Loss of Bishop, Radulov just another spin in Stars' Tilt-A-Whirl season

The 2020-21 season for Stars fans has sort of been like a trip to that traveling midway set up by the Piggly Wiggly when you were a kid.
"Hey buddy, it looks like the footing to the Tilt-A-Whirl is sliding around here on the parking lot."
"Yeah, we'll get right on that…go ride the Salt and Pepper Shaker for a few minutes."
Enter at your own risk here, right?

Well, a couple of more rides shut down on Wednesday. The Stars announced that both Ben Bishop and Alexander Radulov would not be playing this season. Stars general manager Jim Nill said Bishop will continue his rehab after offseason knee surgery and the hope is he will be fully healthy for the 2021-22 season. Radulov, who played in 11 game but has been on the shelf more recently, had surgery to repair a core muscle injury and also is hoping to be at full health for the 2021-22 season.

It's good to have the closure on both, it's bad to lose the hope.
All in all, it seems perfectly appropriate to be juggling all of that in your brain as you ponder whether this team really does have the ability to chase down Nashville for the fourth and final playoff spot in the Central Division. And while you have room for doubt in the Victory Green corners of your mind, the Stars do not.
Stars coach Rick Bowness said having the hope of a potential return from injured players was nice, but they have played most of the season without Radulov, Bishop and Tyler Seguin, so they just move forward one step at a time.
"We were all looking forward to the day they were going to get back into the lineup, but that's out of our control," Bowness said. "With Bish, it's the same thing as Rads. The player has done everything he can to get back and the organization has done everything they can to get him back, and they're just not ready to come back either one."
And so the Stars will move forward. Stick a piece of plywood under the Tilt-A-Whirl, layer on a few cinder blocks, and off you go.

The Stars have six games coming up against the bottom two teams in the Central -- Columbus and Detroit -- starting on Thursday. Win the majority of those, hope Nashville slows down from its tremendous hot streak, and who knows where you are entering May.
There still is hope for those inside the room.
"I think we have all the pieces here," defenseman Jamie Oleksiak said recently. "We're kind of figuring out our team now, and a couple bounces go our way in the OTs and the shootouts, it's a whole different outlook on the season. I think we've just got to stick with it and look at the positives. We're turning this thing around, slowly but surely. I think it's going to be a good character test for us."
Missing both Radulov and Bishop will be tough. Radulov was second on the team in points per game at 1.09 with 12 points (four goals, eight assists) in 11 games. When healthy, he is a dynamic offensive force who could make a huge difference in the 2-12 record in overtime and shootouts.
"He's one of our top offensive players," Bowness said of the 34-year-old winger. "He's a threat 5-on-5, he's a threat in overtime, he's a threat in the shootout, he's a threat on the power play. When he's not in the lineup, we really miss him."

And as the team tries to manage a very difficult schedule down the stretch, getting an emotional boost from Radulov was something everyone was anticipating. However, the core injury proved too difficult to manage.
"He's a tremendous competitor, so he gives energy to the bench, gives energy to our offensive game because you give him the puck in the offensive zone and good luck trying to get it off of him," said Bowness. "We miss him. It's disappointing. All I know is that Rads has done everything he can and the organization has done everything they can to get him back on the ice. It just hasn't worked out. Not much you can do about that."
The same goes with Bishop. The 6-foot-7 goalie is 74-48-11 in his time with the Stars with a 2.33 goals against average and .923 save percentage. While both Anton Khudobin and Jake Oettinger have played well in his absence, the Stars this season have a 2.46 GAA and .910 save percentage.
That's good, but a healthy Bishop could have possibly made it better.
"Bish is clearly our No. 1 goalie, one of the top goaltenders in the league," Bowness said.

And yet the Stars will have to play on without both.
Seguin, who had hip surgery in the off-season and has yet to play this year, could possibly return around April 26. Again, that's a recovery that will be monitored closely and could change. After all, the Stars have played most of the season without all three, so they know that they will ice a lineup that is capable of winning games.
It will just take the courage to stay in the midway no matter what sort of parts are flying around.
"We're all anxious and looking forward to the day we can get the team that's on paper on the ice together," Bowness said. "It's not going to happen (this season), so you can't lose any sleep over it. You prepare the guys you have, you coach the guys you have, and you prepare for tomorrow."
Which will be a pretty big game against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

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Stars vs. Blue Jackets

Thursday, 7:30 p.m. CT
American Airlines Center
TV: Bally Sports Southwest Plus
Radio: The Ticket 96.7-FM, 1310-AM
This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.
Mike Heikais a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on Twitter @MikeHeika, and listen to his podcast.