By Jordan Long
The Dallas Stars’ season ended in the 2nd-round losing to the St. Louis Blues in game 7. They lost 2-1 in overtime. The Stars decided to extend the contract of one of their young defenseman, Esa Lindell. The deal is 6 years, $34.8 million, paying him $5.8 million a year. It keeps Lindell in Dallas until the end of the 2025 season.
Lindell is one of the Stars best offensive defenseman. On scoring chances, he is able to shoot the puck on net which could be goals or rebounds for his teammates to score. On the power play, Lindell is the quarterback and sets it up. He is able to fire the puck or find his teammates for goals. In the regular season, he had a career best 11 goals and 21 assists for a total of 32 points. Of those goals, 4 were scored on the power play and he had 3 assists with the man advantage.
The Stars counted on Lindell on the power play kill and on full strength situations. He blocked shots and checked opponents off the puck. When that happened, Lindell would skate the puck into the offensive zone for scoring chances. Lindell scored 2 short-handed goals. When the Stars are at full strength, he doesn’t allow teams to spend time in the defensive zone. He will knock the puck away and help his team skate the puck out of the zone to start rushes or scoring opportunities.
His play helped the Stars make the playoffs at 43-32-7 for 93 points, the 1st Wild Card team in the West. The Stars knocked off Nashville in 6 games before falling to the St. Louis Blues in 7 games. Lindell kept his play up with 1 goal and 3 assists. He didn’t have a power play goal but 2 of his assists came on the man advantage.
According to sportingnews.com, Dallas Stars General Manager Jim Mill said, “We’ve known how good he is over the years, but I think now, he’s starting to get recognized around the league. These playoffs showed who he is. We’re excited. I think there’s still room for more growth. I think he’s going to become more of a leader on our team. He’s just a big part of our team moving forward.”
This was a smart move for the Stars. Lindell is going to turn 25 on the 23rd and is turning into a star. He has scored 24 goals and added 53 assists for a total of 77 points. Lindell’s play is going to improve which could be scary for the rest of the NHL. The Stars needed to keep him for years to come. Hopefully he will help the Stars be a consistent playoff team and win the ultimate goal, the Stanley Cup. The only way this contract fails is if he is injured and misses time, then it is a waste of money for the Stars. 46 \ls
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