Dallas Stars Awful 2016-17 Season Should Not Be Blamed On Team

The 2016-17 season painted an ugly picture of the Dallas Stars. But it’s important to remember that the Stars are not a bad team, but instead were simply stuck in the wrong scheme this past year.

Have you ever noticed someone that just doesn’t seem to fit their own life? Perhaps they are working at a job that just isn’t meant for them and their calling is elsewhere. Or maybe you know someone who stands out in their current standing and would fit in much better in a different setting.

Chances are you probably do. These people tend to sort themselves into the wrong groups, possibly in an attempt to fit in, and things never work out.

It’s not their fault, per say. They simply want something that either doesn’t fit them or simply isn’t meant for them and completely look over their true element. They think it’s their niche when they are missing out on a whole new way.

And sometimes they can be stubborn about changing over to where they need to be. They will be so determined in their current state that nothing will phase them. Sometimes, the person’s pure disapproval and resistance will be enough to make you quit trying to help.

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The Dallas Stars were a lot like this stubborn character during the 2016-17 season.

It was an ugly year to say the least for the hockey club from the south. After riding high on a 50-23-9 performance in 2015-16 and finishing the regular season with 109 points, the Stars earned themselves a trip to the Western Conference semifinals before falling one win short of a third-round berth.

Things were great in Dallas. The Stars had made the playoffs in two of three years after ending a five-year postseason drought, hockey was quickly being put back on the map, and the Dallas Stars were fun again.

And then everything quickly took a turn for the worst. In a season filled with injury and an overall lack of consistency, the Stars fell hard in an abysmal 34-37-11 year, posting 79 points (the second lowest in a given season in franchise history).

So how does a team with so much potential crash so drastically? How does a team fail with Tyler Seguin, Jamie Benn, Jason Spezza, and John Klingberg leading the charge?

It made me laugh when I would go on Twitter on a given night this past season and see people tweeting “This team sucks” or “ needs to be gotten rid of soon because they are worthless.”

Tweets along those lines were almost regular occurrences in the Dallas Stars’ Twitter sphere from fans, and it’s easy to tell why: they were upset. This season caught the fans off-guard just as much as it did the players.

It was a big ball of confusion and frustration, which is just what you want to endure from October to April.

But you have to understand that the horrid performance was not due to one player’s efforts. It also should not be blamed on the team’s efforts as a whole. Instead, it should be blamed on the strategy and the scheme that they used.

Not to say that the players shouldn’t take some credit for the team’s lopsided results, but the scheme was what put them in a bind in the first place.

Dallas Stars

In his four years as head coach of the Dallas Stars, Lindy Ruff played a fast-paced style of hockey. It was an “offense first, defense second” method that some other teams use as well. He saw all of the weapons that he had at forward as well as the offensive defenders on his blue line and decided on this specific strategy.

And for some of his tenure, it worked greatly (see 2015-16 season for more). But his scheme lacked one crucial element: defense. Ruff’s strategy looked like this: push offense hard until you score.

Well, what happens when you don’t score? Get back on defense and figure out how to get back to offensive pressure.

But in 2016-17, that was probably the worst strategy possible for the team to use. That’s primarily due to the injuries suffered on offense and the young makeup of the defense.

When Patrick Sharp, Jason Spezza, Jamie Benn, Cody Eakin, and Mattias Janmark all miss extended periods of time during the season, your offense is going to suffer in one way or another. The Stars felt the negative effects of that, dropping from 3.23 goals per game (2015-16) to 2.71.

That being said, the Stars spent more time on defense than usual. After losing three significant starting pieces on their blue line over the offseason, the Dallas defense was slim in terms of depth. It was plenty of young faces without a lot of experience to go around. As you can guess, they suffered as well.

The problem was that the Dallas Stars could never get their foot on the gas and keep it there like they did the season before. They could not score their way out of a bind like last season. Yet, Ruff still kept on with the same scheme instead of adapting to what he had been dealt. He was stuck in his ways.

That caused some serious issues. Forwards didn’t get back on defense, the young defensemen had too much to bear, and the goaltending could not keep up. It was a perfect recipe for disaster.

Amidst that disaster, fans would call out players to point out their ineffectiveness. But really, it wasn’t the player’s fault. They were just set in the wrong game plan that did not compliment their skill set. The defensive defensemen were left out to dry while the goaltenders saw a varying range of action from night-to-night, depending solely on how the offense was doing.

The truth is that the Stars have one of the best cores in the NHL at the moment on offense, defense, and in net. They can be contenders as early as next season, even with this year’s recession. With Ken Hitchcock coming in, a “defense first” strategy will envelop the Stars. After all, it does win championships.

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The Dallas Stars had a depressing year in terms of overall team play and success, but it’s not worth your time to blame Stephen Johns or John Klingberg. These players just need their skills managed more properly.

Hopefully Hitch will be able to do just that.