Pausing for perspective: Stars continue learning amid wild 2025-26 season

Glen Gulutzan likes to say that a win brings “24 hours of peace” to his team (more like 48 hours in this case).

But it can also provide a few days of perspective, as well.

In one of the crazier schedules in franchise history, it seems appropriate that the Stars were flying coast to coast on Thursday. So as we navigate a six-game road trip and the end of a six-game winless streak, it seems perfectly appropriate that we’re buzzing along at 600 mph while trying to learn to stay still.

Such is the life of a pro sports team.

Of course, doing it after a 4-1 win in Washington makes the exercise infinitely easier, and that is part of the lesson. Yes, winning calms a lot of the voices in your head, but it also opens the door to greater introspection.

How do you get yourself into these messes?

How do you get yourself out?

How do you manage the things that are out of your control?

How do you manage the things within your control?

How do you tell the difference between the two?

It’s an intriguing job, when you get right down to it.

And at a time like this, it seems smart to ponder the biggest of pictures. As Dallas spiraled in recent days and played one of its worst games of the year in Carolina, Gulutzan had a great statement. After a team meeting the next day and some “back-to-the-drawing-board” talks, the new-old head coach said this: “Adversity is always good. I don’t think you can have true growth without it. It’s always good, but nobody wants to go through it.”

Of course, knowing it’s good is half the battle.

The Stars as a group addressed their problems and learned a ton on Wednesday. Part of that lesson is the fact this will happen again – and maybe be even more intense when it does. The recent games called to mind the seven-game winless streak at the end of last season…or the 2-0 hole in Game 7 against Colorado…or the overtime win against Winnipeg in Game 6. Heck, if you want to expand the picture, you can look at just how close games are in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and how entire careers are altered by a bounce here or there.

That’s why perspective is important.

Think about last January. The Stars didn’t have Mikko Rantanen or Mikael Granlund or Cody Ceci. They lost Miro Heiskanen for a few months and watched as Thomas Harley took a huge step forward in his career. A lot happened, and that’s sort of the nature of these things.

That’s why perspective…and patience…and peace….are important. I mean, the biggest challenges of this season are still to come. We have the Olympics and the trade deadline and what could be the most challenging gauntlet of a playoff that has ever been drawn up in the Central Division. We just passed the halfway point, so take a breath.

It's times like these that I always think of Jamie Benn’s wraparound shot in Game 7 against St. Louis back in 2019. The puck got halfway over the goal line. It was that close to ending the series…that close to ending the season for the Blues. But sometimes, close isn’t close enough.

Instead, St. Louis won the game in double overtime and went on to win its only Stanley Cup. That is what we’re dealing with here.

You look at last season and what happened in the playoffs. Rantanen eliminated his old crew, and that forever changed history. Pete DeBoer benched Jake Oettinger, and that altered many fates. The Oilers got to the Stanley Cup Final again, and that changed Glen Gulutzan’s history and future.

The beauty of sports is just how kinetic and electric and unpredictable it is. But in order to survive all of that commotion, sometimes you just have to learn to be still.

Even when you’re going 600 miles per hour – in your mind or in the air.

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.