Who are the Dallas Stars? Are they the 2019-2020 group that struggled to get into the playoffs, then leveled it up, and went all to the Stanley Cup Finals? Or are they the 2020-2021 group who missed the playoffs and were only great at one thing: losing in overtime? The answer is quite clearly neither. So what does that mean for Dallas? Does that clarify who they are now?
I’m not sure. There’s a loose, but defined formula for being a Stanley Cup contender, and here’s a spoiler alert: Dallas doesn’t qualify.