There are Stars in the sky but there were no Stars in the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2013 following a .500 season. Dallas missed the playoffs for a fifth straight year and the Stars have cleaned house with a new general manager and coach.
Team Name: Dallas Stars 22-22-4, 4th in Pacific, no playoffs
Player of the Season: Jamie Benn led the team in scoring with 12-21–33 and 10 points on the power play. And he did this despite missing the first seven games of the season while he hammered out his contract with the team. Benn was able to benefit from time on the top line with Jaromir Jagr before Jagr got shipped to Boston late in the season.
Breakout of the Season: Cody Eakin was a second-year center and he performed well in 2013. His 7-17–24 season was much better than his 4 -4–8 in 30 previous games. Eakin should be able to find his way into one of the top lines for Dallas next season and might get a little more power play time as well. He netted three power play goals each of his first two seasons. Perhaps 2013-2014 is his chance to shine.
Disappointment of the Season: The team never went on any sort of run in either direction this past season until a five-game win streak at the end of the season. They also unloaded star players despite chasing for a playoff spot. It just makes no sense.
Team Analysis: Dallas suffered from a case of balanced offense which spells b-l-a-h from a fantasy perspective. They traded away a pair of players (Jagr and Michael Ryder-sent to Montreal) that were both able to produce in their offense. Most of their top scorers play the left side so Dallas will have to find some right wings who can help offset that situation.
2013-2014 Story Lines: Who will be the coach of the team? Glen Gulutzan got sacked a couple weeks ago and the opening is yet to be filled. Will Ray Whitney come back for another season? At age 41 with two decades of experience behind him, Father Time might be making The Wizard consider hanging up his wand for good. He was still productive with 11-18–29 in 32 games in 2013 but it’s a fair question to look at.
2013-2014 Fantasy Guys to Have: Jamie Benn, Loui Eriksson, Alex Goligoski, Kari Lehtonen
On the Fringe: Ray Whitney (see above), Trevor Daley, Eric Nystrom
| Jamie Benn, LW | 41 | 12 | 21 | 33 | -12 | 40 | 19:55 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 110 | 10.9 |
| Ray Whitney, LW | 32 | 11 | 18 | 29 | 1 | 4 | 19:24 | 4 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 62 | 17.7 |
| Loui Eriksson, LW | 48 | 12 | 17 | 29 | -9 | 8 | 20:07 | 2 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 104 | 11.5 |
| Alex Goligoski, D | 47 | 3 | 24 | 27 | 4 | 18 | 22:23 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 1 | 80 | 3.8 |
| Jaromir Jagr, RW† | 34 | 14 | 12 | 26 | -5 | 20 | 18:18 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 87 | 16.1 |
| Cody Eakin, C | 48 | 7 | 17 | 24 | 1 | 31 | 15:05 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 67 | 10.4 |
| Derek Roy, C † | 30 | 4 | 18 | 22 | 3 | 4 | 18:58 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 65 | 6.2 |
| Vernon Fiddler, C | 46 | 4 | 13 | 17 | 3 | 48 | 12:51 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 56 | 7.1 |
| Michael Ryder, RW† | 19 | 6 | 8 | 14 | 4 | 8 | 16:22 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 42 | 14.3 |
| Antoine Roussel, LW | 39 | 7 | 7 | 14 | 3 | 85 | 9:24 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 46 | 15.2 |
| Stephane Robidas, D | 48 | 1 | 12 | 13 | 2 | 56 | 22:14 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 46 | 2.2 |
| Trevor Daley, D | 44 | 4 | 9 | 13 | 1 | 14 | 21:25 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 58 | 6.9 |
| Eric Nystrom, LW | 48 | 7 | 4 | 11 | -3 | 61 | 14:21 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 49 | 14.3 |
| Brenden Morrow, LW† | 29 | 6 | 5 | 11 | -8 | 18 | 14:55 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 31 | 19.4 |
| Ryan Garbutt, C | 36 | 3 | 7 | 10 | 1 | 32 | 9:55 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 59 | 5.1 |
| Reilly Smith, RW | 37 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 0 | 8 | 10:55 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 34 | 8.8 |
| Brenden Dillon, D | 48 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 1 | 65 | 21:23 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 75 | 4.0 |
| Alex Chiasson, RW | 7 | 6 | 1 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 14:05 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 46.2 |
| Erik Cole, RW† | 28 | 6 | 1 | 7 | -7 | 10 | 16:54 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 45 | 13.3 |
| Jordie Benn, D | 26 | 1 | 5 | 6 | -4 | 10 | 17:19 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 31 | 3.2 |
| Philip Larsen, D | 32 | 2 | 3 | 5 | -10 | 18 | 14:53 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 30 | 6.7 |
| Aaron Rome, D | 27 | 0 | 5 | 5 | -2 | 18 | 15:20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 0.0 |
| Tomas Vincour, C † | 15 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 8:50 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 18.2 |
| Matt Fraser, LW | 12 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 11:48 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 5.9 |
| Jamie Oleksiak, D | 16 | 0 | 2 | 2 | -5 | 14 | 14:50 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 0.0 |
| Lane MacDermid, LW† | 6 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 5:06 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 66.7 |
| Colton Sceviour, C | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | -1 | 0 | 4:51 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| Tom Wandell, C | 18 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 8:27 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 7.1 |
| Francis Wathier, LW | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5:40 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| Toby Petersen, C | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6:40 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| PLAYER | GP | W | L | OTL | GAA | TOI | SV | SV% | SHO | TGA | TSA | PIM |
| Kari Lehtonen | 36 | 15 | 14 | 3 | 2.66 | 1986:11 | 962 | .916 | 1 | 88 | 1050 | 0 |
| Cris Nilstorp | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3.09 | 291:18 | 131 | .897 | 0 | 15 | 146 | 0 |
| Richard Bachman | 13 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 3.25 | 608:50 | 255 | .885 | 0 | 33 | 288 | 0 |
