The St. Louis Blues will embark on a Stanley Cup defending season in a division stacked yet again with contenders. The Dallas Stars took the Blues to the very edge in the second round and seem to have beefed up even more for 2019-20.
The Dallas Stars made some headline splashes signing Joe Pavelski to three-year $21 million contract in the offseason. That will make Pavelski a Star until age 38. Pavelski made the All-Star team last year so don’t expect him to slow too soon.
The Dallas Stars come into the 2019-20 season featuring a stellar goalie in Ben Bishop with a formidable backup in Anton Khudobin. This is a better tandem than the Blues currently have in Jordan Binnington and Jake Allen.
On defense, the Dallas Stars have probably the closest thing to match the Blues’ defensive core in terms of talent and point production in the names of John Klingberg, Esa Lindell, and Miro Heiskanen. I could go the rest of my life not hearing Pierre McGuire profess his disgusting man-crush over these three and die happy.
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Who they decide to pair up with these three is even more interesting with the like of Roman Polak, Andrej Sekera, Jamie Oleksiak, and Taylor Fedun all capable of playing top-6 minutes.
That D-core is intimidating enough, and if you get through them, you still have to find a way to beat one of those two goalies who are capable of stealing you a game when needed. Bishop almost did it in game seven of the second round!
I firmly believe that championship teams are built from the back and up the middle. The Stars so far have checked off the backend in spades! Goaltending? Check! Defensive core? Check! So how do they look up the middle? The all-important center position.
On their roster currently, they have Tyler Seguin, Radek Faksa, Roope Hintz, Martin Hanzal, and Justin Dowling who all saw time at center in the NHL for Dallas. Tyler Seguin is a danger and one of the premier centerman in the league.
After that, it gets I don’t want to say dicey, but less defined. Roope Hintz showed some real promise in the playoffs last year, but as a young guy fresh of a rookie season, I don’t know that you trust him with centering the second line.
Martin Hanzal is a far more veteran centerman, but he’s coming off a surgery that fused some discs in his spinal column to correct a persistent back issue he was having. Who knows how effective he’ll be after an operation like that.
Faksa is a serviceable centerman, but he isn’t a clear cut second-line center. He excels in that third or fourth line role with his speed and forechecking ability. So I don’t see Dallas really stacking up to the Blues down the middle.
So let’s give the edge to the Blues down the middle until we see what Hanzal and Hintz bring to the ice this season. With the signing of Joe Pavelski Dallas has bolstered an already pretty tough wing core.
They are returning with Alexander Radulov, Jamie Benn (who plays center at times), Blake Comeau and Andrew Cogliano firmly entrenched in the top spots. They signed Corey Perry, who in my opinion is done in the NHL, to regain a shell of his former all-star self hopefully.
Dallas is my pick to give the Blues the biggest run for their money this season for the central title and a trip to the Cup. They nearly have it all, and if Hanzal and Perry return to form, then they look really, really intimidating.
That D-core and goaltending duo can win you enough games to make the playoffs on their own. Adding Pavelski to an already dangerous Benn, Seguin and Radulov and things look good for Dallas.
Drop the puck!