Dallas Stars: Five Questions The Team Must Face In 2018 Offseason

The 2018 offseason brings a lot of uncertainty with it for the Dallas Stars. Which questions do they need to answer in order to set them on the best path before October?

There’s not much left to say at this point. The Dallas Stars missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the second year in a row and that’s a problem.

After “winning” the 2017 offseason to make up for a horrific 2016-17 season, the Stars were expected to have a bounce back year. And from late November to early March, they looked like a bounce back team.

But they fell victim to their own internal issues. Injuries played a small role, but so did a lack of depth scoring and a failure to make moves at the trade deadline. All of these (and a few others) contributed to the Stars royally collapsing in March and falling from the playoff race entirely.

42-32-8 and 92 points isn’t the worst record in the world and it is a lot better than the 79 points they turned in last season. And yet, it wasn’t enough and could have been a lot better had it not been for the eight-game losing skid in the final month of the season. But, the past is the past and there is no sense in dwelling on it. All they can do now is look to the future.

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Now they have another long offseason to mull over just what went wrong. This is the eighth time in ten seasons that Dallas has extra time to think things over. Though it’s frustrating that it’s becoming a yearly occurrence, it does offer the team a golden opportunity to get a leg up on preparing to bounce back next season.

In order to bounce back, a team must first step back and examine the grand scheme. That includes looking at the lineup, examining pending free agents, and deciding what changes need to be applied to the organization before October arrives.

The Dallas Stars have a lot to take in and process before the actual “offseason” begins, let alone the regular season. Something went wrong yet again and held Dallas back from a chance at competing for the Cup. Their window is slowly shrinking and a big shakeup is necessary to get the Stars back on track.

But what questions are the Stars mulling over? Chances are that there are a good number of them. Non-playoff teams always have more questions than answers.

Which questions will have the biggest influence on Dallas going into next season? And which ones could end up being the most difficult to answer?

Let’s take a look at some of the top questions facing the Dallas Stars as they prepare for another important offseason.