How the Dallas Stars Stanley Cup Final run impacts the offseason outlook
The Dallas Stars fell shorts of a Stanley Cup in 2020, but they can use this offseason to position themselves to make up for that in 2021.
Moments after the Dallas Stars were shutout in game six of the 2020 Stanley Cup Finals, reality set in quick, and for General Manager Jim Nill, avoiding complacency is imperative this offseason.
To suggest the Stars’ 15-win, staggering journey on-route to the final series of the NHL- bubble playoffs as an oddity would not be a stretch.
Dallas scored the seventh most goals per game out of the 24-team playoff pool, and took part in the highest scoring series of the postseason when they defeated Colorado in seven games, but through all that, the story of the Western Conference Champions became one of a 34-year old career backup goaltender, Anton Khudobin.
And the native of Ust-Kamenogorsk, Kazakhstan only received an opportunity to start in the playoffs from Rick Bowness because the Stars usual starter, a 33-year old Ben Bishop, was deemed “unfit” to play.
The Stars offseason outlook begins in the crease.
With Khudobin being a pending UFA, and Bishop signed to less than team-friendly deal through 2022-2023, the attention now directs the way of Jake Oettinger.
Oettinger appeared in two games during the playoffs, including one appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals, coming in relief of Khudobin to start the third period after a Tampa Bay onslaught in game three.
Optimistic thinking would lead to the idea that the former first-round pick in 2017 deserves a fast-tracked promotion, but conventional thinking would direct Oettinger towards another stint in the AHL.
The direction that Nill takes in Dallas’ crease starts with one thing–the organization’s confidence in Bishop’s health.
But other than the glaring positional issue that Stars face with goaltending, resigning pending RFA’s Denis Gurianov, Roope Hintz and initiating a contract extension conversation with Miro Heiskanen are amongst the first dominos to fall in answering the unknowns of the veteran-heavy roster going forward.
If Dallas opts to “stay the course”, the window to at least repeat as Western Conference Champions is closing fast.
Jamie Benn, Joe Pavelski, and Alexander Radulov are three of the four players Dallas relies on for offensive production. All three are making salaries comparable to Nikita Kucherov, Kyle Connor and David Pastrnak respectively.
The differenceーage and offensive production is not on the Stars side.
But if “Texas’ Team” believes that a re-tool is necessary, the last prime years of the three previous Dallas forwards mentioned will be sacrificed, and the lasting memory of getting shutout in game six of the Stanley Cup Finals will sting just a little more.