When the Dallas Stars won the Western Conference regular season title in 2016, many of their skeptics pointed towards their goaltending tandem of Kari Lehtonen and Antti Niemi as the reason they still weren’t true Stanley Cup contenders. Even after an embarrassing Game 7 blowout loss to the St. Louis Blues in the second round, the Stars kept their same goalies heading into the 2016-2017 season, who led them to an underwhelming seventh worst record in the NHL.
This time, however, Stars General Manager Jim Nill wouldn’t make the same mistake.