Bishop looks forward to playing behind Stars' offense
The Dallas Stars have their man in the blue paint.
Finally.
The club announced the signing of netminder Ben Bishop to a six-year, $29.5-million deal on Friday, and later in the afternoon the 30-year-old gave his first conference call as a member of the Stars and opened up about why he chose Big D.
"It's hard to find forwards that can score like the Stars can. They have a lot of them," said Bishop, according to Mark Stepneski of NHL.com. "As a goalie, it makes it a little more comforting knowing that the guys can go out there and score and you just have to do your job and stop the puck."
Sure, the Stars can score with the best of them. But maybe Bishop is forgetting about the other end of the spectrum: defense.
The club struggled mightily in its own end during the 2016-17 season, ranking 29th in the league in goals-against average and dead last in save percentage. Time has run out for the duo of Kari Lehtonen and Antti Niemi who were both downright awful at times.
To be fair, Dallas' crease has been a hot mess for at least three seasons. With last year being especially hard to watch, particularly for general manager Jim Nill, who is excited to have a 6-foot-7 goaltender of Bishop's caliber.
"He's an elite goalie the last six to eight years, and I think he is just coming into his prime. He's a little bit of a late bloomer," Nill said.
"He's big in net, and he has good, strong goalie fundamentals. He's outstanding at handling the puck. I think he is going to make a big difference as far as us moving the puck out of our zone."
Regardless of the high praise, last season was a down year for Bishop.
The former third-round pick had his share of struggles, going 18-15-5 with only one shutout over a season shared between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Los Angeles Kings.
However, next year is a fresh start for Bishop, who promptly becomes the No.1 option in Dallas while also offering an immediate injection of defensive relevance the club has not felt since Marty Turco's Vezina-nominated season of 2002-03.
Good luck, Ben!