Five reasons why the Dallas Stars can make the playoffs

For a few weeks in the summer off-season, the Dallas Stars were without their main man Brad Richards, a head coach and stable ownership.

Times ahead looked bleak and a playoff place in the 2011/12 season seemed very far away. I have watched all of the Stars eight games so far this year, consisting of six wins and some mixed performances. Here are five of my reasons why I feel the Stars can grab one of the eight playoff spots in the West.

Kari Lehtonen – The Stars have adapted a new style of hockey this year under Glen Gulutzan, which heavily relies on the goaltender if it is going to work in a successful manner. The Stars have won six of their first eight games and the success has definitely been centred around Lehtonen. Kari has been given several heavy workloads this season, saving 199 of 208 shots faced with a save percentage of .957, which is good enough for fourth best in the NHL. If Kari stays fit and plays a good number of games, the Stars really will have a great shot of success this season.

Glen Gulutzan – Marc Crawford was relived of his duties at the end of last season after not making the playoffs as the Stars fell a point short of eighth place in the West. He had coached two seasons of hockey in Dallas and his departure brought the arrival of Glen Gulutzan, who had previously taken the AHL Texas Stars to the Calder Cup finals.

Glen has introduced a totally new approach for the Stars that I mentioned earlier, and this consists of defending the front of the net, inviting shots from the points and then attacking the opposition on the counter attack. This system is quite a risky one but just shows the faith the Stars have in their goaltending services and is working successfully to start the new season. Gulutzan looks to me as if he knows a lot about the game and is very decisive in decision making. He has seemed to have had a big, positive impact upon the players so far and I feel he has the man to lead this franchise to success.

Jamie Benn – This 22 year old is an integral part of the Stars team especially at such a young age and I see something really special in him. Jamie is the youngest Star ever to reach the 100 point mark but something other than his point scoring abilities have caught my eye this year. His battling for the puck has been awesome as he has shown huge amounts of determination to gain possession of the puck in the offensive zone for his team.

He has bulked up a bit this year and is now one of the more physical players on the Stars roster, putting in big hits and staying strong on the puck. His point scoring will also be crucial to the Stars this year and he will have a massive part in supporting both Ribeiro and Eriksson at the top of the points tallies. It is crucial for Benn to stay fit because if he isn’t in the line up the Stars will look a totally different team, and not for the better.

Alex Goligoski – Alex arrived in Dallas from Pittsburgh after being traded for James Neal and Matt Niskanen. Lots of Stars fans felt that it was a very bad trade but I thought it was the complete opposite and that Goligoski was just the man required. Sergei Zubov was a very attacking defenseman and offered huge amounts of support to the forwards notching up 50+ assists in six seasons. Since he left Dallas they have really missed not having an offensive defenseman but I feel they have found their man and Goligoski will be crucial to the Stars scoring goals. Goligoski is also the man who should be the player who sets up and controls the powerplay as this duty is vacant after Richard’s departure.

Morale – My final reason why the Stars can make the playoffs is that the Stars are looking how a team should! Considering Dallas have brought in several new faces to the roster, they all look good mates and are sticking up for each on the ice. Along with the morale, the determination and will stands out for me. Every game so far bar one has been a one or two goal game and every single one of the players have skated their socks off until the final buzzer has gone and have deservedly got the right results out. If the boys show the high determination and effort levels throughout the season especially in the defensive zone, a successful season will happen