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In this weekly feature, I look at where individuals are trending to in this handy-dandy table format. The analysis of each person is done solely by me and my observations -- sometimes I do it by committee with other writers, but I've got the ultimate say. So if you disagree on any of these, feel free to tell me in the comments! Who doesn't like a good ol' hockey debate?
Not the best week this week...
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Jamie BENN |
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| Comments: The captain Jamie Benn continued his point collection quite nicely, but when the only line clicking is the top line, that's not going to win you many games. He had a fight against the Anaheim Ducks' Francois Beauchemin -- will that be a wake up call to his team? | |||
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Jordie BENN |
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| Comments: By far the best defenseman on the team so far this season, Jordie Benn looked solid despite the team's defensive woes. He did seem to struggle when given a larger role at times in this past week. | |||
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Jack CAMPBELL |
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| Comments: Jack Campbell made his NHL debut on Sunday, recording a loss in his first outing and allowing six goals against. I don't blame him for the team's loss, however -- they allowed an astounding 47 shots on goal against for the rookie netminder and Campbell came up with plenty of big saves. You don't generally win games allowing that many SOG, though. He appears to be progressing nicely and was returned to get big starting minutes in Cedar Park with the return of Kari Lehtonen to the Dallas team. | |||
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Alex CHIASSON |
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| Comments: Alex Chiasson may be cooling off in the points department -- he's now gone five whole games without a goal, the longest streak of his career! -- but his play away from the puck is still really good. He sees the plays on the ice well, and has been seeing some on the second penalty kill unit. He leads all rookie forwards in power play time on ice so far this season. | |||
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Erik COLE |
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| Comments: It came out yesterday that Erik Cole has been battling a nagging injury, which may explain his poor defensive play over the last few games. He's just looked...off from what I saw in preseason. Hopefully he heals up and returns to form here soon -- depth scoring is kind of a big deal on this roster at the moment, and he can provide some punch in the bottom six. | |||
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Kevin CONNAUTON |
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| Comments: Seems like Kevin Connauton will suit up in tonight's game for the first time as a Dallas Star. | |||
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Trevor DALEY |
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| Comments: Always a nice sight to see Trevor Daley score a goal, but he also got scored on quite a bit these last few games too. | |||
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Brenden DILLON |
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| Comments: Brenden Dillon had a much better week this week, and provided some scoring from the blueline. The Dillon-Stephane Robidas pairing has been the most consistent defensive pairing to date. | |||
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Cody EAKIN |
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| Comments: Cody Eakin looked phenomenal versus the San Jose Sharks, but then followed that game up with two forgettable outings. Consistency is something he needs to work on if that second line is going to have any hope of providing offense on a regular basis. | |||
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Dan ELLIS |
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| Comments: Dan Ellis was really good against the Sharks, and while he let in at least one in Los Angeles that I think was stoppable a lot of the goals against for him are a direct result of not having defensive support in front of him. | |||
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Vernon FIDDLER |
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| Comments: Vernon Fiddler needs to teach his faceoff win secrets to the rest of the centers on the team. He's leading the regular centers in this category for the team. | |||
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Ryan GARBUTT |
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| Comments: Ryan Garbutt was having his best game to date on Sunday until he charged Dustin Penner and received a five game suspension from the Department of Player Safety. He had looked speedy and hungry on the puck. Hopefully he still retains that side of his game but makes better decisions with his body checking in the future. | |||
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Alex GOLIGOSKI |
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| Comments: For the brief time he was separated from Sergei Gonchar, Alex Goligoski reminded me of what we had seen at the end of last season: confident with the puck, able to move up ice, and seemed to look really comfortable. But his pairing with Gonchar hasn't gone the way everyone expected, and there is speculation he'll be benched tonight. For me I hope he is. He came back with his head on straight after sitting last season, and it may just be the reset he needs to take off some of the pressure. | |||
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Sergei GONCHAR |
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| Comments: For Gonchar, much of what was said about Goligoski could equally apply to the veteran blueliner. His power play unit has been changed up from the 4 F - 1 D look he was executing to a more standard 3 F - 2 D look. | |||
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Shawn HORCOFF |
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| Comments: I think I'm going to start a petition to change the name "penalty box" to the "You can't do that Horcoff" box. He seems to really like it there lately. | |||
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Kari LEHTONEN |
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| Comments: So happy to see Kari Lehtonen return from injury tonight. The big Finn just seems to give the team that extra boost of confidence when he's between the pipes. It's times like these where most people learn that Lehtonen truly is the MVP of this Stars squad. | |||
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Lane MACDERMID |
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| Comments: Lane MacDermid should see ice time with Garbutt's suspension, especially if the Stars decide to skate with 12 forwards and 7 defensemen over calling someone up from the AHL to get a look. | |||
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Valeri NICHUSHKIN |
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| Comments: Valeri Nichushkin scored his first NHL point this past weekend. He's played two of his better games lately according to Lindy Ruff. He is going to get looks with the top line eventually as well. Things are trending in the right direction for the young rookie. | |||
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Rich PEVERLEY |
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| Comments: Rich Peverley has been pretty good on the top line so far. He's winning faceoffs when needed at a high rate, and he's generating shots on goal. | |||
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Stephane ROBIDAS |
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| Comments: Stephane Robidas continues doing all of the little things and is generally in good defensive positioning. Recorded his first point of the season this past week as well. | |||
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Aaron ROME |
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| Comments: After coming off of his conditioning stint, Aaron Rome was put on waivers and cleared. I don't think he did enough to jump ahead of Jordie Benn or Connauton on the depth chart at the NHL level. Not sure what that means for his future yet with the Stars. | |||
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Antoine ROUSSEL |
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| Comments: Antoine Roussel gets an "Up" from me because he's doing everything at 125% effort on the ice -- including sticking up for his teammate Daley after he'd been crosschecked into the boards by a Shark. He looked VERY intimidating during that bout, too. | |||
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Tyler SEGUIN |
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| Comments: Tyler Seguin leads the team in points and goals scored and all it seems he's doing lately is finding a way to make scoring happen for his line. | |||
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Ray WHITNEY |
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| Comments: If Ray Whitney and his line can do what they did against San Jose a little more often, that will be nice indeed. | |||