Dallas Stars: Award Nominations Mark Beginning Of An Era

The Dallas Stars broke out in the 2015-16 season, but there’s nothing more telling of their success than the award nominations they received.

It’s safe to say the Dallas Stars will be competing for the Cup for years to come. With superstars in Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin, the Stars have two of the best forwards in the NHL today.

To go along with those two, they also have a supporting cast featuring Jason Spezza, Patrick Sharp, Antoine Roussel, Cody Eakin and Johnny Oduya. Made up of former Cup winners and players about to enter their prime, they have the perfect skaters for a solid core.

Then, on the other side of things, there’s the young players on the team, like John Klingberg, Radek Faksa, Mattias Janmark and Stephen Johns, who proved why they will be big a part of the team as the franchise’s quest for a second Cup continues.

Having the players, coaching staff and front office to make things happen is important and the Stars finally got recognized for their excellence with some impressive award nominations.

Jamie Benn is a finalist for both the Ted Lindsay Award and the Hart Memorial Trophy. The Ted Lindsay Award is given to the most outstanding player, as chosen by the NHLPA while the Hart Trophy is given to the player most valuable to his team, as selected by the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association.

Benn finished the season with 41 goals and 48 assists, his highest totals in both categories. In the Playoffs, he added five goals and 10 assists. As the defending Art Ross Trophy winner, Benn led his team to the best record in the West and second-best in the NHL.

To win the Ted Lindsay Award, he’ll have to beat Braden Holtby and Patrick Kane. For the Hart Trophy he’ll have to beat out Kane and Sidney Crosby.

Next up is the head coach of the team, Lindy Ruff, who is a finalist for the Jack Adams Award, which is given to the best coach as voted on by the National Hockey League Broadcasters’ Association.

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Ruff took the Stars from 10th in the West (92 points) in 2014-15 to first in the West (109 points) in 2015-16. He always seemed to make the right decisions when adjusting the lines and used his 18-year head coaching knowledge to guide the team in the right direction. His competition comes in the form of Washington’s Barry Trotz and Florida’s Gerard Gallant.

Lastly, there’s Jim Nill, who is nominated for the General Manager of the Year Award along with Washington’s Brian Maclellan and Pittsburgh’s Jim Rutherford. Nill worked his magic again this summer, acquiring Patrick Sharp, Johnny Oduya and Antti Niemi, ultimately helping his team catapult from a middle-of-the-pack team to a contender in the league.

We’ll find out the winner of these awards June 22 in Las Vegas at the NHL Awards ceremony.

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Overall, it’s nice to finally see some of the hardest working individuals in the franchise get noticed for their contributions. Win or lose, being nominated and becoming a finalist for the awards mentioned above is proof that the Stars are heading in the right direction.