First Shift 🏒
One of the great things about the start of the 2024-25 Stars season is there is constantly room for improvement.
Dallas sits 16-8-0 with a .667 points percentage. That’s good for seventh in the league. Last season, the Stars ended with a .689 points percentage, good for second overall. The lads in Victory Green are currently fourth in goal differential at plus-21. They were second last year at plus-64.
So, you can see there is room to grow.
Their scoring is ninth at 3.34. It was third last season at 3.59. The power play ranks 22nd at 18.0 percent after hitting sixth last season at 24.2 percent. They can get better.
Individuals can also improve. While the line of Duchene with Mason Marchment and Seguin is clipping along at a tremendous pace, the rest of the team is lagging behind expectations. Duchene has gone from 0.81 points per game to 1.17. Seguin has leapt from 0.76 to 1.05. And Marchment has jumped from 0.65 to 1.04. They are carrying the Stars right now - with some help from role players like Dadonov and Sam Steel, and that’s fine. There could be some regression, but there also is the chance that line simply is becoming one of the best even-strength trios in the league.
The other forwards have seen significant drops, and that’s actually exciting. If a few players get back to their “normal” pace, the Stars as a whole will start surging in the scoring department.
Robertson has dropped from 0.98 points per game last season to 0.58. Roope Hintz has fallen from 0.81 to 0.65. Johnston has slipped from 0.79 to 0.58. Robertson missed a good part of offseason training and all of the preseason after foot surgery. Johnston missed much of the preseason with a lower-body injury. Both should continue to get healthier and find their groove.
The power play was struggling, but has now scored in four of the past six games. That can send ripples through the offense.
Defensively, the team is actually better statistically speaking. Dallas ranks fourth in GAA at 2.54 after ranking eighth last season at 2.83. Jake Oettinger battled back from surgery last season and posted numbers that were below his averages at 2.72 and .905. This year, he’s back to “Jake” numbers at 2.38 and .915.
All of that is to say, the team is in a really good place through 24 games.
Can it get better? The Stars are planning on it. Casey DeSmith had a nice bounce-back game in net Monday to carry the team to victory, and that’s a great omen. The team is finishing up a stretch where it is playing six of eight games on the road and then will head home to play 10 of 12 games at American Airlines Center to carry them into 2025. Dallas is 10-1-0 at AAC this season and 6-7-0 in all other games. That bodes well for a potential run in the standings.
Of course, they have to win the games and they have to score the goals. They have done that in the past, and the belief is they are trending to even better performances going forward. Dallas just got through a run that included wins over Colorado, Winnipeg and Utah in four days, and they continue to find different ways to win. DeSmith had a nice stand-up game on Monday. Marchment continues to prove that there are more steps to take in his career at age 29. And players like Johnston, Hintz and Robertson seem to be creating chemistry on a new “top” line.
Now, Seguin has been placed on IR, and there is a chance he might need to take some time off. The defense pairs are still a work in progress, as Nils Lundkvist is improving and Dumba still is trying to find his place. And rookie Mavrik Bourque continues to show progress and room for growth in his first year after winning MVP in the AHL last season.
But, all in all, things look pretty good to start the 2024-25 campaign.
“We have a tight group and it’s just going to keep getting tighter,” said DeSmith.
