The Dallas Stars had a strong showing last postseason, falling just two wins shy of winning the Stanley Cup. Bringing back essentially the same roster, the team will look to build off that success for the upcoming 2020-21 season.
However, with both Tyler Seguin and Ben Bishop out for an extended period of time, the Stars will need their other star players to step up, starting with captain Jamie Benn:
“He’s a tough guy to gauge by points only,” Dallas general manager Jim Nill said of Benn… “There are not a lot of guys around the League who demand respect when he’s on the ice more than Jamie Benn, and that’s from a skill point of view and from a physical point of view. He’s not a fun guy to play against. So there’s a lot of value other than points, but I think he is going to bounce back.”
Another name to watch out for is Miro Heiskanen. Dallas fans already know just how special the young defenseman is, but now the rest of the NHL has been put on notice:
“We’re a team off the map to a lot of the other media out there, and I think it was kind of a coming out for him [in the postseason],” Nill said. “People started to realize who this guy is, and he showed he can play any game he wants.”
You can read more from Tracey Myers here.
Stars Stories
The plaza in front of the American Airlines Center officially has a sponsorship, which sounds really weird to me:
We are proud to announce a new multi-year partnership with @PNCBank, unveiling the all-new PNC Plaza at @AACenter 🤝#PNCPlazaDallas | #GoStars https://t.co/wXtqtVijCj
— Dallas Stars (@DallasStars) December 1, 2020
Slowly but surely, North Texas is on the rise for prospect development:
“Maybe we’re not thought of as a hockey hotspot. But we definitely should be. People should watch out.” 👀 https://t.co/9sFofv83La
— Dallas Stars (@DallasStars) November 25, 2020
Around the League
Ty Dellandrea and Julius Honka won’t be playing for awhile, as the Finnish Liiga has paused it’s season:
The SM-liiga in Finland is postponing all scheduled games from Thursday through Dec. 19 due to the country’s worsening COVID-19 situation.https://t.co/5SVaKHPsCB
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) December 2, 2020
Meanwhile there’s still no sign of an NHL start date. Not only that, but there hasn’t been any significant offseason moves in over a month:
“There’s just no dance partners.”@ThomasDrance details the reasons why the NHL is in a major transactions pause ⤵️https://t.co/WWMThfjmB1
— The Athletic NHL (@TheAthleticNHL) December 2, 2020
Eventually, the season should start up again. And when it does, we will finally have an answer to most of these questions:
How a 2020-21 NHL season will function is still a work in progress — and there’s a lot for the NHL and NHLPA to figure out.
But even once an agreement is reached, several team and player storylines will remain unresolved. (@RoryBoylen)https://t.co/KyWN9Astm1
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) December 1, 2020
Finally, the Seattle Kraken are (theoretically) less than a year away from their debut. They still don’t have a coaching staff, but there’s no rush:
Uncertainty about the 2020-21 NHL season means the @NHLSeattle_ are in no rush with their coaching search, GM Ron Francis tells ESPN. https://t.co/G5Pa69Ypfv
— Greg Wyshynski (@wyshynski) December 1, 2020