tunnel again and hear more stories of living with Joe Pavelski. Hopefully, his teammates will crack open a cold one with him to celebrate his success when he turns 21 later this season.