See SB Nation.com/NHL for "5 Burning Questions" for the Dallas Stars.

As training camp in the pre-season get rolling, SB Nation.com's main NHL page (which you should be visiting daily for your NHL news needs) is starting a series of team previews and "5 burning questions" for each team in reverse order of success last year. Not surprisingly, our number has already come up even though training camp is just getting started today. The glamor of 12th place in the West, I suppose.

So come along with us and we'll see if a couple thousand words are enough to sum up this situation we call Dallas Stars hockey these days.

A thank you goes to our resident Canadian, Art Middleton, who also contributed to this piece.

How did we get here? 2009-2010 Recap:

Last season saw the Stars miss the playoffs for the second year in a row, the first time that's happened since the franchise moved to Texas in 1993. They started the year with a new look in the front office with Joe Nieuwendyk and a new attitude on the ice with Marc Crawford on the bench. The buzz entering training camp was a new up-tempo style of hockey that was going to revitalize the team and bring them back to the post-season after their first absence in 7 years. That didn't work out so well.

Instead what Stars fans saw on the ice was a group who largely developed with the organizations' defensive mind-set drilled into their hockey-souls resisting and/or over thinking Crawfords teachings. The transition was not as seamless as they'd hoped and the struggles continued all year long.

Dallas had success against the league's better teams last year but couldn't sustain it, becoming the only team in the NHL unable to win 3 games in a row. They lost 14 of 16 road games in a stretch that spanned from November to February, including 10 road losses in a row, and the penalty kill was the leagues 4th worst.

Though Marty Turco's even strength save percentage of .926 was solid, the over-all performance from the position was lacking and publicly called into question by Joe Nieuwendyk mid-season. Shortly thereafter the club acquired former No. 2 overall pick Kari Lehtonen from the Altanta Thrashers, but the acquisition was not aimed at aiding the team last season as Lehtonen had not played in nearly a year.

All these struggles came down essentially to one thing: The defensive personnel. The league's lowest paid defense was unable to execute what Marc Crawford and Charlie Huddy envisioned, and couldn't erase the mistakes caused in such an up-tempo style of play.

They finished 12th in the west for the second year in a row with only 88 points.

Off-season moves

We can say for sure that with center Mike Modano and goalie Marty Turco leaving for Central division teams this past summer that at least two big names left the Stars. There is a possibility of a third big name leaving due to retirement in the form of Jere Lehtinen, but honestly the only person who knows what Jere may do is Jere himself and he may not even be 100% sure of his hockey future.

Meantime the Stars do have at least three new faces coming into camp - winger Adam Burish and goalie Andrew Raycroft are almost assured to have roster spots come opening night unless they really struggle at camp.

The wild card will be Jonathan Cheechoo who got an invite to camp and will be fighting for a roster spot and an NHL contract. Brad Lukowich is also a new / old face for the Stars, but he may be more of a farm hand that can be a valuable mid-season AHL call-up.

Three strengths

1 - Scoring: Offense won't (or at least shouldn't) be an issue for this team. The Stars boasted six twenty goal scorers on the roster last year and this year shouldn't be really any different even if the likes of Jamie Benn suffers through a sophomore slump or James Neal misses any time due to contract issues. Brad Richards and Loui Eriksson lead the forwards and with Mike Ribiero having been given a recent vote of confidence we could see his goal scoring numbers spring back into the 20's as well.

2 - Grit, grit and more grit: Brenden Morrow, Steve Ott, Adam Burish, Mark Fistic, Brandon Segal, Krys Barch, Stephane Robidas... The Stars may lose as many or even more games than they win, but those wins that other teams get off the Stars won't come easy against a team loaded with physical players who aren't afraid to muck and grind.

3 - Potential: If Kari Lehtonen can stay in one piece and regain some of his old form... If the defense can mature a little more and be tougher around the net... If the team can be better at moving the puck out of their zone... If they team for once can win three in a row... Yes, it's a lot of "ifs" but these are all things that *could* happen and not impossible to believe will happen because in each case, the potential is there. *If* one or more of these things do happen for the Stars it should propel them to a much better finish than most people are expecting.

Three Weaknesses

Defense, defense, and defense?

Perhaps we'd better split it up and spread the love around, but you're already starting to get the picture.

1 - Overall Defensive Play: This dead horse had all the flesh scavenged from it months ago and the flies aren't even hanging around anymore, but as long as the Stars are returning the exact same personnel grouping here it remains a perfectly valid concern. Defense was once a hallmark of Stars hockey with names like Hatcher, Matvichuck, Ludwig, and Zubov, continued with the likes of Boucher, Norstrum, and the many returns of Darryl Sydor, but with the departure of these veteran anchors, Stephane Robidas is left to captain the lowest paid blue line in the Western Conference.

Robidas gets a well earned raise this year: $3.25 million (up from $1.5 m) but most will tell you he's not a true #1, despite a career offensive output of 41 points in 2009-2010.

Matt Niskanen had a shaky third year last season and Karlis Skrastins, despite a solid first half, had some struggles after representing Latvia in Vancouver. Trevor Daley, predicted to have a breakout offensive year in Marc Crawfords new run and gun system did not take the step forward the Stars had hoped, and Mark Fistric, while finishing with an astonishing (on this team) +27, got off to a slow start, not even making the opening night roster.

With further improvement from Grossman and Fistric, and a re-finding of his game from Matt Niskanen, Dallas is hopeful they can bring down their GAA (2.98, 23rd in the league) but so little has changed from a year ago.

2 - Penalty Kill: This one is an addendum to weakness #1, sure, but it deserves a mention of it's own.

17 times last year the Stars allowed multiple power play goals. Three times they surrendered 3 power play goals. At 77.4% they ranked 27th in the league, and while the Predators somehow made the playoffs with an even worse rate of 77.1%, that's not an effort the Stars would like to duplicate this season.

The only bright spot on the Stars PK last season was the 9 short handed goals scored.

Their biggest opportunity for improvement here is Kari Lehtonen. After all, your goaltender is supposed to be your best penalty killer, right?

3 - Faceoffs: In a puck possession system claiming to be higher tempo, it's a real plus to have the puck, but with a winning percentage of 48.1% (26th in the league) the Stars found themselves at a disadvantage more often than not. rad Richards led the team with 1,140 draws and scratched out an acceptable 51.5%, winning 64% of his PP draws. Where then, lies the problem?

Mike Ribeiro won only 44% of his draws last year (43% PP, 39% PK) and simply must be better on the dot next season. Mike Modano's faceoffs will be distributed amongst Jamie Benn and Tom Wandell, and Ribeiro on special teams, adding another challenge in this area.

Steve Ott only took 352 draws last year, but had the best percentage on the team with 56.8%. He could (should) see an increase.

Dallas Stars Depth Chart

Forwards

Left Wing

Center

Right Wing

Brenden Morrow

Brad Richards

Loui Eriksson

James Neal

Mike Ribeiro

Adam Burrish

Steve Ott

Jamie Benn

Brandon Segal

Krys Barch

Tom Wandell



Brian Sutherby

Toby Petersen

Cheechoo?

Fabian Brunnstrom



Lehtinen?



Here we list Benn as a center. He's really a left wing, who we'd like to see playing on the right side with Brenden Morrow and Mike Ribeiro. Did you get all that? Marc Crawford, however, has indicated that Cheechoo will be given the opportunity to play there in camp, and that Jamie Benn will start his year at least, playing center. Like Loui Eriksson, Benn could end up a RW in the top six despite his left handed shot.

Defense

Defense

Stephane Robidas

Nicklas Grossman

Mark Fistric

Karlis Skrastins

Trevor Daley

Matt Niskanen

Jeff Woywitka

Philip Larsen



Like the forwards, the Stars return what is essentially the same defense from a year ago. Young Dane Philip Larsen played two games at the conclusion of the season, recorded one assist and was largely unnoticeable, which is a great thing to be if you're a defenseman. He has what many consider to be an outside chance at making this roster but will most likely be spending his year in Cedar Park with the Texas Stars.

Goal

Goaltenders

Kari Lehtonen

Andrew Raycroft

Brent Krahn



There will be no #1 goaltender controversy in Dallas this season. Kari Lehtonen is the man and will carry the load as long as he is healthy. Concerns about his durability make the backup position in Dallas particularly important, but the Stars have only Raycroft and Krahn to fill in. (One imagines that under different financial circumstances, the Kari Lehtonen insurance policy would be a more robust one.)

Raycroft's deal is two way this year and this gives Brent Krahn a chance to challenge in camp, but if I were a betting man, I'd wager on Raycroft come opening night.

Young (and very large) Tyler Beskorowany is still a season or two away from knocking on the door, while Jack Campbell, who will play in juniors this year, is three or four, so this is what the Stars have to roll with this season.

Prediction

We must consider the adage "If you keep doing what you've always done, you'll keep getting what you've always got." Which is to say that the Stars are returning largely the same team and exactly the same defense. To predict anything too far off from their two most recent results (12th place and 12th place) would be irresponsible even for the most ardent of fans.

Where then does that leave us?

The team is counting on the health of their injury prone goaltender, improvement from their good, young core of players, and a familiarity with Crawford this time around to bolster their point total into the 90's. They weren't nearly as far off as we make them out to be sometimes, and as we've discussed, just a little here and a little there could take those 88 points and turn them into 95 in a hurry.

We expect the Stars to be a little better this year, if healthy, competing to the end of the season in that close peloton of teams in the 7th through 11th range.