Complete defensive turnaround finally has Stars ready to shine

Over recent seasons, the Dallas Stars had become predictable. Their high-powered attack could break any game open, but a porous defensive structure and replacement-level goaltending often outweighed the club's offensive potency.

So, with that in mind, management made it their mission over the offseason to undergo major changes. Ken Hitchcock replaced Lindy Ruff behind the bench, while goaltender Ben Bishop was brought in to solidify the crease. Add in the free-agent acquisitions of Alexander Radulov and Martin Hanzal, and the Stars' supporting cast around the Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin-based nucleus had undergone a complete overhaul.

Any team to endure such drastic change is destined to meet an adjustment period, and while the Stars haven't made too much noise in the standings early on in the 2017-18 season, Dallas is fresh off a 5-0 thrashing of the Islanders on Friday night, and is 6-4 in their last 10 games. It appears the Stars are getting more comfortable with their new system, and looking at the improvements they've made in their defensive zone early on - a complete 180 - this Dallas team looks ready to erase prior narratives.

Here's a look at some of Dallas' numbers in 2016-17:

And this season:

(All stats at 5-on-5, Courtesy: Corsica)

Looking at this, it's clear Hitchcock, who has always promoted a strong defense, has implemented a system that has the Stars allowing much fewer shot attempts, ultimately leading to fewer expected goals against and subsequently affording the offense added opportunities to control the puck more frequently, which, of course, is all a good thing.

One month into the new regime, Dallas' big guns are predictably still firing at impressive clips. Through 16 contests, both Benn and Seguin have averaged a point per game, while defenseman John Klingberg and newcomer Radulov, have 15 and 14 respectively.

Apart from two fruitless playoff runs, the Stars' potential as a team in the Benn-Seguin era had largely been wasted by an inability to properly fix their biggest flaw, but after finally making significant, and necessary changes across the organization, Dallas looks poised to write a new chapter as a complete unit, one that's ready to compete.