Dallas Stars - Preview

Last season Dallas made the playoffs against the odds. Not many so called experts predicted they would make the post-season for the first time in six seasons, and depsite the inconsistency at times, were able to match up with Anaheim at Phoenix's expense who imploded several times between December and April after once time leading their division. This season with coach Lindy Ruff and GM Jim Nill continuing their re-build, they will be expected to make a playoff berth. That will be tough though, the Stars finished fifth in the division behind Colorado, St Louis, Chicago & Minnesota. All have improved since last season and the Stars have to as well, although they did go 12-10-6 against thoose four teams in 2013-14.

Nill's rebuild started last year with Tyler Seguin and Shawn Horcoff coming in at center. Seguin, despite his streaky tendency, lead the team with 84 points and developed a great understanding with line-mate and captain Jamie Benn who was second on the scoring chart with 79 points. Jason Spezza and Ales Hemsky (via free-agency) both come in from Ottawa with Alex Chiasson going the other way. Both combined for 37 points in 20 games playing together for the Senators and that chemistry could be vital on both of the top lines for the Stars this year. They are liekly to be joined by Erik Cole, while Valeri Nichushkin did great as a rookie last time out playing on Seguin's line. Cody Eakin is versatile enough to play on the wing on eithe rof those lines, and is accustomed to playing on the power play and penalty kill, but is likely to continue centering the 'REG' line along with Antoine Roussel and Ryan Garbutt. Last season's second line will now be pushed down to the third with the arrivals of Spezza and Hemsky, but their shut-down roles will remain and are probably better suited to being on the third line in a 'grinding' style than as a second scoring line. One thing is for sure, they will be one of the best third line units in the league. Colton Sceviour and highly-rated prospect Brett Ritchie could force their way into the team, but the liklihood is, Vern Fiddler will go from a dedcent third-line center to an above average fourth-liner. Rich Peverley is still expecting to feature at some stage this season, although its unclear when. He is currently working hard to get back after collapsing with a heart-attack on the bench last March and then receiving heart surgery.

Dallas' AHL affiliate, the Texas Stars, won the Calder Cup last season and were lead by defensive players, Patrik Nemeth, Jamie Oleksiak and Cameron Gaunce, who along with Kevin Connauton will be hoping to stake a claim for a roster spot. Brenden Dillon is still unsigned as a restricted free agent, but will be part of a core group of five along with Alex Goligoski, Trevor Daley, Jordie Benn, and Sergei Gonchar. Last season Daley and Goligoski found chemistry as a pair, they were solid and underrated, while Dillon is one of the better young, physical defenseman in the league, his hits per game did reduce last season, due to the Stars playing with better puck-possession. Benn and Nemeth improved too last time out and are solid-depth players, but the Stars top-three defenseman are no match for those at Chicago, Los Angeles and St Louis. Gonchar looks like the sands of time are starting to cath up with him, but his experience could still be vital, albeit in a reduced capacity.

Like most teams the Stars need to improve their power play and penalty kill in the season ahead. The power play should improve with Spezza and Hemsky in the ranks. Spezza's arrival could even see Eakin's role reduced so he can focus on becoming and elite penalty killer. He is popular with both Nill and Ruff due to his versatility.

Kari Lehtonen now has competition with Anders Lindback and Jussi Rynnas arriving, but according to Nill, is an Elite goalie. The worry is, Lehtonen has only played 8 playoff games and can be inconsistent. In his four years in Dallas Lehtonen has a .918 save percentage which puts him alongside Jonathan Quick, Semyon Varlamov and Mike Smith, but he has played more games and faced a lot more shots to produce the same save percentage.

Ja. Benn – Seguin – Nichushkin

Cole – Spezza – Hemsky

Roussel – Eakin – Garbutt

Horcoff – Fiddler – Sceviour

Eaves – Peverley

Goligoski – Daley

Dillon – Jo. Benn

Gonchar – Oleksiak

Connauton