After a strong season in 2015-16 that saw the Stars make the second round of the playoffs, expectations were high for Dallas heading into the season. They’ve yet to live up to the hype though and find themselves out of the playoffs coming out of the holiday break. General Manager Jim Nill sat down with Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News to talk about the team. Here are some of the highlights:
On the goaltending which, aside from the last few weeks, has struggled this season:
“Our goalies have taken a pretty good beating from the outside, but I think they’ve been very good. Goals against isn’t just goaltending, it’s team defense and playing the right way and managing the puck. I think we’ve seen in recent weeks that when we’re better as a team at those things, then the goaltending numbers can be very good.”
The goaltending tandem of Antti Niemi and Kari Lehtonen is the most expensive in the league with a combined cap hit of $10.4MM. For that money, they have a team save percentage of just .899, tied for 27th overall while they are allowing just over three goals per game. While there’s no denying that they have plenty of firepower on paper, it’s difficult to win most nights knowing you’ll likely need to score four or more goals to do so.
In a follow-up question, Nill was asked if he foresaw the team making a run for the postseason with both netminders still on the team and the GM indicated that he doesn’t expect any changes at this time.
On carrying eight defensemen, one more than the standard seven that most teams carry:
“I just think you have to have it for depth. You’re going to have injuries, and you need that depth. In the end, the players decide who is going to play, and I think we’re settling into a group of six or seven, so that’s been good. But we could wake up tomorrow and two defensemen are hurt, so I like having the depth.”
While Dallas has an excess of depth at that position on their roster, it hasn’t necessarily helped in terms of developing some of their young blueliners. Patrik Nemeth has been scratched for 19 games this season while Jamie Oleksiak has only played in a total of 14 games and is in his second of spending the bulk of his time in the press box.
On the identity of the team and if it changes from year to year:
“I think the core of your team dictates your identity, and we know what the strength of our core is. Now, injuries can force you to play a different style or force you to tweak or adjust, and I think we’ve seen that this year. We have an identity as a fast, skilled team, and I think we still are that. In more recent weeks, we have been more defensive, and in the long run that might be a good thing for us. I think you always have to be able to adapt.”
After coughing up six goals in the first game of the month, Dallas has been better defensively as of late, allowing just 21 goals in ten contests since then, well below their season average in goals allowed.
If Dallas plans to make a push to get back into the postseason (they currently sit three points out of the last wild card spot), they will need to keep up their improved play in their own zone, especially since the team isn’t scoring as much as they expected to at the beginning of the year (only two players are over 20 points currently in Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn).
I think the stars are about to go on a nice run here shortly and put themselves in position for the playoffs. They’ve had a ton of injuries so far but are starting to get healthier. This team has a lot of skill and are fun to watch