{"id":279366,"date":"2025-10-05T11:19:12","date_gmt":"2025-10-05T11:19:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/279366\/"},"modified":"2025-10-05T11:19:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-05T11:19:12","slug":"dallas-stars-head-into-nhls-central-division-gauntlet-through-the-season-and-playoffs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/279366\/","title":{"rendered":"Dallas Stars head into NHL\u2019s Central Division gauntlet through the season and playoffs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mikko Rantanen was a staple for Colorado, helping the Avalanche win the Stanley Cup<\/a> as part of his dominant decade in Denver. Then, all of a sudden last winter he was gone<\/a>, traded to Carolina and by spring back in the division<\/a> with bitter rival Dallas<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomeone was like, \u2018Yeah, we might be like getting Rantanen,\u2019 and we\u2019re like: \u2018What are you talking about? Like, there\u2019s no way,\u2019\u201d Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger<\/a> recalled. \u201cThen all of a sudden the guy you hate is walking into the dressing room and you\u2019re all like, \u2018Oh.\u2019 And then he\u2019s just a great guy and a great teammate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rantanen now plays<\/a> deep in the heart of Texas for the Stars, who have made three consecutive trips to the Western Conference Final. His former team has Gabriel Landeskog back healthy<\/a> after the long-term captain missed three years with a chronic knee injury<\/a>. And Winnipeg hasn\u2019t changed much from the group that was the best in the NHL<\/a> last season, making the Central an unending gauntlet from October through the playoffs, with at least three Stanley Cup contenders at the top.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnless you win the Cup, it\u2019s a failure,\u201d said Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck, who won the Vezina Trophy as well as the Hart as MVP. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter how far you make it. You\u2019re always looking for what\u2019s going to get you to the next step, and that\u2019s where we are now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sports Roundup<\/p>\n

Get the latest D-FW sports news, analysis and opinion delivered straight to your inbox. Plus, Kevin Sherrington’s A La Carte.<\/p>\n

By signing up, you agree to our\u00a0Terms of Service<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n

On the rise<\/p>\n

Colorado\u2019s point total has declined from 119 points during the championship season to 109, 107 and 102, but two-time Norris Trophy-winning defenseman and 2022 playoff MVP<\/a> Cale Makar isn\u2019t bothered. Landeskog is back, Nathan MacKinnon and Makar remain two of the top five players in the league and the Avalanche believe they\u2019ve found their goalie in Mackenzie Blackwood.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going into this year with \u2014 as of right now, knock on wood \u2014 fully healthy,\u201d Makar said. \u201cThere\u2019s no question marks with anything. … Just as a collective whole, I think it\u2019s a completely different feel with our organization and the excitement that\u2019s around us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dallas has a new coach<\/a>, Glen Gulutzan, after firing Peter DeBoer<\/a> following a rough end to the most recent trip to the West final when he abruptly pulled Oettinger<\/a> and seemed to pin outsized blame on the franchise netminder. Oettinger says the Stars are full of confidence about getting over the hump.<\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

\"Dallas<\/p>\n

Just getting to the playoffs would be momentous for the Utah Mammoth in their first season with that name<\/a> and second in Salt Lake City since relocating from Arizona<\/a>. The young core of captain Clayton Keller, fellow forward Logan Cooley and defenseman Mikhail Sergachev got a boost with an offseason acquisition of two-time 25-goal-scorer JJ Peterka<\/a> and the Mammoth look capable of taking a big step forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cEach year, we\u2019ve kind of gotten a bit better and realized how hard it is to win and how just tough it is make it, year in and year out,\u201d Keller said. \u201cIt\u2019s an exciting time, and I think we\u2019re all ready for that challenge and I really think JJ is going to help us out.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the decline<\/p>\n

Winnipeg has nowhere to go but down in the regular season after winning the Presidents\u2019 Trophy with 116 points on 56 wins. The Jets should still be one of the NHL\u2019s best.<\/p>\n

Chicago is expected to struggle in 2023 No. 1 pick Connor Bedard\u2019s third season. The good news: There are some exciting young players around him, from forward Frank Nazar<\/a> to defenseman Artyom Levshunov and the Blackhawks hope Spencer Knight<\/a> is their solution in net. It will take more time \u2014 especially with the salary cap<\/a> rising \u2014 to improve<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Nashville general manager Barry Trotz joked at the start of training camp he was hoping the Predators would prove preseason expectations wrong<\/a> a third time in a row. Two years ago that was a good thing when they made the playoffs and not so much in 2024-25 when they were a massive bust following a free agent spending spree<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe started gelling and started playing more team hockey by the end of the season, so we once last season ended, I think everyone was just hitching to get a clean slate,\u201d said Brady Skjei, who was one of those additions on a seven-year, $49 million contract. \u201cWe really got to start off on the right foot this year and have a great start \u2014 kind of get that swagger back that we\u2019ve known a lot of us have had in the past.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the hot seat<\/p>\n

Predators coach Andrew Brunette\u2019s job could be on the line if his team does not get off to a good start. Then again, so could Trotz\u2019s if ownership decides he should be back behind the bench instead of running the front office.<\/p>\n

Likewise, if Utah does not show growth, Andr\u00e9 Tourigny\u2019s seat could be getting warmer. For now, he is safe.<\/p>\n

Predicted order of finish<\/p>\n

Colorado, Dallas, Winnipeg, St. Louis, Utah, Minnesota, Nashville, Chicago.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>Dallas Stars get late goal to finish off preseason with a win over the Colorado Avalanche<\/a><\/p>\n

Colin Blackwell scored the go-ahead goal with a little over four minutes left in Saturday\u2019s game.<\/p>\n

\"Dallas<\/a>Edmonton Oilers are still the class of NHL\u2019s Pacific Division for everyone else to chase<\/a><\/p>\n

Led by Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, the Oilers are still the division\u2019s team to beat after two Stanley Cup Final appearances.<\/p>\n

\"Colorado<\/a>How to watch the Dallas Stars play the Colorado Avalanche in their preseason finale<\/a><\/p>\n

Dallas, which has gone 4-1 in the preseason, is looking to avenge its only loss, a 4-1 defeat to the Avs on Sept. 27.<\/p>\n

Find more Stars coverage from <\/b>The Dallas Morning News<\/b> here<\/b><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mikko Rantanen was a staple for Colorado, helping the Avalanche win the Stanley Cup as part of his…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":279367,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5135],"tags":[5229,347,1596,1320,24883,123519,71991,293,62,4810,358,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-279366","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-article","10":"tag-dallas","11":"tag-dallas-stars","12":"tag-glen-gulutzan","13":"tag-jake-oettinger","14":"tag-mikko-rantanen","15":"tag-nhl","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-stars","18":"tag-texas","19":"tag-tx","20":"tag-united-states","21":"tag-united-states-of-america","22":"tag-unitedstates","23":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","24":"tag-us","25":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115321291692984805","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=279366"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279366\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/279367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}