After the 2018-19 season, the Dallas Stars gave Valeri Nichushkin his walking papers. The underlying metrics were not bad, but he just couldn’t put the puck in the back of the net.
Dallas needed offense, and this was a way to free up some cap space to bring in Joe Pavelski, and ultimately Corey Perry. Hmmmm.
The Stars played hockey against an opponent for the first time in four months on Thursday afternoon, and it looked a whole lot like the distant memories from pre-pandemic March. A Nashville win, and a big goose egg on the scoreboard for the guys in Victory Green.