2026 Season Preview: Dallas Stars
With one more year for Jamie Benn and a one-year deal for Jason Robertson, it’s never been more clear that this is a put-up-or-shut-up year for the Stars.
With a trip to the Stanley Cup Final in 2020, three consecutive Conference Final losses, and few first round exits and missed playoffs mixed in between, the Dallas Stars are another team that is long overdue for success. With their first and only championship coming in 1999, the Stars are nearing the end of their second proper contention window. With an aging core and a difficult cap situation, it’s only growing more and more difficult for them to get the job done.
2025-26 Outcome
Regular Season Results: 50-20-12
Postseason Results: Lost to Minnesota 4-2
The Dallas Stars were one of five teams in the entire league that won 50 or more games this season. It was also the third year in a row they finished the regular season as a top team in the Western Conference with 50 or more wins on the year. They went through the necessary motions, bought conservatively at the trade deadline, and did everything they could to prepare for the postseason. But for the first time in four years, they were out in the first round.
Was it a minor setback for a major comeback or is this team’s window officially closing?
Who’s In and Who’s Out
Dallas was another team that made minimal moves this summer, and not by choice. The Stars are the definition of cap strapped, to the point where they really had to pinch pennies just to get Jason Robertson back under contract for another year. Their situation was made all the more evident in their trade with Nashville, as the Stars got next to nothing in return for a young RFA center in Mavrik Bourque, and they had to package Ilya Lybushkin and his $3+ million AAV in the trade in order to free up space to eventually resign Robertson. Though I will give them some credit, as Kyle Burroughs is the bargain-bin version of Lybushkin, and Kiviranta is a solid depth player who has had previous success in Dallas.
Key Offseason Moves
I’m going to get into the Jason Robertson conversation when we talk about the Stars’ biggest question moving forward, but aside from that, there really weren’t any key offseason moves in Dallas. They got rid of Mavrik Bourque which was noteworthy, but not for good reason, as already mentioned. They had to move on from him because they couldn’t afford him with the Robertson extension in mind. But when you have Matt Duchene making what he’s making, Sam Steel making a few million, Radek Faksa making a few million, and an incredibly worn-and-torn Tyler Seguin under contract just south of $10 million per year, you’re telling me the only cost cutting measure you could have possibly taken was trading away a 24-year-old RFA right-shot center with still untapped potential?
