Dallas Stars: Preseason Play Opening Door For Regular Season Success

The 2018 preseason seemed like the perfect time for the Dallas Stars to adjust to  yet another new era. And while they have spent the first five games doing just that, they are also finding ways to win and succeed. That should pay dividends in the regular season.

The Dallas Stars will play their second-to-last preseason game on Friday night when they visit the St. Louis Blues. And in six days, they will open up regular season play at home against the Arizona Coyotes.

In other words, things are passing by pretty rapidly. It seems like just yesterday that the Stars were interlocked in trade rumors about Erik Karlsson (who is now a member of the San Jose Sharks) and had yet to get Tyler Seguin locked down on a long-term extension.

But time flies, and here we are.

As Dallas entered their 2018 training camp session, there was a certain familiarity to how they would go about things. It was their third training camp in a row both with new players and a different head coach.

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And when a team has a new coach and new players, there’s always an adaptation period. The Dallas Stars went through one in 2013-14 in their first year under Lindy Ruff as well as in 2017-18 in Ken Hitchcock’s one year behind the bench.

But this year brought a bit of a different vibe with it, considering the new hire. The Stars brought in University of Denver head coach Jim Montgomery to be their new bench boss. And while he possesses a winning pedigree and knows how to succeed, he’s never coached an NHL team before in any capacity.

Luckily for the Stars, that’s why they had training camp and the preseason. It was a chance to adapt and learn another new system, build chemistry with new players, and try and form their best possible lineup going into opening night. After all, there is no time for slow starts when a team is in the Central division.

How long would it take Dallas to properly adjust? That was unknown. And after a sloppy effort in the first preseason game, many wondered how difficult the transition might be.

But here the Stars are with only two preseason games to go. Their record so far? 4-0-1.

Now, you might say that this is just the preseason and that records mean very little at this point. You might also say that both the Stars and their opponents aren’t using their opening night lineups, so there’s no reason to put much stock in the preseason battles.

But for a team like the Dallas Stars, they need this kind of preseason performance.

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So far, Dallas has defeated the Blues (5-3), Avalanche (3-1), and Wild (3-1, 5-3) in their preseason push. Those are all divisional opponents that the Stars found a way to outdo, regardless of who was in the lineup on either side. And while Dallas has been starting a fair number of NHL talent, so have the other groups.

The Stars’ only loss so far came in overtime to the Florida Panthers at a neutral-site game. In that contest, Dallas arguably started their least-skilled lineup of the preseason, only dressing out seven NHL starting forwards, one NHL starting defenseman, and no NHL starting goaltenders. And even so, they still pulled out an overtime point.

The big story with all of this preseason success, though, is that the Stars are quickly assimilating to where Jim Montgomery wants them to be. Each game comes with more progress, better focus on the little details, and a promising effort. As Dallas quickly approaches their regular season opener, it’s nice to know that the team should be in a pretty good place.

And with that being said, this preseason success should serve as a massive confidence boost going into the year. Coming into training camp, it was uncertain how the Dallas Stars would fare this year. Having three new head coaches in a span of two years is never a recipe for success and can have some serious effects on a team.

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No one knew how Montgomery would transition or if his system would even work at the NHL level.

But so far, things are looking good. The Stars are winning games and learning along the way, and that cannot be overlooked. Their confidence looks solid, their being aggressive in all three zones, and are using Montgomery’s ideas to their advantage.

The energy looks good, the scheme is being played out better with each game, and there are plenty of players that are earning time and making decisions tough when it comes to roster cuts. That’s all a team could ever ask for, right?

The Dallas Stars are in St. Louis tonight for their final meeting with the Blues before heading home for a Sunday matchup against Colorado. And following that, the preseason will be closed, leaving only a few tough roster decisions remaining between the Stars and opening night.

And with the way they are playing right now, they could be in for a really good time on opening night and even beyond.