Alex Goligoski
| 2011-2012 Season | GP | Goals | Assists | Points | +/- | Shots on Goal | PP Goals | PP Assists | TOI/G | PIM |
| Alex Goligoski | 71 | 9* | 21 | 30 | 0 | 140* | 2 | 7 | 22:46 | 16 |
*denotes career highs
The Goose was not let loose this year. Alex Goligoski came into this season with high expectations as the team’s number one offensive defensmen and one of the key pointmen on the power play. He had a slow start to the season, getting only four points in October and never really got a foothold in his game. He really only had one good month the entire year, and that was only 10 points in February.
His slow start in October was followed by a broken hand in November that kept him out for an entire month. The Stars had a tough time without their puck moving defenseman and went 4-7-1 in that stretch of games. Any chance he had of working through his struggles was derailed by that and Goose had to work himself back into game shape when he returned. He saw his production pick up once the calender turned to 2012 and for a while there in January and February, he was one of the top scoring defensemen in the entire league. It’s a sign of what Goose can do when he’s playing at his best and it was during that time the Stars rewarded him with a shiny new four year contract worth $18.4 million. The contract puts him among the top 25 defensemen, even if his numbers might not match others in the group. I don’t know what happened to him after that, but he only got four points in the final 18 games of the season.
His individual numbers this year were decidedly mediocre. His career highs in goals and shots are with one team. He had 14 goals and 162 shots playing with the Penguins and Stars last season and Dallas was hoping for a improvement on his numbers. In just 23 games with Dallas last season he had 15 points, getting half the production of this season while playing just a third as many games.
His struggles were a big reason why the Stars power play was historically bad. He, along with Mike Ribeiro, were supposed to be the pointmen for the team and there’s no other way to say it; they both failed miserably at that. It was threat level zero out there as the Stars would just pass the puck around. Goligoski only had seven power play assists on the year, which might be the worst he’s ever done considering how much he played (He led the team in power play ice time, total and per game).
Despite all his troubles this year though, the Stars are undoubtedly a better team when he is on the ice and he is easily the most valuable defensemen. His ability to move the puck and skate helped to keep pressure off of Kari Lehtonen and he was a pretty reliable defender for most of the year. There were games here and there where he got burned multiple times, but that really happens to all defensmen. It’s just worrisome how his offense failed to materialize this season.
Goligoski was a valuable piece to the team, but didn’t do well individually so he gets a B- from me this year. He really needs to get together with the staff this offseason and figure something out on the power play.
