Dallas Stars Training Camp Day 1: Nils Lundkvist Clinches Fitness Test Immortality

Would you like to talk about Lines and Defense Pairings? I guess we can do that.

Note 1: We can’t possibly summarize everything from every day in training camp without writing a 10,000 word story each night—don’t tempt me—but I do plan to bring you a good bit of it each day and return to more of it as the weeks go on.

Note 2: Today is my brother’s birthday. My brother is a significant part of the reason I am 1. A writer, 2. Writing about the Stars, and 3. Not quite as annoying as I would have turned out to be had he not beaten me up every now and then. Happy Birthday, John.

---

Over 60 players hit the ice in Frisco on Thursday as the Dallas Stars began their pursuit of a 2025-26 Stanley Cup.

One of those players was Nils Lundkvist, whom the Stars announced had once again finished first in the team’s annual fitness testing, making it three straight years that the returning defenseman has out-cycled, out-jumped, and out-oxygen’d every single one of his teammates at the start of training camp.

How does he do it?

“I watch him on the bike all the time and try to figure it out, and can’t,” Tyler Seguin said on Thursday. “There’s something with the youth-ness of that. So, good for him.”

The man himself doesn’t have a clear answer, either.

“Good genetics?” Lundkvist said with a smile. “I’m taking pride in being in good shape. I mean, we’re doing a lot of jumping, and that’s kind of my thing, and has always been. I guess good genetics, hard work, and a long summer.”

Beginning next season, the new NHL collective bargaining agreement will no longer permit teams to perform this sort of fitness testing. Thus, Nils Lundkvist will forever hold the title as Most Fit Dallas Star.

“A lot of guys said, ‘You don’t need to defend it any more,’ and three in a row,” Lundkvist laughed.

“A good recipe for both my trainers back home and myself, that the things I do work. Yeah, a little confidence boost going into [training camp].”

It’s only one measurement before anything close to meaningful hockey has been played, but when you remember that Lundkvist missed the final half of the season and all of the playoffs with a serious shoulder injury last year, his getting back into (literally) top shape is even more impressive.

“Say what you want about the training camp, testing, or the bike test or whatever we do,” Seguin said. “If you do it once, great. You do it twice, great. You get injured, you miss all that time, there’s something there to be proud of, to do it a third time. So, good on him.”

After his first two postseasons in Dallas ended with Lundkvist falling out of favor with Pete DeBoer, to have his strongest season thus far cut short by injury was a cruel bit of fate. And that ending wasn’t made any easier by the fact that Lundkvist had just been cleared to return to play at the end of May last year before the Stars were eliminated by the Edmonton Oilers.

Whether DeBoer would have inserted Lundkvist into the lineup is tough to say. But what we do know is that Lundkvist’s longer-than-usual break from playing hockey made for a different offseason—but one in which he once again opted to return to Dallas as a pending unrestricted free agent.

Oh, and he also got married this summer, too.

“We love it here, me and my wife,” Lundkvist said. “It’s one of the best places to be at. You know, the weather, people that come here, it’s like, ‘You’re living the dream. You play in the NHL, and you come to the rink with sandals on, nine out of ten months.’ It’s awesome. We love it here.”

In discussing what made him decide to return to Dallas for a fourth year, Lundkvist also echoed what most players say about Dallas after signing to play here: it’s a really good team with a chance to win a Stanley Cup. And this year, he may have the best opportunity yet to help the Stars do just that.

---

The first day of training camp is a very dangerous time to be making predictions, especially with over 60 players in training camp split into three groups across on-ice and off-ice sessions that spanned six hours on Thursday. Things are going to change, either out of necessity or because the coaches want to see what their other options are.

For example, in last year’s training camp, Matt Dumba played a fair bit on a pairing with Miro Heiskanen, and that was something DeBoer ended up deploying. But it didn’t last terribly long.

Still, if you’re looking for a window into Gulutzan’s thinking, every bit of information could be helpful. And on Thursday, we saw some new combinations up front and on defense:

Group A featured some notable combinations, including:

Steel-Duchene-Seguin
Benn-Johnston-Rantanen

Lindell-Heiskanen

While Group B included the following:

Robertson-Hintz-Bourque
Bäck-Faksa-Bastian

Harley-Lundkvist

Colin Blackwell skated with Group A, along with a pairing that featured Vladislav Kolyachonok and Alex Petrovic. Lian Bichsel and Ilya Lyubushkin skated on a pairing together in Group B.

Here’s what Gulutzan said about how he goes about putting lines together:

“I’ve always liked pairs. Just being frank, I’m very excited, because I think we have some really good pairings of guys that’ll work together. And I’m not married to anything, so I’ll mix and match to find what works best for the team.”

DeBoer (and other coaches) also talked in the past about building lines off strong pairings, with a third player complementing the chemistry between the two.

How does Gulutzan evaluate those pairings, though?

“Sometimes analytics comes into play,” Gulutzan said. “Everybody looks at analytics. The whole league looks at analytics. But you have to look at results, too. You can analytically be good, but you gotta get results, too. So I’ll look at both those things.”

---

For my part, I’m loath to dive into analyzing all the potential lines and pairings based on the first day of training camp. Things can and will change.

My gut reaction today was to be skeptical that we will see Jamie Benn skate on a top line with Mikko Rantanen at this point in their respective careers. But then again, Glen Gulutzan is not Pete DeBoer, and the new coach has said that everything is on the table. So we’ll see how far that goes, I suppose.

As for the other combinations, Gulutzan did allude to Steel potentially getting a look on Duchene’s wing earlier this summer on the DLLS podcast, so that is at least not wholly unexpected—though it may be a bit optimistic given the limited offensive production in Steel’s career.

Mavrik Bourque playing on a spot next to Hintz and Robertson (a spot formerly occupied by Rantanen) is also something to hold loosely, for now. But then again, Gulutzan named Bourque and Lundkvist specifically on Wednesday as players he’s going to give big opportunities to. Certainly, playing with two top forwards like Hintz and Robertson would qualify as such.

Also qualifying as a big opportunity would be playing on a defense pairing with Thomas Harley, as Lundkvist did today. And perhaps a bit moreso than the forward groups, my gut instinct is that this pairing could get some real runway.

When you put together what Alain Nasreddine said a couple weeks ago with Gulutzan’s talk on Wednesday, I think Lundkvist playing next to Harley makes a lot of sense. Though of course, one preseason game can change a lot of things (for good or otherwise), so again—best not be too hasty.

Still, as you would expect, Lundkvist is a pretty big fan of the player who partnered with Drew Doughty for Team Canada in February.

“Tom’s journey the last couple of years has been amazing,” Lundkvist said on Thursday. “He’s an amazing player. Probably like, top-ten D in the league now. It’s been awesome to see. Great player, great person. I can learn a lot from him.”

What about the chance to play with Harley, as he did on Thursday?

“I don’t know what’s gonna happen,” Lundkvist said, “But right now, it looks like we’re playing together a little bit. It’s awesome to play with him.”

The Stars have their first preseason game on Saturday against the St. Louis Blues. Perhaps we’ll learn a little bit more then.

---

Okay, let’s wrap with with some assorted quotes from the first day of training camp in a little feature I like to call

Assorted Quotes from the First Day of Training Camp

“Compared to the summer I had before, I felt like I had two summers, because I didn’t get married and go on a honeymoon. So I actually got to, you know, be home […] When you’re in our kinda role, when you look at your schedule in the summer, and you have three weeks in a row where you’re not committed to anything, it’s like you tear up, you’re so happy. I had a lot of that this summer. Just a lot of family time, got to chill. I feel like it’s always a good sign at the end of the summer that I was dying to get back here. That’s what you want.” -Jake Oettinger

“I have a ton of respect for the staff that was here and what they did. We had a lot of success and stuff like that. But as you said, new eyes, a new coach that looks at you, and a big opportunity for me.” -Nils Lundkvist

“It’s hard to turn it on when the playoffs start. You gotta kind of build it the whole year. Obviously there will be games where you’re lacking that, but most of the time we try to be more physical a little bit, hard to play against.” -Mikko Rantanen

“I honestly believe that at the end of the day, healthy competition is a good thing. And I’m a guy who I think benefits having good players around me. It helps with less complacency, I think. Not that I’ve ever gotten too comfortable in the league, but I think playing on a good team and being, let’s just say, out of the lineup here and there is a lot easier to manage when the team is moving in a positive direction.” -Nathan Bastian

“The first couple days, it felt like that. Now I feel like I never left.” -Radek Faksa (on whether it feels like he’s been gone for a while)

“I just try and be realiable. I try and be trustworthy. I try and use my ears a little more than my mouth, and do as I’m told.” -Nathan Bastian

“I missed all the media here—except for you, Mike.” -Radek Faksa (to Mike Heika, on whether he missed the Dallas media)