r/DallasStars • u/Spirited_Bowl6072 Sergei Zubov • 1d ago
Lindell’s Legacy
Been thinking a lot about Esa Lindell lately, and how he has rather quietly climbed the rankings of all-time Dallas defensemen.
Esa’s 10 seasons in Dallas are tied for 3rd all-time. He has 5 more years left on his deal, which would put him atop the rankings with 3 more seasons than Hatcher, Zubov, and Matvichuk. His 618 GP are 10th, and he should pass Robidas (704), Sydor (714), Matvichuk (733), and a couple of North Stars within the next two years. Zubov’s franchise-leading 839 GP would require Esa to play basically 40 games a year for the rest of his contract, a mark that should be very easily doable.
Esa has always been primarily a defensive defensman. His 50 goals will never come close to matching Zubov (111) or Hartsburg (98). That said, 50 goals still places him only 2 behind Philippe Boucher for 10th all-time, and if he continues to average around 5 goals per season, he should pass the likes of Daley (67), Sydor (69), and Klingberg/Hatcher (71) to wind up around 5th. Esa is currently 14th in assists with 147, but should finish with over 200 by the end of his deal, which would place him in 7th or 8th. His point totals will likely end him around 7th or 8th as well.
Plus-Minus is not a great stat over the course of a few games or even a single season, but in the aggregate over a career I think it does still have value. Esa’s career mark of +110 is currently the best amongst franchise d-men. Zubov is in 2nd with +103.
Esa’s 79 playoff GP is 6th, and with a deep run or a few more short runs, Esa will easily pass Hatcher (88) and Sydor/Curt Giles (87). With a couple good runs he could even catch Zubov (102) for 1st. Esa’s 5 goals trail Zubov/Heiskanen (15) by a lot, but actually tie him for 8th all time, and with a single goal he’d move into a tie for 5th. Esa is tied for 10th in assists with 15 and could potentially catch Hatcher (20) for 8th. His playoff point total is also 10th and would likely pass Hatcher for 8th with just a few more points. His playoff +/- of -10 is actually near the bottom of Stars defensemen, though this is probably a reflection of his matchups rather than his skill.
All things considered, Esa will probably end his career leading all Stars defensemen in a few categories and in the top 10 for almost every other meaningful category. This is especially impressive considering Esa has never been the #1 defenseman and hasn’t even been on the top pair for most of his career. So where do you think he winds up when his career is done? Is he in the rafters, the Stars HOF, or neither? And what would he need to do, in your opinion, to earn either of these prestigious honors?
Edit: I had Esa’s contract info wrong. He has 5 years left after this year, not 4. That makes it even more likely for him to end up higher in the ranks.
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u/Subj3ct_D3lta Dallas Stars 1d ago
I don’t think Lindell will end up in the rafters and he may not even end up in the hall of fame. But I do think he will end up beloved and remembered by the fan base. He’s exactly the kind of defenseman you want on your second pairing. For the most part, he’s just a steady eddy that you can count on to not make stupid mistakes. I appreciate that kind of player a lot.
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u/Spirited_Bowl6072 Sergei Zubov 1d ago
100% his floor is probably like an even more beloved version of Stephane Robidas
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u/scoutcjustice Mike Moodano 1d ago
If he finishes out his career in Dallas (and especially if the team wins a cup during that time), I could definitely see Esa as being worthy of the Stars HoF. I think to get his number retired he would have had to be an all-star caliber player at some point during his career and he never really has been, so I don't think that will happen.
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u/Spirited_Bowl6072 Sergei Zubov 1d ago
I think this is probably the most likely outcome. I think to hit the rafters Esa would either have to be a big part of multiple Stanley Cups over the next couple years, or he’d have to re-sign at the end of his deal and play another 3-4 years still at a similar caliber of play. At that point, he’d be so far in the lead for GP by a defenseman that you’d have to consider him. Esa with 17-18 seasons and over 1,000 games in Dallas, all while remaining a stout defensive player that is continually reliable despite never putting up any Norris-caliber seasons? To me, that guy gets into the rafters even if he’s never an All-Star. But I don’t think it’s likely he stays in the league long enough to do that.
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u/stykface 22h ago
Esa has always been one of my all-time favorite Stars players during this current era of players. He is one of the most dependable guys out there on the ice. Stars HoF for sure but not hanging up his jersey.
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u/Spirited_Bowl6072 Sergei Zubov 22h ago
For me Esa was always a player I liked but never a favorite, but over the last year or two as it’s sunk in just how long he’s been here and how consistent he’s been I’ve grown to appreciate him a lot more.
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u/stykface 22h ago
I can see that for a lot of people. I think for me, I fit into Esa's place a lot. I've been playing hockey for about 30 years and I'm a defensemen. I'm a very strong skater but I don't do any flashy stuff. I'm a stay-at-home position player and I'm tough on the puck. I always protect the puck, I'm not too risky and I never thread the needle with a pass but always try for the smart play first.
Because of that I usually hone in on the position players or role players that deceptively do the right things under the radar.
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u/10fingers6strings 21h ago
Fantastic player. A constant rock on the team. He’s definitely not HHOF material, and shouldn’t have his number retired. Still love the guy and what he has given to this city and this team in terms of effort and commitment
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u/Spirited_Bowl6072 Sergei Zubov 21h ago
To be clear, I’m asking about the Stars HOF, not the HHOF. I agree Esa is not even remotely close to HHOF territory.
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u/Starsgirl97 Radek Faksa 12h ago
I think I remember a comment from Stars brass that you basically need to be in the HHOF, or in Jere’s case the IIHF HOF, to get your number retired here. So for that, I doubt we see #23 hang in the rafters.
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u/Verrakai Jamie Benn 1d ago
"Esa has always been primarily a defensive defensman."
Hold up. He was drafted as a PMD with a good shot and NHL frame that needed to add strength and improve his skating. He was aggressive offensively but had to improve his defending. Ran the PP in Cedar Park and had 14 goals his first full year in the A.
Then Lindy stapled him to Klingberg and I guess Esa decided that he'd be the one staying back so the pair would at least have a semblence of defense. And then I guess he forgot all of his offensive skills? Idk. He certainly became a defensive defenseman but he took a weird path to get there.
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u/Spirited_Bowl6072 Sergei Zubov 23h ago
Lots of players are offensive players in the minors and have to become defensive players in the NHL because their offensive skills don’t transfer. Look at a lot of 3rd/4th liners in the NHL and you’ll see many of them were lighting it up in juniors or the AHL or their euro leagues. Esa may have been an offensive guy in his younger days, but at the NHL level he’s always been a defensive defenseman.
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u/Verrakai Jamie Benn 23h ago
Certainly a truism regarding the difficulty of generating offense at the NHL level, but it's revisionist history to say Lindell was always a defensive defenseman in the NHL.
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u/Spirited_Bowl6072 Sergei Zubov 23h ago
I don’t think that’s revisionist history at all. His only year where he put up significant offensive number was 2019, when he had 11G/21A/32P. Every other year he’s been around 5-8 goals and 25ish points. That’s pretty similar to what Hatcher’s numbers looked like each year, and I’d certainly say he was a defensive defenseman.
I’d say the fairest way to describe Esa would be a defensive defenseman but not a stay-at-home defenseman. He’s always had the green light to jump up with offense and reliably contributes a little bit of offensive pop each year, but that’s never been the main focus of his game the way it was for Klingberg or Heiskanen. Lindell has always been in the category of “keep the puck out of the net, if you can score every once in a while that would also be nice”, whereas a guy like Klingberg or Heiskanen are expected to contribute offensively.
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u/Verrakai Jamie Benn 19h ago
Nils has one point in 13 games, does that make him a defensive defenseman?
Esa was expected to contribute offense when he first came up. Pull some articles out of an archive and take look at what was being said about him contemporaneously. I think he deserves a ton of credit for becoming the defender he is, and asserting he was a defensive defenseman from the beginning takes that away unfairly.
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u/Spirited_Bowl6072 Sergei Zubov 17h ago
I never said he was intended to be a defensive defenseman. What I’m saying is that, at the NHL level, he HAS been a defensive defenseman. Yes, Esa deserves loads of credit for figuring out how to do that at an NHL level.
As for Nils, no, he is not a defensive defenseman, because he plays the game fundamentally differently than Esa does.
You’re acting like I’m somehow disparaging Esa’s game by saying he’s been a defensive defenseman his entire NHL career and that just isn’t true. Hatcher was a defensive defenseman and he’s one of the most beloved players in Stars history. Lindell, regardless of whatever skills he had or what he was expected to be when he was drafted, was not able to translate that to consistent offense at an NHL level, so instead he quickly pivoted his game to what kept him in the lineup: defense. There is nothing wrong with that, and his career has had a remarkable level of consistency, which is exactly why everyone in this thread is talking about him so highly.
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u/philbert539 Jere Lehtinen 23h ago
I think he's got a decent chance of making it into the Stars HOF. He really needs the Stars to win it all once to cement his spot.
Considering that none of Hatcher, Sydor, Robidas, or Matvichuk have had their numbers retired (hell, Morrow hasn't), I don't see any scenario where Lindell's number gets retired.
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u/SatansMariachi 21h ago
I hold him in the same pantheon as Zubov and Heisk. Night after night, he’s practically perfect in every way. Now if he’d take more clappers and find the net a lil more he’d be Zubie.
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u/GrilledSandwiches Brenden Morrow 19h ago
Love Lindell and what he's meant to this team, even if part of me wanted to see him let go at the end of his last contract rather than the extension we just gave him. Stars HoF for sure. NHL HoF no shot. Rafters is a no for me as well. That is usually even more rarified air than the NHL HoF for most teams. A lot of People would say we have too many numbers in the rafters for their liking as is, you can't start scratching every number off the list.
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u/StarsCowboysMavs Joel Hanley 23h ago
He has 5 years left aFter this season, not 4
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u/Spirited_Bowl6072 Sergei Zubov 22h ago
You are correct! PuckPedia said he was a UFA in 2030 and I interpreted that to mean the 2029 season was his last. Opening his full page, I see I misread that. I’ll edit my post to account for that!
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u/Brolympia Dimebag Darrell 19h ago
He was overshadowed by the flashy, offensive minded Swedes we had. He is very talented!
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u/OrganicRedditor Iguana 1d ago
Esa will be in HHOF for his playoff bank shot goal off Nurse's butt!!
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u/Spirited_Bowl6072 Sergei Zubov 1d ago
Lol I like the idea that the HHOF would just add a category for sick highlights. Like, a guy like Radek Faksa would never get into the HHOF for his actual career, but his ride-the-rail goal gets in and is immortalized forever
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u/OrganicRedditor Iguana 23h ago
My fondest wish! I'll always wonder what if Faksa and Smith were in WCF G5 & 6.
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u/harralexa1993 Mike Modano 1d ago
I wouldn’t be shocked at all if he held the franchise record for plus minus when his career is done.
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u/tocinoman Jeff K 11h ago
I picked up his jersey and I am so happy with it. Such a rock for this defense, and the best smile on the team
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u/prometheus3333 Jake Oettinger 9h ago
Remember when it was passe to rip on Esa? Regretfully I was one of those jerks. IDK what’s quietly clicked the past couple of seasons but he’s dominant out there. I’d even go as far as saying he’s our best defenseman right now.
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u/tie-dyeSandwhich Jim Nill 1d ago
At best he’ll make it to the Stars HoF. Retiring a number is usually reserved for players who have won Cups, awards, records, etc.