3 things the Dallas Stars can do to get to the 2020 Stanley Cup
By C.L. Kohuss
2. Find more forward depth
“Find more forward depth” is a pretty blanket statement, sure. Every team in the NHL would love to add more depth to its roster. The issue here is that Dallas needs depth maybe as much as any other team in the league after finishing bottom four in goals scored per game (2.5/per).
But the situation, suddenly, doesn’t seem as dire as it might have had the Stars not found something potentially special in second rounder Roope Hintz. It was also pretty clear that Center Jason Dickinson has now carved himself out a role somewhere on the team for next year, and a lot too depends on what happens with free agent Mats Zuuuuuuuuuuuccarello (we had to).
Still, the lack of production beyond the usuals of Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin and Alexander Radulov is alarming and it’s not a one-off: that alarm was sounding back in 2017-18 as well. With the likelihood that Jason Spezza has played his last game in Dallas (unless they retain him for a massive pay cut), the Stars are going to have some holes to fill by guys probably not named Brett Ritchie or Valeri Nichushkin.
One decision is what to do with restricted free agent Mattias Janmark. Janmark scored 19 goals last year after a terrible knee problem that nearly derailed his career. But he only scored six with 25 points this season. At times he simply didn’t show up.
Some of that could have to do with a fractured foot he was playing through from February to mid-May. It might not. The odds are that Dallas gives him another opportunity to come back and regain a significant role in the lineup as he’s still young, but as they unfortunately did with Spezza, the Stars shouldn’t rely on a total turnaround.
There will be free agents the team can make a run at, absolutely. Names like Artemi Panarin, Jeff Skinner and Brett Connolly come to mind. Of course, a lot depends on what happens with Zuccarello. A lot also depends on cap space and as noted earlier, signing Lindell is going to take a chunk of that, even with Spezza’s $7.5 million coming off the books.
A lineup featuring the likes of Benn, Seguin, Zuccarello, Hintz, and Radulov looks pretty okay to us, but the Stars would still need another piece or two that can put up double-digit goals and relieve pressure from the top line. They can’t continue to have three defensemen (!) in their top six or seven in terms of goal scoring. It has to change.