Morning Skate Update: Arttu Hyry Recalled, Oskar Bäck Extended as Dallas Stars Prepare to Face Ottawa Senators Tonight

The Dallas Stars have called up their AHL team’s hottest forward ahead of their game against the Ottawa Senators tonight. Let’s start with the press release from Texas:

Hyry, 23, earned his first NHL call-up after posting 26 points (14-12=26) in 29 games with Texas, ranking second on the team in goals (14) and plus/minus rating (+10), while sharing third in points (26). He currently has a 10-game point streak dating back to Dec. 7, marking the second longest streak in the AHL this season and one-game shy of matching a team record. The Stars center has goals in three straight games and recorded his first pro hat trick Dec. 29 at Manitoba in a 6-2 win.

The Oulu, Finland native was originally undrafted and signed with Dallas on April 14, 2024.

Arttu Hyry (whose last name in Finnish appears to be pronounced somewhere between “OO-roo” and “HOO-roo”, with the “H” being hinted at but not quite demanding its own ceremony), is a player the Stars have been quietly optimistic about since bringing him into the fold last April. Hyry had a solid training camp, leading some to speculate that he might win the 13th forward spot that eventually went to Oskar Bäck—and more on him in a moment—but in the end, Hyry reported to Texas, where he has been one of the most reliable forwards there. His recent scoring uptick certainly didn’t hurt his chances at making his NHL debut either, and his helmet-less warmup lap is all but a certainty tonight in Dallas.

Hyry would be the fourth Stars player to make his NHL debut this season, after Justin Hryckowian, Bäck, and Lian Bichsel. And like those players, Hyry said this morning that he got the call from Texas GM (and assistant Dallas Stars GM) Scott White. The call came yesterday, when the team was still in Winnipeg, and so Hyry then flew to Dallas, where he was on the ice for morning skate today.

Pete DeBoer said after the skate this morning that Hyry was “knocking on the door” in training camp, and that he’s been doing “all the right things” down in Texas. Time will tell whether Hyry can translate that success to the NHL level, but either way, he’s about to become an NHL player tonight and that’s pretty cool.

Other players who have gotten a look this season include Matěj Blümel and Hryckowian, neither of whom appear to have been able to make themselves indispensable at the NHL level. DeBoer admitted this morning that while it’s good for the organizational development to get these players a look, it’s also not exactly ideal for a coach to have to plumb the depth of the AHL in order to make it through the season.

And remember, this isn’t a case of forwards just being around in case of emergency. We all know that Hyry will almost assuredly make his NHL debut tonight because the Stars literally don’t have a spare skater in Texas other than Brendan Smith. They’ve been operating with the minimum number of forwards for most of the season, and while that’s something of a luxury that comes from having your AHL team just down I-35, it’s also a testament to how the Stars’ vaunted depth is being tested this year. And frankly, given their struggles to score goals, that depth has been found wanting.

Hyry has a chance, as a right-hand shot, to show why his game deserves a longer look at the NHL level in place of some other players in those spots. He has a bit of an advantage in that he’s played against older players overseas, and his game is seen as more “complete” than players like Kole Lind, for example. Hyry was getting practice on the penalty kill during morning skate today, and that’s not surprising. With the Stars’ forward depth in a place where DeBoer has admitted he’s just loading up the top two lines and hoping the bottom six can take care of things on their end, Dallas is in a different spot than they’d like to be.

With that said, the last two games have been won on the backs of goal-scoring from those top two lines, so maybe a less-balanced roster isn’t a bad thing, for the time being.

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One player who has made himself integral to the NHL lineup this season is Oskar Bäck, who was signed to a two-year extension by Dallas, as was announced today. It’s a nice bit of security for Bäck, whose NHL future wasn’t nearly as clear as it is now, after 31 games. And in talking with Bäck this morning, he’s very happy to have earned the certainty for the next couple of years.

“His game’s translated well to the NHL,” said DeBoer this morning. “It’s easier for guys like him, I think, than scorers. You know, Mavrik Bourque is an example, or [Logan] Stankoven. This is a really hard league to score in, and sometimes it takes time for numbers to translate, if they translate at all, sometimes. When your game is built around a heaviness and a size and penalty killing, and being in the right place at the right time, face-offs, the details of the game…I think it’s more easily transferable, and I think that’s been the case with Oskar. You know, all the little things that he brings, I think immediately transferred to the NHL level.”

In a way, that quote might say more about Bourque and Stankoven than about Bäck. The phrase “if they translate at all” in reference to the rookie duo’s scoring is a pretty honest admission of where those players’ production is as we near the halfway mark. With Tyler Seguin and Joe Pavelski not in the lineup this season, the Stars were probably banking on getting similar scoring from mainstays like Wyatt Johnston, Jason Robertson, and Roope Hintz, while Stankoven and Bourque at least scared 20 goals and 40 points apiece.

Instead, Robertson’s scoring has yet to kick into gear, while Bourque has fewer points than Ilya Lyubushkin or even Bäck despite getting looks higher up the lineup. And Stankoven’s scoring drought has been documented so much I feel bad even mentioning it, but as we approach a previously unthinkable 20-game dry spell for Stankoven, the frustration has to be pretty palpable throughout the team.

I wonder if that’s been a reason for the different forwards who have been called up this year. Blümel is a player who needs to score for his game to really click, and he got an early look to see whether he might be able to do that. He’s also heating up at the AHL level, so if Hyry doesn’t move the needle, I do wonder just a bit whether Blümel might get another look, should the Stars still be searching for offense in the near future.

By the way, Hyry is a right-hand shot who can play center. So if he finds a way to move the needle, you have to wonder whether he might start to get at least a sniff of the minutes and placement that Bourque has gotten this year. Because although Bourque had an outstanding year last season and seemed like a certainty to help the Stars this season, his game hasn’t translated on the scoresheet, as DeBoer mentioned explicitly this morning. And I don’t think a coach calls that out unless it’s something they’re also talking about as a team, too.

I’m not sure Bourque would ever get re-assigned, of course. He’s a great player, and he’s still been helping the team a lot in smaller ways. But the Stars are in a slightly more tenuous position than they would have hoped to be at this point, and that might make for some tougher decisions than planned.

For the time being, Hyry is simply filling a need. Bäck has made himself a necessity. DeBoer admitted that it’s easier for Bäck to help at the NHL level, given that his game isn’t predicated on scoring. But that cuts both ways, because for him to still be outscoring Mavrik Bourque is a pretty damning thing indeed at this point. And for players in those lower spots in the lineup, you have to find a way to help the team. That’s what the coaching staff said in training camp, and it’s certainly still what they believe now.

Bourque has earned a long look at the NHL level, and he’s gotten 31 games. He’s even gotten time on the power play recently, but he hasn’t been able to drag it out of its funk any more successfully than anyone else so far. I don’t think Bourque is going to be re-assigned tomorrow, but I also think the clock is ticking on how long the Stars can afford to give him the minutes they are without getting hardly any scoring in return. If Bourque can wake up before the alarm goes off, then all will be well. But ultimately, it really will be up to him, just as it’s up to Robertson and Stankoven and everybody else. Coaches can help teams to generate more chances, but they can’t put them in the back of the net for them.

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Morning Skate Tidbits

I asked Ilya Lyubushkin this morning if players in Dallas are coached one way or the other on 2-on-1s when it comes to diving to the ice to block the pass, as Matt Dumba did successfully against Buffalo. Lyubushkin said that he generally prefers to stay on his feet in order to have more options, but that at the end of the day, it’s a read-and-react situation where you just want to block the pass however you can without totally surrendering the center of the ice to the shooter.

Lyubushkin said that some coaches and goalies have strong preferences about those plays and will ask defensemen to do or not do certain things, but that it doesn’t seem to be a hard-and-fast line on this team. That leaves it up to the defenseman to make the play he deems best. And given how few goals the Stars have allowed this season, I’d say they’re doing pretty well.

Sidebar: about a million of you reached out to tell me that “Dr Pepper” is spelled without a period after “Dr” when I mentioned the carbonated, sugary beverage the other night. I am glad to know that Texans care about grammar is this one specific instance, and almost zero others. Thank you for embedding this soda-brand fact in my memory for the rest of time. I apologize for my ignorance, if an apology is even remotely acceptable for this grievous sin. Also, soda will kill you if you drink it all the time. Let me make you some great coffee instead.

One final note about scoring: I asked Thomas Harley today if his pass to Johnston for that go-ahead goal against Buffalo was intended to be tipped on goal like that, and Harley confirmed that it was what he was hoping would happen, more or less. He said he didn’t see who the player was in that spot as he pinched down to get the puck, but he knew the best chance he could give him would be to fire the puck hard along the ice so the player could re-direct it rather than having to catch and shoot it themselves. Seems like it worked pretty well.

TIP-ical Johnny. pic.twitter.com/XKw8lztuSw

— Dallas Stars (@DallasStars) January 1, 2025