Alex Goligoski

*denotes career highs

 The Goose was not let loose this year. Alex Goligoski came into this season with high expectations as the team's number one offensive defensmen and one of the key pointmen on the power play. He had a slow start to the season, getting only four points in October and never really got a foothold in his game. He really only had one good month the entire year, and that was only 10 points in February.

His slow start in October was followed by a broken hand in November that kept him out for an entire month. The Stars had a tough time without their puck moving defenseman and went 4-7-1 in that stretch of games. Any chance he had of working through his struggles was derailed by that and Goose had to work himself back into game shape when he returned. He saw his production pick up once the calender turned to 2012 and for a while there in January and February, he was one of the top scoring defensemen in the entire league. It's a sign of what Goose can do when he's playing at his best and it was during that time the Stars rewarded him with a shiny new four year contract worth $18.4 million. The contract puts him among the top 25 defensemen, even if his numbers might not match others in the group. I don't know what happened to him after that, but he only got four points in the final 18 games of the season.

His individual numbers this year were decidedly mediocre. His career highs in goals and shots are with one team. He had 14 goals and 162 shots playing with the Penguins and Stars last season and Dallas was hoping for a improvement on his numbers. In just 23 games with Dallas last season he had 15 points, getting half the production of this season while playing just a third as many games.

His struggles were a big reason why the Stars power play was historically bad. He, along with Mike Ribeiro, were supposed to be the pointmen for the team and there's no other way to say it; they both failed miserably at that. It was threat level zero out there as the Stars would just pass the puck around. Goligoski only had seven power play assists on the year, which might be the worst he's ever done considering how much he played (He led the team in power play ice time, total and per game).

Despite all his troubles this year though, the Stars are undoubtedly a better team when he is on the ice and he is easily the most valuable defensemen. His ability to move the puck and skate helped to keep pressure off of Kari Lehtonen and he was a pretty reliable defender for most of the year. There were games here and there where he got burned multiple times, but that really happens to all defensmen. It's just worrisome how his offense failed to materialize this season.

Goligoski was a valuable piece to the team, but didn't do well individually so he gets a B- from me this year. He really needs to get together with the staff this offseason and figure something out on the power play.

Loui Eriksson

*denotes career highs

Ah Loui Eriksson, the Stars' swiss army knife. Eriksson did his usual bit of everything this year and put up his third straight 70 point season. Loui was the Stars most consistent and probably best player throughout the season. He, Michael Ryder and Vernon Fiddler were the only players for Dallas to play all 82 games, but it was Eriksson that put in the most work. He led all the Stars forwards in total ice time this year with 1,620:28, 140 more minutes than Mike Ribero. He had 200 more minutes than Ryder and and nearly 500 more than Fiddler.

Eriksson was a focal point of the team in every aspect of the game (which he pretty much is every year). He had the second most penalty-kill minutes (17 minutes behind Fiddler) and the second most power play minutes (two behind Ryder) while still playing first line for most of the season. He and Benn were by far the best two-way players on the team and were respectively second and first on the team in takeaways this year. You could have made a case that Loui deserved nominations for both the Lady Byng and the Selke trophies as well as a spot in the All-Star game, but he plays in Dallas and the East Coast has no clue who Loui is. Heck, he was voted most underrated player in the league and he still remains underrated. It really is amazing what Loui does, playing some of the most minutes on the team for the past four years and only missing a grand total of three games.

Wherever he went, players around him produced. Jamie Benn, Ribeiro and Ryder all had their best stretches of the season when they were on the same line with Loui. His defensive work was also mighty impressive when you consider he had to drag Ribeiro's carcass around for the second half of the season. Going up against top lines night in and night out, he still managed to lead the team in +/- (even if it is a mostly useless stat, it's still impressive). 

He finished the season two assists and three points away from career highs. If Benn and Ribs had been healthy the entire season, Loui would have easily passed those two marks. Unfortunately, he spent about a week and half playing with offensively challenged players like Tom Wandell (a nice late line player, but no way a top playmaker).

There were only a few things that went poorly for Loui this season. He struggled badly against the San Jose Sharks, tallying just one assist in six games against the division rival (the worst in his career against the Sharks). It's the only team that he faced multiple times and failed to produce against. He had 18 points against the rest of the division. He also, along with the rest of the team, had massive problems on the power play in getting points. After a stellar 25 point season with the man advantage last year, he only managed to get 12 points on the power play this season (second on the team behind Ribeiro's 15 points). 12 points is consistent with his career numbers though (he has 12 points on the power play in three of the last four seasons now), so maybe it wasn't too bad.

Loui also had a poor end to the season. In the last nine games of the year, he only had three assists. The Stars unsurprisingly lost seven of those nine games as a result and just missed out on the playoffs. That was the worst stretch of games that he had the entire year and it came at the worst possible time. When Eriksson struggles, the team loses and it was no different this year. I can't help but feel that he might have just run out of gas after the long year.

Despite all that though, he was still obviously one of the best players on the team and easily gets an A from me this season. Only Jamie Benn and Kari Lehtonen had equal or better years in my opinion.

Michael Ryder

*denotes career highs

Michael Ryder was easily one of the biggest surprises of the season for the Dallas Stars. Coming from a deep Stanley Cup winning roster with the Boston Bruins, Ryder was a bit of an unknown when he was signed on as a free agent. As a 14-15 minute per game player with Boston, Ryder was a decidely average player and put up some of the worst numbers of his career. His impact on the team was uncertain coming into the season but the 32-year-old proved to be one of the best signings for any team this season and had one of the best years of his career. 

Ryder was one of only three players on the team (Loui Eriksson and Vernon Fiddler are the other two) to play all 82 games this season. He used that health to tally a career high 35 goals, 27 assists while playing the most minutes of his career as a top line player. His 35 goals were the most for any Stars player since the 1999-2000 season when Mike Modano scored 36 goals. He's also only the third player since the Stars moved to Dallas to reach the 35 goal plateau. Modano hit that mark four times in Dallas while Joe Nieuwendyk reached it once so Ryder has already become one of the most proficient goal scorers in team history.

No free agent this year had more goals than Ryder and he more than made up for the absence of Brad Richards (which I'm sure no one thought he would do before the year started). Richards had only 66 points as the top line center and premier player for the New York Rangers which is a huge disappointment considering that he played in all 82 games for the first time in five years.

Ryder was brought to the team to do pretty much one thing, score goals. He did that throughout the year except for the beginning of the year and for a blip in January when Jamie Benn and Mike Ribeiro were out with injuries and he was being centered by Tom Wandell. Near the end of the season when it really mattered, Ryder scored nine goals and had six assists in both February and March as the Stars made a push for the playoffs that ultimately fell short.

About the only place where he struggled was on the power play, but that was a problem for the whole team. He worked on the first unit PP and led the team with seven power play goals which is a very sad number to lead a team with. Hopefully things get better next season when he's working with Benn (fingers crossed). He wasn't all that adept defensively and could get lost at times, but that's not what he was brought here to do.

Ryder finished this season as the team leader in goals (tied for 11th most in the league), shots and power play goals and was second on the team in +/-. He finished fourth in points just behind Ribeiro, Benn and Eriksson. He also led all Stars forwards in power play ice time (219:02 on the season).

Overall, Ryder was one of the best Stars this season and an absolute coup in free agency for GM Joe. He's signed on for one more season for $3.5 millon and that looks like a bargin right now. Ryder gets a solid A from me this season and I look forward to watching him next year. The Stars need to find another like him this offseason.

Before the season began, one of the most talked about points in the offseason was how Jamie Benn had moved to center. There really wasn't any doubt that he could excel in that playmaker role but just how good was he? There can be only one word to describe how Jamie Benn played this season, incredible. He was without a doubt the Stars most dynamic player on the ice and would have had a much better season numbers-wise if he had had any help from his linemates and not suffered a freak injury.

Benn finished the season tied for second on the team in points with Mike Ribeiro with 63. He set career highs in goals (26), assists (37), points (63), +/- (+15), shots on goal (203), penalty minutes (55). You name it and Jamie Benn set a career high in it. The move to center put him in a position where he could control the game. He had some of the most spectacular goals for the Stars this season, including an incredible five-on-one manhandling of the Columbus Blue Jackets defense (not that they have one) early in October. If you don't remember that goal, Benn stole the puck from two Blue Jackets along the boards just outside the blue line, raced in and deked two more defenders before faking out the goalie and roofing it past him.

That's basically what Benn would do all season. He started out the year working with Loui Eriksson and Michael Ryder but when it seemed apparent that Mike Ribeiro couldn't do anything on the top line, those two moved up with him. Benn was then stuck with guys like Steve Ott, Brenden Morrow, Tomas Vincour and Adam Burish for most of the latter half of the season. Burish and Vincour didn't reach higher than six goals on the season and Morrow and Ott both had 11. That meant that Benn was doing pretty much everything on his own and you can certainly bet that he was the man that the defense keyed on.

Despite that, Benn continued to produce numbers. He had double digit scoring for the first three months of the season and was well on his way to doing it again in January when he suffered the first of two freak injuries during the season. After a game against the Colorado Avalanche, Benn was forced to undergo an emergency appendectomy and subsequently missed the final five games of January. He then suffered his second freak injury in February in a game against Calgary. He crashed into the boards with a Flames player and unfortunately had the back of leg caught along the opponents skates, cutting his leg open. He would miss six more games during that month.

Despite those injuries, he still nearly reached double digit points in those months (eight points each) and in March, when it mattered most, he had his best goal scoring month of the season. He probably realized that he couldn't count on his linemmates to score and took on all the trouble himself and put in eight goals in March. He also had the most game-winning goals for the season for Dallas (seven game-winning goals).

There is literally nothing wrong with the way Benn played this season. He was aggressive on the offensive end, worked hard along the boards for pucks and passed a bunch to his non-goal-scoring teammates (which isn't his fault) and he was an aggressive hard-working defender. There's no doubt that he's the Stars number one center and premier player on the team. A full healthy season would have seen him getting close to 80 points on the season.

Next year, Benn needs to paired with some scorers. Put Michael Ryder next to him or give Reilly Smith a chance to prove that he can score at this level. As good as Benn is, even he needs some help every now and then to take some of the pressure off of him.

There is also no reason, absolutely none, why Benn is not or should not be working the first unit power play. He was criminally underused this past season on the man-advantage and it's no surprise that the Stars power play was one of the worst ever in the history of the NHL. Benn only had two PP goals on the season and eight PP assists.

Benn was the clear offensive MVP for the Stars this season and is the face of the franchise. He's still just 22-years-old and has already reached the perennial All-Star level. He had a lot of responsibility to take on coming into this season and he easily carried all of it. He deserves nothing less than a A+ for his play this season.

Ah the enigmatic Mike Ribeiro. Has there been a player more frustrating than Ribs in the past five years? He seems to float in -and-out of games and it really looks like he's playing his own game out there, separate from his teammates. 

Last season, Ribeiro had one of the best seasons of his career while working second line duties. With the departure of Brad Richards, Ribeiro was promoted to first line duties this season and really had a disappointing season despite working with Loui Eriksson and Michael Ryder for much of the year. He had some injury problems midway through the season and missed eight games. As a result of his injuries, his numbers were down in pretty much every single category despite getting more minutes (though it was just five more seconds per game this year). He had one less goal, seven less assists and and overall eight less points this year.

It was deeper than just numbers though. Ribeiro's 63 points this year was tied for second most on the team but it was an empty 63 points. In some of the biggest games of the season, Ribeiro was just a wandering soul on ice. In the last four games of the season (the biggest games of the year), Ribeiro got just one measly assist and I firmly believe that his turnover in a game against the Calgary Flames totally changed the season.

For those that don't remember, the Stars had a 2-1 lead midway through the second period in that game and had control of the run of play. Ribeiro was working defensive duties and had the puck along the boards. Jarome Iginla started to make his way towards Ribs for a forecheck and Ribeiro just flat out panicked. He lost his mind and fired the puck directly in front of goal where a wide open Flames forward (Blake Comeau) was waiting. Comeau scored the goal and the Flames would ride that momentum to three more second period goals to take over that game.

more after the jump

With the season over and the offseason starting for the Stars, it's time for a player reviews! Yay~. Rather than pick and choose who I go with each day, I'll just go through the roster alphabetically. Aside from the goaltenders, I'll only be reviewing players that played at least 20 games with the team this season so most of the call-ups won't be getting reviews. First up on the list is Richard Bachman.

Bachman played better than anyone could have possibly hoped for this season. When Kari Lehtonen went down with his groin injury, this team was the terrible position of having to rely on Andrew Raycroft to be the starting goaltender. No need to say just how poorly that went (He lost eight of the ten games he played in last season). Bachman's first game this season was on Dec. 8 when he replaced Raycroft in 5-2 loss to the San Jose Sharks. Raycroft allowed all five goals in two periods and Bachman came in and stopped all 11 shots that he faced. From that moment on, it was clear that Bachman would not go back down to the AHL while the season was still going on.

His first game was a fantastic 2-1 shutout of the LA Kings in which he stopped 26 shots. He would go on to win games at Vancouver, Chicago and the New York Rangers while also counting a home win against the Nashville Predators among his eight victories this season. Just looking at his numbers this season (8-5-1, 2.77 GAA, .910 save %) doesn't tell the story on how well Bachman did this year. As any Stars fan would know, this defense was putrid for much, if not all, of the year. Opposing forwards would always be left wide open in the slot and turnovers would always (always!) happen right in front of the goalie.

Bachman's not the biggest goalie but he has great movement in the crease. He made a bunch of saves this season that were practically Lehtonen-like in their quality. He wasn't someone that gave a lot of rebounds (which is a huge difference from Raycroft) and had a pretty solid glove. His positioning was excellent and he really bailed out this team when it looked like things were falling apart in December.

He does have a little bit of trouble though with the high shots because of his stature. There were a good amount of goals that fluttered in over his shoulder even as he was trying to shrug off the shots and a good screen will really throw him off. There's really nothing he can do against those high shots except react quicker and count on his defensemen to clear out the forwards (which there was too little of this season).

All-in-all though, Bachman had a solid season and gets a B+ from me. There's really not too much you could ask for from his first season in the NHL and he'll only get better as he continues to learn the game. He's firmly entrenched in the backup role for next season for this team and I have no problem giving him some more games in order to rest Lehtonen a bit more.

Bachman is a restricted free agent going into this offseason though, so Dallas will have to re-sign him. I don't think that there's any question that they will do so and we'll see more of Bachman next season in a Stars uniform.

Another gut-wrenching season in the books and the Stars are once again just out of the playoffs. It's clear that the talent level in Dallas just isn't quite up to par with the other playoff teams in the West, as evidenced by what happened to this team in the late stages of the season. The roster situation for next year provides an opportunity for a lot of turnover and with the resources that Tom Gaglardi will be able to provide, the offseason will definitely be an interesting one. Here's the roster breakdown for the offseason and who I believe should be gone come opening day.

Signed and Set To Go For Next Year

• Kari Lehtonen

• Loui Eriksson

• Michael Ryder

• Steve Ott

• Vernon Fiddler

• Brenden Morrow

• Mike Ribeiro

• Eric Nystrom

• Tomas Vincour

• Trevor Daley

• Adam Pardy

• Alex Goligoski

• Stephane Robidas

There's also a couple of younger guys that played in the very last game of the season that are signed on for next season: Scott Glennie and Brenden Dillon. If those two make the roster for next year, these 15 guys would take up roughly $43 million in cap space. That leaves somewhere between $20-$25 million of cap space for next season, depending on whether or not the cap moves up (There is still a tricky CBA issue to get around for the NHL). That number will take a big dent because I'm sure that Jamie Benn will get a big deal and there are still a good amount of free agents on Dallas that can provide some good production for the Stars.

Now the question is will all of these folks be on the roster at the start of next season? In my opinion, all but four of these players should be here for sure. The Stars should take a hard look at sending Morrow, Ribeiro, Pardy and Robidas packing. Morrow and Ribeiro are making a ton of money ($4.1 million and $5 million respectively), money that can be spent towards free agents that actually provide a difference to this team.

Morrow dealt with an injury plagued season and is on a clear downside (it might be a sheer cliff) of his career. He's not in a position to be more than a third or fourth liner and it's a travesty that he played most of his time this year on the top lines. There are guys that can take his spot next season (Reilly Smith, Vincour or even Ryan Garbutt if he keeps progressing) and the captain patch should go to Ott or Benn. As much as it might hurt to see the captain sent off, it's the right thing to do. His time is up in Dallas.

Ribeiro is tricky because he is a valuable piece to the team. He was tied for second on the team in points with 63 (though that probably should have been much more considering he was top line) and the Stars have no real replacement waiting in the wings. He is making a substantial amount of money for next season though with the $5 million cap hit and Ribeiro has an odd ability to disappear at the most inopportune times. He's pretty much absent in huge games, a big problem considering his position on the team and who he plays with. Dallas needs to shop him around this offseason and see if there are any takers out there for a guy that can produce, just not when you need him to.

Adam Pardy was just plain bad and has a big cap hit ($2 million) considering what he gives on the ice as a third pair defenseman (though he really should be eighth in the pecking order). It might be better to just release him, especially with someone like Brenden Dillon waiting to make his mark on the team. Robidas has just reached the point in his career where everything has passed him by. He can't keep up with forwards anymore and is really starting to get outmuscled for the puck and in front of the net. He's taking up space on the power play unit and the Stars have excellent talent waiting in the AHL that should be up here by 2013-2014 if not by late next season. I've always liked Robidas for his toughness but that can only get you so far and he's no longer up to his first d-pairing duties.

If nothing else, these four guys need to go so Dallas can re-sign their own valuable (and young) free agents and still make a splash in the offseason with signing other guys. Moving these four frees up $14.4 million in cap room.

Dallas Stars (42-33-5, 89 pts) @ Nashville Predators (46-26-8, 100 pts)

7:00 PM CT, April 5, 2012

Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, Tennessee

Stars:

The Stars' playoff hopes are teetering on the edge heading into tonight's game. There's one foot over the cliff and the second is already making a step, but this team is yet alive (even of just barely). It's going to take a miracle to get them into the playoffs and the best thing that the Stars can do is to take care of things on their end. This means beating a solid, Cup contending Nashville Predators team.

Dallas failed miserably in the series finale against the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday. The 5-2 loss put the Stars into a three game losing streak, their longest such streak since a three game stretch from Feb. 10 to Feb 14. It came at the worst possible time in the season and it knocked the Stars from a division lead to dying a slow death in the ninth spot in the Western Conference. 

Dallas just has to play hockey tonight. Simple, smart hockey. It's what's been eluding them in the past week so if there's ever a team to find that again, it's tonight. They've actually managed to beat the Predators twice so far this season so it's more than possible to get done.

It's Kari Lehtonen back in net tonight. He's 1-1-0 against Nashville this season, but hasn't done very well in the past two weeks of the season. He's given up five, one, four, three and then four goals in the past five games. Tough to win like that.

Radek Dvorak is questionable with an ankle injury.

Notes and thoughts:

• For the love of everything that is holy, CHANGE. THE. POWER. PLAY. It's already pretty much too late for this team, so why not experiment.

• Loui Eriksson has done pretty much nothing on the offensive side of the ice for two weeks now. In seven games, he only has two points (both assists in the same game). He's still been doing good defensive work though and a lot of his offensive troubles can be attributed to Mike Ribeiro.

• Ribs has really struggled in the past week, getting only one point during the three game losing streak. He's barely getting shots on net (about two per game), losing a bunch of face-offs (11 of 28) and turning the puck over at an alarming rate. He was pretty much invisible in the home-and-home against the Sharks.

• Dallas won't have to worry too much about help tonight. First off, they have to win. The Sharks and Kings happen to play each other and Phoenix is idle. Ideally for Dallas, the Sharks would lose tonight in regulation. As long as it stays out of overtime, it's a good deal for Dallas.

• The Stars penalty kill, which was so good in March, has given up at least one power play goal in four of the last five games.

• Dallas' big guns have done well against the Preds this season. Benn has two goals and two assists in two games played. Ribeiro has three goals and two assists in three games and Eriksson has one goal and four assists in three games. They have to score if Dallas wants to win.

more after the jump

San Jose Sharks (40-29-10, 90 pts) @ Dallas Stars (42-32-5, 89 pts)

7:30 PM CT, April 3, 2012

American Airlines Center, Dallas, Texas

Stars:

No detail is needed to explain just what tonight means for the Stars. It's a do-or-die, win-or-it's-over game against a team that has owned the Stars this season. The Sharks easily handed the Stars a 3-0 defeat in the last game, so it's obvious that things need to change.

So what do the Stars need to do tonight? Step one would be to not have a terrible start. The Sharks scored just 58 seconds into the game on Saturday, 58 seconds. There's barely even time for fans to settle into their seats before the Stars are already chasing the game. In all four of the Sharks wins in the series this season, they have scored a goal in the first five minutes of the game. In the second game of the series, they scored twice in the first minute and a half of the game. The one game that the Stars won? They were the first team to score and that goal didn't happen till midway through the second period. If the Sharks score a quick goal today, you can go ahead and start ushering the fat lady onto the stage and have her warm up.

2nd key to the game for Dallas is to work Antti Niemi. In three of the five games in the season series, the Stars have barely reached 20 shots on goal (20, 21 and 22 shots to be exact). In the one win for Dallas, they were still outshot by a ton but still managed to put 35 shots on Niemi, the Stars most in the series. That lack of shots just means that there's a lot of time spent in the Stars zone, time in which the defenders and Kari Lehtonen are scrambling to cover the net. The Sharks have gotten at least 34 shots on goal in every game. As good as Lehtonen is, he can't hold out long against a team with players this explosive.

To keep the puck and the pressure off of Lehtonen, Dallas needs to slow the game down. Play patient and work the passes. Hurrying through the game has only led to turnovers for this team and that directly leads to goals against the team. There's no need for the tight angle shots out of desperation. Dallas needs to work the puck back from the blue line and forecheck like they have never forechecked before. Just be able to hold onto the puck for extended periods of time and things will be alright. The less that San Jose has the puck, the less they have a chance to work their offense and bury Lehtonen under an avalanche of shots. Puck possession is key.

I've seen this team long enough to know that there will be some bad turnovers and missed defensive assignments. The key will be to limit those. Smart puck possession will limit the turnovers in this game and the best way to make up for the bad defense is to check the hell out of the Sharks forwards. Don't give them more than a second to look around the ice to pick out their pass. As patient as they should be on the offensive end of the ice, they have to be just as aggressive on the defensive end. This could be the season ender for Dallas. The Stars need to show some passion in their game tonight with a nothing is going to be easy attitude. If nothing else, the Stars have outhit San Jose in each game of the series, but a lot of those hits have come out of frustration as those games have gotten away. Hit aggressive and smart tonight. Don't throw the body around recklessly that leads to penalties.

And that leads to the last key of the game for Dallas. For the love of God, stop taking bad penalties. Continuously going on the penalty kill destroys any chance of momentum for Dallas. Being on the PK doesn't exactly give a lot of chance to take over the game and work the opposing goalie. The Sharks have gotten five, three, five, three and then six power play opportunities in each game of the series, repectively. San Jose has a great power play, fourth best in the league, so the last thing the Stars need is to give them even better chances to score.

Kari Lehtonen gets the nod tonight. He'll have to be incredible in this game if things are looking poor again. He's only started two games in this series (the last two) and has a 1-1-0 record. If he's forced to be the MVP in tonight's game, things aren't likely to be going well.

Dallas should be getting both Eric Nystrom and Radek Dvorak tonight so there won't be anyone missing this game due to an injury.

Notes and thoughts:

• In each game this series, the second period has really been where this thing struggles for Dallas. They are outshot by an average of eight shots on goal. Nine of the Sharks 20 goals in this series have been scored in the second period. San Jose has scored a goal in the second period in every game so far this series.

• The Stars PK has been bad this past week. They've allowed a power play goal in three of the last four games, going 14 of 19 (73.6%) in that span. Not by coincidence, Dallas lost the three games in which they allowed a power play goal and won the game that they didn't.

• The power play has been horrendous in the mean time. Dallas has dropped to 30th in the league on the power play, dead last.

• This is the last true chance to affect the standings directly for Dallas. Leave nothing on ice, effort is everything.

more after the jump

It was a tale of two months for the Dallas Stars. They started March on fire by winning six games in a row, their longest such streak of the season. Things kind of fell apart after that though as Dallas would lose six of the next nine games. Their standings reflected that shift in play as they went from division leaders to now sitting in the ninth spot in the Western Conference, just out of the playoffs (boy does that sound familiar).

Overall, Dallas went 9-6-0 in March, so it wasn't a total loss. It's just disappointing that such an amazing start would turn out to be nothing more than a buffer that would inevitably vanish. They had three games go into a shootout and won all of them so no loser points for the Stars in March. Dallas was free of injuries for most of the month, but they all seemed to pile up at the same time. Radek Dvorak, Eric Nystrom, Brenden Morrow and Mark Fistric all missed time due to various injuries.

Dallas was 5 of 41 (12%) on the PP this month and 48 of 55 (87%) on the PK. In February, Dallas was 7 of 39 (18%) on PP chances and were 45 of 54 (83%) on the PK last month so their special teams were worked even harder in March despite playing one less game.

Kari Lehtonen started 13 of the 15 games in March. Richard Bachman started the other two. Bachman was 1-1-0 while Lehtonen was 8-5-0.

For the PP and SH stat boxes, I first put the amount of time that they had in the month and the total time that the player has on the season in parentheses.

As a small comparison, the league leader among forwards in ice time this season is Devils forward Ilya Kovalchuk with 24:30 of TOI/G. He has 1813:31 total time on ice on the season. For defensemen, the league leader is Florida Panthers defenseman Brian Campbell with 26:55 of TOI/G. He has a total of 2,127:03 ice time this season.

more after the jump