Dallas Stars Looking Ahead: Many Questions Await Answers

(Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

The Dallas Stars, two seasons ago, made fell to the Detroit Red Wings in the Western Conference final. Last season, the Stars failed to even qualify for the playoffs. An offseason of changes has presented us with an interesting situation for the future of this team. The Dave Tippet era ended, and Marc Crawford was brought in as the new head coach.

Joe Nieuwendyk replaced Les Jackson and Brett Hull as the General Manager. Many questions surround the future of this team, but first, let’s take a look at what we have already learned about this new Stars team so far from the very young '09-'10 season

Ten games into the '09-'10 season, the Stars have played just about how their fans have expected, okay. The Stars sport a decent 4-3-3 record, ahead of only Anaheim in the Pacific Division standings. Many fans entered this season pessimistic of the idea of this club making the playoffs, but I beg to differ.

This Stars team, when healthy, is definitely capable of making the playoffs. However, I don't by any means think this lineup if capable of making a run at the cup. 

Thus far, the Stars haven't shown us anything we didn’t already know. We knew they had a balanced attack spread out across their top three lines. We knew the defense would be the teams Achilles' heel. And we knew the goaltending would be anywhere from decent to stellar.

The Stars may have one of the best top nine in the entire league. Only recently has the offence began to slip with injuries to super-pest Steve Ott, franchise leading scorer Mike Modano, and former Selke trophy winner Jere Lehtinen. During the first couple games, these three skated as Dallas's third line.

Add a recent grown injury to second line center and former Conn Smythe winner Brad Richards, and you have four of Dallas stronger forwards and best leaders missing from the lineup. Thankfully, none of these forwards is expected to miss significant time.

But there have been plenty of positives. Captain Brendan Morrow has thus far remained healthy and looks to be in top form after missing all of last season to a knee injury. Brad Richards was scoring at a point per game pace before his injury.

Rookies Jamie Benn and Tom Wandell have been pleasant surprises in the early going, with the former seeing mostly top line minutes. James Neal shows no signs of hitting the dreaded "sophomore slump."

Fabian Brunnstrom, although he has yet to get hot offensively, has played adequately in a mostly third line role. The Stars have a very balanced attack, and should they remain healthy for the rest of the season will have no problem putting the puck in the net.

It’s keeping the puck out of the net that will likely be an issue.

The Stars lack a true No. 1 defenseman. However, the Stars have some decent top four defenders. Trevor Daley leads the team in ice-time and plays in just about every situation, as does veteran Stephan Robidas.

Youngster Nicklas Grossman has solidified himself as a top four defensemen in the league and currently leads the NHL

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