The Buffalo Bills gained fame (and, yes, a certain level of infamy) for losing four consecutive Super Bowls during the 1990s — the last two, of course, to the Cowboys. Still, their players became local legends and a few earned their way to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
What do the Dallas Stars get for losing three consecutive Western Conference finals? It’s not quite the same, naturally. They have to do it again this spring to make it four in a row, but it’s already a substantial achievement in its own way. Only once before did the Stars reach three straight conference finals, and that included their only Stanley Cup celebration in 1999.
The Texas Rangers have never gone to three straight American League Championship Series in their more than half a century in Arlington. The Mavericks have never even gone in back-to-back seasons in their 45 years in Dallas. And the Cowboys used to do this sort of thing routinely in the Tom Landry days — 12 NFC title games in 17 years — but you already know where they haven’t gone a single time in their last 29 seasons, so let’s leave them out of this discussion entirely.
On Thursday night, the Stars begin that long climb back.
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“We’ve got a tough start with Winnipeg and Colorado on the road, so we’ve got to dial in right away,” forward Mikko Rantanen said.
Rantanen has never started a season with Dallas but, man, he nearly demonstrated the perfect way to finish one. Taking matters into his own hands against his former Avalanche teammates and then the Presidents’ Trophy winner from Winnipeg, Rantanen scored 17 points (9 goals, 8 assists) in a six-game stretch. That included back-to-back hat tricks in Game 7 against the Avs and Game 1 against the Jets. He was the clear front-runner for the Conn Smythe Trophy until Edmonton doused his hot streak, holding him to no goals and three assists in what, for the Oilers, appeared to be a fairly routine five-game destruction of the Stars.
If the games weren’t bad enough, coach Pete DeBoer made a mess of things by ripping goaltender Jake Oettinger after the final game. That’s how we have arrived at the start of the 2025-26 season with Glen Gulutzan, who coached a wildly different Dallas franchise more than a decade ago, back in charge.
Gulutzan looks about 10 years younger than his age of 54, but in working the Edmonton bench as an assistant the last six years he has seen how a team gets to the finals (twice) and how it beats Dallas when it counts (twice). Now he’s trying to flip the script, although there are no guarantees for anyone in a loaded West where the Stars, Jets, Avs, Oilers, Golden Knights and Kings all scored more than 100 points last season.
“And Utah is coming,” Gulutzan warned. “I’m looking forward to it, it’s a little surreal.”
Dallas head coach Glen Gulutzan walks out of the bench area after the final horn sounds in Columbus’ 3-1 win over Dallas during the Columbus Blue Jackets vs. the Dallas Stars NHL hockey game at the American Airlines Center in Dallas on Thursday, April 25, 2013.
Louis DeLuca / Staff Photographer
Head coaches reclaiming their former jobs usually arrive as some sort of conquering hero searching for a repeat. That was true with the failed Ken Hitchcock experiment, and how many times did George Steinbrenner try to milk one more World Series out of Billy Martin? I lost count at five.
Gulutzan’s teams did not make the playoffs either season here, and when he coached Calgary, the Flames went 0-4 in their only postseason appearance. It’s a strange connection to make in the search for a Cup — replace the coach who has never lost a seventh game in the Stanley Cup playoffs with a man who has never won a postseason game.
But Kris Knoblauch wasn’t any kind of known NHL quantity when the Oilers brought him aboard less than two years ago, and he just steered that team to two Cup Finals against Florida.
The Stars aren’t as loaded as they were last year, but no one is in the West. Winnipeg and Edmonton lost forward depth, too. The difference could be that Dallas has remained so stocked in young forwards coming through Austin that they don’t miss a beat in their efforts to supplant the Jets atop the Central Division.
It’s a long, long grind for 82 games, and then you’ve got to beat good teams for eight more wins before you get back to the conference finals that you’re trying to survive. But it’s not the worst job in the world, either, as veteran Tyler Seguin, winner of a Cup with Boston the year the Mavericks beat Miami, tried to explain.
“Pressure around here the last few years … that’s a Tuesday, right? You know it’s a privilege,” Seguin said. The short offseason can be an advantage, he said. “It’s like it’s hard not to be intense because you feel like you’re right back into a big game.’’
The big ones come right away. That’s life in the West. We’ll see if Gulutzan’s more player-friendly approach can deliver the breathing room a competitive team needs in order to suit up for 100 games without wearing down. A little Edmonton knowledge might go a long way, too.
More Stars 2025-26 season preview
— Five bold predictions for the Stars in 2025-26: Big year ahead for Jason Robertson, others
— Stars announce opening night roster, more moves expected before season-opener in Winnipeg
— Elusive 400th goal, 1,200 games? Milestones Dallas Stars players can hit in 2025-26 season
— What can Stars expect from Glen Gulutzan? Players from 2011-13 remember lasting bonds
— Breaking down the Stars’ 2025-26 roster: Managing goalie Jake Oettinger’s workload is key
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