Deep in the heart of the offseason is where the Dallas Stars are. While the three remaining teams battle in the playoffs, the offseason is in full swing for the other 29. This offseason is the most important in recent memory. So many players are going while coaches are already gonzo. It’s no secret that certain aspects of Stars hockey lacked last season. 2022-2023 will be here before we know it. While some offseason fireworks have already detonated, the biggest are yet to come.
What is Wrong?
Anybody that watched the Stars this season will tell you what was the problem. The goal drought from all but three players frustrated everyone all season long. Roope Hintz, Jason Robertson, and Joe Pavelski scored over 44% of the team’s goals this year. The depth scoring got lost on the way to games. Making the playoffs with a negative goal differential is an accomplishment. 5 non-playoff teams scored more goals than the Stars. You need goals from everyone not on the top line.
How did it go so wrong? 16 players played more than 60 games this year. 5 of those players recorded less than 20 points. The offense did not click. The defense and goaltending bailed out the 21st-best offense.
How to Fix it
The Stars traded the retired Ben Bishop Friday to free up even more cap space. That cap space is over $19.5 million. That is serious dough to play around with. Big numbers like that are enough to solve whatever depth scoring problems they have. Don’t forget Robertson and Oettinger both need contracts. Signing depth scoring is a priority. There are plenty of options for low-cap hit offensive forwards that can fit in well with this hockey team.
Looking back it’s impressive what the Stars accomplished this season. The building blocks for a successful future found the cement. 2023 can potentially be a monster season if the Stars can perform better. Free Agency starts a bit later this year on July 13th at 11 a.m.
Photo credit: Dallas Stars Twitter / Sam Hodde
