No team needed a break more than the Dallas Stars, whose bizarre season continues
Dallas Stars captain Jamie Benn spent his coronavirus break pretty much like everyone else.
He cut his own hair. Twice.
He and the few teammates who were in town, including forward Tyler Seguin and goalie Ben Bishop, would convene at his gym, located all the way in his back yard.
And, “I started painting for fun,” Benn said Monday on a Zoom call with reporters. “You can only watch so much TV and Netflix and movies.”
Amen.
On Monday, the Dallas Stars returned to practice at their facility in Frisco since the NHL season stopped in March. Their last game was March 10.
No team “needed” a break more than the Dallas Stars. No team should benefit from a break more than the Dallas Stars.
“The break in our season, it [came] at a pretty good time,” Benn said. “I think it gave our group a chance to regroup and rejuvenate.”
No NHL team has had a more bizarre season than the locals. They started the season by losing eight of their first nine games, even though they were projected to be a contender in the Western Conference.
Their head coach quit, and later admitted he is battling alcoholism.
The Stars rallied to win a memorable Winter Classic at the Cotton Bowl against the Nashville Predators on New Year’s Day.
By the end of February, the Stars were one of the best teams in the NHL with a 37-20-6 record. Then they went on a six-game losing streak.
Then the world stopped.
The first practice back featured a head coach, Rick Bowness, who kept mostly to himself, and remained at a distance from his players, because they are all waiting COVID-19 test results.
As expected, defenseman Roman Polak did not attend. He is one of the few players opting not to play in the NHL’s 24-team completion of the season.
The Stars’ first game back is scheduled for Aug. 3 against the Vegas Golden Knights in Edmonton, Alberta.
The Stars’ qualified for the “round robin” part of the NHL’s playoff relaunch, and will play a total of three games before proceeding to their playoff opponent.
The question now is when the teams return to play, will it be more like a start to a 2020-’21 season? Or will be it a continuation of the 2019-’20 season?
“I don’t expect that [it will be like the start of the regular season],” Benn said. “I think we’re going to see pretty close to playoff hockey as usual.”
Count him as an optimist.
“It’s been a long time off as we all know; we will scrimmage as much as we can,” Stars coach Rick Bowness said. “Play will be ‘scrambly’ like in October from a September training camp. The intensity won’t be of an October. The intensity will be playoff.”
Depending on what point in time the Stars’ pick up, they should be in good shape to win a series or two.
They have the goalie in Ben Bishop. They are one of the best defensive teams in the league, and rank second in goals allowed per game.
The concern today is the same as it was back in March: Scoring. The Stars don’t do a lot of it, and rank 26th in the NHL in goals per game.
And no one knows how an NHL game played on neutral ice in an empty arena in Edmonton, or in the NHL’s other bubble of Toronto, is exactly going to affect the play.
“I think the first couple of shifts it’s going to be, ‘Wow, this is quiet. This is dead,’” Bowness said. “You’ll have to give them some time to get used to it. Initially it’s going to be awkward. You’re going to have to create that atmosphere.”
And no one knows how this is all going to work when the teams arrive, and start playing.
They all know it just beats watching another episode of Netflix.
This story was originally published July 14, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
