Struggles In Dallas Continue

The Stars came into this season coming off of a seven-game second round exit to the St. Louis Blues. They were the top seed in the Central Division, coming off of an 109-point season that was second only to the Washington Capital's 120 points, along with having the fourth-best power play in the NHL. Captain Jamie Benn was expected to be a superstar in 2016-17, as he finished second in points only to the Chicago Blackhawks' Patrick Kane, who would go on to win the Art Ross, Ted Lindsay, and Hart Trophy. So was Tyler Seguin, after a 30-goal, 70 point season, and Jason Spezza wasn't far behind with 33 goals and 30 assists. A year before, Benn had won the Art Ross with 87 points, and Seguin had finished seventh in scoring. The Stars were expected to be a contender if not a favorite this year.
And then the wheels fell off. Seguin and Benn are ranked 14th and 20th in points, and the next closest player is Spezza, ranked 101st. (Patrick Eaves was ranked 98th and was then traded to the Anaheim Ducks.) The Stars are 25th in a 30-team league and they will not make the playoffs. The Stars have let in 248 goals, tied for third-most in the NHL. They own the worst penalty-kill in the league, with 73.8% of penalties being killed off. Sure, you could say this is because of bad goaltending, and you'd be correct. Kari Lehtonen and Antti Niemi rank 62nd and 69th leaguewide in save percentage. Those goalies also rank 72nd and 58th in save percentage. They aren't stars.
But this is the very same goaltending duo that the Stars had last year that took them to the second round, after both had relatively the same year. In that same year, however, Dallas made a run at the Cup. At the very least, this Stars team should have been a bubble team for a wild-card spot. Dallas shouldn't fade like this.
So what's the answer?
The answer to the Star's struggles comes with two questions. Is Jamie Benn at the star captain level of Jonathan Toews, Sidney Crosby, and Connor McDavid? And are the goalies the bigger issue, or the defense in front of them?
Jamie Benn looked like he'd joined the elite level along with Tyler Seguin after he followed up his Art Ross trophy season with another huge year. He still is performing well, (20th in the league is a high standard) but can he lead this Stars team to a rebounding season? He and Seguin have performed, but what about people like Cody Eakin, Ales Hemsky and Jason Dickinson? On successful teams, all four lines can roll and score. Pittsburgh has depth. Chicago has depth. Toronto has depth. So does Edmonton. Benn needs to use his leadership role and get the third and fourth lines to start producing important points, like Jonathan Toews and Connor McDavid have done on their respective teams.
The goaltending issue has been a problem for Dallas for a while. At the trade deadline, GM Jim Nill was expected to make an upgrade. He traded players like Johnny Oduya and Patrick Eaves away to contending teams, but he didn't get any goaltenders that can help the team now. Lehtonen and Niemi can both play extremely good hockey (Niemi won a Cup with the Blackhawks in 2010, and Lehtonen's goals against average ranks an impressive eleventh in the league.) Dallas' defensive core isn't that strong. To compete, a team needs four strong defensemen. The Stars have a good defenseman in John Klingberg, Dan Hamhuis is reliable and Stephen Johns is up-and coming. That's three good defensemen, but they aren't strong enough to help out their goalies or win a cup. Championship teams have star defensemen (Blackhawks, Duncan Keith, Kings, Drew Doughty, Penguins, Kris Letang), and so do competing teams (Sharks, Brent Burns, Senators, Erik Karlsson). That's the hole in Dallas right now.
Next year, the Stars will hope to rebound from a disappointing (to put it nicely) season. Jamie Benn needs to show that he can lead his team, and the Stars will have to prove that they have offense outside of him and Seguin. The

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