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Dallas Stars’ Tom Gaglardi Is Right: No Big Changes Needed

By Josh Clark

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The Dallas Stars had a less than eventful sophomore campaign after the “total remodel” of the organization that brought success in the 2013-2014 season.

After a bountiful offseason in 2014, the Stars were poised for greatness. Instead, it’s been three weeks since exit interview day, and the players are enjoying some time in the sun instead of time on the ice.

Falling just short in the playoff race with just five games to go, the Dallas Stars and their fan base settled in for a long offseason ahead. With it, Stars fans seemed adamant in calling for a plethora of changes. After finishing 2nd in the NHL in goals for and 26th in goals against, they could be right in changing at least one department.

But Dallas Stars owner Tom Gaglardi believes that the team is fine as they are, and could use a quiet offseason for the first time in a few years.

In a recent interview, Gaglardi was sympathetic to the idea of keeping the ’14-’15 team together. We’ve changed a lot of guys in the three years I’ve been here, so I think we need to have a quiet off-season,” Gaglardi said. “I think that’s our best strategy. I don’t see free agency as a big answer. I think there are teams out there that will have cap issues, and that might not come until September. We need to be patient, and we need to be opportunistic. I think with a lot of areas of this team, we just need to be patient.”

Surely enough, he is right.

This Dallas Stars team looked lost in the beginning of the season. Whenever a team looks lost, it is probably best to make changes. But the beginning of the season does not matter. Instead, you want to look at the end of the year, specifically the last 20 games for example. The Stars tore through March and April, finishing the year on a 14-6-0 run. In the end, they fell victim to what many great teams fall to, being the slow start to their season. Molded into the Stars year were 0-5-2 and 0-5-1 slumps, and no true playoff team knows how to counter and recover from those.

But the Stars found their roots and cemented themselves as one of the most fearful teams in the NHL to end the year. Gaglardi mentioned that it was sad that the Stars missed the playoffs, because it was clear that they were better than some of the playoff teams.

Over the last few months, the Stars received production from all four lines on offense, and the defense began to figure out playing tightknit defense for a full 60-minute frame. Lehtonen went on one of the best stretches of his season and the Stars strung together a threatening run. Sadly, the team slipped up towards the end of March, and that slip helped provide the final nail in the coffin.

But this team can be threatening in all three departments, and that’s a nifty place to be. The young core on defense learned that if they aren’t consistent, failure is imminent. With this season sitting on the brain, they will make sure to come back next year with some major changes in mind. Where the team is at now is the place to be come next season.

“I think any team that relies on free agents to fix their problems, that’s a bad place to be. I think they can definitely help if you find the right one, but you have to build from within, that’s where the strength is going to come from. As a rule of thumb, you’re going to pay too much or give too much term to get a free agent. I think it’s more likely that we would be more involved in trade talk to tinker with the makeup of our team. But I’m not uncomfortable starting next season with pretty much what we ended this season with.” -Tom Gaglardi

It’s pretty clear that this team is moving in the right direction. In fact, they’ve been moving in the right direction since the 2013 offseason. A main underlying problem with the slow start to this season is trying to incorporate all the free agency into the system so quickly and aggressively. Jason Spezza admitted in his exit interview that the first half of his season was so slow because he was still trying to mold into the system and understand his role. If the Stars bring in more free agents, it will simply have a repetitive effect. If you keep the core the same, the team is bound to survive because of the fluidity they have built up.

So, no to answer your question. The Dallas Stars team is just fine where it is. Now, would one top 2 defenseman hurt? That depends on how quickly that player can get comfortable. It would be a tricky task to fulfill. But Jim Nill has a plan and has seen the results from the actions he has taken. We’re just waiting for those results to pay off. How long will we wait is the question.

Next: Dallas Stars Free Agents: A Quick Look At The Small List

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