IMO yes

We’re they ever really true contenders though?

I think it's closing pretty soon if they ever had a window to begin with. I honestly thought they wouldn't be that good this season, Bishop was just so good last year and I didn't think he could keep it up. And while Bishop was great this year, they've still kinda been all over the place. But it's not like this team doesn't have good pieces for the future. Go for it through Pavelski and Radulov's contracts, and then tank until Benn is gone, get some younger pieces through the draft and build around them and Heiskanen.

I don't follow them much but they were always not more than a 2nd round team to me

Last off-season was probably the time to move Benn and Rads. Signing Pavs was a massive mistake and what happens when a GM is looking to land a big name to save his job

they were close but id say no

Team is good. Just tad old and therefore not long-term sustainable.

If our window isn't over, it's going to be that soon.

The over defensive game philosophy just hasn't brought the results we were looking for...although it got us to OT2 in Game 7 against the forthcoming champion.

Imo if this season is a failure, we should move Radulov and Klingberg for future assets.

true

Do you think Stars should blow it up? if so when?

Well blowing up isn't happening. Our owners are looking for results, short-term. Also our core players such as Seguin and Benn are inked long-term so they're not going anywhere - particularily because no one is taking Benn's contract lol.

If I were Nill, I'd move Klingberg and Radulov if this season ends up short. As I said before, this core is not long-term sustainable, but hopefully our young guys such as Heiskanen, Hintz, Gurianov, Robertson, Dellandrea, Harley and Oettinger can build up as the new core.

To be fair, Dallas had just been 1 OT goal in game 7 away from knocking out the eventual cup champion and making the conference final, so it's understandable that they felt that they could squeeze in another go at the cup. And with the efficient defensive style they play they do have a chance at knocking out anyone in the playoffs this year.

But yeah, probably not too long left for them to get the best out of this team. That Benn contract is a huge backbreaker and probably limits how quickly they can do a retool.

I think thats the problem, they were never reallllly a contender as is.
Benn was good just before they built up some depth, now their depth is old.
Their goaltending is dope, but just as their old guys are getting older,
and their future players (Seguin, Miro, Hintz, Robertson, and even Klingberg might not be enough to get competitive.

One could argue they need to pull a Boston, dip for like 3 years by trading away Benn, Radulov, Bishop, Lindell, etc (keeping their young core intact) and then build up a few more prospects, and then in 4 years they could be in the bruins position with a few old guys (seguin, Klingberg = Bergy, Krejci, Chara), but also have a dope young core (Miro, Robertson = Carlo, Mcavoy, Debrusk) and prospects (unnamed prospects = Urho / Studnicka)

{"Pavelski, Benn, Bishop all regressing"} . . . and Perry, Polak and Sekera already regressed. Radulov turns 34 and Cogliano turns 33 in the summer and Comeau turns 35 in the middle of the season. What will be left of their defense will probably carry them further than they deserve this season, thereby concealing the problem yet again, but I don't think they are a contender any more (if they ever were).

Bruins fell off for two straight years. Really 3 tbh as they weren’t contenders in 2017. Imagine If they didn’t screw up the first round of 2015 draft

Some of y’all about to be real mad at me now. But it must be said.

The Benn and Seguin contracts = The Parise and Suter contracts

Benn and Parise are probably pretty comparable. At least Benn still throws the body around. Put Segs in a better system with better line mates and I’ll put good money on him still being a stud

Like I said: they traded away Lucic, Hamilton, a few others //. drafted guys like debrusk, carlo, macvoy, etc // and here they are having barely lost last years finals and killing teams this year.

Brutal take tbh. They were one goal away from knocking off the cup champs. They signed a player who scored 38 goals last season who seemed like a lock for 25 goals this season. It’s their system that doesn’t allow those kinds of players to flourish

You defend signing that kind of player. Then explain that our system keeps players like that from being successful. So if Nill knew what kind of system we were going to run (he did) then maybe he should have passed on signing that type of player