Further Thoughts on Some Good Questions and Complicated Answers

Let's elaborate

Gavin draws some deserved applause. Photo Credit: Neal Farris

Once more, thank you to everyone who came out to the event on Tuesday. It was a great time with good people, and it was a delight to chat about hockey with so many of you readers. I was told there were over 200 hockey fans in attendance over the course of the evening, which is pretty impressive for a weeknight in Fairview in the middle of August. Sean and I spent a few minutes debriefing about the event with Gavin in person on AIH yesterday, so give that show a watch or a listen if you haven’t yet.

At the end of the event, Gavin held a live Q&A with audience members. There were a ton of good questions, and I think they were well-answered by the other (smarter) panelists. A couple of those questions have been sticking with me in the following days, however, so let’s take a moment today to elaborate upon some of the most pressing concerns for Stars fans with four weeks to go until the preseason.

Q: Which player(s) on this roster or in Cedar Park has/have the biggest potential upside next season?

This isn’t quite the same question as the overall best-case scenario for Dallas, which we’ve touched on previously. My gut reaction on Tuesday was that Thomas Harley could provide this roster with the greatest in-house boost, and I think I still stand by that after 48 hours of contemplation.

Jake Oettinger was also heavily discussed, and given the outsize impact goaltending has upon most any hockey game compared to that of other positions, a big year from Oettinger would certainly mean a ton, especially if it continued into the postseason. Goaltending is 75% of your team, unless you don’t have it, and so on.

It’s also worth pointing out that a big trade could always wind up changing things, too. Mikko Rantanen obviously wound up being the answer to this question in the 2024-25 season, though nobody could possibly have guessed it at the beginning of the year. We’ll stick with the current roster for this questions, though.