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What can slumping Stars expect from Perry’s debut?

Anaheim Ducks v Arizona Coyotes

GLENDALE, ARIZONA - MARCH 14: Corey Perry #10 of the Anaheim Ducks during the second period of the NHL game against the Arizona Coyotes at Gila River Arena on March 14, 2019 in Glendale, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

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If the Dallas Stars are known for anything during the Jim Nill era, it’s big offseason acquisitions that create hope and increase expectations only to be followed by what is usually a disappointing season on the ice.

With just one win in their first seven games entering play on Wednesday night, you couldn’t possibly blame Stars fans if they were getting a sense of deja vu so far following the offseason additions of Joe Pavelski and Corey Perry.

While Pavelski is still searching for his first goal with his new team (he has just a single assist and only 10 shots on goal in seven games), Perry has yet to play after being sidelined with a broken foot during the preseason.

That will change on Wednesday when Perry will make his debut with the Stars when they play the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Will that be enough to make a difference for a team that needs any sort of spark it can get?

The Stars signed Perry to a one-year deal following his buyout from the Anaheim Ducks, and he was always going to be a pretty big wild card with his team.

The biggest problem the Stars had a year ago was that their roster was too top heavy and way too reliant on six players (the top line of Tyler Seguin, Jamie Benn, and Alexander Radulov; defenders John Klingberg and Miro Heiskanen; starting goalie Ben Bishop). The complete lack of any dependable secondary scoring was a huge flaw and something that had to be corrected if they were going to be a serious championship contender.

Pavelski, coming off of a 38-goal season in San Jose, seemed like a great starting point to help drive another scoring line to complement the top line. It has not worked as planned just yet, but the season is still young.

Perry, on the other hand, was always more of a question mark in what he could actually provide. His play has obviously declined in recent years as his age climbs into his 30s, and he was limited to just 31 games a year ago due to injury. He scored six goals and four assists when he was in the lineup, production that would have projected out to 15 goals and 25 points over an 82-game season. Not exactly great numbers, and they simply continued the downward trend his career had been on in the two years prior to that. If anything the decline seemed to accelerate even more. How much of that was due to injury and the circumstances on a bad Ducks team remain to be seen. There is still some hope that he might be able to bounce back a little in a better environment.

It is expected he will play on the team’s second line on Wednesday night alongside Mattians Janmark and Roope Hintz, a duo that has been one of the very few bright spots on the team this season.

Perry will no doubt bring a physical presence to the lineup, but what the team really needs right now is some offense because no one -- not even the big name players -- are finding the back of the net. The Seguin-Benn-Radulov trio has combined for just four goals. Pavelski has the aforementioned goose egg on his stat line. The defense duo of Klingberg and Heiskanen has just one goal (belonging to Heiskanen). The biggest reason depth matters is for moments just like this. Your star players are not always going to be there to carry the team offensively, and when they go cold there has to be someone else to pick up the slack. The Stars have not had that, and the additions of Perry and Pavelski were supposed to help fix it.

Starting on Wednesday Perry gets his first chance to try and contribute to that and begin what the Stars are hoping can be a bounce-back season.

Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.