Saturday will be a bittersweet ending for the Dallas Stars, whose past few months have had the team counting down the days until they could press the reset button.
The slogan for the Dallas Stars’ season was “Victory Rising”, which piggy-backed off of the success of the preceding season; however, the slogan more or less fell short of its mark with accuracy.
If there needed to be a positive spin on the slogan to-date, the recent introduction of numerous NHL rookies could satisfy the “rising” aspect of things. As for the victory portion, there’s not much to do on that front.
Dallas’ final opponent is the Colorado Avalanche, so one could hope for the best to send things off. Cedar Park sent up Mark McNeill and Denis Gurianov for Saturday’s game, making a majority of the players on the ice novices on the main stage.
Dallas Stars
Consider players like Devin Shore or Radek Faksa, who are playing in their first full NHL season. They were in the position just last season to be sent between the major and minor leagues. The two were able to push themselves to match the pace of the league, which is something that Coach Lindy Ruff urges his younger players to imitate.
"“When I talk to younger players, it’s about getting better,” Ruff said. “I was talking to some out on the ice, and I referenced Devin Shore at the start of the year, you know, not scoring, and how he needed to step up if he was going to score in this league and how tough it is going to be to go from the [AHL] to the [NHL]. It’s not going to get any easier. I think all of them in different ways that they have potential.”"
Without trying to beat a dead horse, here’s a final word about developing youngsters:
Potential is a key word to hold onto.
Noting some of the larger absences.
A storm of injuries rained down on the Dallas Stars in recent months. They will be missing veterans such as Antoine Roussel, Brett Ritchie, Curtis McKenzie and Patrick Sharp on Saturday.
It’ll be important for those veterans to get their much deserved R&R, especially if they seek comebacks sooner than later.
Ruff commented on the Roussel taking the ice recently.
"“He may have overcooked it a little bit, a little bit too soon,” Ruff said. “We’ve had to slow him down but that doesn’t mean that he won’t be available. He did feel some pain, possibly from overworking it.”"
With only the future to move towards, the Stars will need to work from their hearts, putting passion into the recovery of their dignity. They will need a strong finish on Saturday if that wasn’t obvious.
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"“For me, the message was we need to play one more good game for our fans,” Ruff said. “We were disappointed with our last home game and our home record has been good. Our last home game got away from us. [A win] would be finishing the season the right way.”"
They are not only playing for themselves but the city and Star they wear on their jersey. Saturday will absolutely be a bittersweet ending, but one much needed none the less. It’s about time to move on.