The 2017-18 NHL regular season kicked off last night, but the Dallas Stars don’t get going until tomorrow. Here is how the staff at Blackout Dallas sees the season going down for the boys in Victory Green.
Do you feel it? Can you sense it? Do you have a tingle in your bones? Yep, that tingling in your bones is in response to hockey finally being back. And tomorrow night, the Dallas Stars make their return to the ice.
Last night, the NHL kicked off with a four-game set. Eight teams started their journey to the Cup yesterday and 14 more begin tonight.
It’s game one of a long season ahead, but it’s always important to get off on the right foot. The Stars are definitely one of the teams in desperate need of a strong start this season.
Last season, Dallas met their ultimate demise. After winning the Western Conference regular season title in 2015-16 and advancing to the second round of the playoffs, the Stars choked on preseason expectations going into 2016-17. The team started out slow and fell behind in the standings. Inconsistent play led to the Stars missing the playoffs by a hefty 15 points and turning in the second worst record in franchise history.
Dallas Stars
They entered the 2017 summer with a long to-do list filled with weak points that needed to be addressed. It was quite the extensive list, but GM Jim Nill took the challenge head-on and got it done.
The Dallas Stars now enter the 2017-18 season looking significantly different. The offense looks more powerful, the defense looks much more structured and sound, and the goaltending should feature a lockdown duo. On paper, the Stars look not only like a much better team, but also like a team ready to make a strong Stanley Cup run.
But we won’t know if this is true or not until the season begins to unravel. After all, the Stars looked decent on paper last season, and we all know how that turned out. That’s why it might be best to be cautiously excited going into this coming season.
Throughout training camp and the preseason, the best players have proved themselves and the final roster has been set. All that’s left to do is swing your feet around and wait for the Friday night opener.
Every year, the staff here at Blackout Dallas likes to predict how the Dallas Stars will perform in certain areas and how the team as a whole will look in the season ahead. Last year’s predictions were just a bit off (but who would have predicted 34-37-11 anyways?).
Each staff writer focuses on a vast array of topics regarding the upcoming season and make an educated guess for each one. Our predictions are formatted into this neat little slideshow, so enjoy! Just one more day, folks.