Dallas Stars Entering Dog Days Of Summer
By Josh Clark
Here we go, Stars fans. There is no more denying it. Ready or not, the dog days of summer are here.
Dear Dallas Stars fans,
It’s officially here. We here at Blackout Dallas have been striving to deny it for the past week or two, as we know many of you have as well. But there is just no escaping it anymore. The dog days of the NHL offseason are present and in full force.
Sure we’ve been attempting to look past them for the past few days. The Jamie Benn contract extension was a big boost in the right direction, as was the fact that he recently had surgery. That was fun and all, but in the end the boring part of the offseason has now taken over.
We tried to counteract it by wearing out the Ben Bishop rumors and the reports that the Dallas Stars were looking to dish one of their current goaltenders, but it was only a temporary fix.
The horrible truth that seems to get more aggravating and painful with each passing offseason is that there is always down time between seasons. We have finally met this part of the 2016 offseason head-on. Get ready, because the dark days of the offseason are closing in.
Maybe it’s because the Stars have such an exciting and potentially long season ahead in 2016-17. Or maybe it is because Dallas came up just short of the spoils this season. Either way, the want and need by Stars fans for the season ahead is overwhelming.
Every good hockey fan knows that hockey time takes up about 300 of the days in a calendar year. The regular season runs from early October to early April. Then the Stanley Cup Playoffs rage on from early April to mid-June. Immediately after the Cup is awarded, the NHL entry draft takes place. Then on July 1st, the free agency frenzy ensues as the FA market officially opens up.
Mid-September consists of training camp and the beginning of the preseason, which runs into early October, ending just before the regular season action begins.
But what takes up the time between mid-July and early September? Well, that’s the problem. There is nothing to keep us hockey fans busy. Nothing for the fans to talk about, nothing for the writers to write about. It’s just an overall bubble of suck.
The worst part is that there is no way around it. If I could tell you how long I’ve been thinking about a topic to write on that is not Jamie Benn, the goaltending, or a topic I have already hit, I would. But it’s been going on for days now, and I’m about out of ammo here. So if you have any sensible ideas for us to write an article on, please FEEL FREE to leave it in the comments or send it to us via social media. It’s a real struggle at this time in the offseason.
It’s sad that we cannot all just curl up in our own respective abodes and hibernate for the next month-and-a-half or so as we await the World Cup of Hockey. We could definitely use the recharge time before the hustle and bustle kicks back up to full velocity in October.
I’d really like to avoid writing top five articles and whatnot, though those can be a proper substitute if nothing else scurries across the recesses of my mind.
must read: Stars' 2016-17 Outlook: Position By Position
So what are you up to, Dallas Stars fans? We’ve already made it through a good majority of the offseason, but the last part is always the worst. There always seems to be something to talk about as the offseason rolls along until the one specific part where the hockey world seems to go dark.
Why can’t we just have a little more fun? Why can’t one or two more big things happen during this 60-day devastation? It’s like we have to live without it for a little while each year just so we can realize how much we truly appreciate it during the season. It still sucks, but it has a good reason to. Strange.
Next: Three Players Fighting For Stars' Final Forward Spot
Tell us how you are dealing with the dog days of the hockey summer. They are finally upon us, after all. We’re busy trying to cook up some new material to throw at you. Maybe your comments will give us the proper fire we need to get moving again!