The Dallas Stars did not sign a marquee free agent this summer or make a headline trade. Ask anyone around the team what changed, and the answer is two names that were on the roster all along.
Roope Hintz and Tyler Seguin are healthy.
What their absence cost
Hintz tore his hamstring against Colorado on March 6. He missed the last 20 regular-season games and every game of the first-round series against Minnesota. Before the injury he had 15 goals, 44 points and a plus-16 in 53 games.
Seguin tore his ACL in early December and did not play again. He had seven goals and 17 points in 27 games.
Without them, the Stars' center depth thinned out behind Wyatt Johnston, and in the playoffs it showed. Minnesota held Dallas without an even-strength goal for more than 209 minutes, and NHL.com pointed to Hintz's absence as one reason.
What the lineup looks like now
NHL.com's projected lines from mid-September show how much a healthy pair changes the depth chart:
- Jason Robertson, Johnston, Mikko Rantanen
- Sam Steel, Hintz, Seguin
- Justin Hryckowian, Matt Duchene, Jamie Benn
- Oskar Back, Radek Faksa, Joel Kiviranta
A second line with Hintz between Steel and Seguin is the kind of scoring depth Dallas lacked in April. Steel, who had a career-high 33 points last season, was rewarded with a four-year extension in September.
