A Holiday Trip Home Reset Remi Poirier's Career

 

(Credit: Andy Nietupski/Texas Stars) 

Two months before the start of the 2024-25 season, the Dallas Stars signed veteran goaltender Magnus Hellberg to a one-year, two-way contract, effectively demoting third-year netminder Remi Poirier to the fourth goaltender spot in the organization.

Not the most ideal start to a career for any player, but especially for a young goaltender trying to prove his worth within an organization. It was a tough pill to swallow for Poirier, who split the majority of the starts in net with Matthew Murray during the 2023-24 season.

Being replaced would leave most players bitter, especially with someone older, but for Poirier, he embraced the challenge at hand — welcoming the veteran presence of an experienced pro and keeping an open mind. 

“I think it was massive for me to just learn from a guy that played pro for almost 15 years,” Poirier said. “Obviously, you never want to be the second goalie… with Hellberg playing a lot, I was focusing more on my stuff in practice, but it helped me a lot.”

Still, Poirier struggled mightily to open his season, getting nine starts during the first two months of the season. By the end of the first quarter of the season, Poirier held a 3-6 record, with a lowly 3.66 goals-against average and an 0.855 save percentage.

Poirier needed a reset, something to bring him out of this funk before it would be too late to come back from. The reset came in the form of a much-needed trip home to see family after Christmas.

“I felt like nothing was going my way before Christmas. It's hard mentally when you play four or five bad games in a row,” Poirier said. “After Christmas, I went back home and talked with my family. It was a good talk, and I came back with a new mindset.”

After not starting in any of the Stars' final three series to close out December, Poirier earned his first start in almost three weeks on Jan. 4, just a day after the Tucson Roadrunners put four past Hellberg.

The Jan 4 game would become a signature win of his young career. Poirier stopped all 24 shots that he faced, claiming his second shutout of his career. It was the first time that season, fans in the H-E-B Center at Cedar Park began chanting “Remi, Remi, Remi.”

“He was smiling ear to ear after the game,” defenseman Gavin White said after the Jan 4 game. “He's been grinding in practice, and it's awesome to see him get a win.”

By no means was it a one-game fluke; the Québécois goaltender would go on an incredible run to close out the season, ending the regular season with an impressive 14-5-2 record.

In March, Poirier was stellar, going a perfect 7-0 with a 1.27 goals-against average and a .961 save percentage — earning the AHL Goaltender of the Month honors.

“I was talking a lot to [Neil Graham] before Christmas, and he was telling me that the struggle is going to help me in the next step in my career and my next couple of years,” Poirier said.

If the signing of Hellberg prior to the start of the season was a ploy by the organization to see if Poirier would dig into himself and see if he could get the most out of himself, it’s safe to say it worked.

Setting multiple career highs in his second-half reassurance, along with compiling a 5-3 record in Texas’ Western Conference Final appearance. Dallas rewarded its 2020 sixth-round selection with a fresh two-year, two-way contract, locking him in as the organization’s third goalie.

“I take nothing for granted,” Poirier said. “In my mind, I don’t see that as a third goalie situation, fourth goalie situation, I just see that when I’m in the net, I need to make the most out of it. I cannot control anything else, only my performance.”

Although Poirier is more focused on his role here in Cedar Park, continuing his development to make the next step to the NHL. His experience and improvement from last season will play a major role in the success of first-year head coach Toby Petersen.

“It's a big advantage having a guy who's played his best hockey when the chips were down,” Petersen said. “I've heard Remy played his best hockey down the stretch, and that's huge. We want him to pick up where he left off last year and continue to grow on that.”