Texas Stars open Calder Cup playoff run against Chicago Wolves in semifinal series

Texas enters the Calder Cup playoffs with the kind of edge that can make a first-round series feel less like a coin flip and more like a test of whether the favorite handles the pressure. The Stars went 7-1-0-0 against Chicago in the regular season, swept the Wolves 4-0 at home, and now open the Central Division Semifinals with Games 1 and 2 at H-E-B Center at Cedar Park on April 28 and April 30.

That home-ice start matters because Texas spent the final week of the regular season looking sharp, finishing with a 6-1 win over Rockford on April 17 and a 5-1 win the next night. The Stars also clinched their playoff berth on April 3 with a 3-1 home win over Chicago, locking up their fifth straight postseason appearance and 12th playoff berth in franchise history. If Texas wants this run to feel real, it has to turn that regular-season control over Chicago into the same result when the games count.

Cameron Hughes is the most obvious reason to believe Texas can do that. The forward was named to the 2025-26 AHL Second All-Star Team on April 16 after tying for the league lead with 50 assists and finishing fourth with 66 points. He returned to Texas on April 12 after a Dallas call-up and scored his first NHL goal on April 9 against Minnesota, a reminder that the Stars’ most dangerous playmaker can beat teams in the AHL and push his way into the NHL conversation at the same time.

Chicago has the chance to drag the series back to Rosemont, Illinois, for Games 3, 4 and 5, if necessary, on May 2, May 3 and May 5 at Allstate Arena. Texas will try to avoid that trip by cashing in early at home, where the regular-season numbers were decisive. The two clubs have met only once before in the Calder Cup Playoffs, in the 2010 Division Finals, when Jamie Benn scored the overtime winner in Game 7 to send Texas to the Western Conference Finals. Texas eventually reached the Calder Cup Finals that year and has gone on to reach the championship round three times overall, winning the Calder Cup in 2014.

For a team that has been the Dallas Stars’ top minor-league affiliate since its inaugural 2009-10 season, this is the familiar spring question: can Texas turn a strong regular season into a serious playoff statement. The answer starts with Chicago, and with what Texas does in Cedar Park before the series ever reaches Illinois.