In recent years, the Stars have only been able to master one part of their game. Either they were a top 5 offense or a top 5 defense. The Stars have gone through 5 coaches for the better part of a decade in search for someone who could combine both pieces. This year Pete DeBoer has done it.
The Offense
In the 2015-2016 season, the then Dallas head coach, Lindy Ruff led the team to one of its best regular season finishes. They lead the west with 109 points and a 50 win season. He did this the same way the Panthers did it last season. They out scored their defensive problems.
The Dallas Stars lead the league in goals for that year with 265 “goals for”. That was a 3.23 goals against average when there were only 2 teams in the league that averaged over 3 goals a game.
That crazy amount of offense was very volatile and after the Stars missed the playoffs the next season; they looked to add some stability by hiring the legendary Stars coach Ken Hitchcock.
The Defense
Hitchcock only agreed to coaching the Stars for one season where they narrowly missed the playoffs, but what Hitchcock started that year would lead the Stars away from the offensive powerhouse they were and change them into a “lockdown defense” team.
From the 2018-2019 season to the 2021-2022 season the Stars were led by Jim Montgomery and Rick Bowness. Both of the coaches fully bought into the defensive game that Hitchcock had started there.
Through those 4 seasons the Stars finished in the top 10 in “goals against” 3 times, getting 2nd in the league in both seasons that Montgomery coached in. (He was dismissed from the team in the middle of his second season) At the same time these teams finished in the bottom half of “goals for” all 4 seasons. They got as low as the 3rd worst offense in the league. (A season where they still somehow made the playoffs)
As you can see, this team could not find the right mix. If you could just be top 10 in both of these categories, or top 5 in one and top 15 in another, you would be in a good spot to contend for a cup. This year they’ve done it.
The New Dallas Stars
Pete DeBoer and the Stars are 2nd in the league in “goals for” with 110 only 4 goals behind the best team in hockey the Bruins at 114. At the same time they are also 7th in the league in “goals against” with 82. If the Stars finish the season in the same spots it would be the first time they finish in the top 10 in both categories since the 2007-2008 season.
After years of searching it appears that the Stars have finally found the right mix of offense and defense to lead them to continued success. A lot of the credit should go to coach DeBoer for how well he has brought these two aspects of the Stars game together so quickly.
