Off Season Game Plan Dallas Stars Edition

Dallas. Where the men are either steers or queers. Remember when the Bruins sent Tyler Seguin, aka not Taylor Hall for Loui Eriksson to the Lone Star state to up the steer ratio and number of recent Stanley Cup winners on the team by 1? Dallas girls got ready to party.

unfortunately, they also brought their
less attractive friend to the games as well

He joined a relatively unheard of Jaime Benn to create a scoring force of extraordinary magnitude - so extraordinary that Jaime Benn wound up winning the Art Ross trophy, a trophy usually reserved for one of the 'elite' scorers of the NHL who people with some small knowledge have heard of him, so good for him for bringing the first major award to Dallas since the Mike Modano/Ken Hitchcock days.

Remember when...?

***SUMMER UPDATE***

Dallas is reaping the rewards of Chicago's winning teams and Salary Cap problems; Anti Niemi, former Blackhawk goalie and recently of the imploding San Jose Sharks has signed with the Stars. Then Patrick Sharp and Johnny Oduya sign, following in the blueprint that worked so well for the New York Islanders and also being given a try by the new look Oilers. Possibly the most improved team in the west.

Foreshadowing, 40 years earlier

Coach

Lindy Ruff - Lindy is enjoying his coaching career in Dallas after his transplant from Buffalo. With Jim Nill heading the ship, he's brought in a good group of core veteran players and gelled them quite efficiently with the younger talented guys like Seguin and Benn. This team wound up short of the playoffs by a few games, and if Seguin didn't miss 10 games or their goalie stopped a few more shots, they could have easily been in there.

Forwards

This is a team led by Seguin and Benn who nearly doubled all other forwards in scoring. But they have a good mixture of veterans in Jason Spezza, Vernon Fiddler and Ales Hemsky helped provide some work ethic to a growing young team. Another quality scoring threat would be a great help on the second line to take some pressure off.

A rare moment of the boys not partying

Defense

When your top blueliner is Trevor Daley, there is a glaring need for an upgrade. Not that Daley isn't any good; he just needs a couple more years to be 'that guy'. Klinkberg did well for me on my NHL14 GM mode, although he was playing on a pretty stacked Chicago team (of which I was also part of).

As rare as a #1 All-Star Defenseman in Dallas

Goalies

Looking small and scared in the net

If Dallas has a small defensive problem, they have a huge goaltending problem. Kari Lehtonen proved somewhat human last year, posting the worst save % of his career despite winning 34 games while doing it. He's in need of a capable back-up to help shoulder the burden of playing behind a relatively young defense.











#1 Priority - Get a quality, veteran defenseman. ***Oduya signs***
#2 Priority - Have a Plan B in case Lehtonen doesn't bounce back from a less than stellar year.  ***Niemi signs*** 
#3 Priority - Keep Seguin and Benn out of the Drunk Tank and/or STD clinic ***so far, so good***