Dallas Stars release 2009-2010 schedule

Yesterday the Dallas Stars released their schedule for the 2009-2010 season, as they hope to rebound from a highly disappointing 08-09 campaign. You can check out the full schedule here. A few noteworthy aspects:

• After opening at home against Nashville October 3, the Stars have a tough first road trip: at Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver. Fortunately the games are spread out over the course of six days.
• Stars fans won’t get to see two of the most dynamic players in hockey, as Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby and Washington’s Alex Ovechkin won’t make trips to the AAC this year. The Stars play both teams back to back in March on the road.
• The Winter Olympics will be held next year in Vancouver from Feb. 14-28, putting the NHL on a two-week hiatus. The Games might be welcome for the Stars, as they play four of their last five games before the break and three of their first five after the break on the road.
• The longest home stand comes in the middle of March – when the Stars are home for six straight from March 12 to March 21. The Stars have two four-game home stands and three three-game home stands.
• The longest road trip comes in December, as the Stars will play five straight away from home December 8-17. The Stars also have two four-game trips and six three-game trips.

Last year, for what it’s worth, the schedule seemed to be much more balanced. The Stars had four three-game homestands and four three-game road trip.

One four-game home stand. One four-game road trip.

One six-game home stand. One five-game road trip. (The Stars went 2-8-1 in these eleven games)

It’s hard to properly judge the Stars based on last season because of the staggering amount of injuries. I don’t think the Stars will have quite the poor record they did last season, but I also think they don’t have much room for error. With Tom Hicks having well-documented financial problems, this seems to be a team that will have to hope for a lot of internal improvement. If Marty Turco has the kind of season he had in 2007-2008 and Morrow and Richards are both healthy and productive, this team could make some noise. Otherwise, it could be another long year.

Morrow pic: http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/story/2008/05/05/stars-sharks.html