Thanks to some tiebreakers, the Dallas Stars are third in a Central Division that, as of Monday evening, shows the top three teams with 91 points apiece. That said, the NHL Playoff Bracket has them facing the surging Colorado Avalanche if the season ended today instead of one month down the road.
And since the trade deadline, few teams, even some of the league’s best like the Stars, would fare well vs. the Avalanche. Colorado is currently leading the league in goals scored, and their newest primary assets, Casey Mittelstadt and Sean Walker, have three points apiece in their first four games.
Add Brandon Duhame and Yakov Trenin to the lower lines, and you have what was a near-complete team lacking a single weak spot. So the Stars would face quite the challenge should they and Colorado remain where they are a month from today.
NHL Playoff Bracket may not be so kind to the Dallas Stars this year
Even if the Stars win the Central, things won’t be easy for them in their division when the postseason arrives. But look at the two teams in the wild card: The Nashville Predators and Vegas Golden Knights. Nashville hasn’t lost in regulation in forever, and the Knights could easily overtake at least the Los Angeles Kings in the Pacific.
Should the Winnipeg Jets drop to second place and the Stars stay in third, then Dallas is facing arguably the league’s best goalie in Connor Hellebuyck, despite their ability to score - 251 goals in 69 games, good for 3.64 per, and second in the league. But then again, a team like Winnipeg has only allowed 158 goals.
Okay, so perhaps Colorado may be the most favorable matchup at the moment since at least they are average defensively, but unfortunately, so is Dallas. Hey, on the bright side, if a Dallas-Colorado matchup remains intact, at least it will feature a lot of scoring.
(Statistics provided by Hockey-Reference)