Dallas Stars season grades: Toby Petersen

We continue our series of grading each player that played a role for the Stars in the 2009-2010 season. At the end of each feature, you get to select the overall grade for each individual player. This is something we'll continue doing each season, and is a tool we can use to determine a player's progress year by year.

Toby Petersen

#17 / Center / Dallas Stars

Height: 5-10

Weight: 197

Born: Oct 27, 1978

All stats used in this post courtesy of BehindTheNet.ca and NHL.com

Key Stat: Peterson finished tied for 3rd on the team in plus/minus.

The Good: Despite being relegated to the fourth line most of the year, Petersen saw his offensive numbers increase from the year before, as well as his shot totals. His 9 goals were a career high. The Stars relied on Petersen to step up when injuries upped his playing time, and Petersen generally gave them a solid performance each night. He was an asset on the penalty kill when given time on the unit, and even notched a short-handed goal.

The Bad: It's hard to point out what Petersen did poorly, if only because of the limited sample size. In December, Petersen went pointless in twelve games, and also saw his TOI/G drop. His shot percentage, while improved from last year, still was only 12th best on the team.

The Bottom Line:The Stars don't ask much from Toby Petersen other than solid, mistake-free play, and Petersen delivered this year. Petersen was given more games and more of an opportunity to perform for the club than he's ever had before, and proved to be a valuable 4th-liner and injury fill-in. He's not flashy, but he battles hard for pucks and works well in the transition game. Personally, I'd like to see what he could do if given more time on the penalty kill. After signing a contract extension earlier this year, Petersen looks to be a key role player for the Stars going forward.

The Vote: Rate Petersen on a scale of 1-10 (10 being the best) based on his performance relative to his potential and your expectations for the season - if he had the best year you could have imagined him having, give him a 10; if he more or less played as you expected he would, give him a 5 or a 6; if he had the worst year you could have imagined him having, give him a 1.