The 2017 trade deadline was a busy time for the Dallas Stars.
Heading into the final week of February, the Stars sat at a dreary 23-27-10. They had just had a week off after winning a thrilling overtime game against the Tampa Bay Lightning, but the painful reality was quickly settling in: the 2016-17 Dallas Stars were not a playoff team.
Fans held out hope, working out absurd scenarios that would likely punch the Stars’ ticket (such as finishing the final two months of the season on a 15-4-0 run), but none of them had much reality to back them up.