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Dallas Stars 2022-23 Player Grades: Max Domi

Credit: Tim Heitman / Dallas Stars

Welcome to the offseason. It came sooner than anyone here would have liked, but at least we have some good, quality content lined up for y’all, starting with the return of player grades.

We’ll be going through each player on the Dallas Stars roster and giving a general breakdown of how their season went in Victory Green. At the end, I’ll assign my personal grade for their 2022-23 performance, and y’all can can offer up your own grades and analysis in the comments below.

Before we get started, a couple of notes:

  1. We’ll only be looking at Stars currently on the roster who played at least 20 games (regular season + playoffs) for the team.
  2. Grades will be based on both a player’s regular season and postseason performances for Dallas specifically. Since the team had a deep playoff run, that will factor a bit more into the ratings, but we’ll try not to overreact over a single games/series.
  3. These grades are my sole opinion, and not reflective of the Defending Big D staff as a whole. Except for the ones you disagree with – those aren’t mine.

Without further adieu, let’s take a look at our first player:


Max Domi (No. 18)

Regular: 20 GP, 2 G, 5 A, 7 P, -6, 6 PIM, 55.0 CF%, 55.2 FF%, 95.9 PDO
Playoffs: 19 GP, 3 G, 10 A, 13 P, -3, 52 PIM, 53.8 CF%, 51.1 FF%, 97.5 PDO
Contract Status: UFA

One of the Stars’ two trade deadline additions this year, Max Domi came to Dallas on March 2nd from the Chicago Blackhawks (along with goalie prospect Dylan Wells) for the price of a 2025 second round pick and (to make the salary cap work) goaltender Anton Khudobin.

Slotted next to Tyler Seguin and Mason Marchment on the team’s second forward line, Domi had an immediate impact in Dallas. In his first four games, Domi notched a goal and two assists, including this absolutely filthy saucer pass to Miro Heiskanen for an overtime winner against the Seattle Kraken. The verdict was in: Domi was a solid add for a Stars team pushing for the Central Division title.

But around this same time, both Seguin and Marchment was sidelined due to injury, the latter until the regular season finale. The line shuffling that occurred as a result left Domi without any consistent linemates, even when Seguin returned. For someone adjusting to a new team, that can be difficult, and his statline speaks to that: over his final16 regular season games, Domi managed only a single goal three assists, just a single assist more than his first four games.

That continued on to start the playoffs – even when Marchment returned, a concussion to Joe Pavelski pushed Seguin up into the top line. It wasn’t until the 5th game of the first round that Domi finally got on the scoreboard, but once he did, he seemed to regain his scoring touch. He ended up netting three goals an eight assists (11 points) over an eight-game span against the Minnesota Wild and the Kraken. He picked up two more assists against the Vegas Golden Knights, one in each of the Stars’ wins, for a total of 13 points in 19 playoff games, good for fourth on the team.

Even when he wasn’t scoring, Domi was creating quality chances for the Stars. He also did surprisingly well on the defense, an area where he’s long been considered a liability. All of these factors have led Domi to be a popular candidate for an extension, as opposed to only a playoff rental. For what it’s worth, in exit interviews, Domi expressed that he’s seeking term and stability in his next contract, and that he hopes its with Dallas.

Such a contract, however, would come with a hefty price, especially in a weak UFA class in which Domi stood out with a strong playoff performance. So whether or not he’d be worth it for Dallas comes back to the premise of today’s piece: just how good was Domi in Dallas?

I’m probably in the minority here, but I would tap the breaks a bit when it comes to singing Domi’s praises. Yes, he did really well in the playoffs, which was the main point of acquiring him in the first place. But it wasn’t the whole point – he was also there to help the Stars down the stretch in securing a Division title, perhaps even the top seed in the West. And the truth is, his regular season impact was very underwhelming.

Yes, Marchment and Seguin got injured. But Seguin was only out for a short while, and it’s not as if Marchment was some offensive juggernaut Domi was losing as a linemate. Not to mention that when it comes to a pure scoring , veteran talent like Domi, you kind of expect to see results regardless of who they’re slotted next to. And the truth is, we didn’t really see any results outside early returns until well into the first round of the playoffs.

(It’s also worth pointing out that Domi had four game misconducts in the postseason, the first two of which were in the Stars’ first two postseason games. Whether the context of those misconducts helps or hurts his case I’ll leave to your own discretion.)

All in all, about half of Domi’s games for Dallas were in the playoffs, and I think the greater importance of those games tips the scales more positively. I just don’t think it tips them that much. Every year, NHL GMs make the mistake of overvaluing singular playoff performances. That’s something Jim Nill will have to keep in mind heading into free agency.

Final Grade: B

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