It’s time for Scott Wedgewood to match his 2022-23 production
The Dallas Stars are a great hockey team, but they could reach an elite level should their goaltending maximize its productivity. Right now, the Stars have a pair of goaltenders in Jake Oettinger and Scott Wedgewood who should be playing better than what they have shown us so far.
Let’s focus on Wedgewood before we turn our attention to Oettinger. Despite being in the league for a while, Wedgewood hasn’t seen much time in the net, logging just 107 starts and 120 appearances since 2015-16.
But following some rough stretches, Wedgewood got it together in 2021-22 when he arrived in Dallas, and he parlayed that into a fine performance last season. In 2022-23, he enjoyed a 0.722 quality starts percentage to go with a 0.915 save percentage, a 2.72 GAA, a shutout, and nine wins, setting the stage for what should have been a productive 2023-24 season.
But he’s since taken a step back despite his 13-4-4 record. Wedgewood’s number of quality starts has sunk to 0.476, and his 2.98 GAA and 0.899 save percentage have also backslid. This isn’t to say Wedgewood won’t improve, but right now, he needs to step up when the Stars inevitably have games when their skaters aren’t finding the back of the net.