It's late July, and the Dallas Stars are in submarine mode: making moves in the deep that we can't see or fully explain yet. And yet they're still giving us plenty to talk about, so it seems like the perfect time to call for backup. Friend of DBD and recurring Celebrity Guest Juraj Kralik is here again, and this time he joins both Wes and Mark to think about the future. In this edition, they talk about why the blueline might be in better shape than we think, how two stacked forward lines could carry the offense, what to look for in the Gulutzan System, and a whole lot more. Forget losing Jason Robertson: What if the Stars got his brother, too? We’re Stargazing, and we're all for having both Radek Faksa and Faksa Lite (a.k.a. Oskar Bäck). Let’s talk about it at Defending Big D. And please give the cast a rate, review or share while you’re thinking about it. We love you. Thanks.
The Dallas Stars are probably going to have a pretty boring draft this year. It's the rest of the offseason that is shaping up to be a ride, and many fans are afraid it will be a dark one. But how much do we really have to fear, with the NHL salary cap rising and Jim Nill at the helm? Mark knew who he wanted to talk to about it, so he contacted self-described stats nerd and friend of DBD Juraj Kralik – who's also a big maven concerning the business of hockey and is generally in his glory during free-agency season. In this edition, they talked about how the Stars could take a step back in 2025-26, the very real chance that they'll actually be better next April than they were this year, where those Jason Robertson trade rumors may be coming from...and a whole lot more. Is Wyatt Johnston really Nathan MacKinnon Lite? We're Stargazing, and this is the kind of thing we think about during the offseason. How about you? Let’s talk about it at Defending Big D. And please give the cast a rate, review or share while you’re at it. We love you. Thanks in advance.
The Dallas Stars are this close to the mountaintop. It's not close enough. What will they do to get their next Stanley Cup, and will they have to change their entire team identity to cover that last mile? Wes and Mark want to know, too. Their latest talk covers everything from Jason Robertson trade rumors to the new two-way contract for Rémi Poirier, with a few stops at the salary cap situation just to keep everything in perspective. (And keep in mind that this conversation took place before everyone's season ended earlier this week, so please give our dynamic duo their flowers for predicting...everything.) Will the next head coach just need to play Nils Lundkvist more? We’re Stargazing, and we think that's not the real story...but it may be part of the story. What do you think about what's happening in Frisco? Let’s talk about it at Defending Big D. And please give the cast a rate, review or share while you’re at it. We love you. Thanks in advance.
The Dallas Stars' season is over, and we're all left to contemplate what happened to their Stanley Cup hopes. Was this an Edmonton Oilers problem, or a symptom of something bigger that an occasional explosion of elite talent could only hide for so long? Wes Lawrence and Mark Zimmerman sat down after the end (and before the news of Pete DeBoer's departure) to examine the strategy...and why we might have seen this coming. In this edition, they discuss how slow starts seem to doom the Stars' chances, the eerie silence of their vaunted scoring depth, and why their four (4) deliberate moves on defense didn't work. They also discuss how much of the Stars' downfall may have been down to being out-coached – and what the team needs to do to clear the next hurdle. We're Stargazing, and we think Neil Graham might want to keep his cell phone charged. Possibly. Maybe. What's your take? Let's talk about it at Defending Big D. And please give the cast a rate, review or share while you're at it. We love you. Thanks in advance.
The Dallas Stars are back in town, and they're really really going to need help from the home crowd in Game 5 against the Edmonton Oilers. The Oil are a tough team – but that doesn't absolve the Stars of their deficits on offense, nor of their dumb-penalty problem. So the question is, who will step up to ensure they get a Game 6? Wes and Mark discuss the dangers of over-passing, the importance of scoring first, and the importance of turning expected goals into, well, goals. Wyatt Johnston, you're probably going to be the key to whatever happens tonight...for better or otherwise. We’re Stargazing. (No pressure.) Who you got for tonight in Dallas? Tell us at Defending Big D, because someone's going to be correct, and it might as well be you. And please give the cast a rate, review or share. While you can. Thanks in advance.
The Dallas Stars and the Edmonton Oilers have won their way to the Western Conference Final by working each other's side of the street. The Stars have gotten all-time performances from their superstars, while the Oil's goaltending and depth scoring have come through for them in a big way. So what does this tell us about the rematch we've all been waiting for? Wes and Mark worked After Dark to fashion a narrative for the Stars based on everything they had to do to beat the Colorado Avalanche and the Winnipeg Jets. And in this edition, they discuss the Connor McDavid game plan, the value of going east-west versus north-south, and why the best way for Dallas to win this series is to stay out of the penalty box. I know what let's do – let's you guys get a ton of goals! We're Stargazing, and we're not afraid to state the obvious. And if you're looking for that link to the True North Youth Foundation that Wes mentioned...well, look no further. Ready to make those last-minute calls? Tell us about them at Defending Big D, because you can't just come in at the start of the Stanley Cup Final and tell us you went seven for seven in Round 3. And please do us the honor of giving our little puckcast a rate, review or share. We live for your validation. Thanks in advance.
It sometimes seems as if the Dallas Stars are only permitted to have one player get hot at a time. But do you need Mikko Rantanen to score a hat trick every game when Mikael Granlund can go off in his stead? A lot has happened in the past five days, and Wes and Mark want to talk about all of it. In this edition of Stargazing, they examine the advantages of having two No. 1 defensemen, compare and contrast the return trajectories of Jason Robertson and Miro Heiskanen, and discuss the importance of playing within your structure – and what happens when an opposing team forces you out of it. When is a playoff penalty not a playoff penalty? And does it matter? Here at Stargazing, we ask the hard questions. (You're welcome.) Can the Stars close out Round 2 in Game 5, in enemy territory, against a Winnipeg Jets team that will throw everything that got them the 2025 President's Trophy onto the ice? Let's talk about at Defending Big D. And thanks in advance for your rate, review or share. We love you.
The Dallas Stars won a Game 1! This is the best thing to happen since 2020, when they won Game 1 against the Tampa Bay Lightning...hey, wait a minute. We know everyone loves a doomcast, but at this point we're constantly on the lookout for reasons to believe. So Wes and Mark worked through the night to find sustainability in the Stars' current good fortune (you know, the kind that doesn't involve counting on Mikko Rantanen to tally a hat trick in every remaining game). In this edition, they discuss double-shifting Moose, dealing with the Jets' dominant top line, the return of Robo, how the game will change if Miro or Morrissey (or both) make it back in Game 2, what to expect from Pete DeBoer, and so much more. A great penalty kill is like great insurance: You love to have it, but the more you use it, the costlier it gets. We're Stargazing, and we can come up with this stuff all day. And After Dark! Can the Stars keep winning on the road – and, even more importantly, at home? Let's talk about it at Defending Big D. We'd love to discuss your thoughts in the next cast. And please don't forget to rate, review and share wherever you listen. We're grateful for it. Enjoy.
The Dallas Stars are about to begin the fight for another Central Division championship – and to get there, they only have to knock off the team that earned the 2025 President's Trophy. (Oh, is that all?) Brad McDonnell joined Wes and Mark to examine how the Stars match up with their Dirty Central cellmates, the Winnipeg Jets. In this edition, they discuss how Mason Marchment can help (and hurt) by creating chaos, where Miro Heiskanen and Jason Robertson will slot back into the lineup, and whether Connor Hellebuyck is human after all. It's just like the regular season, with 62 percent more #MurderDeathKill! Welcome to Stargazing. Four more won't matter where we're going. What do you want to see from the Stars as this series begins? Sound off at Defending Big D, and let's talk about it. And please don’t forget to rate, review and share. Enjoy.
The Dallas Stars did it. They won a Round 1 against the Colorado Avalanche that, in a better world, would have been a Western Conference Final. It wasn't easy, or pretty, or predictable – but the Victory Green Gang gave themselves the chance to win a Central Division title with all their elite players healthy and back on the ice. And if Game 7 taught us anything, it's that sometimes you need to rely on your superstars. That's why we turned to Taylor Baird – DBD's managing editor and NHL.com's go-to Stars contributor. In this edition, she and Wes talked about and. And along with the usual stat tricks, they ponder what the Stars are coming to mean to the DFW area's success-hungry sports fans. Welcome to Stargazing. We love you. What do you want to know about what's next? Tell us at Defending Big D. We'll get to all your questions in our Round 2 preview. And please don’t forget to rate, review and share. Let's go.
Good news! The Dallas Stars can close the Round 1 deal on home ice. Bad news: The Colorado Avalanche can finish them off in their own barn. How do you play those match-ups? Wes and Mark worked After Dark to put their thoughts together, and in this episode they discuss the advantages of shortening the Stars' bench, the dangers of relying on Pete DeBoer's playoffs streak, and why it may be a good idea for Mikko Rantanen to play 20 minutes in Game 7. Who will be the hero the Stars need in Game 7? Tell us at Defending Big D. We not only read them, we bring them up in future casts. (Get your props while the getting's good!) And please don’t forget to rate, review and share. We love you. Thanks.
The Dallas Stars keep defying the doomcast. After a stunning Game 4 bellyflop, they came back with a dominating performance in Game 5. Now the Round 1 outcome is once again in their hands – but it will proceed on the Colorado Avalanche's home ice. Can they finish the job before the series stretches to seven games? Wes and Mark met up After Dark to pore over the possibilities. In the process, they parse the ongoing threat of Gabriel Landeskog, Lian Bichsel's debut as a meme, and why – right now – the Stars are a better team for having Oskar Bäck in the lineup. Trying to modulate between delusional hope and irrational fear? We’re Stargazing After Dark, and that's pretty much all we do. It's in our contract, or something. Want to share some pregame good vibes? Sound off at Defending Big D. We read all your comments, and we even bring them up in future casts. And please don’t forget to rate, review and share. Let's get together more often. Thanks.
We did ask what would happen when the Colorado Avalanche got desperate, and it appears the Dallas Stars gave us an answer. A terrible answer, true, but they did provide one. In this episode of Stargazing, Wes and Mark had plenty of dark thoughts about the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs. But, as usual, they also found a couple of reasons to believe this game was an outlier. In the middle, they discussed getting the top line unstuck, the need for Esa Lindell to start providing offense again, and why Jake Oettinger had to take the walk of shame to make a point to the guys in front of him. Two periods of bad podcasting and one period of damage control? We’re Stargazing After Dark, and sometimes we're a little too hard on ourselves. (We're Stars fans. It comes with the territory.) Want to vent about whatever that was on Saturday night? Let us know at Defending Big D. We’ll bring it up in the next cast. And please don’t forget to rate, review and share. Help us help you get through this. Thanks.
Is this 2025, or 2015? The Dallas Stars won another nail-biter against the Colorado Avalanche, and it was largely thanks to Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin. Yet the team continues to get contributions from up and (mostly) down the lineup. What is possible when everyone is That Guy? In the latest episode of Stargazing, Wes and Mark got together After Dark to pore over the Stars' first road victory of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs. And they found plenty to discuss — including the signs that point toward Miro Heiskanen's return, the real threat of Gabriel Landeskog, and what might happen now that the Avs are the ones who have to play from behind. You can't control Silly Putty by squeezing it, so don't try it with the Dallas Stars, either. We're Stargazing After Dark, and we think about this sort of thing for a living. (Or at least for the lulz.) What's on your mind? Let us know at Defending Big D. We’ll bring it up in the next cast. And please don’t forget to rate, review and share. You’re why we do this.
You have to give the Dallas Stars credit: They know how to add extra thrills to their wins. They evened up Round 1 with a victory in overtime. Now they'll take their game on the road and look to grab another W in the Colorado Avalanche's home barn. Wes Lawrence and Mark Zimmerman have gone over the data from the Stars' 4-3 win on Monday, and they're happy to remind you that they put Colin Blackwell out into the world. They also took a look at how the system is working, and they huffed just a little hopium concerning the fact that Miro Heiskanen is finally traveling with the team again. Just want to see some high-end guys having high-end games? Welcome to Stargazing After Dark. We love you. Have something else you want to talk about? Let us know at Defending Big D. We’ll almost certainly bring it up in the next cast. And please don’t forget to rate, review and share. You're the best.
The Dallas Stars are really dependable about losing Game 1. The good news has always been that it isn't necessarily predictive, until it is. Wes and Mark took a few hours to process the good and the bad in the Victory Green Gang's 5-1 loss to the Colorado Avalanche. What they found was some surprisingly good news about structure and puck luck, and one or two shrieking warning sirens (fourth line, looking at you.) It’s time for Stargazing After Dark. Please do not bring your "Esa Lindell and Cody Ceci are a shutdown pair" statements here. Need to vent? Let us know at Defending Big D. We'll almost certainly bring it up in the next cast. And please don’t forget to rate, review and share. You are our champions. Thanks.
The Dallas Stars won their position in the 2025 Stanley Cup race relatively early. Then they skidded into the end of the regular season on a seven-game losing streak unprecedented during head coach Pete DeBoer's tenure. So what happens now that this team is supposed to be all in? To survey the first-round ice, Stargazing welcomed back longtime Colorado Avalanche writer Evan Liu, now of Hockey Mountain High. He sat down with Wes and Mark to talk about forward depth, netminder performance, the playoffs return of Tyler Seguin and Gabriel Landeskog, and why whatever happens...won't be a surprise. So who you got? Let’s talk about it. It’s Stargazing time! What’s on your mind? Share it at Defending Big D. (We’re there for you. Really!) And please don’t forget to rate, review and share. Thank you kindly.
The Dallas Stars are pretty good at winning. They've even gotten good at winning games in which they didn't play as well as their opponents. That's one reason why it's so frustrating to see the Stars' vices become their manners...especially when they drop games that were in their reach. What does it mean for the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs? Wes and Mark needed backup for this one, so they invited DBD alumnus Robert Tiffin – who's now kind of everywhere, thanks to D Magazine and his own Stars Thoughts Substack. And they talk about everything — from odd-yet-effective set plays to messy zone exits to how much it may (or may not) help when the Stars' injured stars are back from injuries. Now that they're in the playoffs, maybe they just want to stay healthy and blow everything up in the first round. We're Stargazing, and we think about this stuff all. the. time. And we're only half-joking when we say that this episode is presented by StarsThoughts.com. What's your biggest worry about the state of the Stars? Tell us about it at Defending Big D. We may bring up your points in the next podcast. And please leave us a like, review or share wherever you listen, because we’re just about everywhere you are. Thanks!
The officially playoffs-bound Dallas Stars always seem to have one player or another going off these days. If it's not Wyatt Johnston racking up points like a veteran elite forward, or Jason Robertson regaining his scoring touch with a vengeance, then it might be Thomas Harley making a late run at the postseason awards with all the offensive-defenseman flair he can muster. But we are Stars fans, which means we can't have nice things. So we're left to wonder if a Stanley Cup competitor's path through the Victory Green Gang will simply involve beating up on our favorite high-skill players until there aren't any left. In this edition of Stargazing, Wes and Mark consider what the Stars' roster depth will mean for this year's postseason run. How important may it be that the front office hasn't overreacted to the team's perceived weaknesses? How long can their PDO bender last? And what will it mean for their chances if they can't slam the door more consistently on their opponents? Think, for a moment, about the secret genius of pairing Lian Bichsel with Matt Dumba. We certainly have. This is Stargazing, brought to you by BetOnline. What would this season have looked like without Jake Oettinger and Casey DeSmith? Tell us about it at Defending Big D. We may bring up your points in the next podcast. And please leave us a like, review or share wherever you listen, because we're just about everywhere. Thanks!
By the time you listen to this, the Texas Stars will have already punched their ticket to the 2025 Calder Cup playoffs. Turns out Victory Green is a fun color in Austin Metro, too! The Stars in Dallas benefit greatly when the Stars in Cedar Park succeed. So to take the measure of the T-Stars' prospects, Mark once again calls on the expertise of Stephen Meserve — creator of the must-read Texas Stars source 100 Degree Hockey and co-author of We Win Here: The Definitive Essays You Need About The Texas Stars. In this episode, they address some hot topics: how the Stars are working around their lack of draft capital, why the organization remains a destination of choice for prospects and pros alike, what needs to happen in the goalie pipeline, what the future may hold for captain Curtis McKenzie, the guys who might be playing on an NHL team next year, even if that team is not the Dallas Stars, and so much more. Does everything come down to left-handed D and right-handed D? Stargazing wonders, too. And it’s presented to you by BetOnline, because The Game Starts Here. What happens if the T-Stars and the D-Stars are both deep in the playoffs at the same time? Let’s talk about it at Defending Big D. Your input always fuels our future casts. (And we'll mention you by name. Just saying.) One more thing: Please don’t forget to give us a like, review, or share wherever you listen. Thanks!