First Shift 🏒
After an offseason of studying analytics and trends, Glen Gulutzan and the Dallas Stars coaching staff wanted to improve breakouts, increase puck possession and score more goals.
Two games into the 2026-27 campaign, they have accomplished none of that.
It’s early, and losses to division rivals St. Louis and Nashville are hardly alarming, but Dallas needs to start turning things around Monday against San Jose or the concern level will only grow.
The Stars have one goal so far and have not really created the scoring chances they were looking for. Just as worrisome, they have been inconsistent in several areas of the game.
“I don’t think we’ve executed at the level we need to through the first two games - certainly on the offensive side of the puck,” Gulutzan said. “Some of the defensive stuff, it actually looks pretty tight. It’s just on the offensive side of the puck. I don’t think D, forwards, are as polished as we need to be right now. We’re not executing offensively at a level we should be.”
Dallas was second in the NHL in goals against per game last season at 2.71 and has a history of being one of the best defensive teams in the league, so that wasn’t a real concern. But Gulutzan wanted to improve on a scoring average of 3.33 that was ninth in the league, and especially on a 5-on-5 scoring average that ranked 16th.
Do that, the coaches figured, and you could be a team that contends for the Stanley Cup.
But, even in preseason, that has proved difficult. The defending still is good, the goaltending still is solid, but creating chances – and finishing chances – has been tough.
“Cleaner breakouts…I feel like we don’t get out as clean as we would like to, and then we play D-zone a lot,” forward Rantanen said after the Nashville loss. “We were defending, especially the first 30 minutes. After that, the third period was our best, but it was too late. We’ve got to get our breakouts cleaner. I think it starts from there.”
Guliutzan and the coaches shuffled some lines and experimented with different defense pairings, so that could be part of the chemistry issues. But whether Heiskanen plays with Thomas Harley or Esa Lindell, the bottom line is the team as a whole needs to be better connected.
“It’s creating chances and finishing - we’re not creating at a high level right now,” Gulutzan said. “A lot of that stems from how we’re breaking out pucks, and the other part is we’re spending too much time in the D zone losing battles. And then, it’s hard to counter-attack when you’re 30 seconds into a shift.”
Bottom line, the team needs to reset, start on time and play a more cohesive brand of hockey.
“Obviously not where we need to be,” said captain Benn after the game. “Slow starts. First periods have been terrible. It’s on the players in here.”
Every game is a tryout.
The battle for a spot on the Stars’ gameday roster is going to be competitive this season.
With a tight salary cap and the need to get strong play from every line, players like Colin Blackwell, Arttu Hyry, Joel Kiviranta, Radek Faksa, and Oskar Bäck will have to fight for their minutes.
Blackwell was sent to the minors because of contract situations, but came up and played well on Saturday. Hyry was in the minors but has received a great opportunity with Duchene sidelined by injuries. Hyry has been one of the team’s better players so far.
“It’s not easy for everyone,” Stars coach Glen Gulutzan said. “We all understand the situation, it’s really the money situation. The only way through these things is to communicate with your players with candid conversations. We’re all pros.”
And, Gulutzan added, he’s going to play the guys who are playing best.
“At the end of the day, this is about winning games,” he said. “If you’re playing good, whether you’re a young guy or an old guy, it’s about winning. So it’s up to those guys to continue playing well and making decisions hard for the coaches.”
