I don’t know about you, but for me, it felt like January was 70 days long. I wonder if it felt the same way for NHL clubs. The Dallas Stars, for example, played 15 games in January, which is basically a game every other night. Yet, at the same time, it’s already February, and there’s a few countdowns on the horizon. First, it’s the countdown to the 4 Nations Face-Off. Then, it’s the March 7 trade deadline, and last but not least, there’s the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Stars have three games left before the 4 Nations, and in some ways, the break couldn’t come at a worse time. Sure, they have some injuries to nurse, and they have played a ton of hockey lately. However, they are the hottest they have been all the seaso and have turned around a lot of concerning issues that were plaguing them in the first half of the 2024-25 campaign.
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If you’ve been following The Hockey Writers’ Stars coverage, or following the team in general, you know all about those issues. If not, here’s a quick recap. Goal scoring was inconsistent, their power play was one of the worst in the league, and their play on the road was mediocre at best. A team that was supposed to be contending for the Central Division title was finding itself struggling to crack the top three. Well, after a terrific December and the hottest January in the NHL, the Stars are back. Don’t take my word for it, though. Let’s look at the numbers.
There Is Finally Power in the Power Play
On Christmas Day, I wrote about the Stars’ Christmas wish list to Santa. The power play was the number-one thing on that list. At the time, the Stars were 15.9% on the man advantage, which was 26th in the NHL, and all the way down to 10.3% at home. When they lost, their PP was 7%. They lost a lot of one-goal games, so we can all do the math there. Well, Santa delivered, and quickly at that.
In October, the PP was 20.7%, in November it was 17.1%, and in December, it was 10.4% . In January, that number skyrocketed to 31.6%. That’s an outrageous turnaround. Everybody in Dallas was bent out of shape about Steve Spott, the assistant coach responsible for the power play, and whether he should be fired. He hasn’t been fired, and the players have seemingly taken him off the hook by stepping it up in an unbelievable fashion.
We’re going to cover these players a little more in a few minutes, but a couple of key guys have really stepped up on the power play. Jason Robertson had six power-play points in January after having only six power-play points in the first three months of the season. Matt Duchene had 10 power-play points in the first two months, but only one in December. Last month, he had five. Other players have stepped up as well, but the point is their star players have been their star players, even on special teams, and that was something that needed to happen. Or maybe it really was Santa? We’ll give the players credit for now, but if your kids ask, it was Santa.
Road Sweet Road
Another troubling trend heading into the Christmas break was their inability to consistently win on the road. At the time, the Stars were 13-5-0 at home and only 7-8-0 on the road. Their penalty kill was 78.7% on the road compared to 91.3% at home. They had 60 goals in 18 home games, and only 44 goals in 15 road games. It was a real problem. Luckily for the Stars, it took almost no time to fix.
The Stars went 5-0-0 on a five-game road trip to start 2025, and went 7-1-0 in January on the road a whole, bringing their road record to a much improved 14-10-0. They scored 26 goals in eight games, which is good not great, but compared to the 19 goals they allowed in that span, that’ll do just fine. Another win for Santa.
They have seven games left in February, and only one of them is at home, so we’ll know for sure by March 1 if this has, in fact, turned around for good. Their six road games happen to all be in a row, starting with a California trip, which begins against the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday night and ends in Columbus a week after the 4-Nations. That means they won’t play at the American Airlines Center for almost a month, so they’ll have to keep this road success going as February rolls along.
Jason Robertson and Company Have Arrived
When I first had the idea for this article, I didn’t mean for it have so much to do with Santa Claus, but as I started to look back, it was hard to avoid. So, here we are.
Another big issue back then was consistently scoring goals. In November, they scored 3.6 goals per game, which is really solid. In October and December, they scored 2.8, in large part because they scored more than two goals only twice between Dec. 1 and the Dec. 25.
Well, again, Santa has delivered, and specifically in the form of Robertson getting hot in 2025. As of Dec. 25, Robertson had just seven goals in 33 games and was on pace for only 57 points. In December, he had four goals and 15 points, giving him nine goals and 28 points on the season. In January, he had 10 goals and 21 points. Just in case you struggle with quick math like me, that’s one more goal and only seven fewer points than he had all season. With one assist this month, he now has 50 points on the season. It’s a remarkable turnaround for a player who needed it the most.
There are other players who have turned up the heat in 2025, but if we went through all of them we’d be here all day, so it’s important to highlight the play of Wyatt Johnston. The man known as “Johnny” had nine goals and 25 points in the 2024 portion of this season. In January, he had five goals and 18 points. With two points this month, he now has 45 points on the season.
Evgenii Dadonov has had a really good season, Mavrik Bourque has really stepped up, Logan Stankoven is starting to score, Duchene is continuing to have a productive season, and Mason Marchment’s return has already been beneficial. There’s lots of praise to go around, for sure. But it’s Robertson and Johnston who stir the drink in Dallas, and if they continue to produce at this level, it means nothing but good things for the Stars.
Last But Not Least
The final thing we addressed at Christmas was their need for additions up and down the roster. Well, Santa followed through on that one as well with Mikael Granlund and Cody Ceci joining the club via a trade with the San Jose Sharks over the weekend. January’s success is remarkable when you think about how Marchment was gone for the whole month, but he’s back now along with the new teammates. Head Pete DeBoer said on Wednesday Miro Heiskanen underwent successful surgery, and is now considered month-to-month, so we’ll see if more additions are on the horizon.
The Stars have finally emerged as one of the best teams in the NHL like we thought they would, and they’re playing their best hockey at exactly the right time. They are second place in the Central with a 35-17-1 record. Another addition probably wouldn’t hurt, but Granlund and Ceci fill immediate needs, and we’ll see what else general manager Jim Nill, or Santa, feels the team needs in the month to come.
