Believe in believe: Stars seek quick reset ahead of Game 2 vs. Wild

The Ted Lasso “BELIEVE” sign is more than just a memorable TV placard.

Like good fiction, it is based firmly in fact. Like great storytelling, the message goes beyond the neighborhood in which it resides.

The Ted Lasso show features an American football coach taking over an English Premier League soccer team and finding a way to show that the human part of sports is just as important as the athletic side. In truth, it is a bizarre concept that should be laughable. But by going through the steps and the stories and the drama, you start to believe in “BELIEVE.”

You start to trust that these characters really do come together, that by stepping outside their own comfort zones, by learning the problems of others, they find a new part of themselves.

The Stars have been like that this year.

By changing the coaching staff, Jim Nill hoped to change the message. The GM was obviously reacting to the problems that popped up between Pete DeBoer and the players after last year’s playoff loss, but he also saw the opportunity to instill a different kind of culture. As a long-time assistant, new head coach Glen Gulutzan is more collaborative. As a “nice guy,” he is more personable. And his ideas have taken hold this year, as well.

When the 54-year-old came in with his “One Degree More” philosophy, it was built on what he saw as an assistant coach in Edmonton. He wanted this team to be more physical, more intense, just tougher – both mentally and physically. He has accomplished that task. When he set out to make that change, he imagined a place where those beliefs would be “sewn into the fabric” of this team’s jerseys.

That part, well, is still a work in progress.

But the concept is a good one. Gulutzan said you can’t just react to a physical game or a physical series. You can’t just be motivated by the results. The process has to be natural, and it has been for this team at times this year.

In games against Edmonton, Colorado and Minnesota, the intensity and physicality bubbled up because the team was playing its game against heated rivals. When players like Justin Hryckowian or Mavrik Bourque or Jason Robertson have gotten under the skin of opponents, it’s because they are doing the hard things every shift.

That’s why Game 1’s 6-1 loss to Minnesota on Saturday was so confusing and disappointing. That was not the Gulutzan Way, to paraphrase Ted Lasso. That was not a team that trusted each other. That was not a team that “believed” in each other – at least not to the extent that it seemed stitched in their sweaters.

So now is the time to tape that old “BELIEVE” sign back together and give it a figurative tap as you head on the ice for Game 2 on Monday.

The irony of this whole story is that so much of that belief was built under DeBoer. His style helped engineer those comebacks. His calm intensity helped the Stars understand the pressure, and there is obviously something to his Game 7 history.

That said, this is a different team, this is a different fabric. Gulutzan has worked hard to sew and darn and loom all of these players into the blanket they are now. He has not only demanded a certain amount of truculence, but he has listened to them and implemented their ideas.

Collaboration.

So when the Stars are playing their best hockey, they are a bit unstructured, a bit free-wheeling. Gulutzan calls it pond hockey, and he has been an advocate of it since training camp. Why have one of the deepest rosters in terms of hockey IQ if you’re not going to use it? Why stand in the way when players are on the ice trying to solve problems in unique ways?

Gulutzan is a fan of the Stoics, a group of philosophers from ancient Greece and Rome who developed a way of thinking that is still followed today. Among the tenets of the Stoic way is: “We Don’t Control External Events, We Only Control Our Thoughts, Opinions, Decisions and Duties.” It’s basically a way of life that values the mind and honors its power.

The “BELIEVE” sign fits in well with that. It implies that your fate is in your hands, that you can overcome significant odds to achieve the goal you are seeking.

The Lads in Victory Green have been building that mental strength all season, and now is the time to use it. Whether that’s through a fiery speech, a sign on a wall, or just the simple trust built between friends and teammates over 82 games, they need to find that BELIEF.

This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.

Mike Heika is a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on X @MikeHeika.