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Dallas Stars Daily Links: Jake Oettinger’s Journey to the NHL

Now 2-0 in his two NHL starts, Dallas Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger is giving fans a glimpse of what the next several years of Stars goaltending will look like. But long before he made his debut in Victory Green, he was just another teenager chasing his dreams.

One of his first defining moments as a goaltender was back in high school, when he notched a shutout against his old school in the regional finals to make the statewide tournament:

“That fueled me a lot,” Oettinger said. “To be able to go to the state tournament that year, which was a dream of mine, and to have it be against my old teammates and brother (in the stands), it was one of my favorite games.”

Sometime afterwards, Oettinger tried out for the United States National Team Development Program. He had a rocky start to camp, but was able to bounce back and impress the coaches, earning him a spot on the roster:

“In the blink of an eye, hockey all of a sudden became very serious for me, and I really started to believe that my dreams could come true,” Oettinger said.

You can read more about Oettinger’s journey to a first-round NHL draft pick from Saad Yousuf here.


Stars Stories

Mike Heika talks about future contracts and more in his latest mailbag:

Also from Heika, Rick Bowness stresses the importance of Dallas building up a fast rivalry with their new division-mates:

The new Central will be difficult to stand out in. Matthew DeFranks details how the Stars can make that happen:


Around the League

Only two games last night in the entire NHL, one of which was the Tampa Bay Lightning pummeling the Detroit Red Wings 5-1:

The Minnesota Wild are the latest team to suffer from a COVID-19 outbreak, with all games up to Tuesday, February 9th postponed:

To try and prevent more outbreaks, the NHL is implementing the following changes in arenas:

Meanwhile outbreaks have also taken their toll on women’s hockey, with the NWHL postponing their season:

What happens now? Ken Campbell gives his thoughts:

Finally, primetime NHL games in Europe is nothing new, but the NHL is always looking to expand on that:

Talking Points