The Dallas Stars have finished the first 10 percent of the 2024-25 regular-season -- and Adam Proteau says the Stars are precisely as dominant as many people believed they'd be.
As the Dallas Stars prepare for their Global Series showdown against the defending Stanley Cup-champion Florida Panthers in Finland at the end of this week, it's as good a time as any to look back at Dallas' first nine games -- 10 percent of the season -- and see if they're any better or worse than many pundits believed they'd be this year.
And it shouldn't surprise you that our opinion is that the Stars look every bit as excellent as we believed they'd be.
Put aside their stellar 7-2-0 record for a minute. In the NHL's three other divisions, that would be good enough for top spot, but the Stars are slightly behind the unbeaten Winnipeg Jets in the competitive Central Division. But let's take a deeper look at some of their key metrics to see how impressive Dallas has been this season.
At the moment, the Stars are the NHL's best defensive team, with a 1.89 goals-against average per game. They've also got the league's top penalty-kill unit, with 93.1 percent efficiency. And while their offense (currently 16th-overall at 3.11 goals-for-per-game) and power play (currently in 14th-spot at 20.7 percent) have room for improvement, Dallas has tremendous balance; nine of their top players on offense have posted between 4-and-11 points thus far, while five have put up at least eight points.
As far as their goaltnding goes, the Stars couldn't ask for a better showing than they've got from starter Jake Oettinger and understudy Casey DeSmith. Oettinger has a 5-1-0 record --second only to Jets star Connor Hellebuyck -- a 1.84 goals-against average and a .938 save percentage in six appearances. And DeSmith, in his first year with Dallas, has generated a 1.69 G.A.A. and a .936 SP in three appearances. Oettinger and DeSmith have benefitted from a typically-stingy Stars defense corps, but they've delivered as hoped, and given Dallas a chance to win each and every night.
Once the Global Series games are finished, the Stars are going to have four full days off before they resume action against the woeful Chicago Blackhawks. After that, their biggest test of the season will come against Winnipeg Nov. 9. But as it stands, Dallas has been excellent in virtually every game, and their two losses -- against Washington and Buffalo -- were close games.
You really couldn't have asked for more from the Stars as a whole. Expectations for them are sky-high, but they've performed as advertised and sent a message to the rest of the league that they're going to be one hell of an opponent no matter who they face. Staying consistent is the ultimate goal for the Stars in the regular season, and we've seen nothing so far that would indicate Dallas can't be this good game-in and game-out.
Time, health concerns and puck luck may throw a hurdle or two in the Stars' path to success, but one of the reasons Dallas has been picked to succeed is their considerable depth. And their high-end talents have more than enough skill to keep them running-and-gunning with the most high-octane opponents.
The Stars have cleared the bar set out for them prior to the season, and now it's all about underscoring their capabilities with proper performances throughout the rest of the year. We're sure they can do it, and by the time they get through another 10 percent of the season, Dallas should convince even more observers they're well worth the hype.
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