FRISCO, Texas - Last season, Alex Goligoski set career highs in several categories. But besides his 42 points, which led all Dallas Stars defensemen and was third-most on the entire team, the bulk of which came from his 36 assists, another career-high, the number that might be most impressive is that "Goose" missed just one game last season, another career-first.
Goligoski, 29, who came over from the Pittsburgh Penguins in a trade prior to the NHL Trade Deadline in 2011, was like every member of the Stars in that he spent much of the first half of last season getting acclimated to having a new head coach in Lindy Ruff as well as several new teammates.
"It was a bit of a learning process for us. We had to figure things out. We had a lot of new guys, new coaches," he said.
However, from the halfway point of the season to the Stars' Game Six loss in their Western Conference First-Round Playoff Series to the Anaheim Ducks, he feels things really started coming together, not just for him and his fellow d-men, but for the entire team and that cohesion clearly manifested itself on the ice as Dallas advanced to the postseason for the first time in six years.
"I think the last half of the year, we really came together. We were really strong at home and the elite teams are. That's the difference, they don't lose many games at home. I think that's a team we want to be like," Goligoski said.
For a second straight offseason, Stars general manager Jim Nill was very active in free agency, making moves like acquiring veteran center Jason Spezza from the Ottawa, signing a veteran goaltender like Anders Lindback as a potential backup to Kari Lehtonen and adding someone he knew well from his days with the Detroit Red Wings in veteran glue guy Patrick Eaves.
Of course, these changes aren't quite as wholesale as they were heading into last season, a campaign where Nill and Ruff were each in their first seasons in Dallas along with such roster additions as Sergei Gonchar and Tyler Seguin, but No. 33 speaks for all of his teammates when he says he's pretty stoked about how Nill has improved the roster in this, his second offseason, in the GM's chair.
"Obviously, we brought some guys in and pretty much returned the majority of our guys, a lot of guys that played key roles. Expectations are definitely very high and I think our focus right now is (on) getting ready (for the season)," Goligoski said. "We want to get off to a great start, get ahead of the eight ball as opposed to last year where we were kind of fighting our way back for a while."
But with training camp starting on Friday in Fort Worth and the Stars' season opener on Oct. 9 against the Chicago Blackhawks at American Airlines Center about three weeks away, this veteran d-man admits it will be good to get the band back together so this year's team can do something last year's club failed to do, get off to a strong start.
"First game, right from when the puck drops, we should be in midseason form. There's really no excuse not to be," Goligoski said.
But one area Nill did not touch on the roster was the defense, a group that includes Goligoski's partner for the second half of the season along with Gonchar and young talents like Jordie Benn, Brendan Dillon and Patrik Nemeth.
And while some lamented Nill not improving Dallas' rear guard, one prominent member of this unit feels that isn't a bad thing.
"Our depth is really good. I think again, with kind of the roles guys really settled into, I think Dales and I have a lot of confidence coming back here. Gonch is obviously a good veteran leader and the rest of the guys, they're young guys. They're only going to get better. That's something that maybe it's forgotten, they're young. But guys when they're that age, they take steps quick and I think you're going to see that with a lot of them this year," Goligoski said. "Val's another example of that too. You'll see how quick these guys will jump and then turn into real good players. I'd expect our defense to take another step as well."
Of course, "Goose" and Daley are the longest-tenured Stars returning on D and No. 33 would be just fine with sharing the ice with the longtime Dallas d-man again this season, but if Ruff decides to break them up, he'll be fine with that decision also.
"We're real comfortable together. I think we understand the way each other plays and I think with where we are in our careers and everything, we both have a pretty good understanding of the game and where we can take chances and how to manage games I guess is what we're trying to say," Goligoski said.
He added: "I'm real comfortable with him. I'm real comfortable with everyone. Guys here, they're easy to play with and a lot of it, it's just communication, talking. Whoever we're playing with, I think everyone feels real good right now."
