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Stars Add Key Missing Piece to Organization

taylor newby
·3 min read

The Dallas Stars broke the doldrums of an August that had been void of almost any hockey news when they filled a needed position in the organization Tuesday,

It was no surpsise when backup goaltender Scott Wedgewood tested the free market on July 1, where he eventually signed with the Nashville Predators. However, Wedgewood wasn't the only goaltender the Predators got from the Stars.

Nashville also signed the AHL Texas Stars main starter Matt Murray, giving the Stars two important roles to fill: an NHL backup capable of taking the load off of Jake Oettinger when necessary (taken care of on July 1 with the signing of Casey DeSmith), and an AHL starter who can also be trusted to come up in case of injuries and play at an NHL level.

Training camp is just a little over a month away and the Stars still hadn't filled the latter role, until the Stars announced that they signed Magnus Hellberg to a one-year, two-way contract. Hellberg is a 33 year-old Swede who stands at 6'6" and has NHL experience as recent as last season.

Hellberg made his NHL debut in the 2013-14 season with the Nashville Predators. He spent the next couple of seasons between the AHL Hartford Wolf Pack and the New York Rangers. After that, he took a hiatus from the NHL, playing in the Russian KHL between 2017-2021. Since then, he has played with the Detroit Red Wings, made a brief stop with the Ottawa Senators and most recently spent time in the Pittsburgh Penguins organization.

In his most recent season with the Penguins, he only started three games, but in that time recorded a solid 2.50 goals-against average and a save percentage of .922%. He has played in a total of 26 NHL games, 17 of those appearances coming with the Red Wings. His career numbers are merely average, with an 8-8-1 record, a 3.08 goals-against average and .890% save percentage.

Hellberg will fill the role that is much needed in the AHL with the Texas Stars, but his NHL experience will be very useful should the Stars find themselves in a situation to use him during the long season. It was clear that despite the one appearance from Murray last season being a shutout, the inexperienced goalie was not trusted to play important games when Wedgewood or Oettinger was a viable option. Hellberg was given some of that trust in that kind of a situation last year and showed he could hold his own.

Oettinger has spent some time battling injury in each of the past two seasons, and in hockey, a team can never seem to have enough depth when the injury bug strikes. Hellberg provides the Texas Stars the starting goaltender stability they need to help propel the team towards the playoffs again, while keeping the decision-makers a little more comfortable in case of emergency.

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