Another disappointing season for the Dallas Stars, who seem to be a franchise without much direction right now. It’s a bit surprising, when you look at the talented young stars they’ve got on their roster, like Loui Eriksson, James Neal and Stephane Robidas. The Stars made a bit of a push at the end of the season, but still finished outside the playoff picture. With Mike Modano’s retirement, this is a franchise that needs to find a new identity, fast.
Offense: B The Stars have a pretty good amount of firepower up front. Brad Richards enjoyed a good boucneback year, scoring 91 points after missing most of last season with a number of injuries. Eriksson continued to demonstrate that he’s a legitimate top-caliber forward, leading the team with 29 goals, while James Neal put together a very solid season with 27 goals and 55 points. Jamie Benn got off to a hot start, but cooled off down the stretch. Veterans Brenden Morrow and Mike Ribeiro will need to be better next year or the Stars will need to get some extra help up front if they want to avoid a similar fate.
Defense: D
The Stars blueline will be one of the primary areas they should be looking to improve this offseason. Stephane Robidas chipped in 41 points, but was -10 on the season. Of all the Stars’ defensemen, only Trevor Daley (+3) and Mark Fistric (+27) were positive. Veterans like Karlis Skrastins and Nicklas Grossman will need to pick up their game next year.
Goaltending: C- The Marty Turco era in Dallas may be over. Turco posted only 22 wins this year, with a 2.72 GAA that ranked him in the bottom half of NHL starters. The Stars may be looking in a new direction next year, as indicated by their signing of former Thrashers’ netminder Kari Lehtonen.
Special Teams: C- The Stars’ special teams numbers are pretty similar to their even strength numbers. On the powerplay, Dallas was just above the league average, scoring 60 powerplay goals and converting just over 18% of their opportunities. On the kill, the Stars were among the worst in the league, allowing 56 powerplay goals despite being the second least penalized team in the NHL. Scoring on less than 1 in 5 of your own powerplay opportunities while allowing other teams to score on just about 1 in every 4 chances doesn’t lead to success, and the Stars are a perfect example of that.