Mac Engel: Stars are still on a historic run that is unappreciated for one reason

Mac Engel, Fort Worth Star-Telegram on Apr 11, 2026

Published in Hockey

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DALLAS — Wyatt Johnston does not need to be a mathematician to grasp that what he and his teammates are trying to do doesn’t normally add up.

To win the Stanley Cup, the Dallas Stars will have to at least reach the conference finals a fourth consecutive year. Can happen. Usually doesn’t.

“Even in my first year, everyone talked about that teams this good don’t come around this often,” the Stars forward said this week after a morning practice at the American Airlines Center. “It’s been a lot of fun to be on a team that can win every year, but you do feel that pressure. You see around the league that teams go on runs and are good for a period of time, and now they may not be as good.

“It shows you how hard it is to stay at a high level.”

Since the start of the 2019-20 season, the Stars have been at the highest level, and are the dynasty that should be but isn’t. A Stanley Cup Final in 2020, and three straight conference finals appearances in the past three years have not resulted in one actual Stanley Cup trophy. Last year, they became the first NHL team to reach three straight conference finals without winning one.

That sort of sustained success should be celebrated, but this team is defined by what it has not achieved more than what is has. Because normally a team that reaches three straight conference finals wins one Stanley Cup.

Stars and their own ‘three-peat’

Not long after Tom Gaglardi bought the Stars in November 2011, he envisioned developing a young core that could win multiple Stanley Cups. Like the Pittsburgh Penguins, or Chicago Blackhawks. Part of that happened, but it took a different group of young players, and a decade later.

This century, the Penguins, Blackhawks, L.A. Kings, Detroit Red Wings, Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers have enjoyed prolonged runs that resulted in multiple titles.

The Kings reached three straight conference finals from 2012 to ‘14, and won two Stanley Cups in that window. Starting in ‘23, Florida has reached three straight Stanley Cup Finals, and won the last two.

The Blackhawks went to three straight Eastern Conference finals from 2013 to ‘15, and won two Stanley Cups. They also won it in 2010. Even though the Penguins won three Stanley Cups from 2009 to 2017, they never reached the conference finals three years in a row.

The Red Wings went to three straight conference finals from 2007 to ‘09, and won a Stanley Cup in ‘08.

The Stars should be in that conversation somewhere. Instead, they are in their own separate sentence of success, and sadness.

They have written that sentence because as good as they have been, every time they have been eliminated in the previous three playoffs they demonstrated they weren’t good enough.

Why this time could be different for the Stars

The Stanley Cup playoffs are scheduled to start on April 18, and the Stars are again one of the few teams favored to win the title. To be “around it” for a fourth straight year, this time with a new head coach, is commendable.

Stars GM Jim Nill made some more trade deadline acquisitions, notably acquiring defenseman Tyler Myers. The team ranks second in the NHL in fewest goals allowed. The power play is one of the best in the NHL.

All of it’s there.

Their first-round series will likely be against the Minnesota Wild, an opponent that is even with the Stars. The Wild’s trade acquisition of defenseman Quinn Hughes during the season pushed this team into the highest tier of contenders.

A Wild/Stars first-round series reeks of a Game 7. The Stars have won their past three Game 7s, all under former head coach Pete DeBoer, who was fired in the offseason.

“We have a really good core group of guys that have been around and are going to be around for a while,” Johnston said. “We know our window is there, but you don’t want to waste opportunities.”

Three straight conference finals appearances is not a waste, but you only get so many of these before that window closes.