Dallas Stars Must Continue With “Win Now” Frame Of Mind

The “win now” frame of mind is only for certain teams. Luckily, the Dallas Stars are one of those teams at the moment. All that’s left for them to do is follow through with it.

In the NHL, each team fits into one of two distinct categories: the “win now” category and the “rebuild” category.

As the years pass by, the majority of teams flip-flop between the two categories. Some teams, like the Colorado Avalanche, saw short glimpses of win now in 2013 and 2014 before slipping right back into the rebuild phase. Other teams, like the Chicago Blackhawks, have been going strong in the win now mode for about nine years now after a decade of rebuild.

The timing varies for each team, but every team goes through each category at one point or another.

For the Dallas Stars, they are lucky to be where they are, still sitting in the “win now” column.

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A depressing 2016-17 season saw Dallas finish 34-37-11 with a humbling 79 points and drop to 11th overall in the Western Conference. They ended the year 15 points outside of the final wild card spot.

It was a 30-point drop and 10-position drop in the standings from the 2015-16 season, when the Stars finished first, won the Central Division, and fell one win short of the Western Conference Finals. Quite the turn for the worst.

That being said, the Dallas Stars may be considered by some to be in rebuild mode right now. But that simply isn’t true. They are still very much in the win now category.

That’s because the 2016-17 season is done. It’s over, finished, and in the past. The season helped develop the team in certain areas, making them stronger for down the road. But the Stars know how to rebound out of misfortune.

Dallas already has a new coach in Ken Hitchcock who is set to lead the team in a new direction and get them back to their former place of prominence. After some tweaks here and there during the offseason phase, the Stars will be back up and running at full speed.

And with these improvements, the Stars will once again have a shot at winning it all. Just like that.

But how? What is it that puts these seemingly “long shot” Dallas Stars into contention talks as early as next season?

One of the reasons is because of the “flip-flop” theory as I mentioned earlier. October 2008 – October 2013 were dark times for the Dallas Stars franchise. Bankruptcy, multiple changes at the head coach position, massive frustration, and five seasons without playoff hockey in Dallas all compacted into that five-year span. It was a difficult road to travel.

But in the 2013-14 season, that all changed. With the arrival of Jim Nill, Tyler Seguin, and Lindy Ruff, the Stars qualified for the Stanley Cup Playoffs and gave the Ducks a run before falling in six games in the first round. In 2014-15 they improved on their prior season total by one point but missed the postseason. Then we all know what happened in 2015-16 and this past season.

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Over the past four years, the Stars have transformed themselves into contenders. That title is still very much intact. Why?

It’s due to how they are set up. With Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin, and Jason Spezza on their offense, the Stars arguably have three of the top 50 forwards in the game. They’ve got one of the hottest young defensemen in the NHL in John Klingberg. Not to mention all of the other rookie and second year players who have already proven to have massive upsides.

The problem is that Benn and Seguin are entering their prime and Klingberg isn’t far behind. Spezza is closing out his prime.

These are delicate times for some of the Stars’ best player and they must be capitalized upon. Otherwise, Dallas will have wasted some extreme talent.

Next: NHL Awards With A Dallas Stars Twist

The Dallas Stars are in the “win now” frame of mind simply because they aren’t rebuilding. They can’t be. They have too much talent to be in the rebuild phase.

So it’s win now for the Stars. They’re set up to do it. All they have to do now is follow through.