Dallas Stars All-Star Representative

2024 is a new year and a fresh start for all of us, including Dallas Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger, whose nickname is Otter.

Before the puck drop in the Dallas Stars vs. Colorado Avalanche game on Thursday night, Oettinger was named an NHL All-Star for the 2024 NHL All-Star Game at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, the home of the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Maple Leafs are an Original Six team in the NHL and debatedly deserve the upcoming host city honors.

Oettinger is a good, if not great, goalie for the Stars.

According to The Athletic, Oettinger has grown since a surprise (ankle) surgery and subsequently learned the value of “less is more” on his path to becoming the best goaltender in the NHL. Oettinger said: “I didn’t think I needed surgery … Got a call over the Fourth of July weekend like, “Hey, we need you down here right away.'”

Oettinger reportedly wants to be the best goalie in the world, and I’d want him to achieve this particular goal. “Why?” you ask. The 25-year-old is a durable goalie who can handle an old-school workload, just as long as he isn’t overworked.

Oettinger reportedly received high praise from his peers as one of the NHL’s top goaltenders in 2023. After all, the Lakeville, Minnesota native was the youngest goaltender in ESPN’s top five goaltenders.

Oettinger was drafted 26th overall by the Dallas Stars in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois. The 6’5″ 220 lb goaltender played two seasons with the U.S. National Development Team of the USHL from 2014 to 2016, while committing to Boston University, where he played for the Terriers men’s ice hockey team of the HE from 2016 to 2019.

Oettinger began his professional hockey career in 2018-19 with the Texas Stars of the AHL, where he posted a 3-2-1 record in six starts before posting a 15-16-4 record in 38 starts in 2019-20. The NHL star signed a three-year, $12 million contract with the Dallas Stars in 2022, proposed to his longtime girlfriend, Kennedi Schumacher, a finance and marketing specialist in Dallas, in 2023, and earned his first NHL All-Star nomination in 2024. The news of the latter came just hours after news broke of the NHL star’s lower-body injury timetable from “week-to-week” to “day-to-day” on Thursday.

All in all, there has been nothing but positivity for Oettinger.