Dallas Stars: Breaking Down The 2016-17 Schedule

The 2016-17 Dallas Stars schedule has been released. Let’s dive in a little deeper and see what’s in store for next season.

With the NHL Awards in the books, the 2015-16 NHL season is officially over. That signifies the beginning of preparation for the next year of hard work, and the Dallas Stars–along with the rest of the league–have already received and released their schedules for the 2016-17 season.

With that in mind, it’s important to check them out in advance and see what’s on the road ahead. Here’s an in-depth, month-by-month look at the Stars’ regular season schedule for 2016-17.

October:

The first game of the season for the Stars will come on Oct. 13 as the team is set to take on the Anaheim Ducks in Dallas.

Though the Stars won’t have any back-to-backs in the first month of hockey, they will face some challenging teams, like the Los Angeles Kings, and they’ll almost immediately jump into divisional play as the Colorado Avalanche, Nashville Predators, Winnipeg Jets (twice) and Minnesota Wild all appear within the first month of play.

One interesting thing to take note of is the fact that in the last two years, the Stars have opened the season against the team that went on to win the Stanley Cup (Chicago Blackhawks in 2014, Pittsburgh Penguins in 2015).

November:

November features even more divisional play as the Stars will meet up with each opponent at least once.

Perhaps the biggest stretch in November, and one of the biggest all year, comes early in the month. On Nov. 3, the Stars will take on the St. Louis Blues on the road. They’ll get one day off after that and then they’ll head home for the beginning of a back-to-back against the Chicago Blackhawks, with the second game being on the road.

That will mark the beginning of a five-game road trip, with the next four games coming against teams in Cananda, and it will be followed up by a four-game home stand.

December:

The Stars catch a slight break in the month of December. They have no back-to-backs and their home games (9) outnumber their away games (5).

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However, they’ll be facing some of the best teams in the league throughout the month. They start off by playing the defending Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins on Dec. 1. They’ll go on to face the Blackhawks, Ducks, Rangers, Blues, Kings and Panthers throughout the month.

From Dec. 13 to Dec. 23, the team will have five straight home games.

January:

January will see the Stars face some of the premier teams in the Eastern Conference as the Montreal Canadiens and Washington Capitals come to town. They’ll also see the Rangers for the second time of the year and the they’ll head to Barclays Center for a game against the New York Islanders.

One interesting stretch comes at the beginning of the month as the Stars will go on the road to face the Blues, Kings and Ducks with three games in four nights.

On Jan. 21 against the Capitals, the team will begin a six-game home stand, which will extend all the way into February.

February:

This month will feature three Saturday games with only one back-to-back. The team will have five divisional games but perhaps one of the biggest nights will come on Feb. 24.

That’s the same night that Alex Goligoski makes his return to Dallas. After recently being traded to the Arizona Coyotes for a fifth round pick in this year’s draft, Goligoski will play his first game back in Dallas after playing five full seasons with the team.

March:

This is usually the time of year when every team starts to think about playoff positioning and every game becomes a little more important.

To start the month off, the Stars will play the Islanders, Panthers and Capitals, getting a taste of the East.

Then, one of their biggest two week stretches of the whole season will be near. From Mar. 12 to Mar. 24, the team will play the defending Western Conference Champion San Jose Sharks three different times. Those two weeks will also feature a four-day road trip to Canada for games against the Edmonton Oilers, Vancouver Canucks and Calgary Flames, while a match with the Blackhawks will come near the end of the second week.

April:

April serves as the final month of the regular season and the last chance to make a late playoff surge. It’s been good for the Stars recently, as they’ve gone a combined 7-2-0 in April of 2015 and 2016.

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In 2017, the team will start the month off with a back-to-back games against the Carolina Hurricanes and Tampa Bay Lightning, before ending the season on a three game home stand against the Coyotes, Predators and Avalanche.