"I think it's a very, very fast team, a team that wants to play hockey, a similar style I think as Chicago; wants to have the puck, create things," Oduya said. "I think the speed is the thing that stands out the most. It's a new challenge, a new chapter. It's going to be a lot of fun for me. I think I'm pretty comfortable with the role that I play and the things I can bring. It's not really going to change a whole lot for me, and that's something that I like."
With Oduya, Stars general manager Jim Nill said he feels they are ready to contend after failing to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs last season.
Dallas acquired forward Patrick Sharp and defenseman Stephen Johns in a trade with the Blackhawks last week for defenseman Trevor Daley and forward Ryan Garbutt. The Stars signed goalie Antti Niemi to a three-year contract June 29, two days after acquiring his negotiating rights in a trade with the San Jose Sharks.
"We have to start moving up," Nill said Wednesday. "Jamie Benn just won the Art Ross for the scoring race. Tyler Seguin just turned 23; he's starting to come into his own. Cody Eakin's just had success over at the World Championships. Jason Spezza was a top forward at the World Championships. We're in the beginning of, I think, where we should be starting to make the jump."
Nill said Oduya was the final piece of the puzzle. The Stars GM said he went into free agency July 1 hoping to improve the Stars defense by adding a veteran if he could. That became a paramount need last week, when Nill traded Daley to the Blackhawks and got back Johns, a 23-year-old prospect who has never played in the NHL.
Oduya is a two-time Stanley Cup champion who turns 34 before this season. He is the Stars' oldest defenseman and their most experienced with 664 NHL games played in the regular season and 89 in the playoffs. He was part of the top-four defense group the Blackhawks rode to the Stanley Cup last season. Oduya averaged 24:45 of ice time and had five points in 23 postseason games.
Oduya has 152 points, including 31 goals, and a plus-58 rating in his NHL career, which spans nine seasons.
"We knew that it was important to get one more experienced guy if we could, and Johnny was on the top of our list," Nill said. "He's an important piece for us. He's a steady influence. What I love about Johnny Oduya is the way he lives his life. Johnny Oduya does all the right things. He prepares right. He's a fitness fanatic. His preparation, his workouts, I know that that's going to be huge for our young guys in the dressing room. Any time you have somebody that has that pedigree, and it's not him coming out of the box, it's just him being himself, that's the most important part for me."
Oduya seems to be intrigued at the chance to be a mentor, especially to fellow Swedish defensemen John Klingberg and Patrik Nemeth. Oduya said Klingberg, who made the NHL All-Rookie team last season, reminds him of Ottawa Senators captain and two-time Norris Trophy winner Erik Karlsson when he was coming into the NHL.
"He has the potential to be a great defenseman," Oduya said.
Oduya also said he has skated and worked out with Nemeth in Stockholm.
"Any time you come into a situation like I do now … of course you approach it maybe a little bit differently. Obviously, I have to worry about what I have to do to perform and help the team as much as possible, but also try to be there with whatever little things I picked up through the years and help out."
That's another reason Nill said he targeted Oduya even before July 1, when unrestricted free agents became eligible to sign with other teams. It's the same reason he was so intrigued with Sharp and Niemi. There are six Stanley Cup championships, all won with Chicago, between the three main additions to the Stars roster.
"We're trying to get to where Chicago is, we're trying to get to where Detroit's been," said Nill, a former assistant GM with the Red Wings. "How do you get there? They do things right. I can't make them do things right; it's the players inside the dressing room that have to do it right. And the more guys you get like that, the more success you're going to have."
Nill said he feels the Stars are positioned to start experiencing that success this season.
"To win, you've got to know how to win, and that's a process. These guys (Oduya, Sharp and Niemi) have been doing it all the time. Our core is young, and I know they're going to be like sponges. They're going to feed off this."
Maybe it was unfair on Wednesday to ask Jim Nill to pick out the top defenseman on his depth chart right now, because the player who probably should be the Stars' top defenseman is only 22 years old and has played in all of 65 games in the NHL.
"I think we got about four of them right now," Nill said. "John Klingberg, if he continues … "
Nill trailed off at that point, talking about outgrowing depth charts and the need to identify No. 1 defensemen because there are so few players in the NHL that fit into the category of superstars Shea Weber, Drew Doughty, Duncan Keith and Erik Karlsson.
"There's only six or seven of those guys in the game," Nill said.
The Stars might have the next one in Klingberg. It's still a question of might at this point because of Klingberg's inexperience, but if he becomes the all-situations defenseman coach Lindy Ruff can pin 25 minutes a game on it'll make what Nill has done with Dallas' defense look so brilliant.
Klingberg, who had 40 points last season and was on the NHL's All-Rookie team, is clearly the best of what appears to be a deep, talented pool of young defensemen in Dallas that are going to be buoyed in their development this season by veterans Alex Goligoski, Jason Demers, Jordie Benn and Johnny Oduya, who signed a two-year contract Wednesday.
Jyrki Jokipakka, Patrik Nemeth and Jamie Oleksiak are expected to join Klingberg as the Stars' 23-and-under defensemen this season and round out their top eight. With the addition of Oduya, Nill feels the defense is built to be good this season with the potential to be better in seasons to come. Klingberg is obviously a key to that because if he's No. 1, it will ease the pressure on players such as Jokipakka, Nemeth and Oleksiak, and allow everyone else to fall into their proper places.
"We've got some good young pieces coming," Nill said. "Potential is just a word, but as history has shown you, if some of these guys get better and become better than what you ever dreamed of, we're going to wake up one of these days with a pretty solid core of defensemen."
Klingberg already got his first big NHL contract (seven years, $29.75 million, according to war-on-ice.com). Oleksiak, Jokipakka and Nemeth, all with way more to prove than Klingberg at this point, will all be making less than $1 million this season.
"We're trying to be patient," Nill said. "You can't rush young defensemen. That's why it's so important for the Johnny Oduyas, the Goligoskis, the Demers, the Jordie Benns, you have to have those guys in place. We think we've got a real good young core of defensemen coming up. We just have to be patient with it."
Nill also identified Julius Honka, Esa Lindell, Stephen Johns and Mattias Backman as four more up-and-comers for the Stars. Don't be surprised if any of them leap into the top eight at some point this season. Honka was the Stars' No. 1 pick in the 2014 NHL Draft (No. 14). He is coming off a strong rookie season in the American Hockey League with the Texas Stars (31 points in 68 games).
"He's only 19 years old and he's knocking on the door," Nill said.
Lindell was Dallas' third-round pick in the 2012 draft (No. 74). He has been playing professionally in Finland and for the Finnish national team at the 2015 IIHF World Championship. Nill was part of Canada's management team at that tournament.
"Twenty-one years old and was one of the top defensemen for the Finnish national team," Nill said of Lindell, who led Finland's defensemen with six points and 26 shots on goal in eight games during the tournament.
Johns came to the Stars as part of the trade last week with the Chicago Blackhawks that also brought Patrick Sharp to Dallas. He was one of the top defensemen in the AHL last season with the Rockford IceHogs.
"I wasn't doing the trade without getting him in it," Nill said of Johns.
The Stars acquired Backman on March 1 in the trade that sent Erik Cole to the Detroit Red Wings. Nill was the Red Wings assistant GM and top amateur scout when they selected Backman with the 145th pick in the 2011 draft.
"We think we've got a lot of different options, a lot of potential," Nill said. "We just got to be patient. You can't speed this process up. That's the path we're on."
The path will be smoother if Klingberg becomes the player Nill expects.
"We think we've got a chance of having the next [Erik] Karlsson. We think he's heading that direction, and if he continues to improve I think he will be that type of player. We're sitting good."
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