THN's Dallas Stars website continues our player-by-player breakdown of each Stars player for the coming season with this look at stellar two-way center Roope Hintz.
In preparation for the 2024-25 NHL regular season, The Hockey News’ Dallas Stars team website is posting a series of player projections for the Dallas Stars. We began the process Thursday, with captain Jamie Benn, and veteran forward Tyler Seguin. And in one of two files today, we’re examining Stars forward Roope Hintz.
Hintz is one of the more underrated NHL stars, with six seasons in hockey’s best league under his belt. Let’s break down his individual statistics, career numbers and expectations for the coming season:
Career: 147 goals, 310 points in 392 regular-season NHL games
2023-24 Statistics: 30 goals, 65 points in 80 games
Salary Cap Hit: $9.85 million, through 2026-27
Summary of 2023-24 Season: The 27-year-old Hintz once again proved his great value to the Stars last season, hitting the 30-goal and 35-assists plateaus for the third consecutive season. The Finnish native is regarded as one of the NHL’s top two-way players, and his contract is very manageable given his importance to the organization. He’s earned himself a role on Finland’s team at the upcoming 4 Nations Face-Off, and he can now be relied on to give his team 17-18 minutes of well-played hockey night-in and night-out.
Hintz is in his prime right now, and the best (from a team perspective) may yet be to come. He finished last season with the sixth-most votes for the Frank J. Selke Trophy, proving that he’s about as dangerous as can be at both ends of the ice. And his opponents know full well that he’s a needle-mover where it counts.
Projections For 2024-25 Season: Once again, Hintz will be Dallas’ first-line center, most likely in the middle of wingers Jason Robertson and Wyatt Johnston. With both Robertson and Johnston relatively young players whose offensive totals still could improve, it isn’t out of the question to imagine Hintz’s offense numbers could rise to the 40-goal, 80-point area in 2024-25.
He’ll have to stay healthy, of course, but Hintz has already demonstrated he’s consistently one of hockey’s most balanced performers. And that's why Stars coach Peter DeBoer knows he can rely on Hintz to play a savvy, robust game that both limits his opponents’ impact and increases his own impact in the offensive zone.
If Hintz were playing in a heavy-hockey-media market, he’d be making headlines constantly for all the right reasons. The Stars are more than happy to let him live a comparatively quiet life in Texas, and Hintz is giving the Stars every reason to be thankful he plays for them. There’s no harm in noting how high the bar is for him these days, because Hintz set the bar himself. You won't go wrong expecting he’s going to have another terrific year.