When Your Teams FUTURE Is Complicated

When Your Teams FUTURE Is Complicated

So close, but yet still so far. Look, winning in sports is hard. There’s no way around it. 32 teams all looking to achieve the same goal makes the idea of winning a cup every season a bit unreasonable, don’t you think? But when there’s an opportunity to separate yourself from the competition, to go on a run and seize the moment, you have to take advantage of that since those opportunities are few and far between. When talking about this, one team immediately comes to mind. The Dallas Stars. After yet another incredible season, Dallas’s playoff run would end in disappointing fashion. Heartbreak. I know this is a team that many rever to be the best drafting and developing franchise with one of the best organizational front offices and cultures. But still, there is something holding them back. Maybe it was their offense drying up as the playoffs progressed. or bad defensive lapses. Perhaps it was the drama on the bench and their coaching. Who really knows? But one thing is for certain, the Dallas Stars path to the Stanley Cup will only get more and more difficult with time as some of their players are either signing or looking to sign some pretty pricey extensions. So, let’s not only talk about what happened to the Dallas Stars last year and how their season ended, but also explain why you should be very optimistic about what’s next for Texas Hockey. [Applause] [Applause] Another heartbreaking end to the Dallas Star season. three Western Conference Finals appearances in a row that all ended the same way. However, this one felt a bit different. After loading up at the deadline, getting players like Granlin and of course Miko Rantin, the Dallas Stars looked like they’d be the only team that could compete against the Florida Panthers. And I felt like they were a lock to get to the finals. Unfortunately, that’s just not what happened. So, let’s start by recapping what happened this past season for the Dallas Stars to see if we can identify where things went wrong. Dallas finished with a record of 5028 and six, fifth in the league. This included them losing the last seven games of the regular season, something that doesn’t get talked about enough. Within one of those games, they also lost one of their star forwards, Jason Robertson, to injury. And that’s not the only injury that the Dallas Stars dealt with throughout the season. They had Tyler Sean missing for most of the year and from January to the end of the season, Mero Heiskin would not be within their lineup because of a knee injury. However, even with all of these health issues, this didn’t stop them from making huge strides through the first two rounds. Despite having an incredible regular season, the Dallas Stars would not exactly have the easiest first round opponent. Given the playoff structure, it would be Dallas vers. Personally, this was easily the best series of the playoffs in my opinion. You had the return of Gabe Landiskog, Nico Rantin going back to his former team after signing an 8-year 96 million dollar extension with their biggest rival. This one just rode itself. This matchup went back and forth with both teams exchanging wins in one of the most electric series I’ve seen as of late. Colorado would go up 20 early in game seven and looked like they were ready to pull ahead and knock out the stars. But you know the saying, a two-goal lead is the worst thing in hockey. Rantin would close the gap with his first goal of the game and then tie things up with a wraparound that bounced into Colorado’s net off one of their defenders. And with all of the momentum now in their favor, Dallas would storm down the ice with Wyatt Johnston scoring the game-winning goal. Brantin would cap off his four-point night with an empty net hat-tick to eliminate Colorado and advance to round two. On the record at the time, I said whoever came out of that first round series between Colorado and Dallas was going to go to the final. And I felt justified in this take because not only was Dallas down two of their best players, but they went on dismantled Winnipeg and got those two players back within their lineup. They had the deepest roster remaining in the playoffs. And I was very confident with them heading into the Western Conference Finals against the Edmonton Oilers. Maybe just a bit too confident. Entering the series, both teams realistically had a shot, but you can’t lie. After game one, it felt like Dallas was going to dismantle the Oilers. However, it was the complete opposite. The Stars were held to five goals in the next four games and lost four straight to Edmonton, being outclassed at nearly every position and regressing way further than you ever could have imagined. Dallas became their own worst enemy. They couldn’t get out of their way, not only in this series, but in the previous rounds as well. And you could get into a lot more when it comes to a recap of their playoff run, but for today’s sake, I really just want to highlight the biggest factors as to why I think Dallas fell off. The first thing I want to talk about is their offense. And I know that seems a bit broad, so let’s narrow it down more to their goal scoring. Their goals just completely dried up with the progression of the playoffs. And you can go down the list to see some of the culprits. Captain Jamie Ben only had one goal in the postseason, and that was in game three of round one against the ABS. Same to be said for another veteran center, Matt Duchain, who only had one goal in game one of the conference finals against the Oilers. Why Johnston’s last goal came in game three of the second round against Winnipeg. And even players like Miko Rantin after his hat-tick in game one of the second round, he only scored one goal through the final 10 playoff games. Dallas as a team was averaging 3.35 goals per game in the regular season, which tied them for third in the NHL. In the postseason, they averaged 250, which ranked them 12th of playoff teams. Having your best goal scorers dry up in the most important moments is honestly one of the worst things you can experience as a fan. But there were also some other things that contributed to the Dallas Stars losing in that Western Conference Finals, particularly their goalending, which wasn’t exactly stellar once they beat the Winnipeg Jets. Jakeer was excellent through the first two rounds, but after seeing his numbers against the Oilers, this is what brought his averages down to kind of look average. He was 9 and8 with a 2.82 82 goals against average and 905 save percentage in 18 playoff starts. And against the Oilers particularly, you can see how bad his numbers were. He was 1 and3 with a 3.93 goals against average and an 853 save percentage. But whenever I look at goalending numbers, I always kind of combine it with defenses. I feel like Dallas has always done an excellent job at adding offensive players at the deadline, but uh for some reason, I feel like they constantly ignore their blue line. They don’t have a lot of depth with their defense. And with a guy like Miro Heiskinen missing like the last four or five months of the season and then being thrusted into competitive playoff hockey, I just I don’t think that that’s a recipe for success. Now, we do have to talk about the dramatic moment that happened in game five. Aer allowed two goals on two shots and Pete Debor pulled him. I think it was at like the 7 minute mark of the first period. You can’t do that. And I think that coaching ended up being a contributor a ended up being a a contribution I think maybe uh to the Dallas Stars losing that series because Pete Dbor he just didn’t seem like he had things under control. And while he does have a good track record when it comes to game sevens it wasn’t exactly like he was putting his best foot forward in that final matchup. And I guess you could say it was on the players but I I don’t think so. I think that Edmonton out game plan Dallas and Pete the board just couldn’t adjust. Knoblock just had his number in that series like he did the year prior. Dallas was the better team on paper. They had the better roster and maybe they didn’t have the better superstars offensively, but they should have won that series and they just collapsed and imploded from the inside out. And just because we’re on the topic of coaching, I wanted to mention a few other things, particularly them playing from behind and their special teams. Dallas literally was playing from behind all postseason long. They gave up the first goal in 15 of their 18 playoff games and let up the first goal in all five games of the Western Conference Finals. They also relied way too much on their power play. It ranked third in the playoffs, but having a success rate of 32.1% is great and all, but you have to score during 5v5 play as well, and that’s just not something they could manage throughout the entire postseason. So, when Edmonton cleaned up their game and didn’t give them a lot of power plays, they became a shell of themselves and just couldn’t put the puck in the back of the net. So, I feel like I’ve been really negative this video, but I actually want to be positive because I’m really optimistic about the Dallas Stars, and they’re still my favorite to go on to win the Stanley Cup. This team is still so talented. And let’s kind of talk about some of the reasons why I think that they’re going to be back in this position next year. For starters, let’s talk about their busy off season. They had a ton of questions with some UFAS like Jamie Ben, Matthew Shane, Ma Granlin, Maverick Pork, and others. And outside of Ma Granlin and having to trade Mason Marchmond, they were able to retain all of these guys. Jaime Ben came back on a team friendly deal. Matt Duchain signed for the foreseeable future. And this just adds some more security to Dallas’s lineup and keeps their depth intact. And I think that that’s going to be really important for them moving forward. That’s what makes a good playoff team. And Dallas is one of those good playoff teams. The next thing we need to talk about is health. I’ve talked about it a little bit in this video, but having Tyler Sean miss essentially the entire year, Mural Heiskin miss the entire second half of the season, and then Jason Robertson dealing with an injury in the final game of the year. These are all issues that many top teams would not be able to play through. And Dallas did an excellent job staying afloat until these guys got back. But you have to remember, coming back and having to immediately be thrust into playoff hockey, like I mentioned with Heiskin earlier, is not an easy thing to do. And another thing we should highlight just because we’re talking about these players is the Jason Robertson rumors. I don’t see any path where this guy actually gets traded. I think he loves playing in Dallas. And I think that they’re going to find a way to sign him to a deal that works within the cap structure of this team. The cap’s going up. They’re probably going to retain this guy. And if they do trade him, I think that they’re a good enough organization that they’re going to get something back that will help them win now. But again, I don’t see Jason Robertson leaving this team. I think he’s a good fit for their lineup. And the last thing I just want to talk about is bringing in a new head coach. Obviously, I respect Pete Dbor a lot and I think that he’s going to be just fine finding a new job with another organization and will actually thrive there. But for Dallas, I felt like his time had come to an end. His voice seemed to be getting stale in the locker room and with the playoff rounds progressing, he just didn’t seem to seize the moment or adjust well enough to play against those more competitive teams. Again, I wish him luck in his next experience, but I think that this new head coach is going to provide them with a fresh perspective and that Dallas is going to actually go off to a hot start and be better off in the end because of this change. So, why should you be feeling optimistic about the Dallas Stars? Well, like I said, they kept basically their entire roster. You’re now going to have Mero Heiskin back fully healthy, Tyler Sean back fully healthy, and Jason Robertson fully healthy. You also will have Miko Rantin for the entire season. A guy who dealt with so much drama last year and will now feel comfortable in this new environment knowing that he’s going to be here for the next eight years. This is a situation that I think is going to pan out perfectly for Dallas. But they have to be able to adjust in those playoff rounds. They have to start playing with a little bit more cohesion. And I think with a new head coach and some of these pieces coming back and having more security that this team is going to be better off in the end. But that’s why you should be optimistic about the Dallas Stars. Like I said, I know I talked a lot about the negative stuff from last season, but sometimes maybe this is a cliche. I feel like you have to go through the weeds and the negatives and the downs in life to be able to come out on top. And Dallas to me feels like the perfect representation of that. You have one of the deepest rosters. Maybe add a few defensive pieces and fix that blue line up a little bit. But still, I think that you’re one of the best teams in hockey. And I’m going to be rooting for this team all next season. But let me know what you guys think about the Dallas Stars in the comments below. How do you feel about this team? Were you disappointed last year? Did you expect that to happen? Drop all that stuff in the comments below. And of course, if you enjoyed this video, be sure to give it a thumbs up and subscribe to the channel. I also have a few other pieces of content right here for you on the screen if you’re bored throughout this off seasonason and want to stay up to date with everything that’s happening in hockey. Again, thank you guys so much for watching this video. I will see you in the next upload.

Today let’s delve into one of the most interesting teams of the offseason, The Dallas Stars. After falling short for the third straight year in the Western Conference Finals, Dallas went back to the drawing board to prepare for a busy offseason. Managing to retain many of their players the Stars opted not to make roster changes but instead chose to change head coaches with the hopes to run this thing back and get a different result. But should you be confident in the Dallas Stars heading into the season? And will this team manage to get over the hump once and for all? Well let’s talk about it. Subscribe to Jimmy Hockey for more NHL News and Breakdowns.

TikTok:

@jimmyhockeyy

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/jimmyhockeyy/

#nhl #hockey #stanleycupplayoffs #icehockey #hockeyhighlights #montrealcanadiens #hockeyvideos #goldenknights #edmontonoilers #nhlplayoffs #nhlhockey #connorbedard #chicagoblackhawks #vancouvercanucks #nhltradedeadline #mikkorantanen #bradmarchand #bostonbruins #edmontonoilers #connormcdavid #dallasstars