Mavrik Bourque, Oskar Bäck, and the Dallas Stars’ Center Conundrum
When the Stars hosted the Oilers on Saturday, they came away with a three-goal margin of victory that belied the lopsided scoring chances for the first half of the game. So after a dreadful first period that only remained tied thanks to outstanding work by Oettinger, Pete DeBoer starting looking for a “spark” (his words), and the right wings started shuffling.
The first change at the start of the second period was for Evgenii Dadonov to be swapped with Mavrik Bourque (who was starting on the right wing, next to Wyatt Johnston, who was centering Jamie Benn’s line). This moved Bourque up to the right wing next to Tyler Seguin and Matt Duchene, with Dadonov playing with Johnston.
That lasted until about five minutes into the third period, when Bourque fanned on a great shot and turned the puck over.
From there, Colin Blackwell was moved up to the Duchene line (where he made a great play that led to a crucial goal) and Bourque (along with Matěj Blümel and Oskar Bäck) didn’t get another shift until garbage time. Bourque also went 0-for-6 on the faceoff dot against Edmonton, which I am certain the coaches were well-aware of, too. He sits at 6-for-14 on faceoffs this year, and that’s with nearly all of them being taken on his strong side (as is so often the case with the Stars’ forward lines).
After practice on Monday, Pete Deboer had this say to when I asked him about Mavrik Bourque (emphasis mine):
“You know, he got injured in camp. In a perfect world, Mav plays five or six exhibition games, plays 18-20 minutes a night, power play, and rolls that into the season feeling good about himself. Instead, he missed a critical time period, and now he’s playing catch-up. You know, you’re jumping into the NHL as a first-time regular, and he’s probably two weeks behind where he should be. That’s not easy to do.
So, he’s just got to be patient and can’t get frustrated. We’re not panicking about it, but you know, it’s not exhibition games, these points are real, and you can’t just play guys into shape. We’ve got to put points on the board, and he understands that. And you know, whatever that opportunity looks like, whether it’s third line, second line, or fourth line, you know, just gotta catch up a little bit.”
-Pete Deboer, on Mavrik Bourque’s start to the season
October 21, 2024
From everything I saw from the outset of camp, the plan coming into the season was for Mavrik Bourque to center a third line with Jamie Benn and Logan Stankoven, and for Wyatt Johnston to play on the top line with Roope Hintz and Jason Robertson.
But Robertson missed all of the preseason recovering from having a cyst on his foot removed, and then Bourque got hurt (a lower-body injury is all we ever officially were told) in the second half of the preseason, after which he missed the end of the preseason and the first three games of the regular season. So Wyatt Johnston was moved down to center the Benn line, and Stankoven was moved up next to Hintz and Robertson to get that duo going after a sluggish start. It has worked, as Stankoven has a bucket of assists so far, and he’s remained on the top line for the majority of the young season.
For context, here’s what DeBoer said back on October 10th about Bourque and Johnston:
Pete DeBoer said if Mavrik Bourque was healthy, he might try that line, but he needs a center and he likes Johnston at center on that line. https://t.co/TBU0SRyyED
— Mike Heika (@MikeHeika) October 10, 2024
Bourque was first displaced from his planned center spot against Edmonton, which was a bit of an eyebrow-raising move. Then after the team as a whole failed to get going against the Oilers, he was moved onto the Duchene line. And finally, after the clip above, he was relegated to the fourth line in favor of Colin Blackwell. And the fourth line is where he will start against Buffalo on Tuesday night, if the practice lines from yesterday hold true.
If I were to posit practice lines based on sweater colors, it looks like:
Robertson-Hintz-Stankoven
Marchment-Duchene-Seguin
Benn-Johnston-Dadonov
Blackwell-Steel-Bourque
Bäck
All seven defensemen skating.
We'll ask about Steel, Seguin, and Dumba after practice.— Robert Tiffin (@RobertTiffin) October 21, 2024
UPDATE: Mike Heika just Tweeted before the Buffalo game that Bourque will at least start back at center, albeit on the fourth line
Stars in warmup:
Robertson-Hintz-Stankoven
Marchment-Duchene-Seguin
Benn-Johnston-Dadonov
Steel-Bourque-Blackwell
Heiskanen-Dumba
Lindell-Lundkvist
Harley-Lyubushkin
Oettinger— Mike Heika (@MikeHeika) October 22, 2024
Now we know that Oskar Bäck and Brendan Smith will be coming out of the lineup as well, so I’m not sure injuries are really much of a factor with these choices. Bourque was wearing the same blue sweater at practice yesterday as Steel, Blackwell, and Bäck. And as we know from last year, Pete DeBoer really loves Steel (and Johnston) at center. And without the top line looking anywhere near as dominant during their brief runs with Johnston as they did last year, DeBoer didn’t hesitate to move him back to centering the third line while Stankoven helps Robertson and Hintz to remember just how elite they can be.
That leaves players like Bourque in a tough spot even with a full run-up to the season, and an even tougher one after missing the most crucial preparatory time. The Stars place a lot of value in their centers, as NHL teams all do. Despite the talk about how F1, F2, etc. are more important that listed positions, there are default settings to zone coverage, positioning, faceoffs, and overall responsibilities, and being a center is the apex of responsibility for a forward in the NHL. Bourque was given a shot to show that the AHL MVP could hack it as a center in the NHL even after coming back from an injury, but for the time being, it appears the coaching staff has decided to lighten his load of responsibility until he shows them he’s ready for more.
Update: and for now, they’ve done so by moving him down the fourth line, albeit not out of the center position just yet.
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At the start of the season, DeBoer had this to say about the team’s selection of another presumptive rookie center in Bäck to start the year: “Just solid, safe, smart. I love the big body in the middle of the ice. I like the face-off ability. I like the penalty-kill ability. He’s just got a lot of tools in that toolbox.”
While Bäck has continued to get time (and the odd face-off draw) on the penalty kill, he was moved to left wing in the third game of the season, and that’s where he stayed until moving back to center against Edmonton, with Steel unavailable due to a minor injury. And against the Oilers, Colin Blackwell took 11 faceoffs to Bäck’s three.
But even back in Game 2 against the Islanders, Bäck wasn’t taking regular faceoffs at 5v5, with Blackwell and Steel taking over that duty. Given that Blackwell shoots right while Steel and Bäck both shoot left, it wasn’t terribly surprising to see Bäck’s faceoff duties get quite limited, quite quickly, and the rest of his centering duties soon followed suit.
I think there’s a stronger connection between faceoff performance and young players sticking at center than we often realize, though it’s probably just as much about how they’re battling than whether or not they get credited with the win afterwards. And that battling doesn’t only happen on the dot.
I was talking to Oskar Bäck yesterday about the challenges of his own change from center to wing, and he said that he’s spending a lot more time battling along the boards, which is enormously tough in the NHL. He attributed this largely to the ferocity and skill of NHLers, and how many different tricks the best players in the world have when it comes to finding ways to adjust their body position, their skates, their stick, and so forth. Protecting or winning a puck along the boards in the NHL isn’t just about getting there first, but about outfoxing and out-battling the other guy(s) fighting for it. It’s a learning process, and adapting in the NHL is a brutal lesson for any rookie.
After the fact, I was thinking afterwards how similar battling along the boards is to what happens on faceoffs. Yes, strength is a big component, but Vernon Fiddler always used to talk about how you had to outsmart the other guy just as much as outmuscling him. Hence, Fiddler’s frequent use (back when it was legal) of using his body to completely box out the other player and win the puck back with a glove-hand pass when taking draws in the defensive zone.
Incidentally, board battles were one of the main reasons DeBoer cited for moving Bäck to the wing after the start of the season. That’s a positive way to frame it, but I can’t help but wonder whether the coaches really made that move for similar reasons to the Bourque switch to wing: they weren’t getting everything out of that position that they’re accustomed to, and they want to lessen the responsibility until the player steps up and demands more.
Under prior coaching staffs, that sort of move could sometimes be permanent. Once mistakes were made in positions of responsibility, it was “once bitten, twice shy,” except you can replace “bitten” with “I didn’t like how that play went at all, actually,” and “shy” with “I am never going to let you do that again.”
In fact, you can see one former Stars coach echoing a similar sentiment just the other day:
Jim Montgomery lighting into Brad Marchand on the Bruins bench after a turnover by the Bruins captain led to a short-loved Utah goal pic.twitter.com/EBjQeJr1gl
— Joe Haggerty (@HackswithHaggs) October 20, 2024
But this staff doesn’t seem to operate that way, particularly with forwards. Wyatt Johnston was given tons of rope right out of the gate as a teenager, even with some struggles along the way. Logan Stankoven went quiet for a bit after his phenomenal debut last year, but he’s been moved around the lineup as needed without any concern for his future. Even Sam Steel, who was healthy-scratched early last year when Craig Smith and Radek Faksa were in a regular fourth-line competition, eventually won the coaches’ trust, winning a lineup spot he has held onto ever since. There’s no reason to panic six games in, and particularly when it comes to bottom-six forwards.
***
The important question now is: will a move away from center or down (or out of) the lineup ultimately benefit Bourque and Bäck, or is it a sign that they aren’t living up to expectations just year? Certainly, the Nils Lundkvist saga of the prior two years is evidence enough that DeBoer is not above benching someone if he doesn’t like what he’s seeing, but I don’t see that happening with either of these young forwards just yet.
Bäck profiles as a useful player for this team, and he’s been that through a 5-1-0 start to the season. He’s got more to prove and probably less of a safety net than any other forward on the team, but I still think he’s playing with house money for the time being. And he also seems more useful as a solid penalty-killing forward than any of the alternatives in the AHL right now, so I think he’s got every chance to continue to have a solid season. We’ll see how it shakes out, though.
Mavrik Bourque is, without a doubt, an extremely valuable piece, and I can’t imagine that moves like this aren’t made without serious discussion about how it will ultimately benefit his future as a quality, top-six forward down the line. But it will be up to Bourque to prove that he can succeed in whatever role he’s put in, as it always is with NHL players. And given how much talent and success Bourque has already brought to his teams in the past, his future is bright on this team. He is, after all, just three games in. There is no reason to panic just because he didn’t pull a Wyatt Johnston right out of the gate. Almost nobody does that, and least of all when they’re recovering from an injury.
In any case, if Bourque is half as talented as fans have every reason to believe, then she shouldn’t have a problem finding a way to grow and contribute, regardless of where or what he’s playing. The journey should be a pretty fun one for all involved.