The Dallas Stars Roster Is Set, but Lineup Questions Still Linger
And let's meet two good dogs
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After all the uncertainties and cap gymnastics, the Dallas Stars opening night roster is officially set. Adam Erne and Justin Hryckowian are on the NHL roster, and one of them will be the fourth line left wing on Thursday night when the Stars face the team they eliminated from the postseason up in Manitoba.
While it seemed pretty clear from line rushes at practice that Alex Petrovic will start off as the extra defenseman, Hryckowian and Erne were both rotating in as the fourth-line left winger. With that said, I’m told Hryckowian had the first rush on that line, so if you want to handicap it to put him in the lead, feel free to do so.
Here are the lines the Stars rolled in practice Wednesday morning before flying to Canada (which I stubbornly refuse to reorder in order to avoid people yelling at me for putting Wyatt Johnston on the “third line”):
Steel-Hintz-Rantanen
Blackwell-Duchene-Seguin
Robertson-Johnston-Bourque
Hryckowian/Erne-Faksa-Bastian
Lindell-Heiskanen
Harley-Lundkvist
Bichsel-Lyubushkin
Petrovic
When asked to compare the games of Hryckowian and Erne, Gulutzan pointed to Hryckowian’s energy and flexibility as someone who plays both center and wing. As for Adam Erne, Gulutzan used the terms “heavy body” and “veteran presence,” which some might say could both come in handy when facing a bigger team like Winnipeg. But of course, we shall see.
Anway, you’re probably less interested in who the 12th and 13th forwards are than in the two left-wingers in the top-six today who spent most of last year on the fourth line: Sam Steel and Colin Blackwell. And Glen Gulutzan was pretty clear about what Steel and Blackwell’s virtues are when it comes to playing as wingers on scoring lines when asked about them today.
“When you get those kind of guys [on scoring lines], you don’t want them to try to join the parade in the offense,” Gulutzan said. “You want them to do some of the dirty work: get pucks back, get to the net a little more, be a little bit of a retriever. Keep things alive and bring energy. But in saying that, that job, you have to have enough skill to do that in those top lines, and they both do.”
From an outside perspective, you can see an added virtue of the left-wing allotment above, too: It spreads the Stars’ offense across three lines, rather than loading up the top two.
“With Jamie [Benn] out, we’re gonna community coverage some pieces and move some pieces around,” Gulutzan said. “But I like what those guys [Steel and Blackwell] can bring. They bring energy, they get pucks back, and they keep plays alive.”
As for playing Robertson with Johnston rather than on a loaded-up top line with Hintz and Rantanen, Gulutzan chose his words carefully. When asked what he liked about the Johnston/Robertson combination, Gulutzan added a correction.
“Well, I’m not too sure what I ‘like’ about it,” Gulutzan said of the duo. “But I like the idea about it, because now we’re gonna see it in real time. When you have players with that high of hockey IQ, my history has been, you put them together, and they make it work.”
And, true enough, Gulutzan knows a thing or two about coaching brilliant and skilled hockey players.
“They’re cerebral players,” Gulutzan continued. “Any of the teams I’ve been on over the last 12 years, you take two smart players and put them together, you usually make things happen.”
The upside with the current left wing arrangement is pretty clear: If Robertson can be productive with Johnston and Bourque against tough competition while Duchene and Seguin get a bit friendlier deployment, then the latter might not need a Mason Marchment or Mikael Granlund to continue working their magic.
And as for Steel on the first line, I can see how Hintz and Rantanen ought to be more than capable of doing impressive things as a duo, regardless of who else is playing with them.
The risk, of course, is that none of the lines click right away, and then the mixing and matching will need to happen. But since Gulutzan has consistently said he will move players around situationally—including putting Johnston up on a left wing if the team needs some offense late in a game—perhaps the line mixing will end up being more of a feature than a bug.
Really, the fundamental issue here is that the Stars are without Benn and Bäck after losing Marchment, Dadonov, and Granlund in the offseason. That was always going to mean asking a little bit more of players who would ideally slot further down the lineup, but that’s kind of what happens when players like Johnston, Oettinger, and Rantanen get locked down to long-term deals at higher dollar amounts than they were making before. The Stars aren’t at the front of their competitive window anymore, and that means they won’t have many low-dollar entry-level contracts on high-upside youngsters to keep their cap number down, as they did a couple of years ago.
Instead, they’re going to see if a new system and stronger defensive zone coverage can help to raise the tide while they wait for some help. (Or perhaps the new system is the tide, and they’re the boats? I don’t know.)
The easiest solution to the left wing issue, from the Stars’ perspective, would be for Justin Hryckowian or Adam Erne to show that they can scare 15 goals and grab hold of a regular spot in the NHL for good. That’s the optimistic view, but the Stars’ limited options at left wing right now practically necessitate searching for a sunny side.
Erne would be found money if he can be a regular contributor, but his contract is also one the Stars can easily re-assign to Texas if he can’t make enough of an impact. And in talking with Erne yesterday about signing his deal, he was pretty matter-of-fact: He’s done this before, with Edmonton, and he knows hard work is still necessary. I believe he’ll get a chance to show he can be a good piece for this team, but it will be up to him to prove it.
And while Erne didn’t say it in so many words, the fact of the matter is that he’s also found himself in the AHL for portions of that last three seasons. Making the roster out of camp is nice, but he knows full well that nothing is guaranteed beyond today.
My sense is that the organization is very high on Hryckowian, who would also be found money after being signed as a free agent out of college. But anyone who watched Hryckowian’s AHL playoff run last year (as well as his entire season) probably feels the same way. If Hryckowian can be a bit more of a force in Gulutzan’s system than he was for five games under DeBoer, then the left-wing questions for Dallas start to become a whole lot easier to answer. That’s still a big “if,” though.
But as always, when it comes to lines we see in practice, take them with a few grains of your favorite variety of salt. We haven’t even started yet, folks.
As for those who might not play Thursday night, it sounds like the plan isn’t necessarily to get everybody into the lineup during one of the first two games, but rather to rotate them in over the next few weeks.
Gulutzan pointed to the fact that the Stars are essentially playing a game every other day until November 2nd, which is largely true. And when you combine the intensity of the schedule with Gulutzan’s statement earlier in the preseason about how he isn’t going to let player “rot on the vine” when it comes to extended periods of being a healthy scratch, it seems fairly likely that everyone on the team will be suiting up more than once or twice over the first month of the season.
Two Final Things about Good Dogs
The most important thing I got to do this week, by far, was to finally meet Puck.
One thing I did learn this week is that Puck is not a “team dog,” despite often being present during practice. Rather, Puck was recently adopted by a Stars employee who works in Frisco, so the rambunctious puppy is frequently present and always delightful.
If you are ever lucky enough to run into Puck, I recommend letting your hand get gently gnawed upon. It’s like mild acupuncture, without the puncture.
Finally, those of you who’ve already perused the Season Preview know that Nathan Bastian owns a Bernese Mountain Dog.
Today, I had a chance to ask Bastian how the dog—Hugo—is acclimating to Texas, and like most of us who are accustomed to cooler climates, it’s been a bit of an adjustment, particularly for a breed of dog that has a double layer of fur to insulate it from frigid mountain conditions—a climate entirely foreign to the north Texas prairie.
While Bastian said Hugo hasn’t been loving the extended summers that Texas features, he also added that Wednesday morning was the first decently cool morning for their walk. Hopefully that bodes well for more activity in the future, as I also prefer my daily walks to happen when it’s not 90+ degrees in October. I suppose I’m being picky again, though.
HUGO
Absolutely love Robo Wyatt playing together!!!