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Dallas Stars: How Vegas Golden Knights Will Change Schedule Layout

By Josh Clark

Mar 24, 2017; Dallas, TX, USA; Dallas Stars defenseman Patrik Nemeth (15) and right wing Brett Ritchie (25) and center Tyler Seguin (91) celebrate a goal against the San Jose Sharks at the American Airlines Center. The Stars defeat the Sharks 6-1. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 24, 2017; Dallas, TX, USA; Dallas Stars defenseman Patrik Nemeth (15) and right wing Brett Ritchie (25) and center Tyler Seguin (91) celebrate a goal against the San Jose Sharks at the American Airlines Center. The Stars defeat the Sharks 6-1. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports /
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With 31 teams now in the NHL, the way the regular season schedule is broken down will change starting next season. With the full schedule being released today, here’s how the Dallas Stars’ schedule will be broken down.

It’s like Christmas morning today across the NHL. At 2 p.m. CT today, the NHL Network will host a special episode of NHL Tonight in which they will release the regular season schedules of all 31 NHL teams.

Last night’s festivities welcoming Vegas into the league and announcing their inaugural roster set off the powder keg of madness for the next few weeks in the NHL. It will be a time of severe uncertainty across the league, leaving people to wonder wha their team’s next move will be.

That’s what is great about the day the schedule comes out each year. It’s absolute, fans know what they are getting, and it’s another reminder that the regular season is closer than it may seem.

Plus, it’s always fun for Dallas Stars fans to beginning adjusting their calendar and planning which games they will attend as well as any road trips that they might consider taking throughout the season.

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Dallas Stars

All in all, the schedule release brings nothing but good vibes. No anxiety, no panic attacks, and no speculation. Just pure, unadulterated (miss you, Razor), good vibes. It’s always a fun time of the year.

But with this year’s schedule, there will be some changes. Before you freak out, the Dallas Stars will still play 41 games at home and 41 on the road and will visit all 30 opponents along with welcoming all 30 to the AAC as well. So that is staying the same.

With the Vegas Golden Knights entering the league and beginning play on Oct. 6, 2017 (in Dallas, as luck would have it), the entire layout of the usual NHL schedule will have to be changed up.

Since realignment, the schedule layout has remained the same. But with the Knights joining up, the formatting will have to change.

In years past, the Dallas Stars’ schedule has panned out like this:

41 home games, 41 away games

Five games against five of their six Central Division opponents (alternating between 3H,2A and 3A,2H)

Four games against the remaining Central Division opponent (2H,2A); this four-game set would rotate between Central opponents each year

Three games against each Pacific Division team (alternating between 2H,1A and 2A,1H)

Two games against each team in the Eastern Conference (1H,1A)

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With Vegas now entering the Pacific Division and bringing the NHL up to 31 teams, things will have to change. Just so you know how things are working, here is how the schedule will be laid out next season:

41 home games, 41 away games

Five games against two of their six Central Division opponents (one being 3H,2A and the other being 3A,2H)

Four games against each of the other four Central Division teams (2H,2A for each matchup)

Three games against each of the eight Pacific Division teams (four series being 2H,1A and four series being 2A,1H)

Two games against each team in the Eastern Conference (1H,1A)

So, as you can see, there aren’t any massive changes. In the end, it boils down to taking three games in the Central Division out and giving them to a Vegas matchup. The Central will now only play 26 divisional games compared to the Atlantic and Metropolitan’s 28 and the Pacific’s 29.

And until the Central gets a new team via expansion (though we hope that isn’t for a while so we have some time to recover from this current expansion frenzy), it’s going to stay this way.

That’s how the Dallas Stars schedule will pan out for the 2017-18 season. Now all we need to fill in is the dates, opponents, locations, and times. That all comes along at 2 p.m. today.

Next: 2018 Stanley Cup Odds Have Stars Knocking On The Door

So have a Merry Christmas (sort of), Stars fans. And as always, keep your eyes peeled for any and all trade news coming out of Dallas. Things are bound to get crazy as we approach the draft, and something big might even happen today.

But make sure to enjoy the regular season schedule release and use the time to take a breather and start dreaming about next season.

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