Dallas Stars: Three Reasons They Miss The 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs

1. They Needed More Offseason Movement

When the Dallas Stars kicked off their 2018 summer, they had a lot of necessities pile onto their checklist in a short amount of time. Those necessities included finding a head coach that would work well with the current lineup, a backup goaltender that could play both the no. 2 and no. 1 roles, and offensive scoring help for the bottom three lines.

With the game of hockey being a team sport, each one of those areas needed tending to after falling short of expectations in the 2017-18 campaign. And so, the race was on for GM Jim Nill to find the right offseason solutions and rebuild his team from there.

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He succeeded in doing so, at least to a certain extent. Nill hired Jim Montgomery as the team’s newest head coach back in May and followed it up by signing a few new players to the roster on July 1. He made changes to both the system and the roster itself that should benefit the team going forward.

But was it enough?

There’s reason to believe that the Stars might not have made significant enough changes over the summer and, as a result, might face some of the problems that they had last season.

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The Stars added two depth scorers in Blake Comeau and Valeri Nichushkin, but both are borderline top-six options. One of the Stars’ main holes lies on their second line, which could result in issues when they try to rely on Mattias Janmark or Jason Spezza to be a 50-point scorer.

On defense, Roman Polak was the only addition and was brought in on a short-term contract. His role involves nothing more than serving as a seventh defenseman and a physical option for when the Stars need extra strength in the lineup. But without a significant defensive pickup and the departure of Dan Hamhuis and Greg Pateryn, the Stars will now have to rely largely on Miro Heiskanen in his rookie season, Marc Methot and his uncertain health, Stephen Johns (who is currently on the IR), and Julius Honka as he tries to regain his confidence as a regular NHL starter. Those are a lot of question marks for a young defense.

And in net, the Stars signed Anton Khudobin to be the new backup goaltender. But with Ben Bishop‘s history of injuries over the past few years, Khudobin may end up needing to be a no. 1 at times. Depending on how long he is asked to carry the load, will he be able to produce?

All in all, the Dallas Stars had opportunities to get significantly better in the offseason. And while they are arguably a better team now, it may only be by a little.

Depending on how this season pans out, that little bit may not be enough.