On the surface, the Stars’ heartbreaker in San Jose looks like a tale of two halves. Through the first 30 minutes (29:40, to be exact), things were going exactly as planned. The Stars racked up a three-goal cushion and Jake Oettinger appeared to be in a zone again, as he has been for the better part of the past month or so. Then, in the next 30 minutes, the Sharks rattled off five straight goals to win 5-3.
The game wasn’t totally a tale of two halves, though. At least not when it came to one player.
Timo Meier was hard to miss throughout the entire game. It didn’t matter if it was the first period, when the Stars had firm control, or if it was the third, when the Sharks had all the momentum and were looking for the dagger. The 26-year-old Sharks forward was a problem. Meier ended up with only one point, a second-period power-play goal that was actually put past Oettinger by Jani Hakanpää — perhaps karma for Radek Faksa’s goal earlier in the period that went off Meier at the net front — but his impact served as a reminder for the stars.
That’s the kind of player they need on this roster.
Yes, Roope Hintz is dearly missed, and his return can’t come soon enough. But even with Hintz in the lineup, the Stars’ top six remains incomplete. It remains in need of a winger. The line of Jamie Benn, Wyatt Johnston and Ty Dellandrea is playing well, but it’s a tweener line: not quite explosive enough to fill what you want in your second line but also a better third line than you could have hoped for coming into the season. . All three of those players, particularly Benn and Johnston, are playing above expectations.
The Stars are headed into the thick of the trade deadline period with one of the best teams in the conference. Some years, the decision to go all in would be an easy one, with a team this successful and with so many key components in place. Admittedly, it’s not a slam-dunk decision for Jim Nill and company, primarily for two reasons: The Stars are strapped against the cap, and they have cheap, promising talent in the pipeline ready to address their two biggest needs, which are top- six forward and top-four defenseman.
Meier presents a conundrum for the Stars because his cap hit this season is $6 million and the Stars don’t have that kind of space to just bring him on board. Dallas would have to manage its finances in addition to the asking price, which would likely include at least one of its promising prospects, and then some. If the Stars wanted to pursue Meier, it probably wouldn’t be just a rental, either. Meier just turned 26 years old, and although he’s on an expiring contract, he’s a pending restricted free agent with another year of control before hitting unrestricted free agency. He’s the type of player you can envision as part of your core for this next championship window.
Meier has been a point-per-game player for two seasons now, scoring 76 points in 77 games last season and 46 points in 46 games this season. If the numbers weren’t reason enough, he put on a show for Nill and the Stars in San Jose. The Stars were the dominant team in the first period, but Meier still popped off the ice on numerous occasions.
He flexed all of his skills against the Stars and made Oettinger work. They were the kind of plays that won’t get much recognition because Meier plays on a bad team that isn’t going anywhere this season. Even the plays he made against the Stars on Wednesday night didn’t end up doing any damage on the scoreboard. But this collection of subtle plays showed his playmaking ability. In one instance, he calmly carried the puck behind the Stars’ net and fed the slot for a decent scoring chance.
In the third period, as he was racing Esa Lindell for the puck, Meier made a great play to win that battle against the Stars’ stellar defenseman and poke the puck into dangerous territory.
Finally, there was the robbery by Oettinger on a shot from the right circle. Meier is likely dancing as the hero of the game if not for Oettinger just playing the puck and reading the play to perfection. Oettinger is one of the elite netminders in the NHL. Against plenty of other goalies, Meier is celebrating this goal.
The trade deadline is March 3, so we’re about to ramp up examining what the Stars need and what they can do. As one would expect, the Stars are already gauging their roster and evaluating what the options could be over the next month and a half. If Meier is an option, he made it a little harder for the Stars to ignore him with his performance Wednesday. Even if Dallas can’t make the math work with Meier, the Sharks forward showed the Stars what kind of player they should be looking for at the deadline.
The other forward whose play was hard to ignore Wednesday was Hintz, in that it didn’t exist. Hintz remains in Dallas recovering from an upper-body injury suffered earlier in the month against the Florida Panthers. The Stars’ top centerman has missed five games, but not as badly as the Stars have missed him. Hintz’s absence is proving why he truly is the best forward in Dallas. Hintz creates at least a few scoring opportunities per game on his own, and his chemistry with Jason Robertson and Joe Pavelski is irreplaceable. On Wednesday, the power play was a mess. It’s hard to imagine it would have looked that way if No. 24 was on the ice.
Hintz should return to the lineup soon. Coach Pete DeBoer has said Hintz is making good progress, and the Stars are heading toward relief from what’s been a brutal schedule. They finish the front end of the All-Star break with a string of home games after their game Thursday in Los Angeles. After the break, they’ll have a home-heavy February, as well.
Hintz’s return will be critical. But will it be enough for the Stars to get to where they want to be in April and May? If not, an option for an upgrade showed itself to the team Wednesday night in San Jose.
Scoring lineup
1G (Robertson) — Seguin — Pavelski
1A (Benn) — Johnston — 1G (Dellandrea)
Marchment — Glendening — Gurianov
1A (Olofsson) — 1G (Faksa) — Kiviranta
2A (Heiskanen) — 1A (Miller)
Suter — 1A (Lundkvist)
Lindell — Hakanpaa
.852 save percentage (Oettinger)
Three plays
These three plays stood out. We’re making an exception for this section this time, including two scoring plays.
Miro Heiskanen’s offensive pressure
Heiskanen had two assists Wednesday, bringing his season total to 36 points. This matches his career high, set last season in 70 games. This season, Heiskanen reached it in 43 games. One sequence in the third period really showed Heiskanen’s offensive presence. In a matter of seconds, Heiskanen got a puck through to Freddy Olofsson for a tip opportunity that was blocked off to the wall, shot the puck himself and then had a series of moves that led to a pass to Denis Gurianov for another scoring look.
Jason Robertson’s goal
Robertson scored his 30th goal of the season, doing so in his 46th game. It’s the fastest any player has reached 30 goals since the franchise relocated to Dallas. The previous record was held by Mike Modano, who reached 30 goals in 48 games in the team’s inaugural season in 1993-94.
Robertson’s goal was classic Robertson. One of his main weapons is how quickly he makes decisions with the puck and how often the decision is to just get the puck on the net. From there, it’s his scoring touch that takes over. However, on his goal against the Sharks, Colin Miller deserves a ton of credit for the creative feed to Robertson to set the whole thing up.
Dellandrea’s goal
Dellandrea got the scoring going in the first period with a great shot. However, Benn deserves a lot of credit for winning the puck battle deep in the defensive zone, and then Heiskanen did a fantastic job entering the zone and carrying the puck deep to free up Dellandrea on his side for a clean look at a shot.
(Photo of Timo Meier and Stars defenseman Colin Miller: Tony Avelar / Associated Press)
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