At 41-19-2, the Dallas Stars entered Friday's action with the third-highest point total (84) in the NHL. Given that fact, they were already clear-cut Stanley Cup contenders. Now, they might be the favorites after acquiring Mikko Rantanen.
Sure, they gave up a couple of first-round picks and Logan Stankoven, but acquired one of the 10 or 15 best players in the sport. Players like Rantanen don't become available often, especially with the ability to immediately be locked in on an eight-year extension as Rantanen was.
The Stars already had one of the deepest groups of forwards in the NHL before acquiring Rantanen, and one look at their updated projected lines with Rantanen shows just how scary they can be.
Projected Stars lines with Mikko Rantanen make them look like Stanley Cup favorites
Left Wing | Center | Right Wing |
|---|---|---|
Jason Robertson | Roope Hintz | Mikko Rantanen |
Mason Marchment | Matt Duchene | Mikael Granlund |
Jamie Benn | Wyatt Johnston | Evgenii Dadonov |
Oskar Back | Sam Steel | Mavrik Bourque |
I mean, who is stopping this team? The Stars already ranked fourth in the NHL by averaging 3.40 goals per game without Rantanen, and now they've added him to the mix. Yes, they lost Stankoven, but then replaced him with legitimate star production. Rantanen is tied for 11th in the NHL in points (70) and 17th in goals (27), even with his frustrating Carolina tenure. He has as many as 55 goals and 105 points in a single season.
The Stars are pairing that player on a line with Jason Robertson and Roope Hintz, two bonafide All-Stars. All three of those players can easily pot 40 goals in a season, and they'll gain chemistry by playing together for years to come.
What makes this Stars team scary outside of its top line is how deep the forward group is. Wyatt Johnston is averaging nearly a point per game, and yet, he's their third-line center alongside two battle-tested veterans in Jamie Benn and Evgenii Dadonov.
The Stars will be at their best come playoff time when Tyler Seguin, one of their best forwards who has been limited to just 19 games this season due to injury, is set to return. Oh yeah, Miro Heiskanen will be back as well to bolster the defense.
The Stars were scary before, and now they're a team nobody in the NHL will want any part of. The Hurricanes allowed them to swoop in and add one of the best players in the NHL to an already stacked roster, and the entire Western Conference is going to end up paying for it as a result.