The NHL 15: Will Mikko Rantanen be the missing piece for Dallas?

The Dallas Stars need somebody that can drive the offense and take over playoff games.

Before each NHL season I look at 15 players that I think are the most intriguing players in the NHL. Not necessarily the best players (though, sometimes they are), but players that offer some sort of intrigue, a big storyline or figure to be a major X-factor for the season. This is The NHL 15. We continue today with Dallas Stars forward Mikko Rantanen, who is not only getting his chance to be the focal point of an offense, but is also facing pressure to be the missing piece for a team that keeps knocking on the championship door.

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There have not been many teams in the NHL more successful than the Dallas Stars over the past seven seasons. They have made the playoffs six times (only missing in the shortened 2020-21 season when the divisions and conferences were all out of whack) and won at least one playoff round in five of those postseasons. That includes one trip to the Stanley Cup Final and what is now a run of three consecutive trips to the Western Conference Final.

Over this time period no team in the NHL has won more postseason games than the Stars’ 54.

The Stars haven’t just been good, they’ve been one of the best teams in the league.

They just do not have the championship to validate all of it.

They are the only team in the top-five in playoff wins over the past seven years that hasn’t actually won a Stanley Cup in that time period, and the pressure has to be starting to mount as management has aggressively left no stone unturned in trying to break through the Stanley Cup door.

They fired head coach Pete DeBoer this offseason after he reached the NHL’s final four in all three of his seasons behind the team’s bench. While that might seem like an outrageous move given the success, it was also a totally valid decision given the way DeBoer threw his franchise goalie (Jake Oettinger) under the bus in the wake of their conference final loss to the Edmonton Oilers. DeBoer clearly has a shelf-life with his teams despite having consistent success everywhere he’s been, and accountability has never really seemed to be one of his strong suits. He clearly lost the locker room — and his goalie — after that, and there was going to be no coming back from it.

The other big move over the past year was acquiring Mikko Rantanen from the Carolina Hurricanes at the trade deadline, and then signing him to an eight-year, $96 million contract that carries a $12 million per year salary cap number.

That’s obviously a huge addition, and one that is done with the intent of not only competing for a Stanley Cup, but winning one.

He could be the missing piece to their Stanley Cup puzzle.

For as good as the Stars have been for the better part of the past decade they are pretty much the Western Conference version of Carolina. From their consistent success and deep playoff runs, to the fact they haven’t yet won it all, to the reality that their postseason runs usually come to an end due to a lack of offense in the biggest games against the toughest competition.

They have an outstanding roster with few weaknesses. It’s a deep team with players up and down the lineup that can contribute, including some excellent top-line players.

But what they’ve lacked is that one, superstar level player that can take over a game offensively. There was a time that Jason Robertson looked like he was going to be that player, but he’s kind of leveled off as an excellent 80-point player, but not quite one of the league’s elite offensive players. That’s not a knock on Robertson at all. He’s fantastic. He’s a great player to have at the top of your lineup. They just needed somebody else to bring more scoring punch along with him.

That’s where Rantanen comes in.

Throughout his career in Colorado he was one of the top offensive players in the league, but for the bulk of that career did so in the shadows of Nathan MacKinnon, and most recently, Cale Makar.

The question with Rantanen was always going to be whether or not he can be the person to drive the bus for a team offensively.

He’s going to get his chance to do that in Dallas.

His ability to do it will play a big role in the Stars’ ability to climb the last part of the mountain that has remained unreachable to them.

Let’s talk about it a little bit more.