From a Certain Point of View: Looking at the Stars' Playoff Exit from an Ownership Perspective

How would you diagnose this disappointment if you were sitting in the owner's chair?

As the summer sets in earlier than expected for the Dallas Stars, there are and will continue to be a lot of questions about what happened, who’s to blame, and what can be done to avoid a similar fate next year. The Central Division doesn’t look like it’s getting easier next season, and the Stars very much do not want to find themselves third-best when next April rolls around.

Broadly speaking, everyone is disappointed. The goal in Dallas is to win the 16 playoff games required for a Stanley Cup, and the Stars won just two. That can and should draw some self-reflection. So, let’s have a think about what conclusions you might make if you were Tom Gaglardi, following the Stars’ playoff defeat.

To be clear, this is just an exercise in trying to put myself in the shoes of an owner looking at a team that fell short. I’m not reporting anything here, but simply putting a few things in context based on what we know already. There are plenty of draft, trade, and free agency questions to get to over the next few weeks, but in the aftermath of an abrupt end to the season, let’s look at the questions someone at the top of an NHL team might begin to ask of the Dallas Stars fresh off their elimination from the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

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In case you missed it, I thought Jeff Marek and Greg Wyshynski had a good discussion about the Stars, Jason Robertson, and a few different things on The Sheet the other day. The whole Robertson situation is its own animal that we’ll have all of May to dig into—Marek reiterates that he believes Robertson is looking for a max-term deal—but starting at 13:11 into the below video, Marek said something else that made my ears perk up:

Here’s an excerpt from Marek’s point:

“You know where a lot of this is going to come from, too? Ownership. Because Tom Gaglardi has given Jim Nill and the Dallas Stars everything they’ve asked for. Like, as far as being an owner, everything that Dallas has asked for from the owner, they have received.

Now, Jim’s been very responsible with it, but at the end of the day, too, here’s the Dallas Stars now, all of a sudden exiting the playoffs in the first round. This is not a return on investment that this owner sees as appropriate, considering he’s given Dallas everything that they’ve asked for. I think a lot of this gets led by the owner, who will not be [content]. And you know how competitive Gaglardi is. Super competitive. This will not rest easy on his shoulders at all.”

-Jeff Marek, The Sheet 5/1/26

The phrase “everything that Dallas has asked for from the owner” entails a lot of things, surely. The Stars are a team that spends to the salary cap every year, and they’ve even spent over the cap in recent years due to LTIR.

Winning costs money, and Gaglardi will be the first one to tell you that. In fact, the Stars’ owner said in a lengthy interview with Coastal Front last month that in the first year he owned the Stars, they lost $32 million dollars (USD). He’s invested millions upon millions of dollars in this team, and the Stars’ $2.3 billion franchise valuation reflects that investment.

Gaglardi didn’t speak with the Dallas media this year, which makes sense given all the legal wrangling still going on with the Mavericks. But that doesn’t mean he’s been completely silent, either.