THN's Stars site continues its player-by-player look at Dallas' roster -- and in this file, Adam Proteau breaks down expectations for veteran winger Evgenii Dadonov.

As we draw nearer to the 2024-25 NHL regular season, THN’s Dallas Stars team website is posting an ongoing series of player projections for the Dallas Stars. We’re now well into the series, and today, we’re looking at veteran winger Evgenii Dadonov.

Now 35 years old, Dadonov is nearing the end of his NHL days, but the Russian winger is still going to be a contributor for the Stars in 2024-25.

Career: 143 goals, 321 points in 537 games

2023-24 Statistics: 12 goals, 23 points in 51 games

Salary Cap Hit: $2.25 million, through 2024-25

Summary of 2023-24 Season: Dadonov was sidelined for a good stretch of the season for the Stars last year, but his effectiveness has been waning for some time now. Dadonov hasn’t hit the 20-goal plateau since the 2021-22 season, and his days scoring more than 25 goals are a distant memory, dating back to his three seasons (2017-2020) as a member of the Florida Panthers.

Dadonov did generate three goals and seven points in 19 playoff games last spring, but when the Stars are looking to make every dollar count under the salary cap, paying Dadonov decent money to be far down the depth chart isn’t the best use of Dallas’ cap space. Dadonov is now much closer to retirement than he is to the prime of his career, and as we’ll explore below, he’s going to be used less and less as time goes on.

Projections For 2024-25 Season: As per THN Lineups, Dadonov will be Dallas’ fourth-line left winger to begin the coming season. He’ll be playing with blue-collar linemates Colin Blackwell and Sam Steel, but don’t expect Dadonov to get more than the 13:11 in ice time he averaged last year. And for that reason, we don’t imagine Dadonov will put up more offense than he did last season.

Once the coming season concludes, so too will Dadonov’s time with the Stars, and for that matter, in the NHL. He’ll turn 36 in March, and a trip to the Kontinental League to finish out his pro career is more likely than him sticking around the NHL to fill out a different team’s bottom-six group of forwards next season. Father Time has whittled down Dadonov’s effectiveness, but if he can provide 15-20 goals for the Stars in ‘24-25, he’ll be worth the cap space Stars GM Jim Nill has spent on him.

Dadonov’s impact is going to lessen this season, but Dallas can still benefit from him in limited action. It’s now a matter of how limited he’s going to be, and whether or not the Stars’ young prospects can push him out of a spot in the regular rotation of players. Dallas brass doesn’t owe anything to Dadonov, but his salary means he’s going to get another opportunity to stick around as an NHL veteran.

Thank you for reading this story. And be our guest -- join the growing Dallas Stars community on THN.com and bookmark THN's Dallas Stars site for all the latest Stars news, exclusive interviews, and much more.