- In tonight’s game against the Ottawa Senators, goaltender for the Dallas Stars, Jake Oettinger, abruptly left the ice in the first period, and will not return to action with a lower-body injury, per a team announcement. In a down year compared to his first three seasons in the NHL, Oettinger sports an 11-7-2 record in 20 games played, carrying a .904 SV% and a 2.85 GAA. Nevertheless, if Oettinger is expected to miss any sort of time with this injury, the Stars’ internal goaltending options are not close to replicating the output of Oettinger, even with his numbers being down.
- Capping off a flurry of roster moves from the organization today, the Seattle Kraken have sent down forward Marian Studenic to their AHL affiliate, the Coachella Valley Firebirds. Although providing little to no production at the NHL level, Studenic has been one of the better AHL scorers over the last few seasons. Last season, rostered on the Texas Stars, Studenic scored 21 goals and 48 points in 67 games. Now on the Firebirds, Studenic has once again gotten off to a solid start, scoring seven goals and 12 points in his first 16 games.
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Stars Rumors
What Your Team Is Thankful For: Dallas Stars
As the holiday season approaches, PHR will be taking a look at what teams are thankful for in 2023-24. There also might be a few things your team would like down the road. We’ll examine what’s gone well in the early going and what could improve as the season rolls on for the Dallas Stars.
Who are the Stars thankful for?
There were a number of different ways that we could have gone here, but it is hard to dismiss the agelessness of 39-year-old Joe Pavelski.
Many pundits thought the Dallas Stars had made a big miscalculation back in July 2019 when the club signed a then 34-year-old Pavelski to a three-year $21MM contract just ten days before his 35th birthday. And one season into the deal, it sure looked like the pundits were right. Pavelski looked lost and tired as he suffered through one of the worst seasons of his NHL career. But since that first year, he has registered 91 goals and 142 assists in 242 games.
Now part of those numbers are because Pavelski is playing fewer minutes than his career average, and he is also playing with very skilled teammates, but it is hard to discount all the intangibles Pavelski has brought to the Stars dressing room on top of being a bonafide top-6 forward. Pavelski hasn’t had to sacrifice any of his attention to detail when it comes to his defensive responsibilities and continues to remain in the conversation when it comes to Selke Trophy considerations year after year. All of this in his 18th NHL season, while he continues to play under a very team-friendly cap hit making just $3.5MM this season (plus $2MM in bonuses).
Pavelski might not be the biggest star in Dallas, but his reliability at both ends of the ice, and his ability to make everyone around him better continue to impress as he pushes towards his 40th birthday.
What are the Stars thankful for?
Their scouting staff.
Very few teams have hit on late first-round picks and second-round picks the way the Dallas Stars have over the last decade. The Stars were fortunate to pick the likes of Miro Heiskanen third overall. But most of their depth was built off smart picks later in the draft. All-star goaltender Jake Oettinger was a late first-round pick 26th overall in the 2017 NHL entry draft, Jason Robertson was selected 13 spots later at 39th overall and has emerged as a top-flight offensive talent. Roope Hintz was a late second-round pick in the 2015 draft while Wyatt Johnston was selected 23rd overall in 2021. The list goes on and it goes to show just how Dallas has built a team that can contend year in and year out.
The stars currently boast some of the best depth in the NHL evidenced by Johnston centering a third line that features Jamie Benn. They haven’t just hit on draft picks as they’ve also been able to make smart free-agent signings (see Pavelski above) and craft trades along the way. The scouts in Dallas at both the amateur and pro level have done a commendable job identifying available talent that other NHL clubs are undervaluing.
What would the Stars be even more thankful for?
Ryan Suter dialing it back.
At 39 years old it is unlikely that Ryan Suter is going to find another gear suddenly. The 11-time all-star defenseman has seen his offensive game fall into a decline since 2020, while his defensive game has been slipping away since 2015. Suter was once considered one of the top two-way defensemen in the NHL, but time has caught up to the Madison, Wisconsin native.
In Dallas, Suter has been thrust into a role that is probably outside of his current skillset as he has played significant minutes with Miro Heiskanen. Suter is averaging over 20 minutes a night, and while that is a steep decline from last season, it is still a rather large number for one of the oldest defensemen in the NHL.
The drop-in ice time has mostly come from Suter being removed from the Stars’ power play. With his speed and footwork in decline, the Stars have made the call to primarily use Suter at even strength on their top pairing. The good news for Suter is that he is partnered up with Heiskanen and can benefit from the youngster’s strong skillset. Suter hasn’t been terrible this year and has mostly been fine, but given the Stars’ Stanley Cup aspirations, it will be important that Suter finds another gear, or the Stars look for someone who can better log Suter’s minutes and perhaps bump him down the depth chart.
What should be on the Stars holiday wish list?
A defenseman.
As mentioned above, Suter could probably benefit from a more sheltered role in the Stars’ defense core. Esa Lindell could also use some help as well as he too has had his struggles. All this points to the Stars needing to shop for another defender.
Dallas is in the fortunate position to have a decent farm system from which they could trade, and also have some young roster players that could entice teams to part with a defenseman. Although I would avoid trading Johnston if possible.
The Stars could benefit from a right-side defenseman, and while it wouldn’t improve Suter’s position on the depth chart, it would allow Jani Hakanpää to slide down into the bottom pairing. Hakanpää has had a rough start to the season and would likely welcome some sheltered minutes on a 5-6 pairing.
If Dallas opts to trade for right-shot defensemen there will certainly be options available to them. Tyson Barrie of the Nashville Predators is out there, as is Chris Tanev of the Calgary Flames. If the Stars wanted to be bolder, they could take a run at Noah Hanifin as he would slot in beautifully on their top pair next to Heiskanen.
Cap space will be an issue for the Stars, but as we inch closer and closer to the trade deadline it will become less of an issue. Dallas is on the cusp of breaking through in the playoffs and one more defenseman could be just the thing that gets them over the hump and back to the Stanley Cup finals.
Lian Bichsel Will Return To SHL
The Dallas Stars’ top defensive prospect Lian Bichsel has elected to exercise the European Assignment Clause in his entry-level contract and return to Sweden for the rest of the season. The Stars will officially reassign the player to the SHL on December 4th.
The 19-year-old Swiss blueliner was the 18th overall pick at the 2022 NHL draft and had made the decision to cross the Atlantic for the start of the season to join the Stars for training camp. He was sent to the club’s AHL affiliate, the Texas Stars, to start the year and has played in 13 games, scoring five points.
A hulking six-foot-six, 233-pound defensive behemoth, Bichsel has actually been playing a solid role in Texas. He’s been a staple of their top-four on defense and has seen time on special teams as well.
While he hasn’t received a call-up opportunity yet, it was certainly a possibility that Bichsel would receive a call-up and play in his first NHL games before the end of the season. Now, that possibility has been made significantly more remote as he won’t be back in North America at least until his SHL season ends.
Since Bichsel has reportedly elected to play for Rögle BK instead of Leksands, he’s going to be joining a team that currently sits 11th out of 14 SHL clubs. Rögle could very well miss the postseason, which would pave the way for Bichsel to return to the AHL before the Stars’ season ends.
This is unlikely to be the development path the stars would prefer for Bichsel, but it’s a possibility they have to have at least expected. Ultimately, while the AHL may have been the preferred route heading to Rögle is far from a significant step down in terms of development opportunities. He’s likely to play quite a bit there and the club has a history of helping NHL first-round picks in their growth, including Detroit Red Wings star Moritz Seider.
By the time the Stars 2024 training camp rolls around, the additional experience Bichsel will have gained this year could very well be the deciding factor in whether or not he makes the Stars’ NHL roster at the age of 20.
Thomas Harley Remains Out Monday
- Stars defenseman Thomas Harley will remain out of the lineup tonight when they host the Rangers, Brien Rea of Bally Sports Southwest reports. The 22-year-old is sidelined with an upper-body injury sustained November 12 against the Wild on a hit from forward Brandon Duhaime and is listed as day-to-day. This will be Harley’s third straight absence after playing in 14 straight games to start the season. The team’s 2019 first-round pick is looking quite at home in the NHL, posting five points and a +2 rating while averaging 17:24 per game.
Thomas Harley Out Day-To-Day
- Dallas Stars head coach Peter DeBoer told the media today that defenseman Thomas Harley will be out for tonight’s game when the team hosts the Arizona Coyotes. Harley is, according to DeBoer, dealing with a day-to-day injury, and it was specifically clarified that he is not in concussion protocol. Harley was on the wrong end of a big hit in the most recent Stars contest, so there was fear that his injury could be something more major it but appears the worst has been avoided. Harley has had a solid start to the season on the Stars’ bottom pairing next to Jani Hakanpää and in his absence his spot there is set to go to Joel Hanley.
Duchene, Faksa Will Not Play Tonight
- In what is expected to be one of the more competitive games of the week, the Dallas Stars will take on the Boston Bruins tonight but will be without two forwards. Lia Assimakopoulos of the Dallas Morning News reports that forwards Matt Duchene (day-to-day) and Radek Faksa (day-to-day) will not be in the lineup tonight. This will likely be the only game Duchene misses due to his injury and will be Faksa’s third straight missed game.
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Joe Pavelski Set To Hit First Performance Bonus
On January 1st of this year, the Dallas Stars inked veteran forward, Joe Pavelski, to a one-year contract worth a total of $3.5MM. A notable decrease on the $7MM annually that Pavelski was earning in his first contract with Dallas, this new deal did include two performance bonuses worth a total of $1MM each.
Per CapFriendly, when Pavelski plays in his 10th game of the year, he will earn the first bonus, and he will earn the second bonus at 20 games played. Tonight, the Stars will take on the Vancouver Canucks, and if no lineup changes are made, Pavelski would be in line to secure the first $1MM performance bonus included in his contract.
Although typically a minor detail on most contracts, given that Dallas only has approximately $457K in cap space, this performance bonus earned by Pavelski will result in an overage penalty to the Stars, which will be applied to next year’s salary cap bottom line. Also, given his health and availability over the last three seasons with the Stars, the expectation is that Pavelski will make it to 20 games played, adding even more overage penalties to the Dallas organization next year.
Radek Faksa Out With Upper Body Injury
- Dallas Stars radio analyst Bruce LeVine is reporting that Stars forward Radek Faksa will miss tonight’s game with what is being described as an upper-body injury. Faksa skated with the team yesterday before leaving on their road trip and by all accounts seemed fine. No word yet on what has changed between then and now or any specifics on the ailment. Faksa is off to a slow start offensively this season with no points in seven games, however the Stars are off to a torrid 5-1-1 start thanks in part to Faksa’s penalty killing and defensive acumen.
Jake Oettinger Had Offseason Surgery
Brian Hedger of The Columbus Dispatch is reporting that Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Erik Gudbranson is expected to play tonight after being limited to 16:49 in Saturday night’s game against the New York Islanders. A lower-body issue forced the 31-year-old defender to play his lowest minutes of the season, but it appears as though the Ottawa, Ontario native won’t miss any games and should be good to go against the Dallas Stars this evening.
Gudbranson has been held scoreless in eight games this season while averaging 19:32 of ice time per game. The Blue Jackets have struggled to possess the puck with the former third-overall pick on the ice, despite Gudbranson getting most of his starts in the offensive zone. Gudbranson has also been much less physical to start the year, averaging less than one hit per game, which is well below his career average of over two hits per game.
In other evening notes:
- New Jersey Devils reporter Amanda Stein tweeted that Devils defenseman Kevin Bahl missed practice today due to an apparent illness. This information comes from New Jersey head coach Lindy Ruff. Bahl has two assists in eight games this season and has seen a dramatic increase in ice time this year as he is playing over 19 minutes a night after averaging just 14:01 a game last season. The 23-year-old rearguard doesn’t offer much offensively but has started to develop into a reliable stay-at-home defenseman on what is a very deep Devils defensive group.
- Saad Yousuf of The Athletic reported today that Dallas Stars netminder Jake Oettinger have offseason surgery on his foot this past July from an ankle injury that occurred in October 2022. The 24-year-old had sought out multiple opinions and was surprised when he got the call early in the summer that he would need the procedure. The star netminder was only able to get back onto the ice in mid-September after rehab, just a week before the start of Stars training camp. Oettinger looks to be feeling no ill effects from a late start to his skating as he has gone 3-0-1 in his first four starts with a .952 save percentage.
Stars Loan Chase Wheatcroft To Minors
The Stars activated forward prospect Chase Wheatcroft from season-opening injured reserve and loaned him to AHL Texas on Tuesday, per a team announcement.
The 21-year-old Wheatcroft stayed in junior hockey for an over-age season with the WHL’s Prince George Cougars last season, a choice that made him one of the most dominant scorers in the league. Aside from Connor Bedard, Wheatcroft was the only player in the WHL to crack the 100-point mark in 2022-23, scoring 47 goals and adding 60 assists for 107 points in 68 contests. After going undrafted, Wheatcroft signed a three-year ELC with the Stars as a free agent in March, keeping him in Dallas’ organization through 2026.
An undisclosed injury sustained late in training camp prevented the Stars from assigning him to the minors before opening-night rosters were due, meaning he started the season on season-opening injured reserve – a special designation for players on a two-way contract that are injured to begin the campaign. Now healthy, he can be assigned to the AHL without needing waivers.
The 6-foot-2, 176-pound winger will now get his first taste of pro hockey in Cedar Park. He joins a Texas team off to a solid 3-2-0 start, led in scoring by a pair of future Dallas cornerstones in Mavrik Bourque and Logan Stankoven.