Bruce’s Brainstorming: Dallas Stars Century Club and Random Thoughts

There are many different ways to describe the accomplishment—a hundo, triple digit club, the century mark, just to name a few. These are all ways to denote a player who reaches the 100-point mark in a season. The number of players to accomplish this feat is less than imagined.

Going back to the 1993-94 season (the year a certain NHL team made its Texas debut), there have been exactly 78 individual seasons where a player has topped triple digits in scoring. The names are quite a roll call of NHL greatness: Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr, Alexander Ovechkin and Wayne Gretzky have accomplished the feat. Sidney Crosby has hit the hundo in six seasons, the most of anyone on the list for this time frame. Connor McDavid has accomplished the 100-point mark five times and he’s just getting warmed up. There is one thing noticeably missing from this list…no Dallas Stars.

Mike Modano has the Dallas record for points in a season with 93, set during the Stars inaugural campaign. Modano also set the team record for goals in a season with 50 that year. Brad Richards tallied 91 points in 2009-10 and that completes the list of all Dallas players scoring 90 or more points in a season. In 2014-15, when Jamie Benn became the only player in franchise history to win the Art Ross Trophy, the Captain scored 87 points. In nearly 30 years of Texas Hockey, no one in a Stars uniform has made a run to the century mark, but this may finally be the year.

As long as we are predicting a Star to enter the Century club, let’s go completely out on a limb. This year, two Stars players are going to make a run at one hundred. Jason Robertson and Roope Hintz are going to create Dallas hockey history.

Two players scoring triple digits in one year has happened once before in franchise history. In 1981-82, Dino Ciccarelli and Bobby Smith accomplished the feat for the Minnesota North Stars. Smith scored a still-standing franchise record 114 points and missed out on winning the Art Ross trophy by a mere 98 points as some guy named Gretzky potted 212 that season.

While scoring today is not comparable to the 1980’s, point totals are up and the game is being played at a much higher tempo than just a decade ago. This plays right into the chances for Robertson and Hintz to rewrite the Stars record book. Dallas is averaging a goal a game more than last season and the plan is to keep the offense as the focal point.

Robo is the most likely to break 100. Last year he became one of only four players in Dallas Stars history to score 40 goals in a season. His trajectory is still climbing. The forward from Arcadia, California checks all the boxes. Statistically he’s sixth in the NHL in scoring with 27 points. That's an average of 1.5 points per game and a pace for 123 points. Robertson’s analytics are strong, ranking top three in the league in GSVA (Game Score Value Added). As for the eye test, if you’ve seen him play there is no need to explain.

Just like Mike Modano, Roope Hintz has the speed and finishing ability to also make a run at triple digits. Despite missing last night’s win over the Islanders, the Ace of Spades is second on the team with 22 points and is pacing at a 104 point clip for the season. 

The two young stars play on the Avengers line, arguably the best combination in the NHL, and get top power play minutes which creates even more opportunities to rack up points. Lining up alongside Joe Pavelski, quality chances for scoring and assists on multiple occasions are a reality each game. No Stars forward combination has created this kind of offensive fire power since the heyday of Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin.

Many unseen factors can slow down the drive to 100. Injuries and slumps can turn a great season into a good season into an average season if the hockey gods so choose. Given the track record of Hintz and Robertson, the special teams ice-time, and the commitment to an aggressive offensive style of play, there has never been a better opportunity for a Dallas Stars to break that elusive 100-point mark. This is the year it will happen.

And now some quick Random thoughts:

• After watching Nils Lundkvist play and progress over the first two months of the season, I believe the Stars didn’t really need that 2023 first-round pick after all.

• Joe Pavelski has always worked on his in-close game before every pregame skate. Now he’s teaching others the tricks of the trade. Ty Dellandrea took Captain America’s masterclass on puck deflections Saturday morning. There is a reason Pete DeBoer has said Pavelski is just like having an extra coach on the staff at times.

• I will only say this once: There is NO such thing as boneless wings. Call them nuggets, tenders or even chicken fingers, they are not wings. Never have been, never will be. Flats and drummies, WITH bones are wings. Everything else is just a marketing ploy and totally unacceptable.

• Glad to see Scott Wedgewood back to his normal self. That was a scary scene in Florida and I hope we never have to see anything like that again.

• In the month of November, Jamie Benn is tied for the NHL lead in points with 17  (Matching teammate Jason Robertson and Erik Karlsson of San Jose). Maybe all those articles complaining about how Benn’s contract was weighing the team down were just a tad off?

• What do we call the revitalized play of the Captain this year? I’m partial to “The Bennaissance”.

• I’m not a New Jersey Devils fan but am very happy for Lindy Ruff. A 12-game winning streak has made his team the talk of the NHL and has Jersey fans shouting “Sorry Lindy” asking forgiveness for early season chants demanding his firing.

• Let’s end this column where it all began. By missing last night’s game with a lower-body injury, Roope Hintz’s 10-game point streak officially came to an end. Jason Robertson scored a dazzling 3rd period spin-cycle goal and now has an 11-game point streak. Next up, a chance to match Patrick Sharp’s 12-game heater in 2015-16. This is the 3rd best streak in Dallas Stars history. Tell me again, why won't he reach 100 points?