With potential comes pressure: Stars’ recent success only creates more questions in chase for supremacy

One of my favorite parts of any road trip during the season is chatting with the great Stars scribe (and my plane seatmate) Mike Heika. Our discussion topics typically revolve around 70’s and 80’s classic rock, NFL football, movies, sports theology and of course a little Dallas Stars hockey.

But among all of our shared interests, our admiration of the Peanuts comic strip stands above the rest. From daily strips to the classic holiday television specials, the franchise never fails to provide a refreshed perspective to our chats.

And of all the valuable lessons nestled within memorable one-liners, there’s one from the blanket-toting Linus Van Pelt that always resonates with me:

“There’s no heavier burden than a great potential.”

While Linus is referring to not making the honor roll at school, the phrase carries a deeper significance. It draws attention to the fact that sometimes, the toughest burden to carry is great expectations. Knowing that you have the full ability to achieve memorable things only provides more pressure to not fall short of the ultimate goal.

Simply put: with potential comes pressure.

It’s a phrase that resonates rather well with the Dallas Stars right now.

We’re just about four weeks removed from the deciding Game 6 of the First Round against Minnesota that sent Dallas into an unexpectedly early offseason. It’s the first time (excluding the COVID shutdown in 2020) since 2018 that the Stars haven’t played a game in the month of May. It’s also just the second time they’ve been eliminated in the opening round in their last eight playoff appearances.

So yeah, this is all still relatively unfamiliar territory. What makes it even more frustrating is the great potential that they have built over the past half-decade.

As the team gathered for exit interviews on May 4, the answers and replies all centered around falling short of the “standard” set by the team in recent years.

“Ever since I’ve been here, this team has been one of the top teams in the league,” Jason Robertson said. “Even when I was a black ace in 2020, they made the Final. It’s been the standard of Dallas Stars hockey to be there. It’s been great being a part of that for so long and you get so used to it. You don’t really understand the dark sides of hockey and not being at that peak.”

“We feel as a group that it’s too early and we should’ve made a longer playoff run,” captain Jamie Benn added. “Hopefully with some extra rest and getting healthy and motivated, we’ll come back here and do something even more special next year.”

“As we stand here today, the organization and myself are disappointed,” general manager Jim Nill concluded three days later. “We have high expectations here and we didn’t fulfill that. It’s frustrating.”

Such is life with expectations, and such is life in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Take a quick gander at the current playoff field for any further proof you may need.

The Montreal Canadiens boasted the youngest average age in the NHL this season. They hadn’t advanced past the opening round since the 2021 COVID-shortened campaign and still seemed to be in the process of building towards something great. But now they sit in the Eastern Conference Final just three wins short of playing for the Stanley Cup.

Meanwhile, the Vegas Golden Knights fired head coach Bruce Cassidy with eight games left in the season. They brought in John Tortorella in hopes of quickly righting a ship that had been stuck in neutral for most of the year. Less than eight weeks later, they posted a clean sweep in the Western Conference Final and are on their way to their third Stanley Cup Final appearance in nine years as an organization.

Meanwhile, the Colorado Avalanche team took a broom to sits in disbelief. Fresh off of a 121-point season and a Presidents’ Trophy, the Avalanche went a quick 8-1 in the first two rounds. Their focus was hellbent on getting past round two for the first time since winning the Cup in 2022, and they seemed to be a relatively safe bet to win it all.

That potential has quickly melted into frustration as the team enters another offseason filled with even tougher questions about where to go from here.

Of the four starting goalies in the conference finals, three of them entered this postseason with a combined 21 games of playoff experience. Only Carolina’s Frederik Andersen entered with more than 15 postseason starts, boasting a sturdy 85. And boy, does he know a thing or two about playing for potential-laden teams that always come up just short.

Bottom line: there’s a certain randomness to the Stanley Cup Playoffs that can never be overstated. Coaches and front office executives alike usually point to three core necessities when chasing the Cup: being good, healthy and lucky.

So as the Stars once again enter the month of June with plenty of questions about how to take that next step, a certain crossroads comes into focus. It’s one that most top-end teams stumble upon at some point during their window of contention.

Down one road lies the answers to getting over that hump and finally finding a way to hoist the Cup. Just look at the 2010s. The Washington Capitals made the postseason nine times in a 10-year span (including winning the Presidents’ Trophy three times), but never got past the second round. With generational goal scorer Alex Ovechkin at the helm, winning a title began to seem far-fetched. But they made the right adjustments, stuck to their formula and finally broke through in 2018. The Tampa Bay Lightning made it to the conference final three times in a four-year span before watching a historic 128-point regular season campaign in 2018-19 go up in flames via a sweep by Columbus in the First Round. But with questions swirling and doubt increasing, the Lightning found a way to prevail and turned it into three straight Stanley Cup Final appearances and two championships.

Down the other road, however, lies a path of familiar success before an ultimate shortcoming. Take San Jose as an example. The Sharks made the playoffs 14 times in a 15-year span from 2004 to 2019. They won 16 total series over the span with a core that included the legendary group of Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau, Joe Pavelski and Brent Burns. But they only punched their ticket to the Final once in 2016 and fell just short to Pittsburgh.

Heck, even the Carolina Hurricanes are in the midst of their eighth straight trip to the playoffs after a nine-year drought. They are as close to the Cup as they’ve been since winning it all back in 2006, and this year might just be the year they finally solve the puzzle.

The Stars float in similar waters to these teams. Dallas has been to the playoffs in seven of the last eight years and won 10 total series. Their 109 playoff games are the most in the NHL since 2019, while their 56 wins over the span sit fourth. They have 50-plus wins in three straight seasons for the first time in franchise history and the roster is brimming with top-level players either entering or already in the thick of their prime.

By all metrics, the window to win is still wide open. The blueprint for hopping through it, however, still needs some polishing.

A good chunk of that process will play out in the coming months. Will they sign Robertson to a long-term extension or trade him in a blockbuster deal? Does Benn retire and open the door for a new era of leadership in Dallas, or will he return for an 18^th season? Will the Stars take a substantial swing in free agency or on the trade market (one that would require some skilled cap gymnastics) in order to provide a shakeup?

All good questions, all answered in due time.

But as we watch Montreal, Carolina and Vegas duke it out in the battle for supremacy, there are plenty of lessons to garner from it. The youngest team in the league, a battle-tested playoff regular of the past decade and a team that changed coaches in the eleventh hour of the season have all proven that they can make a serious run for all the marbles.

So, what is it that the Stars have to do to get their own car across the finish line? They’re clearly a good team with the ability to go the distance. But what will it take to make that final leap?

After all, there’s no heavier burden than a great potential.

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

Josh Clark is a writer for DallasStars.com. Follow him on X @Josh_Clark02.