The Dallas Stars are not shining quite as bright as they did a few seasons ago.
Many believed that at the start of the 2015-16 season, Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin, Patrick Sharp and Jason Spezza would potentially be able to bring Dallas its first Stanley Cup since the 1998-99 season. Seguin and Sharp were supposed to be all-star additions, having both won Stanley Cups.
Two seasons later, and the Stars haven’t really improved. Patrick Sharp is back with his Chicago Blackhawks, where he won three Stanley Cups. Benn, Seguin and Spezza are still the main offensive force of the Stars, but they haven’t really made any additions recently.
The team somewhat resembles a hodgepodge of guys with varying levels of years in the league, but no one has really emerged as an award winner or a key player in comparison to the rest of the NHL.
The Stars do have some recent additions on defense, though, including new goalie Ben Bishop. You may know his name from his stint on the Tampa Bay Lightning, where he assisted in bringing his team to the 2015 Stanley Cup Finals. While Tampa Bay was unsuccessful in winning that series, Bishop proved that he is a stellar goalie.
After a year with the Los Angeles Kings, Bishop has now made his way to Dallas, where he will be expected to shine. After years of having iffy goalies, the Stars really need someone like Bishop who at least has experience in going farther into the playoffs than the rest of the team.
The Stars have another huge addition to the team, Ken Hitchcock. Or should I say, a reunion. Hitchcock coached the Dallas Stars from 1996-2002, before being fired. He brought the team to the playoffs every full year he was in the head coaching position, which makes sense why Dallas administration may have wanted to bring him back on the team.
Hitchcock even led Dallas to their first and only Stanley Cup victory. He won over 500 games with the Stars before moving on to the Philadelphia Flyers, the Columbus Blue Jackets, and his most recent place of employment, the St. Louis Blues.
The Blues relied on him to bring them their first ever Stanley Cup Championship, but they failed to make it past the third round of the playoffs under Hitchcock, despite being in first or second place in the central division almost every year that Hitchcock was at the helm.
St. Louis fired Hitchcock in February 2017, in what he announced to be his final season before retiring. But he’s not done yet, because he’s coming back to Dallas with no sign of retirement this time.
In all Hitchcock’s years as a head coach in the NHL, his only Stanley Cup victory was back in 1999. It’s unclear how many years he will have to continue coaching if he wants to see another win with Dallas.
It’s hard because the central division has been the toughest in the league in the last five years. With competition like Chicago, St. Louis and Minnesota, it’s tough to get past those first two rounds of the playoffs. The standings at the end of the regular season have typically been very tight, especially as the regular season comes to a close.
If the Stars want to succeed in the playoffs, they need to start adding guys who have at least gotten to the Stanley Cup Finals. The Bishop addition was smart, and his expertise will certainly assist the defense.
In 2016, Dallas also picked up defenseman Dan Hamhuis who at least has Stanley Cups Finals experience. He helped the Vancouver Canucks reach the championship game in 2011, where they lost to Seguin and the Bruins.
Dallas is starting to put the pieces together. A solid goalie, a familiar coach with experience in the tough central division and long-time reliable captain Jamie Benn are the stepping stones to the Stars potentially winning another cup.
But truthfully, it probably won’t happen for them for at least another four years. The additions they’ve made to the team are progress, but it’s taken them so long to realize these changes were needed. Dallas will certainly see another cup, but they might have to wait until the next decade to hoist the trophy.
