Dallas Stars look to future with solid foundation in place
When he sits back in his easy chair and analyzes this season as a whole, Dallas Stars coach Lindy Ruff said he is comfortable with what his team was able to accomplish this season.
Not only did the Stars reach the playoffs for only the second time in the past eight years, they also posted the best record in the Western Conference at 50-23-9 and the second-best record in the NHL.
In addition, the Stars won a playoff series — in six games over Minnesota in the opening round — for the first time since reaching the conference finals in 2008 after winning series over Anaheim and San Jose.
“Well, we put together a heck of a year,” said Ruff during the team’s exit interviews Friday. “I think first and foremost, we looked at some areas we wanted to improve in. [We] improved and we moved forward and we ended up in a real good place in a tough division, and ended up one game away from advancing.”
I really believe we’ve got one of the top cores in the league.
Stars general manager Jim Nill
After their first-round series win against Minnesota, the Stars won a tough Game 6 in the second round in St. Louis to tie that best-of-seven series at 3-3. They twice failed to protect a home-ice advantage and were blown out 6-1 by the Blues in Game 7 on Wednesday, ending their season.
Despite missing the playoffs last season, the Stars have been to the postseason in two of the three years since Jim Nill became the team’s general manager. With a team built around captain Jamie Benn, forwards Tyler Seguin, Jason Spezza, Patrick Sharp and defenseman John Klingberg, the Stars believe the foundation is set for the long haul.
“I really believe we’ve got one of the top cores in the league,” Nill said. “The players we have, what they’ve done, you look at their personal success and the team success that has gone along with it, you look at the age of the core, I believe the Dallas Stars are in a great spot.”
While some Stars agree they have to crawl before they can walk, they also believe they probably would still be playing if they had the services of Tyler Seguin.
We would not, and I’ll say it again, we would not have gotten to Game 7 [against the Blues] if it wasn’t for the play of our goalies in Game 6.
Stars coach Lindy Ruff
After missing the final 10 games of the regular season with a cut left Achilles tendon, Seguin only played in one game of the playoffs before he was sidelined with a calf injury.
“It was probably the toughest time in my career,” Seguin said. “It was two months of trying to find a fine line between supporting the guys and also not being a distraction and making sure they can do their jobs.”
Goalies Kari Lehtonen and Antti Niemi were solid this season in their platoon system. Lehtonen was 25-10-2 and Niemi posted a 25-13-7 record.
“We would not, and I’ll say it again, we would not have gotten to Game 7 [against the Blues] if it wasn’t for the play of our goalies in Game 6,” Ruff said. “We used two guys the whole year. They were comfortable with it. It might have been the reason we got to where we got to. It’s not the reason we lost.”
The Stars have eight free agents and will likely lose some players over the off-season.
“Another way to look at it is we had such a great group and went through so much here together and made some big strides,” said Benn, who is seeking an contract extension. “It’s tough to learn that some guys in that room won’t be back.”
Dwain Price: 817-390-7760, @dwainprice
This story was originally published May 13, 2016 at 6:37 PM with the headline "Dallas Stars look to future with solid foundation in place."