32 Teams, 32 Players: Jake Oettinger

The Dallas Stars signed their starting goalie to a major long-term contract extension earlier this season. He might be one of the goalies that is worth that.

Now that the 2024-25 NHL season has arrived we are going to highlight one player on each team that stands out for the season. What kind of player? Well, a player that could make a difference, be an X-factor, be on the verge of a breakout, or just simply be a player under the microscope and needing to have a big season.

Basically — which player do I think is the most fascinating on each team.

We are not going in any particularly order and continue today with Jake Oettinger of the Dallas Stars.

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We went through a stretch in the NHL about a decade ago, maybe a little longer, where teams were trying to find the cheapest goalies they could that would not lose them games. Nobody wanted to invest big money in the position because it was so unpredictable, and if you ended up being wrong, your chances were pretty much cooked.

While a few teams still subscribe to that mindset, goalies are starting to get some major paydays again and Dallas Stars goalie Jake Oettinger was the most recent to cash in.

He signed an eight-year, $66 million extension with the Stars this past week, locking him in as the Stars’ goalie of the present and future.

That $8.25 million salary cap number would put him into a four-way tie with Ilya Sorokin (New York Islanders), Linus Ullmark (Ottawa Senators) and Jeremy Swayman (Boston Bruins) for the fourth-highest cap hit at the position among active goalies next season (when the contract begins), trailing only Sergei Bobrovsky (Florida Panthers; $10 million) Andrei Vasilevskiy (Tampa Bay Lightning; $9.5 million), and Connor Hellebuyck (Winnipeg Jets; $8.5 million).

Technically Montreal Canadiens goalie Carey Price ($10.5 million) is at the top of that list, but his career is essentially over at this point and the Canadiens are just LTIR-ing his contract every year.

When you are investing that much money, for that many years into a goalie you better be DAMN sure that you are getting the right guy. My go-to thing with goalies is always that they are the most impactful players on the ice, and if you can put a great goalie behind a mediocre team, that can turn it into a playoff team.

Put a great goalie behind a playoff team, and you have a Stanley Cup team. We saw that happen for years in Tampa Bay with Vasilevskiy where it was almost unfair that a team that loaded on forward and defense could have one of the best goalies in the world playing behind it. When he was on his game, it made them nearly unbeatable and made them a constant in the Eastern Conference Finals and Stanley Cup Final.

The Stars have that potential if Oettinger ends up being that guy.

There is a chance he can be that guy.

If he does, there is also a good chance this contract ends up being worth it as more goalie deals start getting signed.

Let’s talk about it.