Sign in Subscribe
Front Page

Dallas Stars Daily Links: Problems Moving the Puck

If you want to know why the Stars are struggling, their movement with the puck is a good place to start. Plus, Dallas takes on Columbus tonight, Jim Nill on the team’s slow start, and more.

Out of all of the Dallas Stars’ various struggles this season, transitioning from defense to offense has to be near the top of the list. That starts with a seemingly over-reliance on Roope Hintz to drive zone entries, which has predictably produced mixed results:

Of the 207 carried-in entries by Stars forwards this season, Hintz has 19.8 percent of them... Hintz’ number of carries correlates with Pavelski’s dump-ins. A good majority of Pavelski’s dump-ins have been area plays when he’s tried to put the puck in a space where Hintz or [Mattias] Janmark can track it down.

Of course, entering the zone isn’t everything. The Stars have also struggled greatly once they’re in the offensive zone, namely failing to generate scoring chances:

The Stars will frequently over-pass or elect not to shoot in the offensive zone, seemingly without a GPS toward the net, and neuter themselves before the other team even needs to get into a defensive structure.

Once the Stars are in the offensive zone, they really lack direction and emphasis on putting the puck to the net. Whether it’s a failing to pull the trigger on a shot or failing to take advantage of numbers on the forecheck, the Stars simply can’t capitalize and put the opposing goalie in a difficult situation.

You can read more from Sean Shapiro here.

Stars Stories

It’s gameday! The Stars look for their second win of the season tonight when they take on the 2-3-0 Columbus Blue Jackets:

ICYMI, Joel L’Esperance and Nicholas Caamano are out, Denis Gurianov is in:

Here’s another interview with General Manager Jim Nill on the Stars’ slow start:

Around the League

It was a busy Tuesday in the NHL, including three games involving the Central Division:

  • Don’t let the score fool you — the Minnesota Wild were bad in their 4-2 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs. [Pension Plan Puppets]
  • Meanwhile the Winnipeg Jets also lost 4-2, falling to the Arizona Coyotes. [Arctic Ice Hockey]
  • The Nashville Predators, however, had better luck, beating the Vegas Golden Knights 5-2. [On the Forecheck]/

In case you want to feel better about Monday’s lost to the Buffalo Sabres...

Another reason for optimism — at least you’re not a fan of the Minnesota Wild:

I think Down Goes Brown is oversimplifying the Stars’ problems, but then again this isn’t supposed to be a “feel good” piece:

Hey, remember this tweet? Well about that...

Read next