Dallas Stars Midseason Stock Report

Trending Up

• Nikita Kucherov is finally playing at an MVP level once again. The former RHL Hart Trophy winner, after ceding the Stars Team MVP award the past three seasons, is leading the team with 14 goals, 20 assists, and 34 points over 34 games played. He's potted an incredible 7 game winning goals already and seems to finally be past his major hip injury and surgery.
• The Stars' goaltending has been elite this season, with Ilya Sorokin and Daniil Tarasov combining for a 0.923 save percentage. Sorokin overcame a bumpy start to the season and now holds a stellar 18-5-4 record, including one shutout. He leads the team with 6 1st stars and 10 stars overall. Tarasov has been a pleasant surprise in his first season as the backup in Dallas, continuing the success he found in the farm.
• The third line in Dallas has far outplayed their expectations and ice time, with Jesper Bratt and Jeff Skinner second and third on the team respectively in goals, assists, and points. They're on pace for 70 and 62 point seasons and have dominated their competition. Linemate Logan O'Connor has chipped in 11 points of his own and provided a physical presence to complement their skill.

Trending Down

• While the third line has been trending up, the second line has struggled so far this season. Kirill Kaprizov has just 11 goals and 20 points on the season and still hasn't turned into the 30 goal scorer the Stars expect him to be. William Nylander is also failing to live up to expectations, so far scoring just 7 goals to go with 11 assists. And while Brandon Tanev is there to provide checking, he's been a black hole on offense. Despite his 16:22 TOI, he's last on the team with 4 points - behind fourth liners, defensemen, and just one more than what injury callup Andrew Agozzino scored in just 9 games. The second line's lack of offense is a big reason why the team is one of the lowest scoring in the league.
• An even bigger reason they aren't scoring is because the power play has been absolutely dreadful. As has almost become an annual tradition, all the Stars' offensive weapons are fizzling out with the man advantage. They're dead last in the league with a 7% PP, with just 5 goals in 72 attempts. The next lowest team nearly doubles Dallas' output at 12%. Some regression to the mean with this group of players is to be expected, but it wouldn't be surprising if head coach Gerard Gallant decides to mix things up soon to provide a spark.

Mixed Signals

• The Stars have played stingy defense this season, which is how they've survived the relative lack of offense. They've allowed the seventh fewest shots in the league while playing a disciplined game - their 82 PIM is foruth lowest across the RHL. While these qualities have been commonplace in Dallas for years, they are lacking their usual physicality and find themselves in the bottom six for team hits. Their bottom pair of defensemen, Scott Perunovich and Dmitry Kulikov, share the worst plus-minus on the team. Don't be surprised if the Stars shake up their defense at some point between now and the trade deadline.