Newfound pressure to succeed could be a privilege for Stars

One of my favorite sports sayings these days is, “Pressure is a privilege.”

It tells participants that having to deal with high expectations means you’re in a pretty good place. It also means you’ve probably done something good to deserve that pressure.

The Stars are in the middle of that experience right now. They have been picked by many experts to be among the best teams in the NHL this year. They have been picked by some to win it all. That’s great news, but it also creates expectations that can lead to a little extra nervousness.

So, how do they handle it?

“We’ve been in situations like this before,” Stars captain Jamie Benn said on the eve of the season opener on Thursday against St. Louis. “It’s just a matter of managing expectations. It doesn’t matter what people say about our group or what they think. What matters is how we feel in here. We believe in each other and we think we’ve got a good group.”

The Stars finished last season with the seventh best record in the League and advanced to the Western Conference Final, where they lost to eventual Stanley Cup Champion Vegas in six games. That’s an impressive performance, especially when you consider they had a whole new coaching staff and were coming off a year where they lost in the first round.

“Where did everyone pick Vegas and Dallas last year at this time?” Stars coach Pete DeBoer asked rhetorically. “It wasn’t to win the Stanley Cup and be in the Final Four.”

The irony of all this is that not having high expectations often provides motivation to “underdog” teams. Sure, squads like the Stars and Florida were able to navigate the playoffs because they heard the outside “negativity.” Shouldn’t it be different when it’s outside positivity?

“Noise is noise,” said veteran Tyler Seguin, who has heard his fair share of criticism in his career with the Stars. “In this locker room we have a sound machine that just blocks it all out.”

It’s a good point. Seguin and Benn have had to fight through all sorts of “noise” in their respective careers. Newcomer Matt Duchene has done the same with four different teams in his career. Veterans like Ryan Suter are masters at shutting out distractions and focusing on the task at hand. On paper, Dallas has a very good team. They finished second in the NHL in goal differential last season at plus-67. They were third in penalty kill success and fifth on the power play. Had it not been for 14 OT/SO losses, they might have been able to take the first seed in the West. Simply put, they were great in DeBoer’s first season behind the bench.

And they not only returned the key core players of that group in Miro Heiskanen, Roope Hintz, Jason Robertson and Jake Oettinger, they also added valuable pieces like Duchene. Can this group be even better in its second year under DeBoer and company? That’s probably why there is so much noise.

“You’ve got to prove it all over again, and part of our conversations with our group is there are a lot of good teams on paper and that doesn’t really translate,” DeBoer said. “We check our egos and we’re all prepared to buy in and play the right way so that the talent we have on paper translates to the standings.”

Because as much as hearing good things can be fun, those happy words can set you up on a pedestal with a potential fall to the ground. Lose a few games to start the year, and pressure becomes a prison and not a privilege. If you wake up on the concrete in the middle of the season, you’ll respect the teachings of Katy Perry and realize that gravity does indeed hurt.

But there’s a few ways to look at that.

“We’re excited to have expectations,” Seguin said. “We’re going to get every team’s best, but I think that’s going to make us a great hockey team at the end of the season.”

Fact is, a lot of these players know all too well how hard it is when the season ends in disappointment. Benn sat in a dressing room in Edmonton after the Stars lost the “bubble” Stanley Cup Final to Tampa Bay in 2020. He likely still carries that pain in his heart. Last season, he was suspended for two games in the Western Conference Final and returned only to be eliminated in Game 6 against the Golden Knights.

“You don’t forget about it,” he said. “I think overall it was a pretty good year, but just a tough way to end the season. It was a little bit out of character and hopefully we can change that this year.”

To do that, they have to first navigate the 82-game season and try to find a way to place high in the standings. That way they can secure home ice or a strong seed. Once they get to the playoffs, they then need to take care of business efficiently to ensure their best path. And when the pressure is highest in the key moments of the playoffs, they have to make the right play at the right time. It’s not easy, and only one team gets to walk away with the Cup, so trying to frame all of that in words seems somewhat impossible.

A good reminder of the challenge is the fact only one Stars player has been a member of a Cup winning team – Seguin as a rookie in Boston. Joe Pavelski is 39 years old and hasn’t won one. Suter has played 18 seasons and just advanced to a conference final for the first time last year. DeBoer has coached 16 seasons and advanced to the conference finals in four of the past six years. None of them have won it all.

While it would be easy to say that’s a big motivator, DeBoer put that into perspective with some impressive introspection.

“The older I get, it’s really gratitude,” he said when asked his feelings about starting the pursuit of the Cup once again. “I know you want me to say it keeps me up at night that I haven’t won a Cup, but it’s gratitude to work at this level and knowing that I’ve coached against a lot of great coaches and coached against a lot of great players who haven’t won a Cup.”

Fact is, the pursuit itself brings peace of mind.

“The bottom line is you’ve got to give yourself a chance to keep knocking on that door,” DeBoer said. “I really believe if you’re good enough to win a couple of rounds in this league, you’re good enough to win the Cup. You need things to lay out the right way - health and overtime and goaltending. All of those things. So just keep knocking on the door.”

Because that is a privilege they definitely don’t want to overlook.

This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.

Mike Heika is a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on Twitter @MikeHeika.