Secret no more: Lindell's breakout game puts blueliner in spotlight

NEW YORK --Jim Montgomery offered up some strong praise for defenseman Esa Lindell on Friday.
"He's just a really good hockey player for us," Montgomery said, "and probably the most underrated defenseman in the league that I've seen so far that no one knows about."
That might be changing soon for the 24-year-old Finn.
Lindell potted two goals Sunday in a 6-2 win over the Islanders and continues to shine in the absence of John Klingberg. With Klingberg out five weeks nursing a broken hand, Lindell has seen his minutes increase significantly -- and also has seen his role on the team magnified greatly.

NO SUNDAY SCARIES: [Esa Lindell, four-goal second period key Stars in rout of Islanders]
Through 20 games, Lindell is averaging 24:48 in time on ice, and doing it against the best players on the opposition. He leads all Stars players in shorthanded time one ice at 2:51 per game, and he's only now starting to get power play time. He plays the hardest minutes, he shows up every game, and he keeps the mistakes to a minimum.
"He shuts plays down, he breaks pucks out. His hockey sense offensively and defensively, goes unnoticed, except if you really study our team," said Montgomery while searching for new ways to describe Lindell.

"I can't say enough about him. He's so cool, calm and collected off the ice -- and that's the way he plays on the ice. He's a very underrated player."
Lindell has been that way since he entered the NHL. When jumping up from the AHL in 2016-17, Lindell earned a regular spot in the lineup and earned the praise of the coaching staff, which was also trying to sort through Jamie Oleksiak, Patrik Nemeth and Stephen Johns. The third-round pick (74th overall in 2012) quietly outperformed players drafted higher than him, a decision that was explained by then-coach Lindy Ruff at the time.
"Not a lot of bad things happen when Esa's on the ice," Ruff said.
And that's still true today. Jason Spezza, who likes to bring a veteran's perspective to every interview, said Lindell scoring two goals was nice, but not a big deal.
"Esa is not going to get judged on his goals and assists. Internally, we know how important he is to us," Spezza said. "To see him get rewarded is great, but he's just a rock for us, even when Klinger and Johnsy and Meth are in the lineup. He's a guy we lean a lot on, probably more than people know."
But it does make it more noticeable when Klingberg, Stephen Johns (neck/headaches) and Marc Methot (knee) are out of the lineup. It means that Lindell is playing with a different, inexperienced defenseman on every shift, and he's still playing a high level game against high-level competition.

As you would expect, he doesn't make a big deal of it, and even jokes about how he might be a better match with fellow Finn Julius Honka.
"I don't think it's that big of a difference," Lindell said. "I've played with Honks quite a much. He's a similar play to Klinger, and it might be even easier when I can talk Finnish to him."
Lindell just seems to roll with the punches, and that's one of the reasons he's been able to handle the pressure. Not much fazes him, and not much gets him too excited. Instead, he's a steady force who takes care of the details of his game.
"Hockey sense, dependability, great stick, good gap -- all of the things of a good shutdown defenseman," Spezza said when asked what makes Lindell good. "You know what you're going to get out of him every night, and he moves the puck really well. He's an underrated puck mover, he passes the puck crisp, it's always on the tape -- it's just things that don't jump off the page.
"He's not doing flashy plays at the blueline, but he's giving you a flat puck all of the time and gives you time to make a play."
And while those inside the room would love to keep Lindell a secret, two goals scored in a 6-2 win in New York might get a few people talking.

Montgomery and assistant Rick Bowness have been on Lindell to shoot the puck more. He had six shots on goal in Friday's win over Boston with no goals, and then tallied his pair on Sunday with three shots on goal.
"The boys gave me a bit of (grief) about not scoring against Boston," Lindell said with his trademark smile.
"So they can't give it (to me) today."
Instead, they will simply trust that he'll be back for another huge performance when the Stars play against the Rangers on Monday.
"I breathe a lot easier when he's on the ice," Montgomery said.
And that can be said by a lot of Stars fans.
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 Twitter @MikeHeika,and listen to his podcast.