Dallas Stars: Taking Stock Of What’s Left In 2017-2018 Season

The Dallas Stars have fallen and can’t get up. Without playoff hopes, here’s what the rest of the season looks like.

It’s a bit strange to think back to last summer at this point in the Dallas Stars’ failed season and think about where we are now. Of course, we all have much more formed and supportable opinions of the Stars’ offseason moves.

Looking back, it was a whirlwind of a summer with lots of activity. Changes were being made, balls were rolling. The organization saw the blatant need to overhaul the system the Stars had been playing under and did so.

I hate to have to be the one to bring such horrible cliché into this, but I️ can’t pass up the whole hindsight is 2020 thing. Now, after yet another failed season that got all of our hopes up, Stars fans are calling for a reexamination of that overhauled system and beyond.

But the Stars can’t hang up their skates just yet. They face the Wild again tonight at home, and after that will play just 3 more games until this season goes into the books, dead and gone.

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With the Stars having dropped so far from grace (aka, playoff possibilities), one might think a viable option is to hold back for the rest of the season for the sake of the upcoming 2018 draft, and even to prevent frustrating end of season injury.

Hitchcock, though, has no intention of flopping from here on out, although it’s highly likely that the Stars will continue to do just that anyway, unintentionally of course.

I️ know, I️ know. Our Stars have never been ones to lose intentionally or try to take the easy way out. They may infuriate us with their inability to win when it matters, but they seldom come across as trying to play to trick the system.

While it feels a bit like a slap in the face to hear that a coach who hasn’t been able to win when it counts is dead set in winning exclusively to round out a disaster season, there is also pride in knowing that the Stars are forging ahead despite the outcome.

However, one does have to wonder about the toll this approach will take on already exhausted top players who have suffered from bouts of dries up production periodically this season. A long offseason is coming up full of opportunities for rest, but frustration and exhaustion can lead to accidents on the ice that can take a whole offseason, if not more, to fix.

Still, the Stars only have four games left to alter their destiny, with ‘for the worse’ as their only real option in that department. The rest of this season can really only serve to salvage a small bit of pride, starting first and foremost with their rematch with the Wild tonight.

Although redemption altogether is off the table at this point, the Stars need some of the catharsis of playing a full 60 minutes against a team that they tried to beat in 20 and then checked out against.

This is also going to be a heavy game since it’s their last of the season at home. A lot of ride or die fans will be watching regardless of the outcome, and one would hope that responsibility helps inches the Stars along to a performance we can be proud of.

Ending the season on the road, the Stars will be up against three teams who are already headed into postseason. Hitch had already insisted that these aren’t throw away games, so one could hope that playing these teams, especially the Ducks who now sit in the first wild card spot in the West (previously belonging to guess who), will be a bit of a needed kick in the head.

Next: Stars Should Ditch These Things From The 17-18 Season

While the trip to California might be painful for us fans, hopefully it will serve as a snapshot in the Stars’ minds (players and organization alike) that will follow through into a better 18-19 season.

Because really, at the end of the day, we’ll never stop hoping that next season is better than the last- that maybe the Stars’ time is just around the corner.