The Dallas Stars finished first in the Western Conference during the 2023-24 season but fell short of the Stanley Cup Finals thanks to a Game 6 defeat to the Edmonton Oilers.
Welcome to Oilersnation’s summer series called Off-Season Review, in which we’ll take a dive into what’s going on with the other 15 teams in the Western Conference. So far, we’ve looked at every single Pacific Division team and will shift focus to the Central Division. We’ll start with the best of the west in 2023-24, the Dallas Stars.

The Dallas Stars 2023-24 Season in a Nutshell

The Dallas Stars had a ton of depth on their 2023-24 roster, and it helped propel them to a 52-21-9 record for 113 points, one shy of matching the Presidents’ Trophy-winning New York Rangers.
Fast forward to the 2024 trade deadline, and the Stars were in a dogfight with two other Central Division teams, the Winnipeg Jets and the Colorado Avalanche. Both trailed the Stars for the division lead by just two points.
Still, the Stars’ only move came more than a week prior to the deadline, as they traded a 2024 second-round pick, as well as prospect Artyom Grushnikov to the Calgary Flames in return for Chris Tanev.
The postseason was a challenge, though. Despite finishing first in the conference, they faced the reigning Stanley Cup champions in the first round, the Vegas Golden Knights. After falling down 2-0 in the series, the Stars were able to prevail in a 2-1 Game 7 win.
It didn’t get any easier for the Stars in the second round though, as they faced off against the 2022 Stanley Cup champions, the Colorado Avalanche. The Stars were able to win thanks to a double overtime goal in Game 6, as former Avalanche Matt Duchene ended the series.
Unfortunately for the Stars, they ran out of steam and fell to the Oilers in six games, ending what was a pretty good season for the team from Dallas.

Some Notable Statistics

The 2023-24 Stars had a well-balanced team, featuring good offence, solid defence, and good goaltending.
Leading the way for scorers was Jason Robertson, who scored 29 goals and 80 points in 82 games. Veteran Joe Pavelski scored 27 goals and 67 points in his aged-39 season, while youngster Wyatt Johnston scored a team-leading 32 goals and 65 points in 82 games.
Johnston was one of numerous players that finished with 65 points, as Roope Hintz scored 30 goals and 65 points in 80 games, while Matt Duchene scored 25 goals and 65 points, also in 80 games.
Their old core of Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin also had good seasons. The former scored 21 goals and 60 points, while the latter scored 25 goals and 52 points. Undrafted Mason Marchment scored 22 goals and 53 points in 54 games.
Of course, 21-year-old Logan Stankoven only played 24 regular season games with the Stars last season, where he scored six goals and 14 points. He had a good first postseason, scoring three goals and eight points in 19 postseason games.
Dallas’ defence core also had a great season. Miro Heiskanen scored nine goals and 54 points in 71 games. Thomas Harley, 22, scored 15 goals and 47 points, quickly becoming one of the best young defencemen in the league. Esa Lindell scored five goals and 26 points in 82 games.

Off-Season Transactions

Starting with who the Stars lost, there is no bigger loss for the team than Joe Pavelski, who retired after a fantastic aged-39 season. Pavelski was drafted in the seventh round of the 2003 draft, and scored 476 goals and 1,068 points in 1332 games. What a career he had.
Two of their netminders left as well, as both Matt Murray and Scott Wedgewood signed with the Nashville Predators. Depth forward Craig Smith signed with the Chicago Blackhawks, while Derrick Pouliot signed with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
In terms of trades, the Stars traded away their 2018 first-round pick, Ty Dellandrea, to the San Jose Sharks in exchange for a 2025 fourth-round pick. Dellandrea scored just two goals and nine points in 42 games with the Stars, well below the nine goals and 28 points in 82 games the season prior.
The Stars also traded Chris Tanev’s rights to the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for a seventh-round pick in 2026. Two days into July, they moved Radek Faska to the St. Louis Blues in a cap dump. Faska had seven goals and 19 points in 74 games and was selected 13th overall in the 2012 draft.
On opening day of free agency, the Stars signed former Vancouver Canucks netminder, Casey DeSmith to a three-year deal worth $3 million, or $1 million annually. Defenceman Matt Dumba also signed a two-year, $7.5 million deal with a cap hit of $3.75 million annually.
Physical defender Ilya Lyubushkin helped shore up the loss of Tanev, as the defensive defenceman signed a three-year deal worth $9.75 million, or $3.25 million annually. Another defenceman, Brendan Smith, signed a one-year, $1 million deal.
The Stars also re-signed Matt Duchene to a one-year, $3 million deal, while defenceman Nils Lundkvist signed a one-year, $1.25 million deal. Other signings include Colin Blackwell, Cameron Hughes, Kole Lind, Kyle Capobianco, Alexander Petrovic, Oskar Back, and Emilio Pettersen.
With $6.244 million left before hitting the salary cap, ceiling the Stars will need to sign restricted free agent Thomas Harley to an extension. After scoring 15 goals and 47 points in 79 games last season, he’ll take up a fair bit of that remaining space with his raise.
Overall, the Stars are looking like a powerhouse team once again, as their core has remained relatively the same aside from the retiring Joe Pavelski. In his place, the Stars can rely on Mavrik Bourque, who scored 25 goals and 77 points in 71 American Hockey League games last season.
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Previously in this series…

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