Dallas Stars Not Making Playoffs is Still Worse Than Getting Swept

The first round of playoffs is underway and some teams are already making vacation plans. Although the Dallas Stars could have been among them, that would have been better in that they would have made it to the postseason — despite arguments otherwise.

The Dallas Stars couldn’t find a way to squeeze into the postseason and, as a result, ended up booking tee times and flights rather than lacing up skates.

It’s not ideal for any NHL team to be watching the playoffs from the comfort of their own couches, and it’s undoubtedly true that making it is infinitely better than not — even if it only lasts four games.

Anything Can Happen

Just like the regular season, the Stanley Cup Playoffs are a time where anything goes. Injuries, goaltenders standing on their heads and a heap of other things can turn a series upside down in a matter of minutes. Of course, teams can’t see the fruit of their labor if they aren’t even in contention.

More from Analysis

• Dallas Stars Traverse City Tournament: Who had great performances?
• Taking a look at the teams the Dallas Stars will be playing in the preseason
• Should the Dallas Stars revisit signing Patrick Kane this season?
• Realistic regular season stats for Dallas Stars Roope Hintz
• Realistic regular season stats for Dallas Stars Joe Pavelski

Being in the mix is necessary for a shot at the ultimate prize, but Dallas failing to make it out of the regular season alive eliminated their chances of even a shot at the Stanley Cup.

Every postseason in this league has an outcome that very few people predict. However, it’s being in the playoffs that proves to be the greatest advantage. From there, it’s a combination of talent and luck to see what happens.

Team Implications

There’s also the fact that the league is results-based. Translation: playoffs is good, no playoffs is bad. Coaches are fired and players are traded from so much as one season without making it into one of the coveted 16 spots (ask Lindy Ruff).

With stakes like that, it’s no wonder the pressure to make it is as intense as it is. Dallas might not have seen Ken Hitchcock

get fired

retire from coaching had they made it to the playoffs. That could have meant another season of slow, defense-first hockey that goes completely against the very foundation this team was built on.

When put that way, it’s kind of nice Dallas missed this year. Of course, that is under the stipulation that their problems are solved enough for them to make their much-awaited return to the playoffs in the 2018-19 season.

Next: Some Stars Headed to World Champs

All in All

Yes, it is awful to be swept in the playoffs. The NHL’s 82-game season is no joke and seeing that go down the drain from four mere games of hockey is gut-wrenching. But it’s a chance. Things could likely have gone either way — as little as one bounce can change a game’s outcome.

Dallas didn’t even give themselves that, which proves to be infinitely worse than having a chance in the first place.