Dallas Stars Have Proven Ability To Rebound Strongly From Disaster
By Josh Clark
The 2017-18 season holds a lot of expectations for a Dallas Stars team that fell hard last year. This year, it looks like the team is ready to turn the ship around.
It was October 13, 2016, and the Dallas Stars were about to embark on a promising and ultimately exciting 2016-17 campaign.
The team had just come off of one of the best seasons in franchise history and had the bar set high. They won the 2015-16 Central Division title, finished first in the Western Conference, and fell one win short of the Western Conference Final.
All in all, things were looking more promising than they had for the Stars in a decade.
But then it happened. What happened, you might ask? Who knows. All we know is that something happened.
Dallas Stars
What happened was injuries to key players, inconsistent play from the team, a lack of depth on defense, a bad scheme, and an incapable goaltending duo. All of that happened, and the Dallas Stars fell hard.
As the season rolled along, the Stars continued to fight. They would hop in and out of the final playoff spot in the West, but could never establish their position. Towards the end of the year, the wheels came off of the bus completely and the team crashed into a ditch.
This nosedive resulted in the second worst season in franchise history. Dallas finished 34-37-11 with 79 points and missed the postseason mark by 15 points. In 365 days, they transitioned from one of the most threatening teams in the league to the laughing stock of the NHL.
The team entered the offseason with a lot on their mind. Unfinished business, a desire for more, and a humbling reminder of the preseason expectations that they fell significantly short of. It was a dark and confusing time in the Dallas Stars community.
But the summer produced a bountiful harvest for the club. The Stars secured some of the NHL’s best talent in the 2017 offseason, adding names like goaltender Ben Bishop, forwards Alexander Radulov and Martin Hanzal, and defenseman Marc Methot. All of these moves gave Dallas something they had been searching months for: hope.
The Stars now enter the 2017-18 season with lofty expectations set before them yet again. People are excited to see what this revamped roster can do, but do not know exactly what to expect. In addition, they have no idea what they are going to get. The 2016-17 season carried a similar type of hype with it before the year began, and we all saw where that hype got the team.
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But if the Dallas Stars are known for anything, it’s rebounding in a strong way.
Rewind back to the 2014-15 season for a moment. The Dallas Stars entered the year like they did in 2016-17: high expectations due to prior results in 2013-14.
Jim Nill assumed the role of GM in the summer of 2013 and provided the Stars with a massive culture shock. He made significant changes during the offseason and had Dallas looking like a completely different team by October. As a result, the Stars broke a five-year playoff drought and made it to the postseason.
After adding Jason Spezza and Ales Hemsky in the 2014 offseason, people expected the Stars to soar high in 2014-15. Instead, they floundered.
The Stars finished the year with 92 points and fell seven points short of the final playoff spot in the West. A lack of defensive superiority and a subpar goaltending effort brought Dallas down to the Western Conference cellar.
Nill responded by making significant changes in the 2015 offseason to right all of the team’s wrongs. Going into the 2015-16 year, fans were cautiously excited. While the team looked destined for greatness, there was a nervousness lingering considering the previous year’s performance.
Dallas responded in a big way that season, winning the West and putting the NHL on watch as they did it. Following that, we all know what happened last year.
When you look at it, the Dallas Stars are following a bit of a pattern. Make the playoffs with cautious excitement, miss the playoffs with lofty expectations, make the playoffs with cautious excitement, miss the playoffs with lofty expectations.
On and on, it seems to be a vicious cycle.
But if the Stars have proven anything through this performance, it’s that they know how to rebound strongly. They understand what it takes to turn the ship around after a depressing season. The team is capable of making significant waves and turning their misfortunes into gold.
They have proven that making a comeback is in their blood and part of who they are. They know how to do it because they have done it before. As the team enters a new year, you can bet on the fact that they know how to bounce back and turn cautious excitement into pure pandemonium.
Next: Blackout Dallas Predicts The Stars' 2017-18 Season
So that’s about all you can hope for this year. You can hope that Dallas continues this pattern and makes a big impact on the league with their play. In a little over 24 hours, we’ll get our first glimpse at what will hopefully be a beautiful year of redemption.