The Dallas Stars revamped their offense and have No. 1 goalie Kari Lehtonen locked up for some time, which only seems to shine a brighter light on what’s believed to be their biggest weakness: team defense.
The Stars front office seems confident that they’ll improve from within after a quiet offseason in that area (but, again, certainly not on offense). The team’s website passes along some favorable quotes from some prominent figures in the franchise, including head coach Lindy Ruff’s take from an interview with The Ticket’s Bruce Levine.
“I’m excited about our defense,” Nill said. “We kind of had two different defenses during the season. There was the early-season defense that we didn’t know who was going to play with who, how they were going to match up, how it was going to fit. And then you had the defense from January on that played very well. We know now what that fit is. We’re excited.”
The team seems especially excited about perceived improvements from oft-criticized blueliner Alex Goligoski as well as Trevor Daley. Still, Defending Big D brings up an interesting problem in an amusing way by referencing Derek Zoolander’s inability to turn left: will the Stars’ defense corps be greatly limited by the lack of right-handed shots at that position?
Remember, NHL players make decisions in fractions of seconds. Working from the backhand means every action comes with an extra step. That step reduces the fluidity of a player’s actions. It’s an opportunity for the forecheck drop the hammer, or for the penalty kill to slide into a shooting lane. Bye bye one-timer. That step is also an opportunity for error. Just look at the curve of your average hockey stick. The split second it takes to ensure a wobbling puck doesn’t slide under the blade is more than enough time to pull a forward offside or close off a pass.
Then again, Mike Modano brought up an interesting point while talking up the Stars for ESPN.com: Dallas seems to be rebuilding piece-by-piece.
“I think it’s been very positive, a kind of piece-by-piece process, but that pretty much goes with a lot of teams rebuilding. Bits and pieces become available, there are big trades to acquire the personnel you want and Jim did that with the Seguin deal,” Modano said.
In other words, maybe that proper right-handed defensive piece didn’t present itself just yet. There are plenty of times for that to happen - perhaps the trade deadline? - so in the mean time the Stars might as well say the right things about their defense being really hot right now.