Dallas Stars: Breaking Down Their 2017 Preseason Schedule
By Josh Clark
It’s getting to that time of year where the 2017-18 schedules are beginning to be released across the NHL. The Dallas Stars released their schedule for the month of September on Friday. Let’s take a look at how it all pans out and what it means for the team.
The preseason is officially confirmed for the Dallas Stars.
The Stars’ training camp and preseason schedules were made public on Friday in an official team release. All across the Dallas Stars universe, fans rejoiced as they hurriedly began planning their trips and picking out games to attend.
Though it isn’t as exciting as the regular season schedule release (which usually happens in the days leading up to the annual entry draft), it’s something official that gets Stars fans out of their constant state of speculation and excited for the season ahead.
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In regards to training camp, the Dallas Stars organization will return to Cedar Park, Texas for a third consecutive season. The training camp session will take place at the H-E-B Center, which is home to the Texas Stars of the AHL. The sessions will take place from Friday, Sept. 15 through Monday, Sept 18.
Training camp is typically composed of three days of on-ice sessions and one day (typically Sunday) of an intrasquad scrimmage between all of the players involved. But the detailed schedule will not be released until training camp gets closer.
In addition to training camp, the Dallas Stars’ six-game preseason schedule was released. The team will play three different opponents in a home-and-home series with each. The three opponents are the St. Louis Blues, Colorado Avalanche, and Minnesota Wild. Here is a look at how the schedule plays out.
Tuesday, Sept. 19 Dallas vs. St. Louis 7:30 p.m.
Thursday, Sept. 21 Dallas @ Colorado 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 23 Dallas @ St. Louis 7:00 p.m.
Monday, Sept. 25 Dallas vs. Colorado 7:30 p.m.
Tuesday, Sept. 26 Dallas vs. Minnesota 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 30 Dallas @ Minnesota 7:00 p.m.
So what does that mean? Let’s break it down really quickly.
First off, this will be a great chance for the Stars to feel out some Central Division opponents. With St. Louis and Minnesota finishing in the top three and the Avalanche hopefully rallying from their horrific 2016-17 campaign, there will be plenty of competition to go around. Both the superstars and prospect pools will get a good chance to see what it takes in a Central Division rivalry match.
Dallas Stars
This will also be head coach Ken Hitchcock’s first time coaching against his former team (St. Louis) since being fired on Feb. 1. Even though Hitchcock seemed to take the release well, it’ll still be interesting to see him take on his old club.
The regular season games will obviously carry more weight and be more entertaining, but that doesn’t mean some sparks can’t fly in these two contests.
In addition to Hitchcock’s debut, there will be the debuts of new Dallas Stars. When Tyler Seguin first came to Dallas, he and Valeri Nichushkin played in the first preseason game. There could be a similar crossover for Ben Bishop and any other new players that join the Stars this summer.
Finally, this schedule can give us a proper estimate of when the regular season will begin. Over the past four seasons, the average number of days between the final preseason game and the regular season opener is 6.25 days. In 2013-14, it was six days; in 2014-15, it was eight days; in 2015-16, it was five days; and last season, it was six days.
That being said, we could estimate that Thursday, Oct. 5 or Friday, Oct. 6 could be a potential game one. But that’s only if it follows the recent trend. Still, it doesn’t seem smart to leave two weeks between the preseason and regular season for teams to sit around and stew. When it’s game time, it’s game time.
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Overall, this is always an exciting time for the NHL. With the preseason schedule out and the Stanley Cup potentially ending tonight, that gives a hint to the 2017-18 regular season being on the way. Until then, we enjoy the frantic offseason.