Five games into the regular season, after two consecutive years of first-round playoff eliminations under head coach Jared Bednar, the Dallas Stars finally pulled the plug and fired Bednar after what GM habsfan93 felt was a lackluster start to the season. The Stars started the year 2-2-1 in their first five, but both wins came in OT and the Stars only scored more than 2 goals once in those five games.

"Last year, our offence was totally anemic with most players posting their lowest statistical seasons in years. After five games, I'd seen enough to want to try and avoid a repeat of that. It became clear that the team wasn't buying into Bednar's offensive strategy and we needed to bring a new voice and system into the room." - GM habsfan93

In between game days, the club announced the hiring of veteran head coach Rick Bowness, which to some seemed a puzzling move as Bowness is mostly known as a defensive strategist. But the move seems to have worked as the club exploded to a 6-2 victory against Las Vegas in Bowness' first game. They have now gone 11-6-2 since the change and currently sit 10th in the league in goals scored per game, while still staying in the upper half of the league on defence (13th in goals against per game). That's good enough to put them in a tie for 6th overall in the entire league in points and team morale is at an all-time high.

A big key to Bowness' success has been lighting a fire under players who came in with lowered expectations and are now shattering those same expectations.

After a disappointing season last year, the Stars first line has come alive under Bowness with Andrew Mangiapane leading the way with a team high 13 goals and 28 points in 24 games. That puts him among the top 10 goal scorers in the CMHL and top 20 in overall points. If he can continue this pace, he will shatter his numbers from last year and set career-bests in nearly every category.

Paul Stastny was signed as a UFA to a 1-year contract in what will prove to be his final CMHL season and he is making the most of the opportunity. With a very respectful 17 points in 24 games, including 9 goals - good for 2nd on the team after Mangiapane - plus a nearly 55% faceoff rate, he's exactly the 2nd line center that the Stars have been missing for the last few seasons and his signing is looking to be an absolute bargain for GM habsfan93.

The third player of note has been goaltender Antti Raanta, who was signed as a free agent to be the starting goalie for the Stars ICHF affiliate. With Andersen struggling to assert himself as the #1 goalie, Raanta was called up after posting better than solid numbers in the ICHF. He now appears to have stolen the #1 goalie role from Andersen, or at the very least, cemented himself into a tandem role. In 13 games, 11 of which are starts, Raanta is 8-3-2 with a .909% and 2.53 GAA, which would put him in line to have his best year since Season 17.

Can the Stars maintain this momentum and carry through the All-Star Break into the postseason? There's still lots of hockey to be played but GM habsfan93 likes what he's seen so far.

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