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Game Day Guide: Stars vs Blues | Dallas Stars
First Shift 🏒
The great thing about playing an NHL schedule is that there is always a chance to overcome your mistakes.
The Stars had a bad game on Thursday – losing 4-1 to Nashville and generally failing in all aspects of the contest. Now, in a 1-3-0 slump, they get a chance to bounce back at home against the St. Louis Blues on Saturday.
“It will be great to get back at it and redeem ourselves from last game,” said forward Wyatt Johnston.
While forward Sam Steel added: “Playing every other day, you can’t let one game define you. We didn’t like what we brought last night, but 48 hours later, we’ve got a chance to redeem ourselves.”
The Stars are 17-11-0, including 11-2-0 at American Airlines Center, so there’s no need to panic, but coach Pete DeBoer said he understands when the fans (or media) do.
“You guys don’t help,” DeBoer joked after Friday’s practice when asked if it’s difficult to stay calm.
But the veteran coach said it’s the job of those inside the dressing room to understand the ups and downs of an 82-game season and react accordingly.
“It’s not easy,” he said. “I’m sure there were people in the stands last night watching and saying, ‘Blow the whole thing up.’ You’ve got to fight that urge and know that it’s a marathon and not a sprint and look at the underlying numbers and the entirety of the picture. That’s experience that teaches you that.”
After two trips to the Western Conference Final and finishing second in the NHL in points last season, the Stars currently sit 12th in points percentage at .607. However, they are fifth in goals against at 2.61, fifth in penalty kill at 82.7 percent and sixth in goal differential at plus-20. That’s arguably below expectations, but those also are pretty good numbers.
So coming off a lopsided loss to Nashville, the Stars are expected to be motivated.
“We’re not going to overreact to a really poor game,” DeBoer said. “It’s an uncharacteristic night.”
“I don’t think anyone is happy with our performance, particularly with it being a divisional game,” DeBoer added. “We’ve got some really good teams on our docket over the next few weeks.”
And while the big picture is huge, the details are also important. Veteran defenseman Dumba is out with an upper-body injury, so rookie Lian Bichsel is expected to continue to get more games. In the meantime, the lines are hoping to continue to build chemistry with Seguin out 4-6 months. The top line currently has Roope Hintz centering Jason Robertson and Johnston. The second line is Duchene with Marchment and Logan Stankoven. The third line has Steel centering Benn and Evgenii Dadonov. And the fourth line has Mavrik Bourque with Oskar Bäck and Colin Blackwell.
While DeBoer said he can juggle lines when things aren’t working – like Thursday night – he would like to be patient.
“You’re trying,” he said. “As a coach, you want to give those groups as much runway as possible.”
That seems to fit the overall plan.
Jeff Kolb and Sam Gannon welcome Cowboys insiders Clarence Hill (All City Dallas) and Calvin Watkins (Dallas Morning News) for a hilarious breakdown of the upcoming 2026 NFL Draft. Giving insight, arguments, and plenty of laughs as two of the best Dallas Cowboys writers in the business go head-to-head on what Dallas should do next.
Dallas, TX
New video of Lake Dallas explosion draws focus on order decades ago to remove old plastic pipes
The search for the next general manager or president of basketball operations of the Dallas Mavericks has begun. They terminated Nico Harrison in November, which was about nine months too late, and gave any available candidates clear notice that they were open for business.
The plan was always to wait until after the season to start the search. While names popped up as the season reached an end, they didn’t begin turning over the staff until the Monday after the season ended. However, Dallas Mavericks fans are not going to like how the team is going about the search.
Patrick Dumont Leading Search for General Manager
NBA insider Jake Fischer reported that the Mavericks are not hiring a search firm in their hunt for a new lead executive. Instead, team governor Patrick Dumont is “acting as his own point person.”
This is an… interesting decision, to say the least. Dumont is not a basketball person whatsoever, and most organizations usually hire a search firm. The Chicago Bulls hired one as they look for their replacement for Arturas Karnisovas. Just because a firm is hired doesn’t mean a team will listen, though.
The Mavericks hired a firm in their last search for a GM. They let Donnie Nelson go in 2021 after a long tenure with the Mavs. Instead of listening to the firm, though, Mark Cuban ignored it to hire Nico Harrison, who had no previous NBA front office experience. Harrison had been an executive with Nike, which gave him connections with players like Kyrie Irving, Anthony Davis, and plenty of others.
For a while, that seemed to be working out okay. While he still had some questionable transactions, such as trading for Christian Wood and letting Jalen Brunson walk in free agency, they were still able to make a run to the NBA Finals in 2024. Then, he blew it all up, trading away Luka Doncic for an older and injured Anthony Davis, and the team hasn’t been the same since.
It’s imperative that the Mavericks get this hire correct. The interim Co-GM setup with Matt Riccardi and Michael Finley has performed admirably, but the 2026 NBA Draft is important for the Mavs to get right. It’s their best chance to pair Cooper Flagg with another young star, as they don’t own their first-round pick again until 2031 after this.
Hiring the right GM could help bring in more draft capital by bringing in bad contracts or flipping veterans into picks.
Dumont was able to convince Rick Welts, a Hall of Famer, to come out of retirement to be the CEO and lead the charge for a new arena. Maybe Dumont pulls another rabbit out of his hat for the GM.
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