Are the Dallas Stars the real deal?

There's quite a bit of hype surrounding the Dallas Stars entering the 2017-18 NHL campaign. Whether the hype is rightfully deserved remains questionable. 

A recent article from Yahoo! Sports sheds some light into the disastrous defensive season that was for the Stars. They finished 26th in shot attempts against, were 28th in scoring chances and were the least-successful penalty-killing team in the league. 

On paper, the team looks absolutely lethal, with studs such as Tyler Seguin, Jamie Benn, Jason Spezza and John Klingberg leading the charge. Add in the offseason acquisitions of Alexander Radulov, Martin Hanzal, Marc Methot and Ben Bishop and this team looks like it could do some serious damage.

Gone is head coach Lindy Ruff and in is the defensively minded and well-respected Ken Hitchcock. 

Hitchcock led the Stars to their only Stanley Cup championship in 1999 and can help teach the forwards to be more responsible in their own end. Even if the team does start playing better defensively, is the defense core capable of getting the job done? Their top-six is still significantly lacking, but there's certainly reason to be optimistic about the Stars entering 2017-18. 

Is this the season everything finally comes together in Dallas?