5 Stanley Cup playoff teams from 2019 that won’t clinch in 2020
By Kyle McKenna
2. Dallas Stars
They shocked everyone with their play during the 2019 Stanley Cup playoffs.
Yes, the Dallas Stars.
The team that snuck into the postseason and managed to upset the Nashville Predators in the first round. In fact, the Stars were one overtime goal away from eliminating the eventual 2019 Stanley Cup champion, the St. Louis Blues, during the second round of last year’s playoffs.
Dallas established the fair argument that it could finally answer its critics and turned the page to being a legit Stanley Cup contender after last spring’s performance. Still, as Thanksgiving nears, the Stars appear to have taken a step backward.
Head coach Jim Montgomery seemed flustered recently when he addressed the media about the state of his team, and Dallas’ superstars on offense in Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn haven’t produced anywhere close to what they normally do.
The Stars’ roster has the talent to turn things around, but you can’t stress enough that the parity in the NHL could impact Dallas for the worse.
Surprise teams this season such as the Vancouver Canucks and Arizona Coyotes haven’t shown signs that they’re pretenders, which presents an unexpected element to impact Western Conference teams such as Dallas’ bidding for a playoff spot.
Teams can always improve at the trade deadline, and fans would have to imagine that Dallas would go after a couple of skaters via trade to help turn around its playoff hopes.
Still, this group has proven to be inconsistent and NHL fans alike shouldn’t expect, nor be surprised, when the Stars don’t clinch a berth in the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs.