Dallas Stars: Five Things To Watch In 2018 Training Camp

The Dallas Stars will commence their 2018 training camp session today in Boise, Idaho. In a way, the 2018-19 regular season begins now. Here are five things to keep an eye on throughout the three-day camp.

Training camp. After weeks and weeks of waiting for its arrival to fill the hockey void in your life, it’s finally here. The Dallas Stars will be on the ice in a full team setting for the first time in months today and will begin working with coaches as they prepare for another regular season.

And though the puck isn’t scheduled to drop on the new year until Oct. 4, this is when things finally get serious. This is the first step in the new journey. For all intents and purposes, the Dallas Stars begin their 2018-19 regular season today at 9 a.m. in Boise, Idaho.

That can be both exciting and nerve-racking, depending on how you look at it.

On the one hand, this is a new chance for the Stars to begin righting their wrongs from the past two seasons. Since 2016, the Dallas Stars have two sixth-place finishes in the divisions, three different head coaches, some of the best talent in the NHL, and not one playoff appearance to show for it.

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But that’s what the offseason is for. Dallas brought in a new head coach, added a few new players in free agency that should help the team in becoming deeper and more competitive, and took care of their biggest offseason priority by re-signing Tyler Seguin to a long-term extension. Everything seems to be going right for them right now.

Now, they have to put it all into motion on the ice. This is their first chance to begin building chemistry and gelling as a complete unit. 59 players will take a stab at cracking a certain roster within the organization as they each show off their talents and skills.

Overall, these three days will give the Stars a chance to take the first step in another new era. Adapting to change is never an overnight task, but training camp serves as a solid buffer between the change and when games start to count.

This year’s training camp session will take place some 1,600 miles north of the American Airlines Center. While that’s disappointing for fans, it’s a chance for the Stars to try something new while they build towards yet another new culture.

That all begins with the next three days. There are plenty of changes, new additions, and potential voids to keep an eye on as training camp gets underway. And while you won’t be able to quote-on-quote “see” much of it play out, you’ll be able to live through decisions, analysis from media members, and

As a result, here are five things to watch as the 2018 session begins.

1. A Lot Of Position Battles On The Offensive Side

Of the 59 players on the Dallas Stars training camp roster, 35 of them are classified as forwards. That’s quite a sizable amount when there are only 12-14 spots open on the final roster.

But it becomes even more of an intriguing debate when you realize that 16-18 of them have an argument to be included on the opening night roster. That’s where events like training camp can help.

In this three-day period, the Stars’ coaches and management will have an opportunity to examine each player vying for a roster spot. They will be able to see each players skills, advantages, and their reliability in certain situations.

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And while there are the shoo-ins for the roster like Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin, and Jason Spezza, the bottom of the NHL depth chart is where things get interesting.

As of right now, the Dallas Stars seem to have their first three lines all but locked in. There may be some tweaking here and there, but the top nine players seem pretty set in stone. But on the bottom line, it’s four to six guys fighting for three spots. Names like Gemel Smith, Remi Elie, Jason Dickinson, Devin Shore, and Roope Hintz could all be duking it out for the final few spots on offense. Training camp is our first chance to see these battles set into motion.

But in addition to the roster spot battles, there are also positional battles. In other words, training camp will give Jim Montgomery and his staff a good look at how his lineup should be built. Which players play the best in each position? Who should play right wing on the top line? Who are the power play specialists? What about the penalty killers?

The Dallas Stars have respectable depth in various situations, so it will be interesting to see how Montgomery ranks each one.

At the 2017 training camp, the defense was overstocked and required a fierce battle through camp and the preseason to ultimately fix. This year, it looks as though the offense will be the center of attention. Which players will step into the spotlight? We’ll see starting with these next three days.

2. It’s Monty Time

The Dallas Stars hired their third head coach in 13 months this past May. That’s not a good streak for any professional sports team to carry.

But with the hiring, the Stars feel as though they have finally found a solution and have their head coach of the future. That head coach is Jim Montgomery.

Fresh off of a five-year stint with the Denver University Pioneers that included a few trips to the Frozen Four and a national championship, Montgomery will step into his first NHL coaching gig this season. And in year one, he will try to turn around the Stars’ recent misfortunes and spark the team back into the postseason. That’s a pretty tall task for a guy with no NHL coaching experience.

Causeway Crowd

But Montgomery sounds eager and ready to make a quick impact. His relentless style that thrives on puck possession and offensive dominance should suit the Stars well. On top of that, the roster is currently well-stocked and equipped to adapt to Monty’s ideas.

These next three days will be his first opportunity to get on the ice with his entire team. Now, there may be 30 or so extra players that he won’t see in Dallas this season, but the rest of the players are all there. This is his first chance to skate with the entire team, survey the entire team, and begin building chemistry with the entire team.

It will also be the team’s first chance at playing according to Montgomery’s style and scheme. Players will get their first taste of what Montgomery wants and how he expects the team to skate and compete.

Training camp will be a first opportunity to see what the Jim Montgomery Era could look like. Will that be a good look? We’ll see starting today.

3. The New Faces Of The Dallas Stars

Whether you believe it or not, the Dallas Stars made some sizable additions and subtractions to their lineup this summer.

While players like Antoine Roussel and Kari Lehtonen departed after long tenures with the team, Jim Nill spent July 1 signing and rallying some recruits in an attempt to round out the roster for the 2018-19 season.

By the time it was all said and done, the Dallas Stars had signed forward Blake Comeau, defenseman Roman Polak, and goaltender Anton Khudobin. In addition, they also brought former first-round pick Valeri Nichushkin back into the fold after his two-year stint in the KHL.

Mile High Sticking

That’s two new starters on offense, a likely seventh man on defense, and a veteran backup goaltender. So, yes, the Dallas Stars will look somewhat different in the coming year.

Over the past few weeks, these newly-signed players have made their way to Dallas. They’ve moved into new houses/apartments and even began participating in informal skates at the Dr. Pepper StarCenter.

This weekend will be a chance for them to skate with the entire team, show off their potential in front of a new coaching staff, and earn opportunities from there.

Whenever a player joins a new team, there is typically a feeling out process that must go down between both sides. The player must learn how his new teammates operate and play while the team has to understand the player’s skill set and help make the transition as smooth as possible.

Training camp is the first step in making all of that happen. How will Comeau fit in on offense and who will he be paired with? What new elements will Polak bring to the blue line? Is Khudobin ready to fill a bigger role as the backup for the Stars? And is Nichushkin a changed player after leaving Dallas back in September 2016?

These questions will start getting answers this weekend in Boise.

5. How Will The Dallas Goaltending Look?

The Dallas Stars have qualified for the Stanley Cup Playoffs in just two of the last ten seasons. And if there’s one recurring reason as to why they cannot break through with each passing year, it’s been the goaltending.

Dallas has struggled with finding a competent one-two punch for their crease over the last few seasons. From 2011-15, Kari Lehtonen served as the starter but saw 1-3 backups cycle through the system each year. From 2016-18, Lehtonen and Antti Niemi shared the crease, but it turned out to be a failed project as neither one played particularly well.

And with last season, the Stars went with the duo of Ben Bishop and Kari Lehtonen. Things went well and it looked as though Dallas had finally solved their problem until Bishop fell victim to a knee injury in the final month of the year. With the starter on the sidelines, Lehtonen couldn’t carry the load in front of a deteriorating team and the Stars ended up missing the postseason again.

SenShot

And so, it was back to the drawing board yet again for GM Jim Nill. This time around, he signed veteran goaltender Anton Khudobin, who spent the past two years with the Boston Bruins. Khudobin is a proven backup and has spent the majority of his career in the role, never starting in more than 34 games in any of the past nine seasons.

He’s a confident goalie with the experience and skill to play a sturdy game as the no. 2 and fill in as the no. 1 should anything happen to Bishop. The two have never met or played together, which is an uncommon theme when compared to the Stars’ last few new goaltending duos.

“Unfortunately, I don’t know him at all,” Khudobin said of Bishop on July 1. “But we will get to know each other when I’m going to get to Dallas.”

With that being said, training camp will be the first opportunity for the two to skate together and begin building that goalie bond. They will get a chance to see each other’s strengths and weaknesses and better prepare for the season ahead as a result. This goaltending pairing could very well be the one that ends the Stars’ long search for success in the crease, and training camp will be a first look at it in action.

But that’s not all that’s happening in the crease. The Dallas Stars have three other goaltenders on the training camp roster in Landon Bow, Philippe Desrosiers, and Colton Point, who signed his entry-level contract this past summer.

All three goalies will be vying for the two spots available with the Texas Stars in the AHL. In the end, one goaltender will stay in Boise and begin the season with the Idaho Steelheads of the ECHL. Training camp is a first step for all three to begin proving their readiness for one of the top roles, so keep an eye on the crease and how things pan out by the time the preseason rolls around.

All in all, there’s a lot to watch out for in this year’s training camp session. It should be a good one, even if you won’t be able to see most of it. But the play over these next three days will help decide how the preseason and regular season look for the Dallas Stars.

Stay tuned.