Few Jobs Available In Stars Camp

Few Jobs Available In Stars Camp

The Dallas Stars are midway through the 2017/18 training camp, icing what most likely will be the roster they ride all season. A season removed from the first season missing the EHE playoffs, fans and management alike were hoping for a few of the clubs youth investments to pan out and fill a few roster spots. 

Only defenceman and potential Calder Cup candidate Nikita Zaitsev, not young by any standard at 26, is the Only new face to come from within the organization.

GM McGugan has been all over the place this off-season, making trades that point to the continuance of the club’s 2-3 year rebuild, and then following that up with deals that seem to point to the club making  a playoff push this year. Money was spent freely in the summer, signing forwards Matthew Perreault and Jason Pominville to sizable contracts. Confused Stars fans are flooding Dallas sports radio with daily calls for McGugan’s head. In a recent sit-in on The Ben and Skin Show on The Fan radio in Dallas, the Dallas GM addressed the club’s recent moves.

MCGUGAN: As I’ve said many times, we were an old, expensive team built out of the gate. After the 2nd Cup win, it was time to beat the rush so to speak and begin to acquire assets. The plan was always to try and build through the draft. We’ve reached the point where we have some great assets in juniors, college and Europe. Along the way, we’ve acquired a lot of young controllable players which we hope will continue to develop. This past off-season was a continuation of this long term vision. We signed Perreault and Pominville to fill gaps that we have this season and expect them to help the team as the youth continue to develop as a group.

BEN ROGERS: Sure. That all sounds good. So how do the Stepan and Dubinsky trades fit into the grand scheme of things – that one doesn’t seem to fit in with this vision?

MCGUGAN: Yeah….well…uh…don’t tell Derek, but the Stepan deal was the result of an administrative mix-up. I really messed that one up. But once it was done and I re-evaluated the roster, I figured maybe this club could make a playoff run a year earlier than I had originally thought. The Dubinsky trade was one I actually INTENDED to do! Our top 9 will be very competitive in the league, of that I have no doubt.

When all said and done, the Stars are currently dressing what may be the deepest forward lineup they’ve iced in their history, including the two EHE Cup seasons. Unfortunately for the team’s fans this season, they’ve combined that with one of the weakest D corps in the league. Can back to back Conn Smythe winner Carey Price drag this roster to the playoffs this season? Will the forward depth be enough to carry the weak defence behind them?

Although the lines have varied here and there early in the pre-season, the regular season figures to start with the following lines:

Domi – Monahan - Pominville

Perreault – Stepan - Coyle

Boedker – Dubinsky - Nyquist

Laich – Kelly – Ennis

Defensively, The Stars are well behind the rest of the league. Rookie Nikita Zaitsev and Dmitri Orlov are a great 3-4 pairing…unfortunately they are the 1-2 pairing on this roster. Chris Tanev was a great pickup as a stay at home standout, but he’s the only real defensive d-man on the club. This team needs to pick up a couple of top defencemen if they’re going to make any noise this year, otherwise they will be early sellers again this season.

FUTURE FIVE

GM McGugan has done a decent job restocking the prospect cupboard over the last season and a half after two seasons of deals in their back to back cup wins. The top five prospects have legitimate star potential for the club in the next few years:

Alex DeBrincat (Expected 2018/19): There were questions from many GMs in the league as to whether Alex’ offence from junior hockey would translate to the pros when the Stars made the trade for DeBrincat. It’s very early, but so far it appears that his game has translated just fine. Alex will most likely make his debut with the Mavericks in 2018, but if he continues his development as he’s started his pro career, his first pro EHE games could be with the parent club.

Jakub Zboril (Expected 2018/19): Jakub looks to make his EHE debut for the Mavericks in the 2018 season. He’s become a much more mature and responsible player, focusing on the defensive part of his game. He is expected to be a 3-4 pairing d-man while supplying 2nd tier offence from the back end.

Casey Mittlestadt (Expected 2019/20): Casey’s college career has started of strong, and he stands out every game. The college game is the perfect place for Casey to continue to work on his size and strenth, while his skill and skating continue to be at an elite level. The 2019/20 expectation comes with the caveat that it’s all dependant of Casey’s desire to finish college vs. becoming a pro hockey player earlier.

Ilya Sorokin (Expected 2021/22): Sorokin would top this list if not for the “Russian factor”. He recently signed an extension CSKA Moscow through the 2019/20 season, and although there are various ways to get out of KHL contracts, it’s expected that Sorokin will play out his deal, coming over to North America to play with the Dallas in 2021. His numbers in the KHL have been other worldly, and he’s expected to be the #1 tender for the Stars for many years.

Kieffer Bellows (Expected 2019/20): Kieffer is two things: A pure goal scorer, and eager to play in the EHE. To point two, Bellows, who had originally planned on playing with Boston University this year, chose to play junior hockey in the WHL instead with Portland, his thinking being that playing double the hockey games as are available in the WHL he’d have a better shot at making the EHE. 

*BONUS PROSPECT NEWS*

Nikita Gusev – Arguably not only the most talented of all of the prospects in the Stars organization, but possibly the most talented of ALL of the players, As each month passes it looks more and more like the 2016 Dallas Stars 5th round selection will remain in Russia playing in the KHL and will never come over to North America to play.