Dallas Stars: Three Unanswered Questions From The 2019-20 Season

The pausing of the 2019-20 NHL season has left many in the hockey community wondering about the next step. In addition to the uncertainty that comes with each day, though, there are also a number of questions on the ice that were left unanswered for the time being. Let’s look at a few pertaining to the Dallas Stars.

So many questions, so few answers.

For nearly three weeks, that’s been the overarching motto in the world of sports.

While the planet continues to try and wrap its head around the COVID-19 pandemic, those in the sports world are simply trying to keep up and stay informed. After all, it’s been almost three weeks since the last sporting event at a professional, college, or minor league level was played.

The NBA suspended its season on March 12. The NHL and MLS followed suit a few hours later. The MLB has delayed the start of the 2020 season until further notice. There’s also talk that college and NFL football might end up being affected come September.

Puck Prose

And although scenarios of potentially resuming play are being dreamt up across most professional sports leagues, the unpredictable and constantly changing timeline of the pandemic is leaving that hope hanging in the balance.

And that’s where the unanswered questions come into play. When will the curve begin to flatten on the virus to a point where it’s safe to resume play? Will the NHL and NBA be able to resume their regular seasons, or might they have to advance straight to playoffs? Will the MLB still play a 162-game schedule? Will the conversation about cancelling the season altogether eventually be had?

The sports world is confused, and there are few answers to alleviate the uncertainty right now. That’s just the reality of it.

For those involved in the sports community, there’s plenty of frustration. Writers and content creators are having to generate a new level of creativity and come up with new ideas to fill the void left by no new action. Athletes must find a way to stay in “game shape” from their own homes without access to practice facilities. Finally, fans are looking for ways to fill the nights they typically would have spent watching their favorite teams.

And finally, there’s that theme of unanswered questions. How would the NHL playoff picture look right now had the season not been paused? Would your favorite MLB team be undefeated through the first week of the season? How many teams would still be in contention for a playoff spot in the NBA? And where would the Dallas Stars be right now?

When we last checked in, the Stars were 37-24-8 with 82 points through 69 games. That was good enough for third place in the Central Division, though more shuffling in the Western Conference was certain in the final three weeks of the season.

Would Dallas have broken their six-game winless streak (0-4-2) on March 12 against the Florida Panthers? Would they be riding a win streak into the final week of the 2019-20 season? Would it be enough to push them into second place in the Central or at least solidify their hold on third?

The sudden halt in the season turned these questions into mere musings with no set timeframe for learning an answer.

But the unanswered questions go much deeper than seeding and playoff hopes. There are questions about individual players, stats, team streaks, and the history of the franchise that still need a final resolution.

So, since we don’t know how long the pause will last and if or when the 2019-20 Dallas Stars will return to the ice, let’s take a look at some of the top unanswered questions still hanging in the balance.

1. Would Gurianov Score 25 Goals?

The 2019-20 Dallas Stars would be in serious trouble without the offensive firepower of Denis Gurianov.

Had you posed this question to a follower of the Stars six months ago, they may have given you a funny look. Had you posed it to them one year ago, they may have flipped the question to focus on him securing an NHL roster spot first. And had you asked it two years ago, they may have even deemed you a lost cause.

That’s because it wasn’t long ago that Gurianov was on the verge of falling into a line of first-round draft picks by the Stars that fell short of expectations.

Back in the summer of 2018, Gurianov was labeled as a healthy scratch in five of the seven Calder Cup Finals games between the Texas Stars and Toronto Marlies. He had just wrapped up a 19-goal, 34-point campaign in the regular season, but had only posted two goals and five points in the first three rounds of the Calder Cup Playoffs.

The finals didn’t do much to improve the hopes for him as he posted no points and a -3 rating in two games.

By the time the 2018-19 season rolled around, Gurianov had done enough to work his way into an NHL call-up role. He made his debut on Nov. 8 and scored his first NHL goal on Nov. 10 against the Nashville Predators. Following that, he was returned to the AHL for a month before rejoining Dallas from mid-December to the end of February. He then finished the year with Texas.

As the 2019-20 season approached, a lot seemed to be hanging in the balance for Gurianov. He was in the final year of his entry-level contract with the team and while he was only 22, he had yet to earn a full-time spot on the Dallas Stars roster.

It didn’t help when he only spent the first three games of the season in Dallas before being sent back to the AHL.

But on Oct. 16, Gurianov returned to the NHL and has not moved since. And if you’ve kept up with the Stars’ season, you know why.

At the time the NHL hit the pause button on the 2019-20 season, Gurianov led all Dallas skaters in goals with 20 and was sixth among forwards in points with 29. He’s found a way to combine his speed, deceptive shot, skill, and willingness to learn into a full-time roster spot at the NHL level. He’s tied for second in goals scored by rookies, has earned a spot on the Dallas power play, and is quickly becoming one of the team’s most efficient forwards in the offensive zone.

But would he have hit the 25-goal mark? Scoring 25 goals in your first season is a noteworthy feat for any rookie, but it’s all the more impressive for one that seemed to have missed the mark less than two years prior.

On top of that, 25 goals would make Gurianov the record-holder for most goals scored by a Stars rookie in a season, surpassing James Neal at 24 and Jamie Benn at 22.

With 13 games remaining in the regular season schedule, it seems as though Gurianov would have had a chance to get within striking distance. He had scored five goals against the opponents in the Stars’ final 13 games throughout the 2019-20 season. It may have come down to the final handful of games, but the opportunity was on the table.

But would he hit 25? We’ll have to hope that we get the chance to find out soon.

2. Would The Stars Reach The 100-Point Mark?

It may not seem like a noteworthy marker to hit (especially in the midst of the playoff hunt and the  overarching focus being on the “x”), but reaching 100 points would have been a substantial achievement for the Dallas Stars.

And when you consider all that this team has endured since Oct. 3 when the season began, hitting triple digits would be nothing short of significant.

You can point to the 1-7-1 start to the year and how many were predicting an early offseason for the Stars in mid-October. You can point to the firing of Jim Montgomery and hiring of Rick Bowness shortly after Dallas rolled through a hot streak for the record books in the month of November. You can point to the flair of the Winter Classic and all of the excitement that it created within the franchise. You can also look to an up-and-down January, a dominant February, and the six-game losing streak the Stars entered the pause on.

Needless to say, it’s been a rollercoaster. And with every good rollercoaster comes ups, downs, twists, and turns. That’s what makes it worth the price of admission.

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By the time the season was halted, the Stars sat at 37-24-8 with 82 points through 69 games. The mark was good enough for third place in the Central Division standings, though the Winnipeg Jets and Nashville Predators were close behind in the wild card hunt. The St. Louis Blues sat atop the Western Conference at 94 points, with the Colorado Avalanche trailing them at 92 points.

So, the question remains: would the Dallas Stars have reached the 100-point plateau for just the second time since the 2007-08 season (with the other instance being their 109-point campaign in 2015-16)?

With 13 games to go and 26 points left on the table in the regular season slate, this question could have been answered a number of ways.

Firstly, the Stars would have needed to find their way out of an 0-4-2 skid. From the motivation expressed by the players and Bowness, it seemed as though they were ready and determined to break it on March 12 against the Florida Panthers. If they had, it could have kickstarted them turning a corner.

Only five of the Stars’ final 13 games were against opponents currently in the playoff picture. They were also a combined 13-5-2 against those teams through the first 69 games of the year.

When you lay it out like that, it seems entirely plausible that the Stars could have hit a 9-4-0 or 8-3-2 mark in the final three weeks of the campaign. But with the winless streak looming, there were reasons to be cautious.

On top of that, the playoff race had tightened around them. They were just three weeks removed from being tied with the St. Louis Blues for the top spot in the West, but a losing streak at this time of the year can quickly ruin those plans.

But had the Stars won a handful of games on the way out and clinched a playoff spot, it would have helped leave another drought on the side of the road. That one involved qualifying for the postseason in back-to-back years, something the Stars had not done since the 2007-08 season.

100 points? Two consecutive years of playoffs?

More unanswered queries in need of resolutions at the moment.