Dallas Stars Have Chance To Make Themselves Known In Dallas Sports
By Josh Clark
It’s not often that a chance like this comes along for the Dallas Stars to have a claim to fame in the Big D sports world. With that being said, it’s imperative that they take advantage of it in 2017-18.
Hockey in Texas. It still seems like a crazy concept at times. What’s even more baffling is that the Dallas Stars have defied this misconception for going on 25 years.
The Stars will celebrate their 25th anniversary in Texas during the 2017-18 season, and there’s plenty of planned celebrations. The festivities are expected to be exciting and entertaining, and rightly so. After all, it’s no small matter that a professional hockey team like the Stars has survived in Texas for a quarter of a century.
And in addition to the anniversary, there is reason to believe that big things are in store for the Dallas Stars in the coming season. After a tumultuous 2016-17 campaign that ended in the second worst season in franchise history, things are looking up.
General manager Jim Nill spent just about every available second of the 2017 offseason bettering his team in all of its weak spots. He added an elite goaltender, two powerful scoring forwards, a top-pairing defender, and a defensive guru at head coach. The Dallas Stars now exit the 2017 offseason with heightened expectations set for them yet again.
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They might be a bit premature and intimidating, but these high bars can easily be reached if Dallas buys in, uses the proper system, and hops in the driver seat early on in the season.
And if they succeed in taking the NHL by storm, they will likely succeed in taking another market by storm. That is the Dallas sports market.
One of the primary reasons why people questioned hockey succeeding in Texas wasn’t because of the weather; it was because of the competition. Dallas is no stranger to the sports spotlight. The Dallas Cowboys, Dallas Mavericks, and Texas Rangers never seem to stay out of it for long. With that being said, it can be difficult for the Dallas Stars to make themselves known, especially with their recent performances.
It definitely hasn’t been easy. The Cowboys practically own the sporting world. They’re the most valuable franchise in sports and half of the players can’t even make a run to Sonic without half of the media knowing. The Mavericks won their first championship just six years ago and have one of the greatest players in the history of the NBA still on their roster. And for the Rangers, let’s just say they have been consistently good (but sadly have yet to hit the “great” category) over the past decade.
Meanwhile, the Stars have made the playoffs twice since 2008 and haven’t advanced past the second round. It’s been a rough go, and hockey has slowly sunk into the background as a result.
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This year, however, they have a chance to change all of that. If the Stars can put together an impressive 2017-18 run, they could quickly hop back into the Dallas sports forefront.
That’s primarily due to the lack of ultimate success in the DFW sports market right now.
The Cowboys have an extremely bright future behind two of the youngest stars in the league (Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott), but still cannot seem to get past their first playoff hurdle each year. It’s become a common theme for the team, and three playoff wins in 20 years is nothing to be impressed by. It’s unlikely that they will be replaced as the top team in Dallas anytime soon because of their young core and hopeful future, but they have to start winning when it matters most.
The Texas Rangers are entering a period of drastic uncertainty. They have won their division in four of the past eight years and been to two World Series, but still have 0 titles. This year, they already dealt away their ace pitcher at the trade deadline as things seemed to be taking a turn for the worst on their playoff hopes. They have since resurrected their chances, but the competition seems too stacked for them to be able to do anything in the postseason.
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The Rangers have tried a relatively similar group every year and done good things, but, like the Cowboys, have been unable to take the next step once the regular season ends. At this point, some are calling for a complete scrap and rebuild. It just doesn’t seem to be working, and who knows where they will go from here.
And finally, the Dallas Mavericks are entering the midst of a strong and promising rebuild. They secured one of the top talents in the draft this year after missing the playoffs in 2017 and are finally coming to terms with reality: it’s time to spend a few years restocking before swinging for the fences again.
Part of that is because of their inability to put together a championship-caliber roster since winning their first one in 2011. Another part is their reliance and overuse of aging superstar Dirk Nowitzki (who will likely have a statue outside of the American Airlines Center soon after retirement).
But the biggest part is that there is no point in trying to scrap together a quality team in one offseason that will be able to compete with the Golden State Warriors, who have won two titles and made three consecutive appearances in The Finals. They are the juggernauts of the West and will likely make The Finals for at least 3-5 more consecutive seasons, barring any crazy changes with their roster.
All of this compiled together kind of leaves the door open for the Dallas Stars to make a significant move. It isn’t going to be easy and the road back from their horrific 2016-17 season might be rough, but the opportunity is there.
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If the roster comes together as it presumably should, this could be a big year for hockey in Dallas. The Dallas Stars could quickly put themselves back on the map and actually gain significant support and following. Wouldn’t that be a nice way to ring in their 25th year in Big D?