In-depth Monthly Breakdown of Stars 2013-14 Schedule
Formerly stuck in the Pacific Division, where all road games were played outside the Central time zone, the new-look Dallas Stars are at least in their proper time zone in the reconfigured Central Division.
With three Central teams guaranteed to make the playoffs and the possibility of earning one of two wildcard spots, the Stars on paper seem unlikely to beat out Stanley Cup champion Chicago or St. Louis for the likely top two spots in the Division. The Minnesota Wild, a playoff team last season, will also be favored over Dallas for the third spot heading into next season. The Stars, along with Nashville (coming off a down year but usually a playoff team in previous recent season) and former Eastern Conference team Winnipeg will battle to push their way up in the standings and get into the playoffs.
The Stars will play 50 of their 82 games against fellow Western Conference teams, with 29 games against Central Division opponents. They will play 21 games (three apiece) against Pacific Division clubs. For their remaining 32 games, Dallas will play one home match and one road game apiece against each of the Eastern Conference teams.
Within the Central Division, the Stars will play Chicago (three home, two road), Nashville (three home, two road), Winnipeg (three road, two home), St. Louis (three road, two home) five times apiece. They will play Minnesota four times (twice at home, twice on the road).
It is no secret that the Stars in recent years have struggled mightily in the second half of back-to-back games, and that has been an important factor in the Stars narrowly missing the playoffs in each of the last three years. New coach Lindy Ruff will look to correct that problem in a season that will see the Stars play 13 back-to-back games, three of which will involve a time-zone change for the second game. Also of note in conjunction with the back-to-back games is that the Stars have sets of three-game-in-four-night gauntlets of the course of the season.
The Stars longest homestands of the season are a pair of five gamers. The first spans December 27 to January 4 (vs Nashville on Dec 27th, St. Louis on Dec 29th, Los Angeles on New Year's Eve, Montreal on Jan 2 and Detroit on Jan 4. Later in the month of January, the Stars are at home from the 21st to the 30th, hosting Minnesota (21st), Toronto (23rd), Pittsburgh (25th), Colorado (27th) and New Jersey (30th).
Dallas' longest road trip of the 2013-14 season also spans five games, but there is only one such trip. Unfortunately, it presents late in stretch run, where points can often be tough to come by. The Stars will be away from March 29 to April 6, traveling to play St. Louis (Mar 29), Washington (April 1), Carolina (April 3), Tampa Bay (April 5) and Florida (April 6).
Finally, it should be noted that the Stars are currently slated to have six games broadcast on national television in the U.S. this season. They will be on NBC Sports Network four times (Nov 26 @ ANA, Dec 3 vs CHI, Jan 21 vs MIN, Mar 3 vs Buffalo) with a pair of games (Nov 29 vs CHI and and Mike Modano Night, Mar 9 vs Minnesota) on NHL Network.
Here is a month-by-month detailed breakdown of the schedule:
OCTOBER
Total games: 12
Home games: 5
Road games: 7
Back-to-back sets: 3 (Oct 11 @ WPG - Oct 12 @ MIN, Oct 19 @ LA - Oct 20 @ ANA, Oct 28 @ BUF - Oct 29 @ MTL)
Three-in-four sets: 1 (Oct 26 vs. WPG - Oct 28 @ BUF - Oct 29 @ MTL)
Longest schedule break: Five days between Oct 5 vs. WAS and Oct 11 @ WPG
Afternoon games: 0
Marquee games: Opening game Oct 3 @ FLA, California road trip to LA (Oct 19) and Anaheim (Oct 20), Oct 28 @ BUF (Lindy Ruff's first game coaching against Sabres).
NOVEMBER
Total games: 12
Home games: 5
Road games: 7
Back-to-back sets: 1 (Nov 13 @ EDM - Nov 14 @ CGY)
Three-in-four sets: 0
Longest schedule break: Pair of three-day breaks between games
Afternoon games: 0
Marquee games: Nov 5 @ BOS (Tyler Seguin and Loui Eriksson play former teamsf for the first time), Nov 9 vs. CHI (first meeting with defending Cup champions and new Central Division rival), Nov 17 @ VAN, Nov 21 vs NYR (Brad Richards comes to town), Nov 29 vs. CHI.
DECEMBER
Total games: 15
Home games: 8
Road games: 7
Back-to-back sets: 1 (home-and-home Dec 16 @ COL - Dec 17 vs COL)
Three-in-four sets: 1 (Dec 14 vs WPG - Dec 16 @ COL - Dec 17 vs COL)
Longest schedule break: Three days between Dec 23 @ LA and Dec 27 vs NSH
Afternoon games: 1 (Dec 14 vs WPG)
Marquee games: Dec 3 @ CHI, Dec 7 vs. PHI, Dec 10 vs CHI, home-and-home vs. COL (first regular season look at former Junior Stars player Seth Jones), Dec 23 @ LA, Dec 31 vs. LA.
JANUARY
Total games: 15
Home games: 10
Road games: 5
Back-to-back sets: 2 (Jan 9 @ NJ - Jan 10 @ NYR, Jan 20 @ NSH - Jan 21 vs MIN)
Three-in-four sets: 2 (Jan 7 @ NYI - Jan 9 @ NJ - Jan 10 @ NYR, Jan 18 @ MIN - Jan 20 @ NSH - Jan 21 vs MIN)
Longest schedule break: Pair of two-day breaks
Afternoon games: 0
Marquee games: New York/New Jersey three-game road trip, Jan 16 vs. BOS, two games in four nights against Minnesota, Jan 25 vs PIT.
FEBRUARY
Total games: 5
Home games: 2
Road games: 3
Back-to-back sets: 1 (Feb 4 @ PHO - Feb 5 @ SJ)
Three-in-four sets: 0
Longest schedule break: Overlapping Olympic break, no games from Feb 9 to Feb 26. There are no Stars who are absolute locks, barring injury, to play for their respective countries in the Olympics, but Sergei Gonchar (RUS), Jamie Benn (CAN), Kari Lehtonen (FIN) and Alex Goligoski (USA) all having varying chances. Gonchar, who has played in four Olympics, is pretty close to a lock to go again. Erik Cole played for Team USA in the 2006 Olympics.
Afternoon games: 0
Marquee games: Two games within a week against former Division rival Phoenix, March 27 vs. CAR (first game after the Olympic break.
MARCH
Total games: 16
Home games: 9
Road games: 7
Back-to-back sets: 4 (Mar 3 vs BUF - Mar 4 @ CBJ, Mar 10 vs CBJ - Mar 11 @ STL, Mar 24 vs WPG - Mar 25 @ CHI, Mar 28 vs NSH - Mar 29 @ STL
Three-in-four sets: 3 (Mar 1 vs TB - Mar 3 vs BUF - Mar 4 @ CBJ, Mar 8 vs MIN - Mar 10 vs CBJ - Mar 11 @ STL, Mar 22 vs OTT - Mar 24 vs WPG - Mar 25 @ CHI)
Longest schedule break: Pair of two-day breaks
Afternoon games: 2 (Mar 1 vs TB, Mar 22 vs OTT)
Marquee games: Five divisional games interspersed in the month, Mar 6 vs VAN, Mike Modano Jersey Retirement Night (Mar 8 vs MIN), PA road trip (Mar 18 @ PIT, Mar 20 @ PHI).
APRIL
Total games: 7
Home games: 2
Road games: 5
Back-to-back sets: 1 (Apr 5 @ TB - Apr 6 @ FLA)
Three-in-four sets: 1 (Apr 5 @ TB - Apr 6 @ FLA - Apr 8 vs NSH)
Longest schedule break: Two-day break after Apr 8 vs NSH
Afternoon games: 1 (Apr 6 @ FLA)
Marquee games: Divisional home games vs. NSH and STL (Apr 11), regular season finale Apr 13 @ PHO.
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Sunday Reader Poll: Are You Concerned about Seguin?
Most of the time, I try to avoid writing much about "maturity" issues with players, except as pertains to their on-ice games. In the case of Tyler Seguin, however, the debate over his level of professionalism, off-ice decision making and overall emotional maturity has played out very publicly both before and since his acrimonious final season in Boston and subsequent trade to the Stars.
For his part, Boston Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli has done little to deny that these concerns directly tied into why the club made the 21-year-old, who was the second overall pick of the 2010 NHL Draft and already has a 29-goal, 67-point season to his credit, available in trade. Seguin's parents fanned the flames of public controversy by coming to their son's defense and basically accusing Boston management of making things up to cast Tyler in a bad light. A tasteless Twitter post on Seguin's official account, apparently posted as an attempted joke by one of his friends, also generated some bad PR for him shortly after his acquisition by the Stars.
Of course, Seguin will have the opportunity soon to make all this stuff a distant memory. He'd hardly be the first highly touted young player who needed to do some growing up, and a change of scenery (one example that immediately leaps to mind is Chris Pronger). From a hockey trade standpoint, Jim Nill, the Stars new general manager, seized the opportunity to swing for the fences with a player with franchise player potential and the ability to form a devastating one-two punch with Jamie Benn.
The upside was just too hard for Dallas to ignore. However, the Seguin acquisition came at a significant cost and involved substantial risk tolerance on Dallas' part.
In other to acquire both Seguin and Rich Peverley, the Stars had to part with their most reliable two-way winger, Loui Eriksson, as well as highly regarded defense prospect Joe Morrow (Pittsburgh's first-round pick in 2011, acquired by Dallas in the Brenden Morrow trade last season).
Today's question is whether you are concerned that Seguin's alleged issues will prove to be detrimental to the team or stand in the way of him fulfilling his potential in Dallas.
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