Dallas Stars Make Big Cuts To Roster In Preparation For Opening Night

The regular season is 12 days away for the Dallas Stars, and they still need to downsize their roster a bit more. They took a step in the right direction today, narrowing the roster down to less than 40.

The Dallas Stars roster continues to thin out as we approach the regular season.

Last night’s victory over the St. Louis Blues was a fitting “prove-it game” and a great response from the team after their 5-1 loss to Colorado two nights earlier. The lineup got the job done, posting a 4-0 shutout over a very capable Blues lineup.

The game gave the Stars an impressive look. They are now 2-1-0 in preseason play, are averaging 3.33 goals for and 2.66 goals against per game. The special teams units look sharp, the goaltending and defense look improved, and the offense looks red-hot.

But just remember one thing: none of the lineups featured in these first three games will be the Stars’ opening night lineup. The lineup from the first game had a pretty comparable look to it, but there were still plenty of differences to the opening night projection.

Dallas Stars

Don’t forget that this is the preseason. With the immense amount of talent that the Dallas Stars possess, the battle for roster spots and positioning in the starting lineup is greater than ever. This battle will continue to drag on up until the end of the preseason. But between now and then, there will be plenty of movement.

Earlier today, the Stars announced their third round of cuts/reassignments. While the first cut featured a handful of players and the second featured just one, this most recent one is quite a substantial list.

A total of 13 players were removed from the Stars roster and cut or reassigned elsewhere. Seven of the players were cut from tryout contracts, while the other six were reassigned to the Texas Stars of the AHL.

The players cut from their tryout contracts include Sheldon Dries, Max French, Austin Fyten, Shane Hanna, Samuel Laberge, Matt Mangene, and Colin Markison.

The players loaned to the Texas Stars in the AHL include D Gavin Bayreuther, G Landon Bow, G Philippe Desrosiers, D Niklas Hansson, D Dillon Heatherington, and F Cole Ully.

In addition to these reassignments and cuts, the Stars also placed five players on waivers. D Andrew Bodnarchuk, D Ludwig Bystrom, F Mark McNeill, F Justin Dowling, and G Mike McKenna were all placed on waivers Sunday morning and will be assigned to the Texas Stars if they clear.

So that trims the Stars’ roster down to 37 players. If all five players clear waivers, the roster will be down to 32 players. This means that only nine more players have to be reassigned or cut before Oct. 6. This next week will prove to be important in helping determine who those players are.

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There are definitely a few players that you will want to keep an extra sharp eye on over the next six days leading up to the final preseason game.

R.J. Umberger is one of those players. Umberger was signed to a professional tryout contract back in the summer and has impressed enough to stick around this long. The Dallas Stars are heavily stocked with forwards, so finding a spot onto the final roster could be difficult for the veteran. But if he has done enough to get him into the top 32, there is obviously something that Ken Hitchcock likes about him.

The big battle to watch out for is the one featuring Jamie Oleksiak, Patrik Nemeth, and Greg Pateryn. All three defenders are considered “on the bubble” and are presumably in a battle for the seventh spot on defense. Hitchcock has recently praised Oleksiak’s efforts and play, so that may end up playing a role in the final decision.

Something that cannot be overlooked is the Stars’ cap problem. Dallas is currently a little over $100K above the cap space limit and will need to move at least one player before the season begins. That player will likely come from the defensive battle mentioned above.

Here’s a projected list of the nine players that will not still be on the Dallas Stars roster come opening night:

Patrik Nemeth, Greg Pateryn, Brent Regner, R.J. Umberger, Gemel Smith, Roope Hintz, Denis Gurianov, Brian Flynn, Remi Elie/Jason Dickinson

The Stars will likely carry a 14F/7D/2G or 13F/8D/2G setup throughout the year.

Next: How The Centers Stack Up For The Stars

Today’s cut list was a significant downsizing and a good step in the right direction, but there is still more work to be done. Players have one more week and three more games to prove that they belong and deserve a spot. Let’s see which ones take it by the reins.

One thing remains certain in all of this, though: the Dallas Stars franchise as a whole should look pretty darn good this year.