2 Dallas Stars With the Most Pressure in 2026-27

The Dallas Stars enter the 2026-27 campaign as Stanley Cup contenders, which is a role they seem to play season after season. After three straight trips to the Western Conference Finals, they made an early first-round exit to the Minnesota Wild last spring, and look to not only get back to the final four, but to that elusive final series.

There’s no doubt that there is pressure on the Stars, but there is some grace to go around. For one, this team was incredibly compromised due to injury, especially post-Olympics and heading into the playoffs. Secondly, the Florida Panthers and the Edmonton Oilers are the only two teams that have played more hockey than Dallas over the last four seasons, regular season and postseason included.

As a team, they have elite talent both on forward and defense, and they have one of the better goaltending situations in the NHL. However, there are two players have more pressure onboard them than the rest of the roster. Let’s get into it.

1. Thomas Harley

Stars fans knew and loved Thomas Harley long before the 4 Nations Face-Off, which was played in February 2025, but the rest of the league took notice after a strong showing in that tournament, the rest of the season and the ensuing playoff run. The 25-year-old defenseman then signed an eight-year, $84.7 million extension last fall after putting up 31 goals and 97 points in the first two full seasons of his career in 2023-24 and 24-25.

Whether it was the pressure of the spotlight, injuries, fatigue, or a mixture of all three, Harley had a disappointing 2025-26, scoring just six goals and 36 points in 70 games. He followed the same script in the playoffs, putting up zero points in six games.

Remember that grace I was talking about earlier? Well, that can apply to Harley, but it won’t last long. The former first-round pick has played in 289 NHL games (regular season and playoffs) since the spring of 2023, and played on Team Canada in both the 4 Nations and the Olympics. That’s a lot of hockey. In addition, he suffered a broken foot last November, and just never looked right after that.

Ok, so that all happened, fair enough. Now, it’s time to have a strong, bounce back season. It’s not always fair, but in this salary cap world, even with a cap that’s growing, the critics will be louder the more money you make. Considering Harley is in the first year of a deal that is paying him the third most per season on the team, those critics will be noisey, and it will start early.

The Stars have one of the best defensive units in the league, and are typically in the top five in most defensive categories. The difference this season, is their depth on defense is very thin. Esa Lindell and Miro Heiskanen are a dominant number one pair, and Lian Bichsel and Tyler Myers should be a reliable third pair. In the middle is Harley and Nils Lundkvist, who will be relied on for their puck moving and offensive abilities almost as much as their play in the defensive zone. After that, it’s pretty much crickets.

If Harley struggles, or gets hurt, there is no one to take the heat off of him or replace him. I have no doubt that Harley will return to the form that got him paid. It’s important that he does tho, because the grace and understanding of a patience fanbase won’t last long. More importantly, the team needs him to be his best.

2. Jake Oettinger

It might be strange to say that a goaltender who has won 35 games or more for the last four seasons has pressure on him, but that is the case for Jake Oettinger. Despite winning a bunch of games, Oettinger is coming off of a season that saw the worst save percentage (SV%) of his career, .899. It was also full of ups and downs that rolled right into the playoffs.

When he’s at his best, Oettinger is one of the best netminders in the NHL. There is zero doubt about that. Whether he’s top five or top 10, or wherever you want to put him, he can be elite. The issue is, far too often, he allows the wrong goal at the wrong time. Whether it’s early in the game or late, those bad goals put a lot of pressure on the defense in front of him and the team as a whole. He’s also an extremely atheletic goalie who tries to make saves with his skill rather than use his 6-foot-6 frame to his advantage.

There is some nitpicking when it comes to Oettinger’s game, for sure. Bottom line is that he has to be better for this team to get to where it wants to go. Not only better, but one of the best.

“I want to win a Stanley Cup,” the 27-year-old said after the season. “I want to win the Vezina Trophy, and I want to be a starting goalie for Team USA at the Olympics. None of those three things happened.”

“He knows he needs to get better,” general manager Jim Nill said of Oettinger. “Not better, but more consistent.”

In Oettinger’s mind, he didn’t reach any of his goals last season, which I think he’s being a bit too harsh on himself. Accomplishing just one of those goals in a any given year is difficult, let alone all three. But, it is true that he needs to step it up in 2026-27.

Cup or Bust in Dallas

Harley and Oettinger are the two players in my mind who need to have a big season, but for a team that needs to finally get to the Stanley Cup Final, and probably needs to win it, you could argue that this list should be bigger.

After being acquired at the trade deadline last March, Myers did not settle into his new city well. The Stars don’t need him to be Cale Makar out there, they just need him to make the right decisions in his own end and make the right pass out of the zone. Maybe throw his body around a little bit too. It’s not overly complicated.

You could also add Jason Robertson to this list after barely avoiding arbitration and signing a one-year, $12 million deal. While I understand the arguement, I disagree with this sentiment. Robertson has 213 goals and 490 points in 456 regular season games with the Stars, including 45 goals and 96 points last season, and is going to make a ton of money regardless of what happens this season. Yes, the fanbase and the management will be frustrated with him if he has a bad season, especially after the drama of this past summer.

The Stars have $41.6 million in cap space next season, so they can sign Robertson to big money if they want to. If not, Robertson will find a home very quickly, so to me, there’s no pressure from that side of things.

The rest of this roster is extremely proven and we basically know what we’re going to get from each player. So, yes, as a unit, there is a lot of pressure to win. But aside from the two players we highlighted, it’s business as usual in Dallas.