Gone Puck Wild
Fansided

Looking at the Competition in the Central Division

By Lake Martin

ST. PAUL, MN - AUGUST 22: Craig Leipold, owner of the Minnesota Wild, listens as Bill Guerin answers questions from the media as the new general manager for the team at a press conference at Xcel Energy Center on August 22, 2019 in St. Paul, Minnesota.(Photo by Bruce Kluckhohn/NHLI via Getty Images)
ST. PAUL, MN - AUGUST 22: Craig Leipold, owner of the Minnesota Wild, listens as Bill Guerin answers questions from the media as the new general manager for the team at a press conference at Xcel Energy Center on August 22, 2019 in St. Paul, Minnesota.(Photo by Bruce Kluckhohn/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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Dallas Stars

DALLAS, TEXAS – SEPTEMBER 16: Joe Pavelski #16 of the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center on September 16, 2019, in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
DALLAS, TEXAS – SEPTEMBER 16: Joe Pavelski #16 of the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center on September 16, 2019, in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images) /

Perhaps the biggest beneficiary of the Wild’s midseason meltdown, the Dallas Stars managed to win games in textbook ways. Good defense, sound netminding, and just enough offense to win games. Where will this team go this year?

Biggest Strength: DEFENSE

Is it just me or do the Scandanavian Countries churn out NHL defenseman like the Twins churn out home runs (‘Bombas’ if you have been in the twin cities during the run)? Besides the point, John Klingberg (27yr old-Swede), Esa Lindell (25yr old-Finn), and Miro Heiskanen (20yr old-Finn) are already elite defensemen. Roman Polak is a fine defenseman, will be the bruiser more than a shutdown guy, Jamie Oleksiak will be a suitable 3rd pair guy, and Andrej Sekera could easily jump into the second pair with a showing of good health and good fundamentals.

Furthermore, their bottom-six forwards are proficient two way forwards, play a good 200ft game and can protect the net. But having too much of a good thing can easily be a bad thing.

Biggest Weakness: Scoring

Tyler Seguin (33goals), Alexander Radulov (29goals), and Jamie Benn(27 goals) were their best scorers last year, but that’s where the offensive production stopped for the forwards. Only Radek Faksa had double-digit goals for the remaining forwards last year, only scoring 15. They did get some goal scoring from the aforementioned Scandavainan Dmen, all three in double digits, but it’s difficult to rely on sustainable scoring from the blueliners.

They addressed this issue by signing Joe Pavelski, who scored 38 last season, but in terms of offseason moves, he was the only one that addressed the scoring need. I guess they did sign a 50 goal scorer in Corey Perry, but that was once upon a time; injuries and age have slowed down the pest and I severely doubt he’ll be taken seriously as a scoring threat.

This team will look to win very close games, 1-0/2-1 type games, which means they will largely rely on their Defense and Goaltending. Ben Bishop is certainly no slouch, he almost single-handedly carried the Stars to the Western Conference Finals, especially that Game Seven performance. Incredibly impressive. He will have to continue that elite play or rely on that elite defense, or this season could get ugly for the Stars.

That said, I fully expect this team to compete for the 3rd spot in the division or a wild card berth. Frankly, I believe that both wild card spots will be taken by Central Division teams this year.

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