The beginning of the 2022-2023 NHL season kicked off this week. The Dallas Stars’ season opener was on the road against the Nashville Predators. The Predators were off to a 2-0-0 start, after defeating the San Jose Sharks in Prague, Czech Republic as part of a Global Series. This off-season was a busy one for the Stars, adding a new coaching staff, new players, and making some risky moves. Due to cutting down the roster and players getting hung up in contract negotiations, this first regular season game was really the first time the roster has played together. While this new team gets their footing, the 4-1 win over Nashville indicated a new star may have emerged.
Dallas’ New Star Mason Marchment
Marchment’s NHL Journey
Mason Marchment made his NHL debut with the Toronto Maple Leafs during the 2019-2020 season. However, he only played four games and recorded one assist during his time in Toronto. In 2020, he was traded to the Florida Panthers in exchange for forward Denis Malgin. His first season with Florida was rather unmentionable; he played a partial season and only recorded ten points. However, it appeared he found his breakout during his second season. Recording 18 goals and 47 points in 54 games played. Despite playing well and contributing, Florida was under cap constraints and his contract was up. Marchment hit the free agency, where Dallas signed him to a four-year, 4.5 million AAV deal.
Where He Fits in Dallas’ System
After separating from the previous head coach, Rick Bowness, the Stars hired former Vegas Golden Knights coach, Pete DeBoer. Dallas was looking to shake things up from their prior system of defence first, which translated to essentially no offence. Another place the Stars lacked was grit and physicality. With the addition of Marchment, the Stars got both. When the 27-year-old is on the ice, he tracks the puck down and stays on the puck relentlessly. Whether this means creating his own chances or hounding the opponent that has the puck, forcing a turnover. In his 54 games last season, he tallied 25 takeaways.
Standing at six-foot-four inches, Marchment has learned how to use his size in various ways. Last season in Florida, he recorded 114 hits. Not only can he lay hits and play the physical game, but he also uses his size to create space and scoring chances. It seems as though he has the edge that Dallas was looking for. Additionally, the Stars were also in need of some secondary scoring due to the fact that the top line accounted for a majority of their goals scored last season. The preseason and his regular season team debut have shown he can contribute offensively as well.
Team Debut
Mason Marchment, that was gross. pic.twitter.com/rb0vSB305W
— Matthew DeFranks (@MDeFranks) October 14, 2022
Marchment’s first game in Victory Green might be one the biggest games of his career thus far. Though this is not his first multi-goal game, setting the tone for the season by scoring two goals in the first game could be an indicator of what’s to come. Marchment becomes the seventh player in franchise history to score multiple goals in a team debut. The last person to do this was Jaromir Jagr in 2013.
His first goal came within three minutes of the start of the game. A turnover in Dallas’ zone allowed Marchment to get possession of the puck. Once he had the puck, it was a one-on-three through the neutral zone and into the offensive zone. He was able to skate effortlessly through the three Nashville players and then beat Juuse Saros on the top shelf. The second goal was a power-play goal late in the first period. Nils Lundkvist, who probably had a shot himself, passed it to Marchment who was able to put it in the back of the net.
Scoring two goals in the first period meant Marchment was on hat trick watch for the remainder of the game. Nashville did not take lightly to this, as they started to lay heavy hits on the multi-goal scorer. With less than ten minutes left in the second period, Marchment took a nasty hit from Eeli Tolvanen, which resulted in an elbowing penalty. Marchment left the game due to concussion protocol. He returned in the third and played the remainder of the game. Although he did not score again, the Stars took home the win. They face Nashville again at home tonight.
Main Photo:
Embed from Getty Images
