Dallas Stars: Five Takeaways From The 2015-16 Season

The goalie situation could be changing yet again.

Jim Nill made a bold move in the summer of 2015 by trading for Antti Niemi. With two starters on the team, it was unclear how the rotation would work.

As the season moved on it became a game of win streaks. If one cooled off, the other would take his place and so on. It wasn’t a bad strategy for the regular season, but the playoffs presented a different situation, as you often don’t see goalies going in and out of games in the postseason.

It was fine for the Stars in their first round series against the Wild, but against the Blues, the flaws began to show. There was a first intermission goalie swap three different times in the series, which led to a loss every time. As the series moved on, it became more obvious that the goaltenders simply weren’t up to the challenge. By flip-flopping every few games, it was hard to gain any real momentum, leading to inconsistency in the net.

With that in mind, I believe the Stars will push hard for a new goalie this summer. Niemi and Lehtonen are certainly not bad goalies to have, but for any team to make a deep playoff run, they need “that guy” in between the pipes. Someone like a Brian Elliott or a Ben Bishop, who have both successfully helped their teams get to the conference finals.

Niemi and Lehtonen are both under contract through 2017-18, but there’s a good chance you’ll see one get bought out this summer, simply due to the fact that their salaries combine for about $10 million. Free agency doesn’t provide any real candidates, but there are a few players that could be available this summer.

Marc-Andre Fleury is one that comes to mind, as Matt Murray has been putting on quite the show in Pittsburgh this postseason.

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