The NHL last season started a "bye week" program where players are given five days off from games and practices to help provide a mid-season boost. All bye weeks take place in January (here is schedule for each team's bye week), and the Stars' will be this week. Players are off from Sunday through Thursday and return to practice on Friday in Frisco. They then play Colorado at AAC on Saturday and head off on a four-game road trip starting Jan. 15 in Boston.
While every team will play 82 games by the end of the season, Stars coach Ken Hitchcock said he is worried about the psychological impact of the Stars slipping out of a playoff spot (the current standings can be found here) because they were not collecting points while other teams were.