Three Dallas Stars to remember when playing a game of Puckdoku

Puckdoku is the trivia game sweeping the hockey world. It’s the NHL equivalent of the “Immaculate Grid,“ a three-by-three fill-in-the-blank puzzle which originated as an MLB game but quickly spawned variants for all kinds of other sports leagues.

The concept is simple: For each square, try to think of a player who fits into the criteria established by both the corresponding X- and Y-axis labels. For example, Ray Bourque would fit perfectly into a Boston Bruins/Colorado Avalanche square. Patrick Roy would do just fine for Colorado/Montreal. You get the idea.

Of course, it goes a little deeper than that. Sometimes, instead of teams, Puckdoku uses statistical thresholds (“200+ goals”) or career achievements (“Olympic gold medalist”) as categories. Also, if you want to use a Minnesota North Stars player for the Dallas Stars or an original Winnipeg Jets player for the Arizona Coyotes, you can.

Naturally, some players are more useful for Puckdoku than others. Someone like Maurice Richard, who spent his entire career with the Montreal Canadiens, is pretty much useless for the game unless a Habs label happens to intersect with the right statistical category.

On the flip side, players who spent time with several NHL teams are among the most valuable for Puckdoku purposes. And the more obscure the player, the lower (and better) your “uniqueness” score will be. Both Jarome Iginla and Blake Comeau are valid answers for Calgary/Pittsburgh, but one is a little less well-known than the other.

Over the next few weeks, we’re going to spend some time here at Daily Faceoff highlighting three players connected with each NHL franchise who are particularly useful in games of Puckdoku. We’ll press onward today with the Dallas Stars.

Brad Richards

Teams: Tampa Bay Lightning, Dallas Stars, New York Rangers, Chicago Blackhawks, Detroit Red Wings

The Tampa Bay Lightning hit the jackpot when they selected Rimouski Oceanic teammates Vincent Lecavalier and Brad Richards with their first two picks at the 1998 NHL Draft. Lecavalier, who scored 115 points with Rimouski in 1997–98, went first overall to the Lightning; Richards, who also scored 115 points with Rimouski that season, went 64th. Both players went on to win the Stanley Cup with the Lightning in 2004 and finished their respective NHL careers with more than 900 points.

Richards made his NHL debut with the Lightning in the 2000–01 season and scored 21 goals and 62 points as a rookie, enough to finish second in Calder Trophy balloting behind San Jose Sharks goaltender Evgeni Nabokov. Richards continued on an upward trajectory through his first five seasons in Tampa Bay and arguably reached his peak in the 2004 Stanley Cup Playoffs, collecting 12 goals and 26 points in 23 games to win the Conn Smythe Trophy as the league’s playoff MVP.

In the midst of a non-playoff 2007–08 season, the Lightning sent Richards to the Stars at the trade deadline. Renowned for his playoff performances during his Lightning tenure, Richards chipped in 15 points in 18 games to help the Stars reach the 2008 Western Conference Final. Although Richards matched his career-high mark with 91 points in 80 games in the 2009–10 season, the Stars never returned to playoffs after the first year of his tenure, and he left the team in 2011 to sign an enormous nine-year contract with the New York Rangers.

Richards remained productive on Broadway and contributed 12 points in 25 games as the Rangers embarked upon a run to the Stanley Cup Final in 2014. But, faced with the prospect of paying the 34-year-old Richards for six more seasons at a cap hit north of $6.5 million, the Rangers exercised a compliance buyout on his contract immediately after the 2014 playoffs. Richards went on to sign a one-year contract with the Chicago Blackhawks, winning the Stanley Cup again in 2015 as the team’s No. 2 center between Jonathan Toews and Antoine Vermette. Finally, after one last season with the Detroit Red Wings, Richards retired in 2016 as a two-time Cup champion and with 298 goals and 932 points in 1,126 career NHL games.

Stephane Robidas

Teams: Montreal Canadiens, Dallas Stars, Chicago Blackhawks, Anaheim Ducks, Toronto Maple Leafs

Stephane Robidas bounced around a little bit before firmly establishing himself as one of the NHL’s more reliable two-way defensemen immediately after the 2004–05 lockout.

After the Montreal Canadiens selected Robidas in the seventh round of the 1995 NHL Draft, the five-foot-eleven defender finally made his NHL debut with the club in the 1999–2000 season. Robidas spent parts of three seasons with the Canadiens before being sent to the Stars via an NHL Waiver Draft transaction in October 2002; after a little more than a year in Dallas, Robidas was traded to Chicago in November 2003.

Robidas returned to the Stars in 2005 on a two-year deal and ultimately remained in Dallas for the better part of a decade. Over the course of his eight full seasons in Dallas after the lockout, Robidas reached the 20-point mark six times and even earned consideration for the Vancouver Olympics in the midst of his 41-point 2009–10 campaign. Robidas scored 11 points in 18 games during the Stars’ run to the 2008 Western Conference Final. He’s one of the better defensemen in NHL history to never receive a single vote for the Norris Trophy.

The 2013–14 season marked the beginning of the end for Robidas, as he spent more than half of the year on the injured list while recovering from multiple leg injuries. After managing just 10 points in 38 games split between the Stars and Anaheim Ducks, Robidas signed a three-year deal with the Toronto Maple Leafs as an unrestricted free agent in 2014. Robidas appeared in 52 games with the bottom-feeding Maple Leafs in 2014–15 before spending the latter two years of the contract on long-term injured reserve, ultimately lending his name to the popular “Robidas Island” moniker for the LTIR cap exemption that has stuck around ever since.

All in all, Robidas managed 57 goals and 258 points in 937 games spread over parts of 15 NHL seasons with the Canadiens, Stars, Blackhawks, Ducks and Maple Leafs. He currently serves as an assistant coach on Martin St. Louis’ staff in Montreal.

Anton Khudobin

Teams: Minnesota Wild, Boston Bruins, Carolina Hurricanes, Anaheim Ducks, Dallas Stars, Chicago Blackhawks

Khudobin’s NHL story began when he was drafted by the Minnesota Wild with the No. 206 overall pick in 2004. He appeared in just six games with the Wild, who already has Niklas Backstrom and Josh Harding, before being traded to the Bruins in 2011; then, after 15 more games in Boston, Khudobin signed with the Carolina Hurricanes in 2013.

Initially expected to compete with Justin Peters for the backup role behind Cam Ward in Carolina, Khudobin posted a 19–14–1 record and a .926 save percentage while starting the most games of any Hurricanes goalie in 2013–14. However, he struggled to replicate his performance in 2014–15 and ended up spending most of 2015–16 with the Anaheim Ducks’ AHL affiliate before resurfacing with the Bruins again in the 2016–17 season.

Khudobin enjoyed two strong years as Tuukka Rask’s tandem partner in Boston and parlayed his 31 games with the team in 2017–18 into a two-year, $2.5 million AAV deal with the Stars. While in Dallas, “Dobby” performed admirably and formed another strong tandem, this one with 6-foot-7 behemoth Ben Bishop. Although separated in height by eight inches, Khudobin and Bishop both posted save percentages of at least .920 in 2018–19 and 2019–20.

But while Bishop started all 13 of the Stars’ playoff games in 2019, it was Khudobin who took over for an injured Bishop as Dallas shocked the hockey world by making a run to the Stanley Cup Final in 2020. At age 34, Khudobin went 14–10 with a .917 save percentage as the Stars fell to the Tampa Bay Lightning in six games. The Stars rewarded Khudobin for his strong play with a three-year contract extension in the summer, but he soon lost his starting gig to Jake Oettinger and wound up in the AHL midway through the 2021–22 season. Khudobin made just one more NHL appearance with the Chicago Blackhawks in 2022–23 before his contract expired.

Now 37, Khudobin is currently an unrestricted free agent. Over his 260 games in the NHL, he posted a 114–92–33 record with 11 shutouts and a .916 save percentage.