The Dallas Stars had a very tough season in the shortened 2021 campaign. They had their own COVID shutdowns, which was something many other teams had to deal with. But they also had a slew of injuries that really held this team back. Out of a possible 56 games, Alexander Radulov played 11, Tyler Seguin played 2, and Ben Bishop played none. Roope Hintz missed over a quarter of the season and was basically day-to-day all year long. (That he had such a good year regardless should probably tell us a bit of how good he is, too.) Though he's not the same impact as the other players, Joel Kiviranta only played half the season as well.

In all, that is at least three top-6 forwards who missed basically the whole years or were injured the whole years, their starting goalie, and a top prospect. It is little wonder they missed playoffs, then.

The funny thing is, they weren't a bad team, either. Their actual goal share at 5-on-5, despite all those injuries, was better than other playoff teams like Montreal and St. Louis. Their expected goal share at 5-on-5 was third in the league, trailing only Colorado and Toronto. What hurt them was middle-of-the-pack goaltending and bottom-end finishing. Again, that makes sense when looking at their injury list.

How good is Dallas, then? If this was a team that was no worse than the middle of the league with all those guys out, where do they stand with them back (save Bishop)? There weren't any significant additions to the lineup in the offseason, depending on one's view of Ryan Suter at this point of his career. They did add some bottom-6 depth, but the big boost for this team will be a (hopefully) healthy season from Seguin, Radulov, and Hintz.

What does their lineup look like, then? If we think about the three forwards just named, plus the guys who were healthy last year in Joe Pavelski, Jason Robertson, Denis Gurianov, and Jamie Benn, we have seven players. That leaves us with (I think) two possibilities:

• Load up the top-6 and have one player stuck on the third line by himself.
• Move a lesser player into the top-6 to strengthen the third line with a player like Hintz or Robertson.

This is where it's important to note Dallas's tendencies.

They have, or had, a third line that was elite defensively. Honestly: Faksa-Comeau-Cogliano were top-10 by lowest expected goals against last year. They also got good amounts of ice time, as Blake Comeau got more 5-on-5 time per game then Benn did, and Faksa got more than Gurianov. Part of that is due to injuries, but it was the same the year before as Faksa/Comeau were both top-6 among Dallas forwards in 5-on-5 ice time. The team likes using that trio as a shutdown line, and it can't help but cut into the ice time of everyone else. For that reason, in each season, only one Dallas forward has topped 14 minutes of 5-on-5 TOI per game. That really isn't a lot for top-end players.

Andrew Cogliano is gone, as is Jason Dickinson, but with guys like Luke Glendening and Joel Kiviranta around, they can put something like Kiviranta-Faksa-Comeau together. Can that be their new checking line? My bet is they try it.

What that tells me is that they'll probably move someone like Raffl or Kiviranta into the top-6, move someone like Hintz or Benn to the 'third' line, and then have their fourth line be the checking line. Otherwise, if they load the top-6, they're putting someone like Hintz or Gurianov on what will be their fourth line. That feels like a gross waste of a very valuable resource. So, maybe something like this:

Benn-Seguin-Radulov

Robertson-Hintz-Dellandrea

Raffl-Pavelski-Gurianov

Kiviranta-Faksa-Comeau

There is the possibility that they just break up the Faksa-Comeau duo and try a new checking line, but I don't see the point. That feels like unnecessarily messing with proven chemistry.

I am of two minds with Dallas. I do think they'll be very good, but I also think they could change around their lines with all that talent. They also spread out ice time, as Seguin is the only forward to average over 18 minutes a night these last two years. I think they could come at some nice prices when draft season hits but hitting the right players could be tough.

*

Ty Dellandrea is an interesting player this year. Ostensibly, he could be a centre for them, and he did play there a bit for them last year. That could be a big boost for the team because there isn't always the confidence in Pavelski playing centre, Benn/Seguin switch off sometimes, and Hintz has his injury issues. If Dellandrea forces himself onto the roster out of camp, he could be in a dual role, as I have him above; Hintz taking faceoffs on one side, Dellandrea on the other.

He had a decent rookie season. An above-average shot rate, about 1.8 hits per game, and paced out for 10 goals in a full year, all despite playing 12:30 a night, is just fine. If it had been a full year and he scores 10 goals, has 100 shots, and posts 150 hits, we probably are a lot more excited about him right now. The small sample could work in the favour of the smart drafter.

He comes in handy in cap leagues, of course. He is still on his ELC, and could provide a good amount of hits and faceoffs this year for cheap. Then again, bringing in Luke Glendening doesn't help here, as he might be the Swiss Army Knife that Dellandrea was supposed to be. I guess we'll see how training camp goes. I am bullish on his fantasy value and think if he makes the team, it'll be with meaningful minutes.

*

How bad does Joel Farabee run? The guy finishes top-5 in goal rate in the league this year at 5-on-5, tied for 7^th overall with names like Marchand and Kaprizov, and how does the team reward him? They trade for Cam Atkinson. Ouch.

Not that it'll kill his value or anything. Jakub Voracek is gone and JvR kind of seemed to fall out of favour. That leaves the team with a top-4 winger mix of Giroux, Atkinson, Konecny, and Farabee. Throw Hayes and Couturier as the centres and we've got something.

So what's Farabee's upside?

He had a high shooting percentage at 16.4 percent, but what's interesting is how he got there. He actually shot higher at 5-on-5 (17.6 percent) than he did on the power play (16.7 percent). That 5-on-5 percentage will surely decline, but what if the power play number rises? He still may lose some goals on a per-minute rate, but I don't think a huge crash is imminent.

Farabee's shot rate at 5-on-5 – as a rookie – tied Dylan Larkin and was higher than Jordan Eberle and Mikko Rantanen. He was inside the 80^th percentile in the league, and he did that as a rookie. What is he going to do as a follow-up? If his shot rate climbs, we are less concerned with his shooting percentage declining.

As long as he doesn't fall off, and I have no real concerns about that, he has 30 goals in his sights this year. He can bring close to a hit per game and a pile of shots. This is a guy who is going to be relatively cheap in drafts for probably the last time in his career this September.

*

While I'm thinking of players that could come cheap in drafts, where does everyone sit with Nico Hischier? He has to be one of the more interesting players in the NHL, right?

Hischier was the first overall pick in 2017 but hasn't cracked 50 points since his rookie year. He has largely been saddled on bad New Jersey teams, as his rookie year was the Taylor Hall MVP campaign. It has been all bad since, including his injury-riddled 2021 campaign.

The Swiss centre is supposedly healthy and ready to go for this year. So what should our expectations be?

If I had to guess, I think we're going to see a New Jersey team run their top-9 heavily, which could mean both Hughes and Hischier cracking 19 minutes a night. This is likely to be a situation like Tampa Bay or Toronto, where one line (Hischier's) will take defensive duties and the other won't. All the same, if Hischier is playing 19 minutes a night with Tomas Tatar on his wing, he could have a good year. It might come down to PP usage, but any forward skating 19 minutes a night is an immediate threat for 50 points and beyond.

There may not be a lot for peripherals here, and he's certainly not much of a play in cap leagues. But I do think in non-cap formats, Hischier could be a depth centre at the end of drafts that has 70-point upside. I don't say that because I think he's elite offensively, I say that because any forward skating that much each night has that upside. What do you guys think?