Playing their season in front of a hostile crowd on Sunday night, it looked like the Stars were banking on another miraculous road victory in Edmonton, much like the one they had in Game 6 of the second round. With a 26-10-5 away record, Dallas was easily the best road team in the league this year, and it’s a trend that has stuck with them in the postseason. Until it doesn’t.
The Stars seemed like a very good Cup bet from the start. They had depth that meant head coach Pete DeBoer felt comfortable sending his fourth line against McJesus, and despite winning first place in their conference, they avoided the curse of the Presidents’ Trophy (RIP Rangers). More than that, this spring seemed like the pinnacle of a climb Dallas has made since they faded after the Stanley Cup Final in 2020. They gathered all their little Pokémon and patched up their holes, but still What they did, the Stars still ended their season in exactly the same way as last year, packing their bags after a loss in Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals.
After Matt Duchene scored the series-winning goal for the Stars against the Avalanche last month, he said a line in his post-game interview that I keep coming back to. In the middle of a romantic rant about his coach, Duchene turned away to talk about the big picture in the Stars locker room. “Do I want to win a Cup for myself? Absolutely… (But) I think I want to win more for the other guys in this room,” he said. Maybe I’m just drinking a big pitcher of the Kool-Aid PR narrative, but I think this quote sums up how the Stars played all season and what made them feel like such a serious contender.
For casual observers, Dallas hockey tends to fly under the radar, especially in an unconventional market with spotty coverage from the general public. There’s none of the glamor and glitz of playing hockey in Miami, or even the schadenfreude of the Coyotes and Mullet Arena. If general manager Jim Nill is to be believed, there’s no room for a failing team in the Southern hockey market, so taking a chance on a flashy generational talent seems out of the question. at the eye. Despite a rich talent pool, they don’t really have a superstar headliner. Instead, Dallas must rely on something else. There’s, first, a meticulous scouting and development system reminiscent of Nill’s early career in the Red Wings front office in the ’90s. If Jason Robertson was a small taste of what they could do from a second-rounder with questionable skating, this year seemed like undeniable proof that the Stars were finding all kinds of diamonds in the rough and polishing them well (hello Wyatt Johnston and Little King Logan Stankoven).
And then there’s that part that Duchene was talking about. The Stars are living by the motto “a little less for a lot more” this season. It’s a practice of sacrifice: putting aside old egos to make room for emerging talent, accepting fewer minutes on the ice in exchange for depth. They were doing it, as Duchene implied, “for other guys in this room,” like former Sharks captain turned Stars player Joe Pavelski or even Jamie Benn, 34, who runs their locker room. for almost 11 years now.
The 2023-24 Stars were magical because they had a little bit of everything. Between scruffy warhorses like Pavelski, Benn and Ryan Suter looking for their first championship (the three collectively played 4,324 career games without winning the Cup), there were exciting rookies and youngsters living in the rooms friends from Veterans Homes (once again, hello Wyatt Johnston and Little King Logan Stankoven). For those invested in the narrative, there was Duchene’s cathartic game-winning goal that ended the playoff run for the team that traded him; a resurgence of Benn and Tyler Seguin that made you wonder if it was 2015; and the way Mason Marchment adored all his goalies so dearly after every game. Oettinger even paid homage to Marchment and Ty Dellandrea, one of the guys who fluctuate in and out of the lineup, on his new mask with a little illustration titled “Otter and Friends Golf Adventures.” The end product was this motley group that seemed closer than a workplace. Seguin and backup goalie Scott Wedgewood even go all the way back to high school ball.
But even though they may have been threats when they were away, the Stars were just 4-6 at home in the playoffs. Despite some close overtime losses, the team has been completely unable to win the opener for a few years now – a sort of cosmic opponent to the Leafs’ Game 7 – and as the top seed in the West , the Stars searched the usual home. -ice advantage every turn. For all this cohesion and stardom across all age groups and backgrounds, the team still felt misaligned at critical moments. As each series ate away at the Stars, it left their cracks vulnerable. Injured Roope Hintz was sorely missed in the Game 1 loss to Edmonton. Although Robertson led the Stars to victory in Game 3, his scoring was absent ten games prior. The team also failed to convert on its 14 power plays during the series, even allowing a particularly heartbreaking shorty from Mattias Janmark in Game 4. And other than Game 6, I don’t think not that it would be fair to say that. the Stars have been “guarded” by Stuart Skinner, whose playoff save percentage is .897 in 16 starts.
Unfortunately, it’s hard to ignore what’s behind this loss. Pavelski, who has been the backbone of the team on and off the ice, could retire this summer, and when asked about his owner and mentor after the game, Johnston couldn’t s prevent tears from coming to your eyes. Although part of the roster is locked in, Duchene and Chris Tanev, who they selected for this go-around, may or may not re-sign. Another worry: Benn and Seguin are the highest-paid players on the team, but how long can they stave off the effects of age?
Maybe the Stars haven’t reached the peak of their rise yet. Jim Nill played a smart game by not selling the farm, and I would like to think that the house this organization built is meant to withstand storms. With more talent maturing, Dallas could be poised to stand out again. But that’s far ahead of us. For now, all that’s left for the Stars this year is more golfing adventures.