The Dallas Stars' playoff hopes were dashed Thursday when the Minnesota Wild beat them in six games of their first-round series. Dallas' unbalanced scoring and sputtering offense led to another Western Conference final near-miss. So, what's next for this perennial Stanley Cup contender?
For years, the Dallas Stars have been the bridesmaids when it comes to winning the NHL’s Western Conference and getting to the Stanley Cup playoff final.
Since 2022-23, the Stars have won six playoff series – but never more than two series in any year. So they had lofty expectations for the 2025-26 season.
Unfortunately for Dallas, the Stars followed an impressive regular season with a strangely flat first-round series against the Minnesota Wild. Dallas wasn’t a pushover per se, but after the Stars got out to a 2-1 series lead against the Wild, Minnesota put the clamps down on them from Games 4 through 6, as Dallas was able to produce only six goals in those final three games.
The Stars are a better team than most NHL teams. They’re just not truly elite. And it’s the job of GM Jim Nill to get Dallas into the winner’s circle.
What Went Wrong For The Stars?
The Stars had the NHL’s ninth-best offense this season at 3.33 goals-for per game. That offense proceeded to vanish against the Wild, as Dallas averaged only 2.50 goals-for per game.
The Stars did get strong offensive performances from Matt Duchene, Jason Robertson, Mikko Rantanen, Wyatt Johnston, and Miro Heiskanen, all of whom had at least a point-per-game average, but a lot of their damage came on the power play.
The problem, it seems, was in Dallas’ secondary scoring. Other than Duchene, Robertson, Rantanen, Johnston and Heiskanen, no other Stars player had more than two points, and only one player had two points. Star center Roope Hintz had a mediocre regular season, but he was unable to get into the Wild series due to an injury, and that hurt Dallas’ offense to a degree.
But veteran left winger and captain Jamie Benn had zero points in the series, and young forward Mavrik Bourque had only one point. Also pointless was defenseman Thomas Harley, while defenseman Esa Lindell (one point), winger Michael Bunting (one point) and Oskar Back (one point) also struggled to do much in Minnesota’s zone.
You can win a playoff series if a few of those players don’t produce much in the way of offense, but if all of them can’t do anything on the scoresheet, you’re probably not going to win many playoff games.
Stars goalie Jake Oettinger did not play especially well, as he posted an .893 save percentage. But he wasn’t the reason the Stars lost this series. Dallas lost because it didn’t get the balanced offensive contributions they were looking for, and Minnesota made them pay.
What's Next For The Stars?
What’s next for the Stars is a compelling question indeed. Nill received a contract extension a month ago, and you can’t take anything away from him when it comes to building a regular-season leviathan. The problem, of course, is replicating their dominance in the post-season. So Nill is going to have to have some uncomfortable conversations with at least a few of his veteran players, some of whom may not be back next season.
That list starts with veteran forwards Benn and Tyler Seguin. Benn had a poor regular season, with 15 goals and 36 points in 60 games.
Seguin, meanwhile, missed 55 games – and in the 27 games he did play, posted only 17 points. Benn is scheduled to be a UFA this summer, while Seguin has one year left on his contract at $9.85 million. If Seguin isn’t on injured reserve next season, Nill may want to look at a buyout.
Regardless, the Stars are projected to have $ 11.1 million in salary cap space this summer. But most of that will go to Robertson, a pending RFA, who will get a healthy raise on the $7.75 million he earned this season. So if Nill is going to make changes to the lineup, he’s going to need to be crafty on the trade market.
In the highly competitive Central Division, things are likely to get tougher next season. So Nill has to add talent without hurting his team’s long-term competitiveness. He’s been able to do that to a degree, but achieving a championship in hockey’s toughest league is no easy task.
So the Stars have to bulk up if they want to get past the Wild and the Colorado Avalanche in particular next year.
Dallas can beat a lot of teams. But they haven’t been able to get beyond the Western final. And until they do, Nill will have to add pieces to find the right lineup that will deliver a Cup.
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