Was Dallas a Fluke Last Season?

[WarriorofTime]

No judgment, just curious on people's thoughts. Their D looked weak on paper last year but they surprised a lot of people and won the Central. This year they look not so good. Were they a fluke a last year or are they just underperforming right now and we should expect them to right the ship?

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[Ainec]

nope, they could have defeated the Blues and faced the Sharks in the WCF

lots of injuries with that team, Hamhuis has not been a good addition, their best player Benn and Seguin coming back from off-season injury

 

[izzy]

Injuries and Goligoski

 

[Took a pill in Sbisa]

They lost really good defencemen but didn't replace them with equally as good ones.

 

[Some Other Flame]

Clearly their success last year was unsustainable

 

[MMC]

Lost good defensemen to free agency and good forwards to injury.

 

[Mikeshane]

Yep.

They aren't a bad team but they definitely fluked out last year, the offense can only bail you out for so long.

 

[CanadienShark]

Absolutely. Their defence and goaltending is abysmal. Sure they have some good pieces like Klingberg, but their defence is poorly constructed imo. I can't believe people ever truly considered them cup contenders. They were basically just the 2010 Capitals all over again.

 

[Spawn]

They moved on from two of their top 3 d-men (3 of their top 4 if you count Russell) and didn't suitably replace them. Last year wasn't a fluke, but last year they had a better roster.

 

[Paralyzer008]

Good team last year.

Decided to walk away from Goligoski and Demers and replaced them with rookies. Klingberg has struggled. Goalies still are not very good. Injuries are killing them.

All of that combined = not very good.

 

[Magic Mittens]

Whats the point of these threads. Obviously everyones going to say defense..

Im not going to say the defense is better, but honestly its not much worse then it was last year. Yeah theyve got younger guys making rookie mistakes and Hamhuis hasnt been great. Also Klingberg has had a terrible stary, but its the forwards. Top line looks uninterested, Spezza hasnt done much, powerplay is terrible, and weve lost alot of depth with injuries

Lehtonen has been playing great, and Lindell has looked good as a rookie. I think he's been leading in TOI lately.

You can blame defense all you want, but its not much different than last year, our forwards need to be better

Either its time for Ruff to go or start selling players off. Nothings gonna change the way it is

 

[Magic Mittens]

They moved on from two of their top 3 d-men (3 of their top 4 if you count Russell) and didn't suitably replace them. Last year wasn't a fluke, but last year they had a better roster.

LOL dont even get Stars fans going with Russell

Yeah losing Goligoski hurt, but he was not worth that contract. Demers made more mistakes then our rookies, at least they have an excuse

Our forwards cant win any puck battles, terrible at cycling, cant even dump and chase. Ive been watching Stars hockey since they pretty much moved to Texas, and I cant remember a time when the forwards just look so lost. Benn looks like he doesnt even want the puck.

I dont know what you want to call it, but theres only so much a younger D corps can do when your forwards are terrible

 

[GOAT AINEC]

Yup, any team the that goalie tandem and defense was never going to have long term success. They outscored their problems last season.

 

[Bounces R Way]

They have thoroughly underwhelmed my village.

 

[DropIt]

Their defense is pretty awful

 

[42]

Jamie Benn has been bad(by his standards) this season. In addition, the loss of Goligoski and injuries. If Benn has come out of his funk, I think the Stars will do much better.

 

[Hockeyfan2390]

I don't think so. With better goaltending, they at least make the western finals.

 

[Seath The Scaleless]

Bottom of the league in team SV%

Surprise surprise.

 

[Vacheron]

They're not as good as they played last year, but they're better than they are playing this year.

 

[G0AT]

You are only as good as your goalie. Oh thats right...

 

[TheMule93]

They have thoroughly underwhelmed my village.

 

[hagelin1381]

They've been destroyed by injuries this year... Their goaltending is also meh

 

[Honour Over Glory]

No, I still think Ruff is a terrible coach but they underestimated the loss of Goligoski and Demers. You can't just quickly replace that with youngsters that are not ready or replace them with Hamhuis and assume it's going to be ok.

Niemi and Lehtonen are not that good, granted, but that defense is even worse than they are, the Stars defense is probably one of the worst in the league.

 

[Dr Pepper]

It's been a forgettable season, no doubt, but that shouldn't erase what they did last year. That was no fluke, IMO.

 

[PG Canuck]

They can be as healthy as they like, they are going nowhere with Noemi/Lehtonen.