32 Teams In 32 Days: Dallas Stars

They have one of the best lines in hockey, but do they have enough to help them out?

• In Today’s 32 Team outlook we examine the Dallas Stars, one of the league’s most top-heavy, unbalanced lineups.

• Be sure to check out yesterday’s look at the San Jose Sharks, a team on the verge of a rebuild.

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The good news for the Dallas Stars is they have some of the most important pieces an NHL team can have already in place.

They have a top-pairing, No. 1 defender that is still in the prime of his career and signed to a long-term contract in Miro Heiskanen.

They have a young star goalie in Jake Oettinger that is coming off a dominant playoff showing and looks like he has a chance to be a top goalie for the foreseeable future (even if he is currently still unsigned as a restricted free agent).

They also have one of the league’s best top line forward groupings with Jason Robertson, Roope Hintz and Joe Pavelski, a trio that has been completely dominant when they have played together the past two years. Pavelski is one of the most underappreciated players of his era, Robertson is one of the league’s brightest young stars and must-see talents, while Hintz has rapidly blossomed into a point-game producer. Individually, they are all fantastic. Together, they are one of the league’s top performing trios.

The bad news for the Stars: They are one of the most top-heavy teams in the league as everything revolves around the play of those five players, and especially the latter trio.

A great top-line and an outstanding goalie can take a team a long way, but there is a very low ceiling for such a group.

Is there a path for the Stars to overcome that?