2024 Report Card: Sam Steel and the riddle of the good journeyman

When is a fourth liner more than a fourth liner but not beyond one?

Slow season is upon us; just not here. I’ll have a report card for every Dallas player going through August. As always, consider upgrading to paid subscriber since some of these will be behind a paywall.

One sentence summary

A bargain bin pickup turned into a bargain for the value added.

A few good stats

• GP: 77

• Goals: 9

• Assists: 15

• Points: 24

• Postseason: 19 GP — 1 goal, 4 assists — 5 points

• xSPAR: .9 extra points in the standings (Rank: 15th on the team)

Don’t know what you’re looking at and need a filthy casual explainer? Click here to learn more about Evolving-Hockey’s Goals Above Replacement (GAR).

In terms of raw numbers, Steel was perfect for the fourth line: strong impacts on defense, as well as on the PK, and was a disciplined player to boot. His usage was a lot more significant than I recall, but it does remind me that he spent some time above the fourth line for a stretch. “Limited minutes but 24 points, and that earns a bad grade?” I address this in the explainer, but think of Goals Above Replacement as the offense separate from the production. This chart doesn’t say “Steel didn’t deserve 24 points.” It says “Steel’s 24 points wasn’t consistent with the profile of an offensive play-driver.” Nothing more.

Thematically appropriate highlight

Steel didn’t have any standout highlights, but unfortunately he didn’t have any thematically-appropriate ones either, so I figured I’d get lazy on this one and just leave this one here.

Grade: A solid B

Drafted at 30th overall, when you consider that there were only nine good players taken in that first round, Steel was one of 2016’s better talents. However, he developed in the NHL as a player very different from the one initially taken (a scorer). Anaheim didn’t like his development curve until he became one of those bargain big pickups for Minnesota. They got their money’s worth, including in the playoffs versus Dallas. But he wasn’t part of their long term plans, and so Steel officially begun his Journeyman Tour.

I don’t know what fans expected when Nill took a flyer on Steel, but I think most would agree he played well above expectations. (And yes, we’ll get to the grade in a minute.) When it seemed like Ty Dellandrea, Craig Smith, Radek Faksa, and Steel would all be playing musical chairs, Steel took it upon himself to say that it didn’t matter who was older, younger, bigger, stronger, or faster…he would be the rock of the fourth line’s ages. Suddenly the allure of Dellandrea’s draft status, and veteran resume of Faksa made no difference. It was Steel DeBoer trusted when all was said and done.

So why the harsh grade? Even though my grading system is relatively layered (I even have tiers within pluses and minuses!) I wouldn’t call it thoughtful either. Besides, solid B is exactly that: solid. But let’s get nitpicky. Although Steel scored a very respectable 24 points, his offensive impact is actually kind of a drag.

Not sure what this chart means and need a filthy casual guide? Click here to learn more about Micah Blake McCurdy’s synthetic goal model (sG).

It’s worth remembering that Steel doesn’t actually play fourth line minutes. This isn’t a knock on Steel in and of itself. Pete DeBoer loves to roll four lines. The consequence of that is that nobody played sheltered minutes compared to the league average. My personal philosophy is that offense matters more lower in the lineup, so the idea that Steel is basically becoming a Faksa clone doesn’t excite me.

But that’s just my personal opinion. However, there’s no denying that Steel was a solid player when all was said and done. He’s pretty much exactly where he belongs per sG.

I don’t know what counts as a good/bad playoff performance for a fourth liner, but Steel seemed to have a decent one. Beyond his point totals, his line with Craig Smith and Faksa rocked a whopping 58 percent share of shot attempts in the playoffs.

As I said with Dadonov, I’m also quite excited by the prospect of a Blackwell-Steel-Dadonov trio. There’s a ton of synergy between them with everyone able to do something different without losing the typical profile of a high-energy fourth line. Unlike the forward depth of years past, Steel can also player higher up the lineup if need be without looking totally out of place. While I don’t believe Steel has another level, he’s still young-ish enough to develop an extra layer or two. Again, it’s something I’m 99.99% sure won’t happen, but the mere possibility is another reason to look forward to Steel helping define the Stars’ depth this season.

If Steel ends up somewhere else after next season, so what? There’s nothing wrong with being a journeyman. A lot of great players were journeymen. Whatever Steel becomes, and wherever he goes, hopefully his time in Dallas will mark a piece of history beyond just his stay in Dallas.