2026-2027 NHL team preview: Dallas Stars

LAST SEASON

It would have been tough for anyone to survive erstwhile Dallas Stars head coach Peter DeBoer’s ham-handed scapegoating of star goalie Jake Oettinger after the Stars’ 2025 playoff exit. If you squint, you can still see the tire marks on Oettinger’s sweater. You got the feeling, though, that GM Jim Nill was just looking for a reason to can DeBoer, even after a third-consecutive Western Conference Final berth. For Nill, who had eschewed his uber-patient roster-building approach to trade for superstar Mikko Rantanen just a few months earlier, almost winning was no longer good enough. 

Enter Glen Gulutzan, the perfectly coiffed Edmonton assistant whose Oilers’ power play tore the Stars to ribbons in back-to-back third-round meetings from 2024-25. The success of DeBoer behind the bench meant Gulutzan’s second stint as Dallas’s head coach (Gulutzan spent an unmemorable two-season run at the helm of the rebuilding Stars from 2011-13) would be measured by Cups and Cups alone. 

It also meant that no one lined up to give Gulutzan credit for Dallas’s sizzling power play (28.6%, 2nd) or the Stars’ third-overall finish (112 points) despite serious injuries to Rantanen, Roope Hintz, and Matt Duchene, among others. Dallas had to win it all or get darn close to call itself a success. For a team so deep into its title window, another failed trip to the WCF would have been only marginally more comforting than their actual postseason result: a flat, six-game loss in the first round to a bitter rival, the Minnesota Wild.

This summer, the major business of keeping 45-goal sniper Jason Robertson in Texas for at least another season took up all of Nill’s energy and cap space; the decorated executive had to punt on promising young center Mavrik Bourque just to keep the rest of the band together. With no more coaching changes or superstar swings readily apparent in the tea leaves, Dallas is left to hope an uncharacteristically long summer of rest is enough to make yet another Cup or Bust season count.

KEY ADDITIONS & DEPARTURES

Additions

Joel Kiviranta, LW

Departures

Michael Bunting, LW (UFA)
Alexander Petrovic, D (FLA)
Nathan Bastian, RW (UFA)
Adam Erne, LW (UFA)

OFFENSE

The power play led by franchise wingers Rantanen (7th in regular-season scoring since 2021) and Robertson (ninth) paced the NHL in total production (71 goals). Go figure. Rantanen’s ability to draw extra with his massive frame left plenty of room for Robertson (15, T-7th) to pick corners from the left dot. Slick young centerman Wyatt Johnston, meanwhile, led the team (and the league) with 27 tallies on the man advantage. Johnston’s ability to tip pucks in has become Pavelski-esque, and he and Robertson alone combined for more power-play markers (42) than seven different teams. 

Despite the heavy ordinance that fired their power play to soaring heights, the Stars only managed a middling 16th-place finish in even-strength scoring and finished 26th in five-on-five scoring chances. That hole in their game grew into a yawning chasm during their ill-fated playoff matchup with Minnesota; at one point, the Stars went 254 consecutive minutes without an even-strength goal in the series. Dallas’s inability to win a fair fight despite all its, er, star power has to change if it expects to bring home the Cup in 2027, and that starts with Johnston.

Asking for more of a 23-year-old who just canned 41 goals may seem bold, but Johnston’s 18 goals at even strength were a new career low. Johnston still cashed in on an impressive 14.16% of his five-on-five looks, but there just weren’t enough of them for the fourth-year sniper; his 5.61 shots/60 ranked 221st among 351 forwards with 600+ minutes at 5-on-5. Nominally the triggerman of his duo with Rantanen (24 G, 77 P in 64 GP), Johnston has to get pucks on goal for their sizzling power play chemistry to carry over at even strength.

Beyond continued growth from Johnston, the easiest way for Dallas to live up to its billing on offense would be to stay healthy. Hintz, a quick, relentless puck hound whose chemistry with Robertson has become telepathic, missed 29 games and the entire Wild series. Matt Duchene and Jamie Benn still score with elite efficiency in their old age, but sat for 25 and 22 games, respectively. Fellow old-timer Tyler Seguin has played just 47 games over the past two seasons after hip surgery in 2024 and an ACL tear last year. If the Stars’ early exit from the 2026 postseason helps keep them whole in 2026-27, maybe it will end up being a blessing in disguise. 

On the back end, Thomas Harley’s luck was just as rotten as any of Dallas’s oft-injured forwards. Earmarked for stardom after consecutive seasons in the 15-goal, 50-point range, Harley took some time to get up to speed after an ineffective, injury-hit first half. Six goals and 36 points undersell the dynamic defender, who will have a point to prove after his reported involvement in a nixed trade for Zach Werenski. A bounce-back year from the Team Canada puck mover would reestablish Harley and the brilliant Miro Heiskanen as one of the most dangerous one-two punches on any NHL blue line.

DEFENSE

Gulutzan may have come on board with a power-play background, but his decision to switch Dallas to a zone defense was perhaps the greatest success of his first year back in Texas. A team with high skill and low physicality doesn’t usually emerge as a defensive juggernaut. The Stars did just that, finishing with the second-ranked scoring defense and the seventh-fewest expected goals against in the NHL.

The well-weathered top unit of Heiskanen and fellow Finn Esa Lindell was especially well-suited to Dallas’s new approach of keeping its defensemen tight to the netfront area, using their active sticks and keen instincts to allow the sixth-fewest expected goals per 60 of any pair with over 500 five-on-five minutes. Lindell’s no-nonsense game has often earned him consideration among the league’s elite shutdown options, but Heiskanen’s excellent offense should not keep him out of those conversations; he is as complete a defenseman as you will watch.

Harley didn’t initially fare as well in Gulutzan’s pucks-to-the-outside scheme. He labored through an apparent injury in the early months while his unit with the since-traded Ilya Lyubushkin got clobbered. Gulutzan responded by giving former New York Rangers’ first-rounder Nils Lundkvist a long-awaited chance to click with Harley, and the duo’s +10 rating as a unit after Harley returned from a lower-body injury in December helped shore up an imbalanced top four. A slight, puck-moving type who provides little offense, Lundkvist isn’t a highlight reel sort of player. Still, his value was more apparent than ever after a skate cut ended his playoff run; Dallas didn’t win another game. Expect the Swede to blow away last season’s career high in average ice time (16:29). 

Though veteran Tyler Myers was overexposed after Lundkvist’s injury, he still allowed the Stars to ice one of the burliest pairings in league history. Clubs are always looking for big, mean crease cleaners to soak up defensive starts on their third pairs, and they don’t get bigger than Myers (6’8, 229 lbs) and young Lian Bichsel (6’7, 237 lbs). Bichsel saw his sophomore year interrupted by injury (I’m sensing a theme here), but still developed solid rapport with his veteran partner (54.14% xGF as a unit) after the latter was acquired from the Vancouver Canucks at the deadline. Myers was a reliable minutes eater in his younger days, and Bichsel will be before long, which should make them overqualified to handle 15 minutes a night.

Despite Dallas’s stellar defensive metrics, a light forecheck meant they didn’t dominate the play-driving battle like some of their neighbors near the top of the standings. Hintz and Robertson are stellar two-way players, but, despite the best efforts of hard workers including Steel, Hryckowian, and veteran pivot Radek Faksa, the rest of the Stars too often find themselves outmuscled in battles. 

GOALTENDING

Remember when a vocal minority of onlookers wondered if Jake Oettinger might wrest the Team USA crease from Connor Hellebuyck in time for the 2026 Winter Olympics? Now, the better question might be whether ‘Otter’ is still the Central Division’s runner-up between the pipes. Minnesota’s Jesper Wallstedt vanquished Oettinger’s Stars in the playoffs, and Scott Wedgewood of the Colorado Avalanche is in the midst of a Sean Burke-esque late-career star turn.

Oettinger has been far more consistent over his career than Wedgewood and is infinitely more experienced than Wallstedt in a workhorse role. Still, the fact that there’s even room for debate suggests his star has lost some luster since his brilliant, doomed coming-out party against the Calgary Flames in 2022. At least 25 NHL teams would trade the farm for a 27-year-old, 6’6 netminder who banks 30 wins a season like clockwork, but Oettinger’s metamorphosis into a perennial Vezina finalist has stalled a bit.

Don’t go selling your stock just yet, though. If anyone can benefit from Dallas’s spring vacation, it’s the guy who played 69 extra games at the sport’s most taxing position from 2022 through last season. Oettinger should have a chip on his shoulder after his save percentage (.899) dipped near the league average of .896 and he lost his spot as Team USA’s preferred backup to Jeremy Swayman of the Boston Bruins. He’s capable of so much more behind the Stars’ water-tight defense, and he’ll be eager to prove it in 2026-27.

Oettinger’s backup Casey DeSmith has quietly emerged as one of the league’s more reliable second options since touching down in Dallas two years ago (2.50 GAA, .911 SV% in 57 GP for DAL). A 35-year-old who stands just six feet even, DeSmith has never been cut out for a starter’s workload. Still, his recent success should earn DeSmith a raise on his expiring $1.05 million cap hit, whether in Texas or elsewhere.

COACHING

Gulutzan’s job this season might not be easy, but it sure is simple. His Stars were impenetrable on defense and unstoppable on the power play, but their even-strength attack was a slog that would make Lou Lamoriello blush. Attacking in waves the way they did in the early DeBoer era could send the Stars over the top. Can they do it without sacrificing the defensive structure that sent them soaring past the 110-point mark? That will be the question that defines the second year of Gulutzan’s second bite of the apple in the DFW Metroplex until the Stars get their chance to avenge their sheepish 2026 playoff exit, at least.

Gulutzan’s job security probably won’t come under scrutiny until at least next spring, but if an unforeseen implosion is on the cards, the name you’ll want to watch is Neil Graham’s. A successful AHL coach who assisted an NHL bench for the first time last season, Graham has worked closely with Harley, Hryckowian, and Bischel, among others. 

Alain Nasreddine remains on board for a fifth season as the dutiful steward of Dallas’s defensive structure, and could pop up in head coaching searches if last season’s success holds. Nasreddine coached the New Jersey Devils to a 19-16-8 mark as interim bench boss in 2019-20.

ROOKIES

For years, the Stars’ reputation for drafting and developing high-end prospects without the benefit of premium picks was matched only by the Carolina Hurricanes. Dallas’s recent aggressiveness on the trade market has run that well dry, though. Hryckowian’s success as a 24-year-old rookie suggests a front office that still has an eye for a hidden gem, but the odds they find another diamond in the rough next season are long.

Four of Dallas’s top ten prospects are expected to start the season with AHL Texas, so a debut or two could be on the cards if an injury crisis like last season’s hits. First-round pick Emil Hemming is a big kid who can bring muscle to the bottom-six even if it takes him time to provide offense in the pros, and Tristan Bertucci came along nicely as an all-around blue liner in the American last season.

The Stars will take things slow with both skaters, along with no-frills right-shot defenseman Aram Minnetian, if they have any choice in the matter, though. The likeliest call-up by default is goaltender Remi Poirier, who will step into a backup role if an injury shelves one of DeSmith or Oettinger for any length of time. Poirier is an athletic 24-year-old who played well in 52 AHL starts last season. The Stars could stand to evaluate him in the show before his waiver eligibility runs out.

BURNING QUESTIONS

1. How much will Robertson’s next contract hurt? If the offseason was any indication, Jason Robertson intends to play out his career in green and black. ‘Robbo’ spurned what was undoubtedly a life-changing offer sheet for the chance to win. In today’s cap environment, his one-year, $12-million contract was a steal. Nill owes Robertson big time for risking his big payday and will likely make the sniper a very rich man in the next eight months. It’s Cup or Bust every year in Dallas. But committing to Robertson with a $16-million+ AAV would give them a hard deadline of sorts in 2029, when a Heiskanen extension will drop another H bomb on their cap sheet.

2. What’s left of Tyler Seguin? Speaking of cap hits, Seguin’s, which runs the Stars just under $10 million, comes off the books in July. The star-crossed center has missed nearly three entire seasons of his ill-fated big-ticket deal with injuries, but Dallas still needs him for his faceoff acumen, leadership, and scoring pop as the likely third man on the Hintz line. It doesn’t feel like too long ago when Seguin, Duchene, and the since-traded Mason Marchment were the league’s best third line. If the one-time next big thing can turn back the clock with ~60 points and a big playoff run, he’ll be worth every penny. If the Stars stash him on the LTIR before the new year for the third-straight season, though, he’ll go down as another excellent player whose later career was defined by an anchor contract. 

3. How will we remember Jamie Benn? Seguin’s legacy is intertwined with that of captain Jamie Benn. The duo’s free-scoring ways gave Dallas fans something to cheer for during the club’s dark ages before they grew into the elder statesmen of the Stars’ second golden age. Where Seguin has matured from a wild-eyed kid into a model citizen, though, Benn has gone from the NHL’s most effective ruffian to its most hated player, full stop. Some fans have come to appreciate Brad Marchand’s villainy in his old age. Others dismiss Tkachuk fatigue as jealousy. Benn is afforded no such grace. You wonder how his iron grip on the ‘C’ sits in his home market when his diving ways so starkly contrasted with the stately leadership of Joe Pavelski. They still do with the unflappable poise of Heiskanen. This could be Benn’s last ride. Whether it ends with him accepting the Stanley Cup from Gary Bettman will go a long way toward determining his place in the game’s history. 

PREDICTION

The Colorado Avalanche are the NHL’s top team on paper, and many of those in the know are forecasting a meteoric rise for the up-and-coming Utah Mammoth. Add in a top-heavy Wild team, and you have to wonder if Dallas could end up the odd man out for the Central Division’s automatic playoff berths.

Don’t. Dallas finished one point shy of the Stanley Cup champion, Eastern Conference-leading Carolina Hurricanes in the standings and pushed the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Avs for the top overall seed deep into the regular season. All this despite a down year from Oettinger, an obscene injury record, and a punchless even-strength attack. If they fix even two of those issues (they should fix all three), the Stars will finish in the top two of their division for the fifth-straight season. The true measure of success won’t be taken until the Stanley Cup Playoffs are through, though.