Thursday Dallas Stars Roundup: Lian Bichsel "Under the Weather," Roope Hintz's Return, Mikko Rantanen's Fit, and Evgenii Dadonov's Low-Key Career Year

Jamie Benn also makes an appearance

The Dallas Stars are on their way to Winnipeg for a big Central Division tilt Friday night. It will be a big game, with each team having beaten the other once so far this year. After Friday, the teams will face off in the regular season once more, on April 10 in Dallas.

One notable player won’t be on the plane to Manitoba, as Roope Hintz is still working his way back from an eye injury in Edmonton last Saturday. Head coach Pete DeBoer said after practice today that Hintz is going to skate today and tomorrow in Dallas, and they’ll determine his availability for Sunday’s game in Colorado after that. DeBoer called him a possibility for the game as of yesterday, so if all goes well, Hintz could meet his team in Colorado in a few days.

Lian Bichsel may not be on today’s flight either, as he missed practice after waking up “feeling under the weather,” per DeBoer. The Swiss defenseman’s availability for tomorrow is unclear, with DeBoer simply saying “don’t know yet” when asked if Bichsel would be flying with the team today.

It’s unclear whether this illness is related to Bichsel’s recent recovery from a concussion or if it’s just the stomach bug that’s going around DFW right now (and even Arizona, as Jake DeGrom found out today). But one would imagine the Stars will be exceptionally careful with the 20-year-old defenseman who seems like a near-certainty to start on the third defense pairing in the playoffs.

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In the meantime, newcomer Mikko Rantanen will be playing next to Wyatt Johnston, with Jamie Benn on the left wing of a new-look top line. This is a change from the game in Vancouver last Sunday, where Jason Robertson played with Johnston and Rantanen in Hintz’s absence, while Benn played on the second line with Matt Duchene and Mikael Granlund.

Here are the lines the Stars have used at practice over the last two days of their stopover in Dallas between road trips. These lines, I think, are likely to be the ones they’ll go with tomorrow against Winnipeg, at least to start: