What’s Next for the Dallas Stars?
After a brutal Game Five loss during the Western Conference Finals that sent the Stars home during the Stanley Cup Finals, many are wondering what’s next for the team. Between their star goalie being pulled in the first period, high-scoring players from the regular season hardly seeing a single point across all three rounds, and overall questionable decisions being made from the coaching staff and players, it’s clearly time to reanalyze. Going into the offseason, the Stars need to look at their team and staff and consider the best moves to make if they want to make it to the finals next year. Here’s a look at some of the potential moves and decisions for the Dallas Stars before the 2025-2026 season begins.
Unfortunately for the Stars, they only have $4.9 million in cap space available. Several of their key players, including Jamie Benn and Matt Duchene, are entering free agency this summer. This could be a serious hit to the Stars as these players will most likely be requiring significant raises that the team doesn’t have space for in their budget. The team has also been trading draft picks in exchanges for players throughout the season, meaning that they have a weakened ability to acquire prospective players. While they have a pretty strong group of young players signed on for the next season and likely to stick around, it’s no secret that there are doubts about the team’s defense, and if it can measure up.
The Stars were eliminated during the Western Conference finals for the third year in a row. Naturally, this was upsetting for both fans of the team and many players and staff. This means that this post-season is going to be a difficult one. The Stars are going to have to make plenty of difficult decisions. Who stays? Who goes? Who do we bring in? The team will likely have to look at potential buyouts to work around their limited cap space. Since the team needs to add some talent in order to strengthen its defence, expanding its budget would be incredibly useful. They’re going to have to be very strategic with these decisions. While they should be using their cap space wisely and trading players as they see fit, they should also aim to keep the young core intact if they want to be successful in the upcoming season. The summer will not be easy for Dallas, but if they do it right, they can come back stronger than before.
