2009-10 NHL preview: Dallas Stars

The Dallas Stars suffered a lot of injuries in the 2008-09 season, and they had the misfortune of having one Sean Avery on their roster until that exploded right in their face. After making the Conference finals the years before the Stars figured to remain among the elite teams in the NHL, however, after suffering most of last year without their major stars, and the shaky goal play of goalie Marty Turrco, the Stars failed to make the playoffs last year. If they stay away from the injury bug they should be a playoff team in 2010.

Now the team has shifted old Co-General Managers Les Jackson and Brett Hull have been shuffled into other management positions, new GM Joe Niewendyke steps in to construct the on the ice portion of the team. Joe’s first move was to fire Head Coach Dave Trippett and hire Marc Crawford to take his place.

Since the team’s problems were injury related there wasn’t the usual purge of players that accompanies a new GM. In fact the Stars made precious few off season moves. They think that they are good enough to compete in the Western Conference should their players stay healthy in the coming NHL season.

Additions- G Alex Auld, F Warren Peters, D Karlis Skrastins, and D Jeff Woywitka

Subtractions- LW Steve Begin, RW Chris Conner, and F Brendan Morrison