The Dallas Stars ended 2024 with a big win over the Buffalo Sabres. It was a collective team effort to ring in 2025 the right way. The Stars have gone through a lot in the season's first few months. They lost Tyler Seguin for the season, which is a huge bummer because he was on track to have a career season. They also saw progress with Lian Bichsel, who was up here briefly. Here are three New Year's resolutions for the Stars entering 2025.
New Year's Resolutions: 3. Managing Jake Oettinger's Workload
Perhaps this is beating a broken drum, but Jake Oettinger’s workload must be managed better. He has played 27 out of 35 games so far. If Casey DeSmith cannot be trusted to be a reliable backup, then something has to change and Jim Nill needs to acquire a new backup. If he can be trusted, then Pete DeBoer needs to play him more so Oettinger is not starting every game for long stretches at a time.
Oettinger has a busy February booked too. As one of the three goaltenders selected to be part of Team USA for the Four Nations Face-Off, it’s an exciting time. But with that excitement always comes the possibility of more injury or being overworked through that tournament. And then looking ahead to playoffs, the Stars are known to rely almost entirely on Oettinger. The Stars currently sit in the first wildcard position in the West.
New Year's Resolutions: 2. The Power Play Must Improve
The Stars power play is currently 27th in the league. That means there are only five Stars teams with a worse power play percentage. The team has not indicated changing the power play coach, and also their play on ice shows no signs of innovation or improvement. Failing to capitalize on the man advantage has bitten the Stars terribly in the playoffs, and now it is working against them even during the regular season.
New Year's Resolutions: 1. Scoring Has to Improve
The scoring woes do not just stop with the power play. Even though Tyler Seguin hasn’t played since December 1, his line with Mason Marchment and Matt Duchene has been the Star's most played line by nearly 50 minutes and most productive, scoring 14 goals. In comparison, the following most played line of Jason Robertson, Roope Hintz, and Wyatt Johnston scored only 7.
With Seguin expected to miss months due to surgery and Marchment expected to miss weeks due to an unfortunate face injury, the Stars must pull scoring from other places. Players like Robertson, Johnston, and Logan Stankoven must produce. Something needs to change in the overall strategy of this team to get them productive again. There is too much forward talent to rely solely on your best goaltender and defense to get you out of bad situations every night. The Stars being 16th in goals for and 1st in goals against reflect this even more.