Good day, DBD! Let’s talk about whether the Stars’ No. 1 center is still No. 1 (spoiler alert: he is).
If you’ve scored 30 goals for the third season in a row and people still believe you had a down year…you might be Roope Hintz. To be fair, his chronic disappearances during the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs didn’t help with that. But is it a sign of decline, or a natural ebb against his usual flow?
David Castillo investigated this issue for D Magazine, and the result is a thorough examination of the top-line center’s true performance over the past three seasons. And his conclusion is that Hintz is, well, in a class of his own:
…Neither peak nor valley, Hintz is an elevated mesa. Last season marked the third year in a row that Hintz was nominated for the Selke Trophy, which goes to the league’s best defensive forward. More importantly, he received the most votes he ever has, going from 21st in 2022 to 11th in 2023, and then sixth. Hintz belongs in a special class of player whose impact is defined as much by what he does (score goals) as what he doesn’t do (make mistakes).
But how does he stack up against his fellow elite two-way guys? David did some performance comparisons:
There are a lot of takeaways here, the first two being that the Selke should really be [Auston] Matthews’ to lose and that [Aleksander] Barkov’s win was well-earned in 2024. But for Stars fans, this should be nonetheless reassuring. Among his Selke peers, Hintz has the second-most threatening offense and is the best penalty killer. That’s a hell of a profile, the kind that warrants the otherwise ubiquitous title of “Most Underrated.”
The purpose of this exercise is twofold: not only to remind fans of how good Hintz is compared to his Selke colleagues but also to think about performance on a spectrum. Next year may or may not end the way 2024 did, and it may or may not end the way 2023 did. That’s not the point. The point is that next year will be a continuation of Hintz’s extended run in the NHL as one of its best defensive forwards, and he still happens to be in the prime of his career.
David shows the rest of his work at StrongSide. [D Magazine]
Stars Stuff
We were just talking about Roope Hintz, and look at what dropped. The Ace of Spades is officially one of NHL Network’s Top 20 Centers.
Around The Leagues
- The Stars are heading to Finland for the NHL Global Series this fall. Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly discusses how the league’s international strategy is evolving. [The Hockey News]
- Senior writer Dan Rosen
touches the third raildiscusses offer sheets and their fallout in his latest NHL.com mailbag. [NHL]
Finally
This is awesome, I don’t care who you are. Enjoy.