"Just Be Yourself": Talking Dallas Stars Defense, Lefty/Righty Balance, and Penalty Killing with Assistant Coach Alain Nasreddine

He's done this before

We have made it to September, at last. The weather is even beginning to cool off, which is not always a guarantee around here.

More importantly, this is the same set of 30 days in which real hockey is returning. Said hockey will include a two-day prospect tournament in Frisco beginning a week from Saturday, followed by training camp and preseason NHL games a week later. September is a good month.

Some things in Dallas are going to be different about this particular September, considering the changes made to the Stars’ coaching staff over the summer. But one thing that has remained consistent is the presence of Assistant Coach Alain Nasreddine, who will serve his fourth straight year overseeing the penalty kill and the Stars’ defense.

With the departures of Pete DeBoer, Steve Spott, and Misha Donskov in the past few months, Nasreddine could add some valuable continuity for Dallas. Really, it’s no surprise the Stars wanted Nasreddine back, given that the Stars’ penalty kill has ranked second in the NHL over his three years in Dallas (trailing only Carolina for the league lead during that time). Nasreddine has also (like his now-fellow assistant coach Neil Graham) seen defensemen like Thomas Harley and Lian Bichsel go from spending time in the AHL to becoming NHL playoff regulars under his watch.

The former NHL defenseman began his coaching career in the AHL under John Hynes, after which he joined Hynes in the NHL as an assistant coach in New Jersey back in 2015. Nasreddine would be named the Devils’ interim head coach after Hynes was fired early into the 2019-20 season following a 9-13-4 start. Under Nasreddine, the Devils found their footing a bit, managing a 19-16-8 record before the 2020 COVID shutdown in March.

Nasreddine would return to New Jersey the following season even after the full-time head coaching job was given to Lindy Ruff. Nasreddine would eventually leave New Jersey after 2022 to join Pete DeBoer’s staff here in Dallas.

A Montréal native, Nasreddine said he and his family got to spend some time together up north this summer with his family—a family that includes two teenage sons who are both slated to play hockey for QMJHL teams in the Maritimes this season (in Moncton and Halifax). But now, Nasreddine is back in Dallas, where the Stars organization is gearing up for another season with high expecations.

The coaching staff has already begun to hold some of their prelimary meetings, but Nasreddine graciously took some time to answer a few questions from me last week. Our conversation touched on a few things, including the penalty kill, the defense in general, and the progress of a couple particular players.

(And if you’ve been wondering how the Stars are planning to approach the balance of righties and lefties on defense pairs this year, then this conversation may provide you with some insight.)

As we get closer to camp, we’ll do some more analysis of the blue line and potential pairings, but for now, I wanted to let Nasreddine speak for himself. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did.

[Note: the below conversation has been lightly edited for length and clarity]

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Robert: What has this week been like for you coaches? Now that you’ve all had a chance to sit down together, what have you all been going over this week? What do coaches do when all the players aren’t quite back yet?

Alain Nasreddine: Yeah, this year’s obviously a little different with Glen [Gulutzan] coming in. You know there’s going to be some changes, some tweaks, mainly about our systems. That’s mainly what we talked about, making sure that we’re on the same page, getting a head start.

Training camp is right around the corner, so it was good meeting with the crew down in Austin as well, and with the new head coach, in Toby [Petersen]. Making sure we’re all aligned, and just getting the whole crew together. I mean, there’s not a lot of new faces, but some. You know, Gully and [David] Pelletier, and obviously I knew “Grammer” [Neil Graham]. And Toby coming in, even though I knew him from years ago, playing with him. So it was good to all get together, and obviously talking hockey.

Did you play with Toby both in Pittsburgh, or Wilkes-Barre at the same time?

Yeah, in Wilkes, and we might have done together when I was in Pitt. I’d have to go back, but I remember we had a good run. You remember your winning teams, and I remember we had a run to the Calder Cup, and we played together that year. So we go way back.

[Author’s note: Nasreddine and Petersen indeed went to the Calder Cup Finals together with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in 2003-04.]

You’ve actually done a similar kind of transition like this before, back when you were in New Jersey. You were with John Hynes for a while, and then after he left, Lindy Ruff came in. So, this will be your second time sticking around for two different head coaches as an assistant. What did you learn from that time in New Jersey, going from John to Lindy, that maybe you could use now, going from Pete [DeBoer] to Glen Gulutzan?

You know what, it was a different process in Jersey, because I had just finished a year as the interim head coach. So, you really go into the interview process wanting that job. This time around was different. The firing happened at the end of the year, you become one of the candidates, and there’s no guarantee or anything like that. So, I’d say this was a little different as far as the situation.

But once you get past that, I think at that point, it’s just, “What am I gonna learn from the new guy?” That’s the mindset I got once I stayed. Both situations were about the same, where I still had a year on my contract. And the Devils, we never really talked about leaving. They said, “You’re under contract. We’d love to hold onto you and keep you,” and it was a similar situation here [in Dallas]. So, it’s always good to be wanted.