Interesting facts and tidbits from the Stars' 2020-21 season

The Stars' PR staff puts together an
end-of-season guide
every year, and it's fun to browse through them and see what kind of gems they've unearthed.
This wasn't a great year with the pandemic, the injuries and missing the playoffs, but there still was some fun stuff to digest.

For instance, Jason Robertson finished second among all rookies in points and was first among rookies in assists. That hasn't happened since the team moved to Texas in 1993 and it's a rare feat for an organization that has only two Calder Trophy winners (Danny Grant in 1969 and Bobby Smith in 1979).
Robertson's 45 points in 51 games isn't in the top 10 in rookie scoring in franchise history because of the shortened season, but his points per game total of 0.88 is second among Stars rookies to Mike Modano, who had 0.91 in 1989-90. He also is the first finalist for the Calder Trophy since Modano.

Among the other highlights, Robertson's 28 assists are the most for a Dallas rookie since John Klingberg had 29 in 65 games in 2014-15, and he had a nine-game point streak (four goals, nine assists, 13 points), which is the longest by a rookie in franchise history. Jamie Langenbrunner had an eight-game streak in 1996-97.
Another young player who put himself among the franchise leaders was Miro Heiskanen. The third-year defenseman hit 200 regular-season games at the age of 21 years and 287 days. His pace to hit 200 games makes him the fifth-youngest player in franchise history to accomplish that task.

Forward Brian Bellows did it for the Minnesota North Stars in 20 years, 137 days back in 1985. Heiskanen's 95 points are the third most for a defenseman in his first 205 games. Klingberg is first at 138 and Craig Hartsburg is second at 137.
On the other end of the age spectrum, Joe Pavelski set a number of key marks. He matched his career-best of four points in a game on three different occasions and became the first player age 36 or older to pull that off in franchise history. Pavelski is one of just 14 players to tally at least three four-point games at age 36 and the first to do it since 2006-07.

The versatile forward had 20 points (10 goals, 10 assists) in the first 15 games for the fastest start in his career. He's the first player age 36 or older to have 20 points in the first 15 games since Martin St. Louis did it in 2013-14.
Stars captain Jamie Benn continues to move up the franchise record charts. He ranks third with 723 points (311 goals, 412 assists) in 866 games, moving ahead of Bellows in fourth place. Modano ranks first with 1,359 points while Neal Broten is second with 867.
Benn also became the first player in franchise history to score overtime game-winners in consecutive games and now is tied with Modano for most OT goals in franchise history at nine.

In regard to team accomplishments, maybe the most significant was scoring by defensemen. Dallas in 2019-20 posted the second-most points by defensemen in a playoff year with 67 (17 goals, 50 assists) in 27 games. Edmonton holds the record with 77 points in 18 games 1984-85. They followed that up this season with 32 goals by blueliners, ranking third among NHL teams. The Stars were first in the NHL in percentage of goals scored by defensemen at 20.5 percent, the most in franchise history.
The Stars as a team finished fifth in the NHL in power-play success rate at 23.6 percent. That number is the best for the team since the 1985-86 season when they were the Minnesota North Stars. Dallas scored 10 power-play goals in the first four games, and only the 1987-88 Rangers scored more with 11 in the first four.
Among the other memorable moments:
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This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.
Mike Heikais a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on Twitter @MikeHeika, and listen to his podcast.