Dom Lunardo Aug 10th, 2019
“You’ll be counting stars”. “When you wish upon a star”. “I’m a Starboy”. Take your pick on the pop-cultural references, because any one of them can definitely be applied to the talented crop of players who dawn the green, white, and black from deep in the heart of Texas.
Going into last season, many hockey experts were “on the fence” when it came to the Dallas Stars, the only NHL franchise in the state of Texas, where Cowboys Nation, Texas A&M, and Mark Cuban’s Mavericks take up most of the sports accolades. Pick up any newspaper in Texas, and the Stars are lucky to grab a headline or a column prior to page five. Sure, there was the firepower and superstar talent of John Klingberg, Tyler Seguin, Alexander Radulov, and Jamie Benn, but even with the Big-3, few could get a legitimate read on what the Dallas Stars were all about. Fast-forward twelve months and the Stars are a legitimate force to be reckoned with in a very competitive Western Conference.
General Manager, Jim Nill and sophomore Head Coach Jim Montgomery have done a tremendous job assembling, maintaining, tweaking, and manipulating a very skilled and balanced roster from top to bottom. This is a team that narrowly missed out on a berth in the Western Conference Finals this past postseason after a gut-wrenching double-OT loss to the eventual Stanley Cup Champions, St. Louis Blues. With that being said, the Stars will look to seek retribution heading into 2019/2020.
Notable Off-Season Additions: Joe Pavelski, Corey Perry, Tanner Kero, and Andrej Sekera
Notable Off-Season Subtractions: Mats Zuccarello (MIN), Ryan Hartman (MIN), Valeri Nichushkin (KHL), and Jason Spezza (TOR)
Top Prospects: F Ty Dellandrea, F Jason Robertson, F Denis Gurianov, and G Jake Oettinger
Breakout Candidates: D Esa Lindell, F Roope Hintz
Team Summary: Needless to say there is a lot to like about this Dallas Stars roster as we enter a new campaign at the start of October. Their forward group is fast, hungry, skilled, and contains the game-breaker mantra possessed by the likes of Seguin and Benn. On the back end, the jewel of the crown, Ben Bishop, has a very talented group of six in front of him led by John Klingberg and all-world defenceman, Miro Heiskanen, that could challenge any defense core as the best in the show. The general trajectory of the Stars organization is foundationally very strong. The current on-ice product is based on speed and skill: two staples in today’s game, and that’s attributed to their Head Coach, Jim Montgomery who seems to have changed the whole dynamic of this organization since taking over behind the bench. On another note, The city of Dallas also has bragging rights this season (something that they don’t get much of). The hockey world will take center stage on January 1, 2020, with the Stars hosting the Nashville Predators in the 2020 Bridgestone Winter Classic from Cotton Bowl Stadium. With shades of Mike Modano, Ed Belfour, Sergei Zubov, and Joe Nieuwendyk still fresh in the mind of the Stars faithful, it goes without saying that it’s a very exciting time to be a Dallas Stars fan!
Prediction: Central Division Runner-Up
Check out our other 2019-2020 NHL Team Previews:
Colorado Avalanche|Florida Panthers
Questions and comments?
thescorecrowsports@gmail.com
Follow Us on Twitter @thescorecrow
Follow Us on Reddit at u/TheScorecrow
Follow Us on Facebook at The Scorecrow
Follow Us on Instagram at The Scorecrow
Facebook Group where you can read and post articles at The Scorecrow
Reddit Group where everyone can post without fear of being banned at The Scorecrow
Follow Dom Lunardo on Twitter @TapetoTape88
Main Image Credit: [getty src=”1141059346″ width=”594″ height=”413″ tld=”com”]
