This fall, Jake Oettinger knows where home is. He knows he won’t have to live in a hotel or move 200 miles south. He knows he won’t have to pack up furniture...
He knows he won’t have to live in a hotel or move 200 miles south. He knows he won’t have to pack up furniture abruptly. He can take regular walks on the Katy Trail. He can carpool with new roommate Ty Dellandrea to practices and games.
At this time last year, Oettinger was on his way down to Cedar Park, to play for AHL affiliate Texas. The Stars preferred veterans Braden Holtby and Anton Khudobin to the former first-round pick, opting to send Oettinger down to the minors. Of course, Oettinger starred in the first-round series against Calgary, turning in one of the best single-round performances in postseason history. His 64 saves in Game 7 were a franchise record. His 272 saves in the series were the third-most in a single series in NHL history.“He likes the responsibility,” Stars goaltending coach Jeff Reese said. “He thrives on it. We saw that down the stretch last year. People forget we were battling for our lives every game.
The Stars and Oettinger will have to ration ice time throughout the season. Like they did last week, they’ll have to build in days when Oettinger works before practice and then takes the day off. They’ll have to lean on backup Scott Wedgewood on back-to-backs instead of asking Oettinger to play both ends, like Dallas did three times last year.“I think he’s hungry, and, like you said, he wants to be out there,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said.
“Every year, whether it was that summer or getting a new contract, every single time, I looked at my wife and we shared the sentiment of ‘Hey, let’s go earn it. We want it, but let’s go get it. Let’s do this again,’” Turco said. “If anything else, it was just motivation to see it grow even more. Responsibility? Might have been there from other people. But for me, it didn’t change at all. I was already in that mindset [of a No. 1 goalie].
The on-ice development for Oettinger in the last year is obvious to Reese, who is entering his eighth season as the Stars goaltending coach. Oettinger’s reads have continuously improved, allowing the Stars to push Oettinger deeper in his crease.
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