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The Dallas Stars have become accustomed to success. They have made it to the Western Conference Final in each of the last three seasons and in four of the last six years. Further, they advanced to the Stanley Cup Final in 2020. Still, the ultimate goal of lifting the Cup has eluded them since 1999. While general manager Jim Nill had multiple constraints this offseason, he made some solid moves. There was one move the front office should have made, though.
The team was tight on salary cap space this offseason. The front office was able to make some solid moves in the offseason. They retained Radek Faksa, adding depth down the center. The club also kept Matt Duchene on a four-year contract. They also brought back captain Jamie Benn on a one-year deal. Still, there were some player departures. Mason Marchment and Matt Dumba would be traded to create cap space. The organization also saw Cody Ceci, Evgeni Dadonov, and Mikael Granlund all sign elsewhere in free agency.
Dallas was one of the best scoring teams in the NHL this year, sitting third in the league in goals. The team was also solid on the defensive end of the ice, sitting sixth in the NHL in goals against per game and fourth on the penalty kill. But there was one major area of need that the team failed to address.
Why do the Stars keep falling short?
In the 2023 Western Conference Final, overtime was not kind to the Stars. They would win just one of the three overtime games against the Vegas Golden Knights. Regardless, they struggled to score overall. They scored seven goals in their two wins, while scoring just five goals in the four losses. A major issue was the powerplay. In the two wins, the team went two for two on the powerplay. In the four losses, they were just one for nine.
Then 2024 saw that trend continue. In their two wins against the Edmonton Oilers, they lit the lamp eight times. They would manage to find the back of the net just six times in the four losses. Once again, the team missed on man-advantage opportunities. They would go 0-14 total in the series, including 0-12 in the four losses.
In 2025, they would face the Oilers once again. The Stars looked like a new team in Game 1, scoring six goals, including going 3-4 on the powerplay. The team would celebrate just five more goals in the rest of the series, falling in five games. The issues of the man-advantage once again came to fruition. After scoring three times in four attempts in game one, they would score just twice in 10 attempts the rest of the series. This was a team that struggled on the powerplay all year as well, sitting 17th in the league in 2024-25. The biggest miss of the offseason was failing to address this situation.
The Stars fail to add to the powerplay
The Stars had a tight salary cap situation, but made deals work this offseason and shed salary where needed. They also still have nearly $2 million in cap space currently. This would take top-end players like Nikolaj Ehlers and Mitch Marner off the table for Dallas, but there were still options available. Pius Suter played for the Vancouver Canucks in 2024-25 and was a free agent. He was a solid center for the team and signed with the St. Louis Blues. Suter signed a two-year deal worth $4.125 million per year. This should have been an option for the Dallas front office. They would have had to shed another $2 million in salary, but it could have been a great move.
The Swiss center could have joined the third line of the team and been a help on the powerplay. While he has had limited opportunities in those situations, when he has been in them, he has done well. In the two years with the Canucks, he found the back of the net four times while adding six assists. He had an IPP, individual point percentage, over 45 percent when in these situations in 2024-25. That was an improvement over his 2023-24 numbers as well. The numbers are also better than Mavrik Bourque, the current second powerplay unit center.
For a less expensive option, the team could have looked at Andrew Mangiapane. He saw limited time on the man advantage in 2024-25, but had scored 14 power play goals over four seasons with the Flames. The Canadian is not as adept at scoring in these situations, but he has experience and would have been another solid depth forward. He signed for $3.6 million, meaning the club would have still had to find cap space to bring him in. Regardless, the power play was a major issue. While there were not a ton of options in the right price range to fix the problem, the Stars missed on this one move of fixing the man advantage.
