2020-21 Dallas Stars: What went wrong?
By John Grux
1. The Stars were badly bit by COVID-19
The Dallas Stars opened the 2020-21 season with 17 players and staff testing positive for COVID-19. The infections stalled an already-abbreviated training camp and delayed the Stars start to the season. Dallas opened the doors to training camp late and played their first game 9 days after the season started.
Dallas Stars to start season late after Covid-19 positives w six players, two staffers. First game for them no earlier than January 19.
— Eric Fisher (@AEricFisher) January 8, 2021
After 4 postponements, the Stars smashed the Nashville Predators in a 7-0 rout to finally begin the season. Dallas won their first 4 contests before a 1-7 skid as the calendar flipped to February. It became clear the team’s lack of a qualitative preseason resulted in a slow start. The situation worsened as a winter storm added 4 more postponed games to the Stars schedule.
Our friends at Pucks and Pitchforks were quick to realize the oddities caused by COVID:
So... the Dallas Stars went 4-0 after coming back from the rescheduled early part of their season. Since then, they are 2-7-4. The Devils came back from their COVID pause 2-0 and are now 1-6-0 since. The Sabres are also the Sabres. Maybe a team can't rebound from an outbreak.
— Pucks and Pitchforks (@pitchforkedpuck) March 5, 2021
The Stars closed the 2020-21 regular season with 6 games in 10 days, all of which were on the road. Dallas went 2-2-2 during the stretch.