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Dallas Stars: Taking A Look At Their Early 2020 Stanley Cup Odds

By Josh Clark |
NASHVILLE, TN - APRIL 20: Tyler Seguin #91 of the Dallas Stars celebrates a goal along the bench against the Nashville Predators in Game Five of the Western Conference First Round during the 2019 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Bridgestone Arena on April 20, 2019 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by John Russell/NHLI via Getty Images)
NASHVILLE, TN - APRIL 20: Tyler Seguin #91 of the Dallas Stars celebrates a goal along the bench against the Nashville Predators in Game Five of the Western Conference First Round during the 2019 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Bridgestone Arena on April 20, 2019 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by John Russell/NHLI via Getty Images)

It’s never too early to look ahead at a team’s odds of winning it all in the upcoming season. With that being said, where do the Dallas Stars sit in the 2020 Stanley Cup odds now that the 2019 Stanley Cup Final is over? The answer is an intriguing one.

The Dallas Stars are not known for being predictable.

Think back to the summer of 2015 for a minute. The Stars, fresh off of missing the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the sixth time in the seven previous seasons, were looking for answers that could help right the ship. And though they were relatively quiet on July 1 and looked as though they wouldn’t make any sizable change, GM Jim Nill took a big swing in the middle of the month by acquiring Patrick Sharp and Stephen Johns in a trade and signing Johnny Oduya.

A few months later, Dallas pulled a complete reversal and won their first-ever Central division title.

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Then came the 2016 offseason. The Stars had fallen just short of a trip to the Western Conference Final in the 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs, but seemed to have all of the talent and pieces to make a run at the Cup. And although they were usually quiet in the offseason, they entered the year as a favorite to win the Cup.

Instead, they missed the playoffs by 15 points and posted the second-worst campaign in franchise history.

The 2017 offseason brought the return of Ken Hitchcock behind the Dallas bench and veterans like Ben Bishop, Alexander Radulov, and Marc Methot to the roster in an attempt to realign. By the time the 2017-18 season began, the Stars were once again being labeled as Stanley Cup contenders.

Those high hopes didn’t make it to the end of the regular season. The Stars missed the playoffs for a second consecutive season, Hitchcock retired, and the team looked to be in a compromised position.

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So, Nill hired a new head coach with no prior NHL coaching experience in Jim Montgomery, avoided making any major splashes in the offseason, and banked on everything working out as it currently stood as the 2018-19 season approached. The Stars looked like a 50/50 playoff team but didn’t seem to have the firepower in-house to make a serious run.

And yet, the Stars finished the year as one of the final six teams standing.

Needless to say: it’s hard to predict just how good or bad the Dallas Stars will be on any given occasion. Trying to figure out what the front office is planning or how successful the team may be during a season is like trying to nail Jell-O to the wall at times.

That’s why betting money on them always comes with a sincere amount of risk.

For the majority of the 2018-19 season, the Stars’ odds of winning the Stanley Cup hovered around 30/1. They had started at 25/1 following the end of the 2018 Stanley Cup Final and dropped slightly to 28/1 after the first day of free agency. But throughout the rollercoaster season that they produced, their odds consistently sat around the 30/1 mark, putting them near the middle of the pack among all NHL teams. But, as we now know, they were one of the final six teams in the running (there’s probably a Stars fan out there that was really close to making some serious money).

And so, as the 2019 Stanley Cup Final came to an end and the St. Louis Blues were crowned champions for the first time in franchise history, the focus quickly shifted to the 2019-20 season. Which teams will make a big swing this summer to be considered a contender next year? Which teams will regress or fall off entirely? What are the opening odds for the 2020 Stanley Cup?

Betting companies like Bovada and BetOnline were quick to release the odds for the 2020 Cup shortly after the 2019 Final ended. When scanning the lists to see where the Dallas Stars fall, the answer is a rather intriguing one.

Let’s start with Bovada, which has the Stars coming in at 30/1 odds to win the Cup. That’s fairly close to their odds at the beginning of last season and has them pinned in a tie for the 15th-best odds in the NHL. BetOnline has Dallas on slightly-higher ground at 28/1 odds, which still plots them in a tie for 15th.

There’s a few things to take note of in these rankings. On the one hand, the Dallas Stars haven’t seen a sizable boost in their odds, which is unusual considering their deep run into the postseason this past year. When you consider that they aren’t losing any crucial pieces of their lineup (though the Mats Zuccarello extension case is still open) to free agency, the team still seems to be in a good spot to compete and potentially go further next season. But, we won’t have a clearer picture on that until the offseason comes to an end.

On top of that, there are a handful of teams that have vaulted ahead of the Stars. The Florida Panthers and Philadelphia Flyers both missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2019 but are higher-favored than Dallas in the 2020 race. And while the Panthers hired Joel Quenneville and the Flyers put together a strong run at the end of the 2018-19 season, neither team is guaranteed to be better.

Considering the Dallas Stars fell in double overtime to the eventual Stanley Cup champion, finding them near the middle of the pack on the 2020 odds list is rather unusual.

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As stated above, though, the early odds list tends to carry little to no weight once the offseason has run its course and the regular season gets underway.

Still, it’s something to keep an eye on.

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