What else do Dallas Stars fans need to say about our beloved goaltender Jake Oettinger? He is one of the best young goaltenders in the league right now and drives opponents crazy with his larceny saves. The Stars definitely wouldn’t have made the Western Conference Finals without him last season.
However last night, fans were questioning Pete DeBoer’s move of sitting him against the Toronto Maple Leafs. While Oettinger does need to have scheduled breaks throughout the season, it felt like there shouldn’t have been one last night. Let’s take a look at how they should schedule his breaks throughout the remainder of the season.
Jake Oettinger has been a brick wall to start the season. 🦦@DallasStars | #TexasHockey pic.twitter.com/K0t6Ve8kYd
— NHL Network (@NHLNetwork) October 26, 2023
Jake Oettinger Breaks: Why did he sit last night?
Jake Oettinger has basically played every game so far this season and he deserved a break after all the shots he faced against the Pittsburgh Penguins the other night. While I applaud DeBoer for realizing that Oettinger can’t play the same amount of games last season, I don’t think it was the right move to bench him last night.
They were going up against a top-ten offense that the Toronto Maple Leafs had and Scott Wedgewood just couldn’t handle it. I think it would have been smarter to start Wedgewood against the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Calgary Flames. I’ll explain more in the next paragraph about why this might work to help give Jake Oettinger scheduled breaks.
Jake Oettinger Breaks: How Oettinger should get his breaks moving forward?
I believe the best course of action is to start Scott Wedgewood against Lottery teams moving forward. I really want Oettinger to take on teams that he would see in the playoffs. That would help him out getting prepared for playoff hockey throughout the season and it would allow for him to be rested enough for the playoffs. You could tell that Oettinger was shot during the Western Conference Finals last season and it was because of the huge workload.
Jake Oettinger Breaks: Conclusion
In conclusion, Pete DeBoer is doing the right thing so far by managing Oettinger’s workload early on in the season. I’m glad he’s recognized that Oettinger can’t play close to 80 games a season. However, I think he needs to tweak the schedule a bit and it can work. Oettinger has already shown the Stars’ front office that he is their franchise goaltender. They just need to rest him against lottery teams like the Anaheim Ducks and Columbus Blue Jackets and he will be ready for the playoffs rested.