Monday Dallas Stars Roundup: What They're Saying, How They're Feeling, and a Hayley Wickenheiser Story

Talkin' with Vladislav Kolyachonok and Wyatt Johnston

Thomas Harley and Casey DeSmith share a laugh during practice on Monday

Today’s Roundup features a couple of exclusive interviews with Wyatt Johnston and Vladislav Kolyachonok, so stick around for those.

Oh, and in case you missed it: Jake Oettinger was the NHL’s Second Star of the Week after posting an absurd 0.98 GAA last week in three wins. The Stars’ goaltending really has been a massive strength for them this year.

But enough about goaltending for the moment. Let’s start with some updates from practice today.

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First, I want to give a shout-out to Sam Nestler, who spoke with Matt Duchene about his vestibular concussion and many of the related aspects of that recovery process (which is still ongoing).

Sam went into more detail about it on today’s DLLS Stars podcast, so make sure you give it a listen.

And speaking of Duchene, he was one of the participants in an optional practice today in Frisco before the Stars flew to Winnipeg to face the Jets on Tuesday. Gulutzan confirmed that while it’s big that Duchene was able to practice the day after his first game in nearly two months, there’s still a lot of work to be done before Duchene is fully “caught up” with where the healthy players (and the rest of the league) are at this point in the year.

But even in a bit of a rusty first game back, Gulutzan still saw some good things from Duchene.

“For the first game, he did some really good defensive detail things, a couple in the zone that we picked up this morning on video,” Gulutzan said, “So it’s good on him.”

Preemptive Power Play Plans

Speaking of adjustments, Gulutzan talked about the Stars’ power play today, and he said that opposing penalty kills are scouting the Stars a bit more aggressively—especially when it comes to power play zone entries, where Gulutzan said the Stars rank around 22nd in the league.

“What happens is when you’re a top power play and you score goals, then these guys coming in, they’re looking at you very detailed,” Gulutzan said.

That’s a luxury teams don’t always have early in the season, when they’re more focused on their own processes, Gulutzan pointed out. But as the season reaches the 30-game mark, you start to see teams adjusting to try to stop what the top teams are doing.

“You can go look and see every goal that the Dallas Stars scored on the power play and how they’re entering,” Gulutzan said. “And [opponents] are coming in with a game plan. So it gets tougher as it goes along. And that’s why you see regression in the power play numbers usually from game 30 to 60, right? Teams have really honed in on what your specialty is. So, you gotta kind of try to keep reinventing yourself a little bit.”

Gulutzan said the Stars actually talked specifically about that adaptation as a team on Monday morning, in hopes of staying one step ahead of upcoming opponents.

“Teams get dialed in on you when you’re a top power play,” Gulutzan said. “They get real dialed in on their penalty kill, on taking away your strengths.”

We’ll see how the Stars’ power play does on their two-game road trip this week, when they face the Jets and Wild, who are ranked 14th and 15th on the PK as of Monday morning.

Dallas’s third-ranked power play has cooled off a tad lately after a scorching November, as the Stars have just one power play goal in their last four games. But they’ve also drawn just 1.5 power plays per game over that stretch, so the opportunities haven’t always been plentiful to convert.

Oh, and that “slump” (as anything less than 30% technically is for Dallas’s dangerous group) also came while the team still managed a 3-0-1 record, and the penalty kill remained perfect. Not too shabby.

Injury Updates

Thomas Harley also practiced today in Frisco, and he’ll travel with the team to Minnesota and Winnipeg. But whether he plays in either game is far from certain.

“We don’t know if he’ll play, but he’s at the point where he can skate with us, and it’ll be good for him. We’ve got a practice in Minnesota, so it’ll be good for him to get on the ice with the group.”

Aside from Harley, the Stars won’t have a seventh defenseman on the two-game trip unless they recall a player from Texas, which they haven’t done thus far.

That’s because Ilya Lyubushkin is still expected to be out until at least the weekend with a lower-body injury he suffered during Friday’s game. Lyubushkin won’t be traveling with the team, and Gulutzan said Lyubushkin’s current injury is a different one than what kept him out for a longer stretch last month.

“We’re hoping it’s about five days, is what we’re hoping. Five to seven days, so we’ll see how it is,” Gulutzan said.

We’ll get to a couple of other players after the jump.