It’s been six weeks since the Dallas Stars wrapped up their 2017-18 season. And while the team didn’t reach their postseason goal, the players found different ways to impress or disappoint. But how should each one be graded based on their efforts?
The Dallas Stars don’t have final exams, but maybe they should.
With the month of May quickly coming to a close, it’s a stressful time for high school (and even some college) students everywhere. Final exams, projects, papers begin to consume students and block out their glimpse of the upcoming summer holidays. And it’s all for a few letter grades. But if they are prepared and plan ahead, things typically don’t turn out all that bad.
But when “finals week” came around for the Stars this season, it was clear that they hadn’t planned ahead. As a result, they flunked out.
Dallas entered the month of March with high hopes and their sights set on a playoff spot. But after a month of untimely goals against, struggles at the hands of injury, a lack of depth scoring, and a road trip from hell, the Stars lost all of that hope.
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When the stage was biggest and everything was on the line, the Stars couldn’t answer the bell. They turned in a 4-8-4 record in the third month of the year and buried five solid months of hockey. The competitive Western Conference playoff race raged on and left Dallas on the side of the road. For all of the students out there taking final exams, take note while you still can.
While the Stars picked up a few wins to boost morale to close out the year and turned in a decent 42-32-8 record, it wasn’t enough to punch their ticket. They fell three points short of the final playoff spot and accepted yet another extended offseason.
But it wasn’t all bad. A horrifying end to the season just makes it seem that way. In fact, there were plenty of bright spots throughout the season. Many of them came from the individual efforts of certain players.
On the flip side, the efforts of some players were not up to snuff and played a part in the team’s untimely demise.
So how should each Dallas Stars player be graded for their efforts this season? We decided to grade each player that played at least one game for Dallas this season and is still a member of the organization (which levels out to 26 players). Let’s take a look at each one’s performances and decide what their final exam grade is.