Aiming for the next level: Oettinger discusses his season, playoffs and the future

Jake Oettinger is 27.

He has played 305 regular season games in the NHL and another 71 in the playoffs.

A first-round pick in 2017, he is listed at 6-6, 225 pounds.

In a lot of ways, he is at the perfect point in his career. As such, he’s setting a pretty high bar for himself.

After posting a 35-12-6 record during the regular season (third most wins in the league) but falling in six games in the First Round of the playoffs, Oettinger said he was disappointed with this season.

“I don’t feel like I accomplished any of my goals,” Oettinger said at the team’s exit interviews this week. “I want to win a Stanley Cup, I want to win the Vezina Trophy, and I want to be a starting goalie for Team USA at the Olympics - and none of those three things happened.”

Oettinger helped the Stars to three consecutive Western Conference Finals from 2023-25. That didn’t happen this year and he said he has a bit of a hollow feeling because of it. He continues to be among the top goalies in the league, but he is not the top. While he made Team USA and served as a backup at the Olympics, he was the only American goalie to not play in a game. Instead, Vezina Trophy winner Connor Hellebuyck led his squad to the gold medal.

Being that close to his dreams has fueled the fire, he said.

“I think it’s important to set big goals for yourself, and, obviously, those are three really hard things to do,” Oettinger said. “But I think there’s another level that I can get to, and I have a lot of things I need to look at that I need to change and get better at if I want to achieve those goals and help this team win.”

Oettinger is not alone in that area. The Stars have a history of being very close in recent years, and yet often frustrated by the results. Dallas lost in the Stanley Cup Final in 2020 and changed coaches a few years later from Rick Bowness to Pete DeBoer. It played nine playoff rounds in three seasons under DeBoer but then fired him and hired current coach Glen Gulutzan. It has added key pieces in Mikko Rantanen and Matt Duchene and tweaked lineups at the trade deadline every season.

Now, with a roster filled with 20-somethings in their respective primes, Oettinger sees a real window to accomplish his goals.

“I think these next four or five years for our team, we need to win one,” Oettinger said of the Stanley Cup. “No one is getting younger, the contracts and all of that stuff plays into it…You can sit here and say, ‘Yeah we have a great team, and we all believe we can do it,’ but no one is getting younger.”

Oettinger said he places himself at the head of the class in players who help control the team’s destiny.

“The sense of urgency has to be elevated, and everything I’m saying is speaking for myself,” he said. “I need to step up here.”

Oettinger said his plan in the summer is to reach out to coaches and former players like Ben Bishop. He said he understands the growth in his game and knows where he can improve.

“I think I can get smarter at the game,” he said. “When I first got in the league, I was just playing my heart out. When I watch myself, I had some great games, but there was no real plan. I was just trying to stop the puck. Thinking about it strategically is something I could get better at.”

As for Team USA, he is in the mix for the next few years. Hellebuyck is 32 and Oettinger gave him a decent run for the No. 1 job this year. Next time…well, anything is possible.

And that’s part of the message of this season. Yes, Oettinger is doing a lot of things he has imagined in his career, but he has more to give. Last season ended with DeBoer pulling Oettinger early in Game 5 against Edmonton and then getting fired. The manner in which the veteran coach criticized his goalie became a topic for conversation among Stars fans. When asked indirectly about all of the heat he receives because of his job, Oettinger was philosophical.

“Being a goalie is a tough position in itself,” he said. “Obviously, no one wants to be told you suck at your job or people don’t like you, but that’s all part of it. When a coach is pushing you, you feel like: ‘Why is this guy being so hard on me?’ It’s not because they are being mean to you, it’s because they know you can do it, and that’s what you want. You want people to believe that you can do more, so if coaches or fans don’t expect you to do much, that’s 10 times worse than trying to hold you to a high standard.”

Oettinger said he will use whatever motivation is out there to take the next step.

“It’s a fine line,” he said. “No one likes to have people say mean things about you, but the takeaway is that you can be great.”

It’s a takeaway that he believes will help him take the next step.

“I think what excites me about it is that I know I can do it,” he said.” I’m not asking myself something that I can’t do.”

This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.

Mike Heika is a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on X @MikeHeika.