Dater: Intriguing Subplots Make For Potential Classic Series With Dallas

Some great storylines

Playoffs! Against Dallas! Man, do I have some memories of covering previous Avs-Stars series, such as:

• Sitting alone at the top of first first concourse, getting ready to write a happy “Avs win series” lead to a story, with three minutes and change to go, after Vladislav Namestnikov made it 4-3 Avs in Game 7 of the 2020 second round, up in Edmonton in the bubble. When Joel Kiviranta scored on the following shift against Michael Hutchinson to send it to OT, I knew it was over. After 50 days in Edmonton (including two full weeks where I did not leave my Airbnb one time, for fear of getting a six-month jail sentence or a $750,000 fine for breaking quarantine) it was time to go home.

• Stepping inside the quietest locker room I ever experienced, after the Avs lost Game 7 of the 2000 Western finals in Dallas, the one where Ray Bourque’s point shot, tipped by Adam Deadmarsh, hit the goalpost and skittered away in the final seconds, preventing the Avs from tying and going to OT. (A few months later, I was offered the Stars beat writer job for the Dallas Morning News, but turned it down because my fiancee didn’t want to move).

• Walking into an almost equally quiet Stars room after the Avs eliminated them in five games in the first round in 2006, in a series the Stars entered as heavy favorites behind goalie Marty Turco.

What will 2024, second round, Avs-Stars bring? It could be a real classic, based on the following subplots:

• Zach Parise vs. Ryan Suter: The former Minnesota Wild teammates, who EACH signed $98.5 million, free-agent contracts in 2012 but never delivered a Cup there, face each other in each’s quest to finally add a Cup to their long careers. I don’t think there’s any bad blood between the two, but it’s still a very interesting subplot, these two 39-year-olds going against each other.