On today’s episode of Locked On Stars, with Thanksgiving being the benchmark for many teams making the playoffs in the NHL, Joey Power Ranks the Dallas Stars in the Central Division and how they stack up in the rest of the Western Conference. The addition of Matt Duchene has made the Stars a real contender for the Stanley Cup, along with Miro Heiskanen on defense and Jake Oettinger in net they currently sit in the top spot of the Central Division with Avalanche close behind. How would you rank the division and where do you see the Stars within the whole conference? The next segment revolved around Joey’s three biggest concerns moving forward. Is Jason Robertson going to have a slow year in terms of goal scoring, the defense is not good enough to win a Stanley Cup and the Stars need an upgrade, and the overall health of a team with older players. Finally, keys to beating the defending Stanley Cup champs tonight who are off to a phenomenal start this season.
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15 Comments
What are your concerns with the Dallas Stars??
Lack of a lock down, mean and nasty, right handed d man.
Would like to see the Stars eliminate silly penalties late in the third period. It's not just one guilty party, but it worries me moving forward in close, hard fought games. Happy Thanksgiving to all!
Not sure if MN stopped buying into the system because of the playoffs last year. But I did not expect their place in the standings
Zedorov would be an amazing add. Hes been vocal about his team not performing and wants to win. I don’t think he would squander the chance to win if he got one.
Robo is definitely a concern. I know he’s still almost a point a game. We all know that points come from goals and assists both. To take away one of those avenues does have an effect on firepower.
The good thing is – Robo is a cerebral player. I look at him in a similar light to Brayden Point. Both deeper draft picks and surprised everyone. Point had to figure out how to keep the production up after he started getting attention. I think Robo will too.
Haven’t been able to watch much stars hockey this season but that should be changing soon. Go stars!
Dallas, then Colorado, then Vegas, then everyone else. Vegas didn't beat Dallas last year, Dallas beat themselves (and we've added Duchene and will add Stankoven, Bichsel, and possibly Bourque to the playoff roster). Our biggest weakness is being headcases. Colorado doesn't have a goalie yet and VGK have major injury history issues.
The Stars took Miro with the 3rd overall pick, the Avs took Makar next at 4 in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft.
My concern is with the same thing it was over the summer, find another right shot D
Overall we're ok. We just need to start the games fast and play all 60 minutes. If we do that everything else will fall into place. Towards the end of the year I believe will be a well oiled machine
Who are you trying to replace on d? Suter? I know Lindell and Jani aren't a teir but there penalty kill is to good to mess with. I could see replacing lundqist with someone better bur I do like what he brings and want him to keep playing to develop
Here's my comments on the concerns.
Robo is so important as a goal scorer to the top line and that's why the top line hasn't "woken up". Last year the top line was so dangerous because teams would immediately try to cover Pavs or Hintz and Robo would score with his lethal shot. If they try to cover Pavs or Robo, here comes Hintz on a breakaway. If they cover Robo and Hintz, here's Pavs at the front of the net. Without Robo's threat as a goal scorer they can adequately cover those 2 and shut down the line.
Also I don't believe defense will be a huge problem if we can be healthy. Miro, Harley, Lundkvist and Suter have all been fine so far, Hakanpaa and Lindell have also been relatively good, we may not be as fast but it's been good so far. Let me know what ya think
Defense for sure is where we are weakest. I think we have to keep Lundkvist rolling. Obviously given his size he will never be the guy blowing up forwards against the boards but we also need speed and puck skill on the defensive end. He is the sort of guy who can carry the puck out of the defensive zone without looking for a long stretch pass (which was what we always looked for last season and led to a lot of turnovers). Lundkvist has that sort of upside and he has zero problems sacrificing his body to stop the puck as he has demonstrated a few times this season.
Our actual bigs are where we are coming up short unfortunately. I don't think we expect them to be fast necessarily but they should be much more physical. They have to do a better job clearing screens from the net front and not always be looking for passes to center ice. Smart passing instead of looking for those stretches. Think you are spot on that they are going to go all in for defense before the trade deadline. No idea what pieces they are going to give up to make it work though.
I wish they'd stop putting Robo on the point on the PP. I do not understand why they think this is a good spot for him. I suppose it's because they think he'll have more distance chances from the blueline into the slot, but i think he's more effective on the RW, where he can finesse shots in from the tighter angles, or pop back out in front to shoot from the slot. I am not as down on the defense as you are, but they can always use an upgrade. I suspect either Faksa or Delly or both could be on the trade block for a reasonable, proven d-man at the deadline – someone who would be less than Faksa $-wise, leaving perhaps enough to re-sign Duchy on a Pavs-like deal. Harley's return should make things feel a lot better than they have the past week
Ok Arizona is def better than Minnesota 😂😂😂
Biggest concerns. Hmm. HITTING. Last years team was the weakest team I've seen since I started watching in 95. This year's team started out ok. Now they're even weaker than last year. They absolutely refuse to hit or stand up for each other. They are 32nd in the league for hits. The star players seem to get run every night and there's no response. Harley stood there in ot and LET Eichel score. Had he hit him, that goal doesn't happen. Goalies poked and prodded every night. Pure hitting won't win. Pure skill won't win either. Need skill with toughness. Dallas isn't winning anything in the playoffs if they don't find their testicular fortitude.