Dallas Stars Trade Deadline Day Roundup: Roope Hintz Will Play against Colorado, Michael Bunting and Tyler Myers Won't, and Casey De'Snake's New Mask

There was A Lot Going On today

Michael Bunting

The trade deadline has passed, and Dallas’s roster is now set for their playoff run after two new additions: Michael Bunting and Tyler Myers. Both players make Dallas better and deeper, which is the point.

However, the other top teams in the Central Division followed suit, because nothing ever gets easier in the Central Division. Colorado added a couple of quality centers (albeit ones in their mid-thirties) in Nic Roy (who will play tonight in Dallas) and, at the very last minute, Nazem Kadri.

Minnesota also brought in wingers Bobby Brink and Nick Foligno (whose brother Marcus already players in Minnesota), as well as Noted Big Body Michael McCarron.

In the whirlwind of the final hours leading up to said deadline, the Stars did their best to spend the morning preparing for their biggest game of the season, so far. The second-best team in the NHL will look to extend their franchise-record 10-game winning streak against the top team in the league, as the Colorado Avalanche make their first visit to Dallas of the year.

The Stars’ preparation today included an optional morning skate, and media scrums with new arrivals Michael Bunting and Tyler Myers. Notably, neither player is going to factor into the lineup tonight, as Glen Gulutzan opted to give both players a couple days to acclimate to a new system rather than ask them to jump right into what is sure to be a fierce, fast-paced divisional tilt.

While Myers arrived in Dallas Thursday evening, Bunting only arrived in Dallas this morning, which Gulutzan said necessitated an extremely early wakeup for Bunting. In the end, the combination of personal and tactical challenges led to Gulutzan deciding to give the new guys a couple more days to settle in before asking them to suit up.

“There’s some differences, obviously, the way Nashville and Vancouver play,” Gulutzan said. “And you always want to make them as prepared as you can. Set them up for success when they come in, especially when they’ve had long travel days.”

The move also reads as a vote of confidence in Dallas’s current lineup—the same group, for the most part, that’s won ten straight. That lineup will include Roope Hintz, whom Gulutzan said will be activated off IR and put into the lineup to face Colorado tonight.

Based on lines in practice yesterday, the Stars will likely deploy a lineup similar to this one: