With training camp concluded and the season opener 16 days away, it’s time for the Dallas Stars to open their preseason slate. Here are a few things to watch out for in the six-game stretch.
The Dallas Stars spent this past weekend trying to adjust to yet another new era.
While hosting their first-ever training camp in Boise, Idaho, the Stars used Friday through Sunday to acquaint themselves with a new head coach, new teammates, and a new outlook. And that new outlook could be the thing that makes or once again breaks the team’s hopes in the 2018-19 season.
After failing to convert and make their way into the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the second season in a row in 2017-18, Dallas once again entered the offseason with plenty of questions and doubt. Another season had passed, their talented players got a year older, and there still a dire need for consistent success that was abandoned after the 2015-16 season.
With the pressure mounting, GM Jim Nill needed to find some answers.
And from April 7 to September 18, he did just that. Nill went out and found a new head coach that should play perfectly to the strengths of the current roster, signed a handful of new players while breaking ties with others, and reassembled his team to put them in a solid situation to win in the year ahead.
Pucks and Pitchforks
But will it work? That has yet to be answered. With a new coaching staff comes a new scheme which must be learned and assimilated by the team. And even though Montgomery’s style and philosophy seems to be a nice middle ground between Lindy Ruff‘s high-risk system and Ken Hitchcock’s defensive-focused system, it will still take time to learn. If the Dallas Stars are going to succeed in a loaded Central Division, they have to be on the same page and ready to compete.
That’s why they have training camp. It’s a first chance for the entire team to connect with the new coach, begin studying and playing in the system, and show off their strengths to their new bench boss. But training camp is only three days long and is a team-centered event. So, how do the Stars put their scheme into motion against real competition without it counting against them?
That’s where the preseason comes in.
The Dallas Stars have seven preseason games scheduled over the next two weeks as they prepare for their season opener against the Arizona Coyotes on Oct. 4. They begin that six-game slate tonight against the St. Louis Blues at the American Airlines Center.
The preseason is useful for a few different reasons. It’s a chance for teams to try out different combinations and strategies, use both their NHL players and top prospects in a professional setting, and make decisions based on each performance that will put them in the best position for the season ahead. In addition, it also gives teams who endured significant changes during the offseason a chance to try out their new setup.
Dallas will have to do a little bit of all of that over the next two weeks. The seven games (which will be played against the Blues, Wild, and Avalanche in a home-and-home setting as well as one neutral site game against the Panthers) give the Stars a chance to set themselves up for quick success by the time October rolls around.
So, as the preseason gets underway for the Dallas Stars tonight, here are five things that you will want to keep an eye on.