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2013-14 NHL Western Conference Spotlight Team: Dallas Stars


It will be hard to recognize the Dallas Stars in 2013-14 until they start playing. And that's a good thing. New off-season additions (Tyler Seguin, Rich Peverley, Sergei Gonchar, Ray Whitney, Chris Mueller, and Shawn Horcoff), new uniforms, new logo, a new GM (Jim Nill) and a new coach (Lindy Ruff) are sure to help this team improve on last season's 22-22-4 record. Lindy Ruff had a lot of success in Buffalo from 1997-2013, and won the Jack Adams Award as NHL Coach of the Year in 2006. He went 571-432-78-84 (W/L/T/OL) in his time with the Sabres. Ruff's team made the playoffs 8 out of the 15 seasons, reaching the Stanley Cup Finals back in 1998-99. He demands accountability and this is exactly what the Stars need right now.

The Stars are now very strong up the middle (which is typically a hallmark of deep playoff teams) and Gonchar will help on defense and the power play, where he skated 3:43 per game for Ottawa and led the team in power-play points (12) last season. Alex Chiasson was brought up at the tail end of last season. He had 6 goals in 7 games and adds nice depth at the end of the bench. This team will be much improved in all aspects of the game. If you're a Dallas Stars fan, this will be a fun season for you. A team with playoff aspirations needs good goal-tending and the Stars have two good ones. Kari Lehtonen has a career 2.71 GAA and .914 save percentage and backup Dan Ellis has a 2.72 GAA and .908 save percentage in his career. You love Lehtonen's size at 6'4, 220 lbs, and at 29 years young, he is in the prime of his career. The local beat writers were tough on Lehtonen last season and for good reason. He ranked last in GAA (2.66) and 19th in save percentage (.916). My eyes tell me he is much better than those stats and did play hurt more often than not last year. I expect his best season in goal as the team in front of him will be much improved.

The defense will be improved enough to win more close games this season. If the Stars suffer any major injury on their blue-line, they could be in trouble without much depth there. This will be a motivated team on a mission to make the playoffs in 2013-14. Expect the Stars to get their first playoff berth since losing to the eventual Stanley Cup Champion Detroit Red Wings during the 2008-09 Western Conference finals.


Jeff's 2013-14 Prediction: 43-29-10 (96 points, 8th seed out West)

Good Luck this Hockey Season!

Jeff/JHSL