Julius Honka takes advantage of press box reprieve, may have chance for extended clemency

Those in the #FreeHonka movement can sleep well tonight.

After Julius Honka scored the only goal in a 2-1 shootout victory against the New York Rangers, Dallas Stars coach Ken Hitchcock said that the defenseman would be back in the lineup Wednesday against the New York Islanders.

“He was good, he got his feet wet, scored a goal,” Hitchcock said. “I think we’ve got to get him more on the power play shooting wise and we’ll work with him on Wednesday and get him out there. That’ll be a good sign.”

Honk the horn 'cause Julius is letting the puck rip. pic.twitter.com/H36tT8VFR2

— NHL (@NHL) December 12, 2017

Going into Monday’s game Hitchcock said that he wanted to see Honka use his feet more and make quicker plays. That meant making the smart play to avoid a hit, while Hitchcock said Honka should have the puck off his stick before the count of three.

To my untrained, non-coaching eyes Honka passed that test on Monday. While he played in a limited role, a team-low 12 minutes, 21 seconds for defenseman, Honka scored a goal and didn’t take a hit.

He actually finished plus-two in the hit category with a pair of checks on his own, while the Stars outhit the Rangers 7-4 when Honka was on the ice.

Scoring the goal was a sigh of relief for Honka, who had yet to register a point in either the NHL or the AHL before that blast from the point.

“It felt good though, get that goal,” Honka said. “It helped me a lot, I felt really good especially this game first time this year.”

While the coaching staff hasn’t given him many opportunities, Honka hasn’t had a poor NHL showing since October.

In his four games since Nov. 24 the Stars are undefeated, Honka is plus-three and the Stars have only allowed three goals in his past three games.

I talked to a couple scouts about Honka during the Stars loss to the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday, a game where Honka was scratched.

“His worst enemy comes from within himself and in the locker room, I really think he needs to listen less to what they’re telling him and be willing to play his own game,” a Western Conference scout said. “I’m not saying he needs to ignore the coaches, but he needs to realize there a times he can actually play his game.”

“I don’t know why they are playing (Jamie) Oleksiak more, I just don’t see it,” an Eastern Conference scout said. “Honka needs to play more, that’s what I would do. He needs to get more ice time, and right now it seems like they’re hasn’t been a reward for when he plays well. I saw him in Colorado last week, I don’t know why he would come out after that, I thought he was more than good enough.”

Honka can’t control his ice time, but he can copy something he did against New York on Monday — shoot the puck more. After averaging just one shot per game in his first nine games, Honka had three shots on Monday and had two more blocked.

For a player that thrives on confidence (for example Honka actually got an apartment in Dallas before training camp started and had to stay in hotels when he was sent to the AHL) and offense, pulling the trigger a bit more could be the key to staying in the lineup even longer.

No matter what happens, the Honka saga is going to be an interesting storyline as the season progresses.

The Stars management looks at him as key cog in the long run, and they would like to see him earn and step into a larger role. But Honka still hasn’t earned the trust of the coaching staff, he’s still being sheltered when he plays, and fair or not, he’s being graded on a difficult curve.

Maybe Monday’s goal and performance was the breakthrough he needed. Maybe he’ll be scratched again later this week.

Either way, Twitter will be ready with an appropriate reaction.