Goalie depth with Stars is 'healthiest competition I've ever seen'

NEW YORK -- The Stars have a goaltending plan that they really think can work.
One of the reasons why is because the principals seem determined to make it work.

Dallas will begin the season tonight with Anton Khudobin and Braden Holtby sharing duties at the NHL level, Ben Bishop on long-term IR and Jake Oettinger eating up minutes in the AHL. Each goalie has a role, and each goalie will be working hard. That's the key, said Stars general manager Jim Nill.
"They all understand where our team is at, they like where our team is at, and they're all good teammates," Nill said. "They want to win, and to win you have to win as a team."
Bishop has been battling a knee injury for years and missed all last season because of it. He worked hard to rehab over the summer, but still is not 100 percent. He's at every practice, he's pushing to get better, but he just isn't there yet.
Because of that, Nill decided to bring in another veteran. Last year, Khudobin and Oettinger shared the net, but the Stars missed the playoffs. As a team, Dallas ranked seventh in goals against average at 2.60 and 15th in save percentage at .908. That's not bad, but it was a step back from being second in both categories (2.52 and .920) the year before.
Nill is hopeful the team can get back into one of the top positions, so he brought in Holtby as a free agent. The 32-year-old is a bit of a rebuilding project. He was bought out by the Canucks and signed a one-year deal with Dallas at $2 million. But he also has won a Vezina Trophy (2016) and a Stanley Cup (2018) with Washington.
"Holtby has lived it, he's done it," Nill said.
And that experience - and some pretty intense motivation - will help as he tries to find his old groove.
"You don't win a Stanley Cup and a Vezina without some pride," Nill said. "The last year didn't go his way, and it was a tough situation, but he has a fresh start here."
Khudobin also is looking for a little bounce back. He has a .917 career save percentage and posted a .930 SV% two seasons ago. That dropped to .905 last year as he battled COVID-19 and a wrist injury. He seems healthy and ready to go this season.
"Last year was a tough year for Dobby," Nill said. "But he's back to himself."
Stars head coach Rick Bowness said he and goalie coach Jeff Reese will be in "read and react" mode all season. If a goalie is playing well, he'll stay in. Both veterans are used to that kind of competition, and the organization believes it'll make them better.
"They're going to push each other," Nill said. "They respect each other as goalies and I really do believe they're there to help each other and push each other, and they can do that because of the respect that's there."
Bowness gives a lot of credit to Reese for fostering that kind of respect.
"They're all good pros," he said. "They're all good teammates, and that's the atmosphere we've created. They all want to play, they're all competitive guys, but they also know we'll do what's best for the team and they'll accept it."
That's important. Bishop certainly wants to come back and play, but he knows that with the team's salary cap situation, he must be sure that he can contribute. If he plays for a couple of weeks or a month and is hurt again, the Stars will be in a lurch.
"He's doing fine," Nill said. "He just has to figure out, `When I get in there, can I stay in there?' It can't be a situation where he gets in a game and then says I need two more weeks or three more weeks. He knows that, and that's why he's not playing."
Oettinger is 22, and while he went 11-8-7 with a 2.36 GAA and .911 save percentage last season, will likely play most of the season for the Texas Stars. Bowness said Oettinger understands his role.
"There were games he was great, there were games he was learning," Bowness said of last season. "Those are little bumps in your career that you have to go through in order to toughen you up as your career goes on. Now, he's going to Austin. This is a bump, but you've got to be mentally tough to overcome it. You've got to be mentally tough to go down there and play your game and get ready for the call."
Nill said he believes Oettinger will do just that.
"He should get good experience down there," Nill said. "I know Jake would love to be in the NHL because of last year. But he's going to be our No. 1 goalie in the future, and to do that, you have to play."
It's a somewhat complicated plan, and the salary cap tightness makes it even tougher, but it's a plan the Stars believe can work, in large part, because the four goalies will make it work.
"I've been on teams where that competition hasn't been healthy," center Tyler Seguin said when asked about the goalies. "This is the healthiest competition I've ever seen. There's no bad blood between anybody. There's competition everywhere and that's why we're such a good team. I don't know if we've ever had such a deep team. That's a credit to everyone in the organization for putting us in this position and having competition up and down the lineup, that's why we're all excited and why we all push each other."
This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.
Mike Heikais a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on Twitter @MikeHeika, and listen to his podcast.