Dallas Stars Put Together First On-Ice Lineup At Training Camp

The Dallas Stars hosted a prospect scrimmage on Sunday afternoon, but started the day off with a practice for veterans. In the practice, the Stars showed off their first lineup combinations.

It is anyone’s guess as to how the Dallas Stars will line up come opening night on Oct. 6.

The Dallas Stars spent the 2017 offseason upgrading their roster and beefing up all of their weak points. As a result, the Stars’ lineup has some similarities but looks very different as a whole going into the 2017-18 season.

In 18 days, we’ll find out just what that lineup looks like. Until then, all we can really do is speculate and estimate. And for a majority of the summer, that is all Dallas Stars fans have done.

From the 2013-14 season through the 2016-17 season, Lindy Ruff helped navigate a significant transition period for the Stars. The team made their way out of a five-year playoff drought and became a relatively consistent playoff contender over the span.

Dallas Stars

Ruff’s scheme may have been inconsistent, but he knew how to get results more often than not. During his four-year tenure, Dallas was a full-throttle offensive team that played a high-risk system. Scoring was the primary focus instead of shutdown defensive play, and the results were mixed. The Stars made the playoffs in two of the four years under Ruff.

Last year, Dallas fell from the best team in the West (in 2015-16) to the fourth worst. Their poor performance was enough to force the organization to part ways with Ruff and bring in Ken Hitchcock.

With the addition of Hitchcock comes a certain new level of unpredictability. During his time as head coach, Ruff was always pretty predictable in his moves and schemes. He juggled his lines often, but would typically stick to the same basic mold in terms of both lineup and play. With Hitchcock, that doesn’t happen. It’s almost like he intentionally goes against the script that everyone else creates.

For the past two months, Stars fans have been guessing and sketching what they think the Dallas Stars’ opening night lineup will look like. Most of the predictions ended up looking pretty similar. They looked something like this.

Jamie Benn – Tyler Seguin – Alexander Radulov

Mattias Janmark – Martin Hanzal – Jason Spezza

Antoine Roussel – Radek Faksa – Brett Ritchie

Curtis McKenzie – Devin Shore – Tyler Pitlick/Adam Cracknell

Marc Methot – John Klingberg

Dan Hamhuis – Julius Honka

Esa Lindell – Stephen Johns

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But Hitchcock has consistently dropped hints that completely go against the prediction above. In addition, he never gave any projections for his lines. On Sunday morning, we got a first glimpse at how Hitchcock had the Stars veterans lined up. Here is how the lines shaped up at the veterans practice.

Jamie Benn – Tyler Seguin – Alexander Radulov

Mattias Janmark – Jason Spezza – Brett Ritchie

Antoine Roussel – Radek Faksa – Tyler Pitlick

Curtis McKenzie – Devin Shore – Adam Cracknell

Marc Methot – John Klingberg

Dan Hamhuis – Greg Pateryn

Esa Lindell – Stephen Johns

Patrik Nemeth – Jamie Oleksiak

Julius Honka (rotated throughout the pairings)

There are plenty of similarities between these two lineups, though there are also a few differences. But one of the big things that must be pointed out is that new forward Martin Hanzal is not in the lineup. Hanzal was acquired on July 1 and is not skating at training camp due to an ankle injury.

Another point to be made is Pateryn’s status in the lineup. Pateryn is considered to be one of the defenders on the bubble to be traded after training camp, but he skated on the second pairing today. Perhaps Hitchcock sees something in no. 29 that he really likes.

This was the first look that Dallas Stars fans had at what Ken Hitchcock might potentially have in mind regarding lines. It’s a rough estimate, but a great place to start.

Hitch definitely has skill and strength balanced out nicely, and also seems to have solid depth at both positions. This first run-through should have Stars fans content and excited.

Next: Stars Prospects Start Slow, Finish Strong At Traverse City

As preseason play kicks off tomorrow night for the Stars at the American Airlines Center, this lineup will continue to flesh itself out. And in 18 days, we will see the finished product in action. How great is that?

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