Johnston Is Out. Duchene Is Gone. Dallas's Center Depth Just Got Tested Before the Playoffs Begin.

David Perron signing on for a 20th NHL season is a nice story. It does not solve what Dallas is actually staring at. Wyatt Johnston is out, Matt Duchene is three months away from returning after core muscle surgery, and the depth chart behind them at center lists Aram Minnetian and Michael Sgarbossa — two players who logged essentially no meaningful production this season. That is the reality heading into the postseason for the No. 2 seed in the West.

The Stars finished 57-36 and got here the right way. Their defense tightened dramatically down the stretch, allowing just 1.5 goals per game over their final 10, and that discipline is the model they intend to carry into the playoffs. Mikko Rantanen and Jason Robertson are both healthy and elite. The structure works — when the top of the roster is intact.

The problem is that Johnston was the connective tissue at center. Roope Hintz and Tyler Seguin both returned from offseason injuries this year and contributed, but neither is a sure thing physically, and the drop from Johnston to whoever fills that role next is steep. I wrote in September that the Steel extension made sense even with the depth crisis baked in. The crisis has now gotten worse, not better.

My read is that Dallas can still win a round on defensive structure and the Robertson-Rantanen combination alone. But if Johnston's absence stretches into the first round, the Stars will be asking their bottom-six centers to hold a playoff lineup together, and nothing in the depth chart suggests they can.