Dallas Stars Training Camp: Highlights and High Stakes
It's now or never for the remaining bubble players
The Stars held another practice today ahead of their final road preseason game tomorrow night in St. Louis. But this game may not feel like the others, per Glen Gulutzan.
“The game’s gonna change,” Gulutzan said Monday afternoon. “I really think the first three or four games here have been more American League, pacey-style games, a little scrambly. Now they’re gonna get a little cleaner and crisper. Players are gonna get a little bigger, more polished.”
That’s generally what happens in the preseason after most of the players have been cut, loaned, re-assigned, or what have you. The Stars are down to 15 forwards and eight defensemen in camp, so what they’ll be rolling out against the Blues will probably be most of their NHL lineup, along with perhaps the final genuine shot for the “bubble guys” pushing for a spot.
Here are the groups the Stars ran in practice on Monday:
Robertson-Hintz-Rantanen
Steel-Duchene-Seguin
Hryckowian-Johnston-Bourque
Bäck-Faksa-Blackwell
Erne-Hyry-Bastian
Lindell-Heiskanen
Harley-Lundkvist
Bichsel-Lyubushkin
Kolyachonok-Petrovic
Oettinger
DeSmith
Poirier
The Stars also worked on special teams, with power play groups today looking the same as they were yesterday (i.e. Heiskanen was QBing the top unit, and Steel and Bourque were on the second one).
Gulutzan confirmed a couple of things about the plans for the final two games of the preseason, including:
Oettinger and DeSmith will each get one more preseason game.
Lundkvist and Harley will play on a defense pairing again on Tuesday
Justin Hryckowian will likely play left wing with Johnston and Bourque tomorrow, as he did for the second half of the game on Saturday
As for those bubble guys (who in my view are Hryckowian, Erne, and Hyry), Gulutzan was candid today: he doesn’t have to tell them what’s at stake.
“They know the math,” Gulutzan said. “We’ve got some tough decisions to make. Guys have played well.”
It’s probably not a stretch to say that Tuesday night will be the last big chance for any of those players to change somebody’s mind when it comes to starting the year in the NHL. And the reason I don’t think that’s a stretch is because Gulutzan essentially said so.
“Probably for the guys that are trying to get their foot in the door, there’s one game left for ‘em, really, each.” Gulutzan said. “You want to see them under pressure. You want to see them against an NHL roster, NHL players.”
Gulutzan further emphasized that he’s “not reading too much” into those first four games, even when it comes to good performances by players like Justin Hryckowian. These finals games will be something else, and they’ll reveal something more.
“Putting him on left wing for a game, Ritzy, we know what he can do at center,” Gulutzan said. “They’ve got long looks at him [playing center] here. But now he’s gotta play on left wing against an NHL roster, and then see how that goes.”
Gulutzan reiterated that Jamie Benn’s spot is still open, and that “whoever fills it the best is probably gonna take it.” So if you needed a good reason to watch another preseason hockey game on Tuesday, then how’s this: you can probably expect to see all three of Erne, Hryckowian, and Hyry in the lineup in St. Louis for what might be their final audition for an NHL spot.
Personally, I think Adam Erne would need to really show the value of his NHL experience to leapfrog the other two at this point. Hryckowian’s performance last season (and in the playoffs) have to be big factors in his favor, and Hyry also had his best game of the preseason on Saturday.
But then, it also seems clear from what Gulutzan has said that Tuesday’s game will be weighted more heavily than the prior contests. So, one stumble or one strong game could change a lot. All told, I’m content to assume that the final forward spot(s) is still up for grabs going into Game 5 of the preseason, even if Hryckowian’s placement on the lines above might seem like it’s his to lose. A lot can change over the course of an NHL game, you know.
Speaking of Jamie Benn, Gulutzan mentioned on Monday that Benn is going to be coming home from the hospital by tomorrow at the latest.
“We’re hoping tonight,” Gulutzan said. “If not, it’ll be tomorrow. But we’re hoping tonight.”
While Benn is close to beginning his convalescence back home, it’s also pretty clear that cold and flu season has arrived in Dallas, and hockey players aren’t any more immune to it than you or I. A few players have been dealing with coughs and colds over the past couple of days, and Gulutzan also didn’t quite sound 100% in his media availability today. But if there’s a bright side to that, I suppose it’s that this is hitting now rather than in two weeks—or two months into the season, as it did last year.
One other thing on Nils Lundkvist: He played a whopping 7:45 of penalty kill time on Saturday night in Colorado as one of the relatively few NHL defenders in the lineup. He also was doing some drills today as a defensemen on the PK, so I was curious: is it a possibility we’ll see Lundkvist getting more shorthanded reps this year?
“That’s perfect for him, right? It’s good for him to get out there and get those reps,” Gulutzan said Monday. “He’s gonna get more of them now. I do have him partnered with Harley tomorrow, so if we see [Rob] Thomas, and we see [Pavel] Buchnevich and the crew there, then he’s gonna get more reps.”
Reading between the lines a bit, I think it’s safe to say that Lundkvist still isn’t going to be one of the primary PK defenders this season—especially with Miro Heiskanen likely to take regular turns shorthanded this year, as Sean Shapiro reported earlier this month.
In all likelihood, Lindell and Lyubushkin will still be a staple of the PK, with Heiskanen also getting big minutes. But if Alain Nasreddine decides that he wants to keep Harley fresher for 5-on-5 minutes, and if Lian Bichsel isn’t ready to face other team’s top power plays shorthanded just yet, then Lundkvist would be an option on the second pairing—especially if another PK defenseman takes a penalty.
All that to say, Lundkvist probably won’t be a lynchpin of the kill this year or anything, but I don’t believe he’s going to be kept off it at all costs, either, especially if someone like Petrovic isn’t in the lineup on a given night. And that should only be a good thing for him in the long run, provided he can do well in the role.
By the way, if you’re curious about Roope Hintz’s longer hair this season compared to last, Mike Heika has you covered.
Hintz said he hasn’t really done anything to his hair in a year other than a “trim” and “some highlights,” but there’s a bit more to it than that. Give it a watch if you want to know all the details.
Oh, and if you’d like to hear Mikko Rantanen talk about the differences between this year’s training camp and his last decade (almost) in Colorado, you can check that out, too.
Lastly, it’s worth remembering how odd these preseason road games are, with teams traveling the afternoon of the game and heading right to the rink for a “show and go” performance.
That’s almost never the case during the regular season, when teams want to get players a good night’s sleep and a morning skate to wake up the legs before games that matter for the NHL standings. But in the preseason, the logistics of hotels and overnight travel in general just aren’t worth the hassle, so teams fly in and out on the same day.
In Colorado in particular, I was curious if the elevation was affecting anybody in terms of breathing after flying up there just hours before the game, but a defenseman and forward I talked to Sunday both said that wasn’t a factor for them. In fact, the defenseman said that, if anything, he felt like “plane legs” were more noticeable, which is to say the normal sort of stiffness you feel after getting off a flight at 4pm and needing to play an NHL game shortly afterward. (The seven penalties the Stars had to kill probably didn’t help either.)
All that to say, it’s worth not putting too much stock in the result of any preseason game, and perhaps especially in the results of preseason road games, given the unusual circumstances surrounding the travel.
That is, unless you’re fighting for a roster spot. Then you need whatever legs you have to work the hardest they possibly can. No pressure.
Rémi Poirier added today that the schedule in the AHL can be challenging in a similar way, especially with weekend back-to-backs being so common. This can also be an adjustment for players coming over from leagues in Europe, where a season generally has fewer games. It’s all about being prepared for those challenges and then facing them with the best game you have to give.
It’s an important skill at any level of professional hockey to have a high floor to one’s game, even if you can’t necessarily hit your ceiling each day. And the preseason is a very good time to remember that.
I am excited to see chemistry between Steel and Seguin, considering Duchene’s potential to play across different lines where they want to fresh-things-up.
Excellent, as usual!