Stars’ drive to playoffs temporarily grounded

By David Mullen

Like the new Tormenta Rampaging Run, opening in March at Six Flags over Texas, the Dallas Stars 2025-26 season has been a rollercoaster ride. Unlike Tormenta, the season thus far has not come close to dropping 309 feet at 87 miles per hour like the theme park’s new state-of-the art attraction promises. The Stars remain one of the NHL’s best teams under head coach Glen Gulutzan.

Dallas enters the three-week pause in the NHL season for the Olympic Games on a six-game winning streak. No team wants to stop playing when they are on a roll, but this team could use a rest. 

“It’s nice because it buys you some peace on the break,” Gulutzan recently told the Associated Press. “But I do know that these streaks, that much of a break, you’ve got to try to start them back up again. It’s almost like they end because it’s all new when you come back.”

Professional hockey players are allowed to participate in the Olympic Games. One more thing to blame on Russia. But not all Stars will have nearly a month to rest and heal. 

Seven Stars have headed to the Milan Cortina Olympics. Mikko Rantanen, Roope Hintz, Esa Lindel and Miro Heiskanen joined the Finnish national team. Stars GM Jim Nill has assembled Team Canada, which includes defenseman Thomas Harley. Center Radek Faksa will play for the Czech Republic and goalie Jake Oettinger will represent Team USA, although Winnipeg Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck is expected to get the lion’s share of time between the pipes.

The Stars should come back stronger for the long playoff charge. They are the only area sports team with a salient chance of bringing Dallas a championship in 2026. The Dallas Mavericks are in shambles and all but assured of missing the playoffs for the second consecutive year after a place in the NBA Finals in 2024. One more thing to blame on Nico Harrison. 

With the Rangers gathering in Surprise, Ariz. for spring training, hope springs eternal. But the Rangers will have a much different roster than the 2023 World Series Champions and face difficult opposition within the AL West and the American League as a whole.

The Dallas Cowboys have the same GM heading into the 2026 season. Expect another year with a potent offense and Swiss cheese defense. “All hat, no cattle” as they say around these parts. The Seattle Seahawks proved the importance of an aggressive defense by wiping out the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LX on February 8. The Stars are the area’s best hope for a 2026 championship.

The Stars enter the break with 77 points (34-14-9) and has the third best record in the Western Conference behind the Colorado Avalanche (88 points) and Minnesota Wild (78). All three teams reside in the Central Division. If Dallas was in the Pacific Division, they would lead by nine points.

Dallas began the season winning their first three games, then lost four in a row before bouncing back with a three-game win streak. The Stars have one four in a row three times and lost six in a row during a brutal late December and early January stretch. The rollercoaster rides have been short, but the Stars are the type of team that can quickly move to the front of the line.

Rantanen, in his first full season in Dallas, leads the club with 69 points (20 goals, 49 assists). Jason Robertson, a 2026 Team USA snub, leads Dallas with 32 goals. The Stars possess an effective power play. Only the Edmonton Oilers and the Tampa Bay Lightning are statistically better. Stars 22-year-old center Wyatt Johnston leads the NHL with 18 power play goals. 

Despite some twists and turns, the immediate future is bright for the Stars. Fifteen of their remaining 25 games are at the AAC. Dallas still has three games left with Colorado and two games with the Wild. 

Defenseman Lian Bichsel, the Stars 6-foot-7-inch, 2022 first round draft pick (18th overall) is expected to return to the ice after the Olympics break and provide much needed support for an overworked defensive squad. The return of center Tyler Seguin, a Dallas Stars mainstay for a dozen years, will be evaluated after the break. Seguin is recovering from ACL surgery.

At times, Dallas has looked like a championship team. At other times, they have been flat, which can be largely attributed to injuries, an outmanned defense and the grind of an 82-game regular season. They return to the ice at the AAC against the Seattle Kraken on Wednesday, Feb. 25, aiming to maintain consistent, high-quality hockey and build on their six-game win streak. One of their teammates may even return with a gold medal.

The Stars hope to hoist the Lord Stanley Cup in June and drop — like a rollercoaster — a second NHL Championship flag from the rafters of the American Airlines Center. Spring hockey in Dallas should be a scream.