Oettinger has sights on 'gold standard' for Stars next season

DALLAS --Jake Oettinger is aiming higher next season with the Dallas Stars.

Though the 24-year-old goalie helped the Stars advance to the Western Conference Final, a six-game loss to the Vegas Golden Knights, started 61 games that ranked fourth in the NHL and had five shutouts that tied for second, he said there's another level he can reach.

"It's a lot of games but that's what I want to be doing," Oettinger said Wednesday. "I want to be a guy like [Tampa Bay Lightning goalie Andrei] Vasilevskiy, who can play 65 games, go on a long Stanley Cup run, and then reset and do it again year after year."

Vasilevskiy is a two-time Stanley Cup winner (2020, 2021), won the 2019 Vezina Trophy voted as the best goalie in the NHL, started at least 60 games in three of his seven seasons, led the League in wins for five consecutive seasons (2017-22) and won the 2021 Conn Smythe Trophy as most valuable player of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

"That's the gold standard, and that's what I want to be," Oettinger said. "I think I'm on my way there."

For now, Oettinger said he plans to "keep the pads off for a while now and focus a little bit more on my golf swing." He will not likely watch the Stanley Cup Final between the Vegas Golden Knights and Florida Panthers when the best-of-7 series begins Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas (8 p.m. ET; TNT, TBS, truTV, CBC, SN, TVAS).

"No, probably not, especially being this close," Oettinger said.

Oettinger was 37-11-11 with a 2.37 goals-against average and .919 save percentage in 62 games this season, his first as a starter in the NHL. The Stars lost 6-0 to the Golden Knights in Game 6 on Monday, ending Oettinger's playoff run at 10-9 with a 3.06 GAA, .895 save percentage and one shutout in 19 games.

He was pulled twice, Game 6 of the second round against the Seattle Kraken (four goals on 18 shots) and Game 3 against the Golden Knights (three goals on five shots). Dallas coach Peter DeBoer alluded to Oettinger playing through injuries following Game 6 of the conference final.

"I had some minor stuff," Oettinger said. "I got hurt early in the year and never really fully recovered from that. Every guy in that locker room is banged up, so it is what it is. It's a privilege to be playing that long, and that's just kind of what you deal with. ... Rub some dirt on it and I'll be fine."

The Stars trailed the Golden Knights 3-0 in the series before winning Games 4 and 5. They were second in the Central Division (47-21-14), one point behind the Colorado Avalanche, and eliminated the Minnesota Wild in six games and the Kraken in seven to reach the conference final. Dallas has five forwards who can become unrestricted free agents July 1, including Max Domi and Evgenii Dadonov, acquired from the Chicago Blackhawks and Montreal Canadiens, respectively, before the 2023 NHL Trade Deadline on March 3.

Oettinger is confident this is the start of something. He intends to elevate his game to help the Stars get to where they want to be.

"I think the sky's the limit for this group," Oettinger said. "We have all the pieces, and (general manager Jim Nill) and management is going to continue to do a great job in bringing in the guys that we need and other things. To go into a season and know that you can win the Stanley Cup every year is really exciting, and that should be the standard for this team and this organization.

"I think we're going to be good for a really long time. Now, it's up to us."