Dallas Stars 2013-14 Season Primer

• Team Outlook from McKeen’s Hockey Guide:

  New GM Jim Nill certainly was busy over the summer. He hired long-time Buffalo Sabres bench boss Lindy Ruff to serve as the new head coach, but that move almost got drowned out by the flurry of players he signed and traded for.Tyler Seguin, Rich Peverley, Shawn Horcoff, and Sergei Gonchar highlight the list of new Stars members. Among them, Seguin is certainly the most intriguing. He’s already proven that he can be a major offensive contributor in the NHL, but on a team as deep as the Bruins, his playing time was still somewhat limited. That won’t be an issue with the Stars as he’ll likely take a spot on the top line along with Jamie Benn.

  Of course, losing Loui Eriksson and his playmaking abilities hurt, even if that was necessary to get the much younger Seguin. On top of that, their offense still looks thin beyond Seguin and Benn, although that does create an opportunity for younger forwards like Alex Chiasson to show what they can do over the course of a full NHL season.

  Until that young offense develops, the Stars are going to struggle to make the playoffs and those growing pains could take years to work through. Still, the Stars have some solid defenseman and a good goaltender in Kari Lehtonen. That should keep them competitive most nights over what could be a rough season.

• Team Fantasy Outlook from Dobber Hockey’s 2013-14 Fantasy Guide – Over a 150 pages of fantasy goodness:

  Dobber’s lowdown on: Antoine Roussel – This multi-category stud may have pulled an Alex Burrows. Undrafted and in the ECHL, Roussel worked his way up to the AHL thanks to his relentless grit and high-energy style. It doesn’t hurt that he knows what to do with the puck, either. Like Burrows, he wouldn’t hold the stars back if he was placed on a line with them, yet he also contributes as a depth guy. He will probably never luck out the way Burrows did and play with the big guns, so for now just look for a modest point total and high PIM and hits. His PDO was too high, so I stress the word “modest”.Chiasson had points in five of his six NHL games before a shoulder injury in the seventh game sidelined him.

  Don’t draft Cole, no matter how tempting his ‘name’ is. Granted, he didn’t play hockey during the lockout and no doubt was rusty, but his indifferent play went beyond that. He has mentioned the “R” word (retirement) and seems to be just mailing it in as he wraps up his contract. He did terrible in Montreal last season but managed to perform even worse for Dallas (seven points, minus-7 in 28 games).

  Whitney only went two consecutive pointless games twice last season. He’s 41 years old. For four or five years now he’s been a middle- or even late-round draft pick in fantasy leagues and each time that’s proven to be a coup. It’s like a game of hot potato – it’s going to end sometime, but you don’t know when and you don’t want to be the guy holding the potato when the game ends.

  Robidas, as usual, had a strong first half (nine points, 20 games) and a slow second half. He’s a good late round pick even though he’s only good for 20 or 25 points because he’ll get most of them early and then you can just drop him.

Follow link for more info and stats

Additions: D Ryan Button, G Dan Ellis, D Sergei Gonchar, F Shawn Horcoff, F Chris Mueller, F Taylor Peters, F Rich Peverley, F Tyler Seguin.

Subtractions: G Richard Bachman, G Tyler Beskorowany, D Jace Coyle, F Loui Eriksson, D Maxime Fortunus, F Matt Fraser, F Luke Gazdic, D Philip Larsen, D Joe Morrow, F Eric Nystrom, D Tyler Sloan, F Reilly Smith, D Carl Sneep, F Mathieu Tousignant, F Tom Wandell, F Scott Winkler.

Promotion candidates: D Jamie Oleksiak, RW Valeri Nichushkin, RW Alex Chiasson

Player salaries: $58,368,334 (23)
Cap Number: $62,993,661
Bonuses: $1,455,000
Cap Space: $2,761,389
Forwards: $36,660,278 (14)
Defensemen: $19,300,000 (7)
Goalies: $6,800,000 (2)
Source: CapGeek

Forwards
Jamie Benn – Tyler Seguin – Erik Cole
Ray Whitney – Cody Eakin – Valeri Nichushkin
Rich Peverley – Shawn Horcoff – Alex Chiasson
Antoine Roussel – Vernon Fiddler – Ryan Garbutt
Lane MacDermid – Chris Mueller

Defensemen
Alex Goligoski – Sergei Gonchar
Brenden Dillon – Stephane Robidas
Kevin Connauton – Trevor Daley
Jamie Oleksiak – Jordie Benn

Goalies
Kari Lehtonen
Dan Ellis

2013 Dallas Stars Draft Results 

Dallas Stars Top Prospects

2012-13 Dallas Stars Player Stats

Some info, stats and video taken from NHL.com’s 30-in-30 series.