Dallas Stars Lines: Which Forward Takes First Line RW Spot

The Dallas Stars will officially get back to their hockey ways tonight when they open up preseason play against the Florida Panthers. Though the regular season opener is still 16 days away, there is hope to be found in the fact that the Stars will once again be on the ice in competition.

With training camp wrapping up today and the regular season right around the corner, there are still some lingering questions. Going into camp, there were plenty of questions just begging to be answered, and many believed that training camp would shed some light on them.

But now training camp is over, and the questions still remain. Who will be the six starters on opening night on defense? Which goaltender will earn the starting gig for October 8th? How will the offense line up? Will Jamie Benn and Ales Hemsky be ready for opening night after offseason hip surgery?

But perhaps the most daunting riddle left unsolved was in regards to how the first line will end up looking when it hits the ice for the opening face-off of 2015.

It’s pretty obvious that two-thirds of the line is already set in stone. The center position will be filled by Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn will play left wing, so long as he is fully recovered as he is expected to be.

But that right wing spot is still empty and waiting to be filled. Two frontrunners have emerged for the position, but there has yet to be an official announcement. These two players are Valeri Nichushkin and Patrick Sharp.

It’s still an unsolved topic, and both players have their own reasons to earn the top line spot. At training camp, the Dallas Stars have yet to run a unit with Benn, Seguin, and Nichushkin, but they have worked out the Benn, Seguin, Sharp unit.

The fact of the matter is simply if the Stars want to add a seasoned veteran and create a shutdown top line or if they would rather revert to their 2013-2014 success and spread some talent throughout the lineup as they do so.

Either one works, and Sharp is clearly up for whatever the decision is.

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“I am not sure where I am going to fit in,” Sharp said. “Right now, I am just trying to get myself ready to play in October, have some good competition in training camp and play some good preseason games. I am sure lines and units switch all the time so I’ll be ready for whatever they throw at me. But no matter who I am playing with I know there are going to be some great players out there.”

While Sharp is entering a new environment for the first time since he was traded to Chicago in the middle of the 2005-2006 season, Nichushkin is just now starting his second full year with the Dallas Stars. His supposed second season was cut very short due to a hip injury, and he only played a total of eight games in the 2014-2015 season, tallying one point.

It almost seems like a gamble to put either one on the top line where they will face 19-21 minutes a game with two proven players on their way to superstar careers. But once you take into account Sharp’s undeniably successful career and Nichushkin’s potential, they probably couldn’t choose two better players to slot up top.

The player that ends up missing out on the top line spot will more than likely filter into the second line left wing spot. The beauty of these two players is that both are experienced enough to be able to easily play on the left or right side. On exit interview day, Jason Spezza expressed how much he enjoyed playing with Nichushkin in the final games of last season. So, from simple speculation it seems like Benn-Seguin-Sharp and Nichushkin-Spezza-Hemsky would be the best line combo. But knowing Lindy Ruff, there’s a good chance that both players will receive substantial time on the top line as the season rolls on.

The preseason will be the ultimate determining factor in which one of these players takes the top role. But until the games get underway, we’ll just have to wait. The ultimate waiting game has commenced, but only 16 more days remain.

Next: Dallas Stars Morning Links: Two Goalie Tandem Shining

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