As of Thursday, the 2022 NHL season has finally begun. The Dallas Stars opened their season with an overtime win over the New York Rangers. Courtesy of the game breaker himself; Miro Heiskanen. Sending a bold message to Stars fans, and the rest of the NHL in a matter of seconds.
While it might not seem like an all important game, Thursday night’s game could mean more than many realize. The Dallas Stars blew a 2-0 lead, and went into overtime. A big problem for the Stars last season missing the playoffs were the frequent overtime losses. A win like this can go a long way for the Stars this year. Momentum can work in many ways. Such as building team confidence in finishing games when injuries, or unlucky bounces occur. Two points after a game are always better than one, and the Stars earned those two points.
A look back at the off-season, the health of the overall team is the first thing to point out. A healthy Tyler Seguin, who only played three games last season, is almost like an acquisition that did not cost the Dallas Stars anything. Getting Alexander Radulov back, who only played eleven games is about the same dream scenario. Roope Hintz played for almost the whole year, but was day to day for about all of 2021.
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Looking at new team acquisitions, the Dallas Stars made a few splashes. Braden Holtby could become the biggest difference maker of the new faces on the team. With Ben Bishop’s career being up in the air due to health issues, the Stars got the 2018 Stanley Cup champ to help out Anton Khudobin. Not to disregard sophomore net minder Jake Oettinger. Dallas has a good problem with three to four strong goaltenders.
Two defenseman are also new additions to the team longtime veteran defensive defensmen Ryan Suter, and the big guy Jani Hakanpaa to fill the shoes of Jamie Oleksiak (who got picked up by the Seattle Kraken) round off a solid six man unit from the blue line.
Another underrated plus for the Dallas Stars also added a wizard on the faceoff dot in Luke Glendening. The former Detroit Red Wing made a name for himself winning faceoffs, and became one of the biggest highlights for a struggling hockey team. Writers for the octopus thrower were among those in the national media to point this out.
” For most of the season, Luke Glendening was known around the league for one specific skill: faceoff wins. This was especially true before the trade deadline. Glendening drew a surprising amount of interest around the league for his ability to consistently win faceoffs – he led the league in win percentage for a good chunk of the year (He was dethroned by Patrice Bergeron near the end of the year). A decent shutdown grinder with a very specific skill was enticing for teams looking to complete a playoff ready roster.”
They got even more specific on Luke’s game. “Glendening was typically deployed to either win a faceoff or shut down an opposing line. He succeeded at both quite often.”. Doing the dirty work like winning faceoffs can help take a team a long way in terms of getting wins in the regular season,and the playoffs.
Michael Raffl is a versatile forward who can play at any position on any of the four lines. Raffl is not going to become one of the team’s top scoring threats, but he is a veteran forward who can handle the puck. Not only is he comfortable with playing either the left or the right wing, he can play center too.
With the season underway we’ll see if the Dallas Stars can get back to the playoffs come next spring, and become once again that aggravating defensive team Stars fans have come to know and love. Having a healthier roster,and wins past regulation are a good start. The Stars certainly have the veteran leadership, and energy at youth at all positions to get back to competing for the best trophy in sports. With the hopes of bringing the Stanley Cup back to Dallas, Texas.
Featured photo: patabook.com
