Dallas Stars: Five Things To Watch For In 2018 Preseason

With training camp concluded and the season opener 16 days away, it’s time for the Dallas Stars to open their preseason slate. Here are a few things to watch out for in the six-game stretch.

The Dallas Stars spent this past weekend trying to adjust to yet another new era.

While hosting their first-ever training camp in Boise, Idaho, the Stars used Friday through Sunday to acquaint themselves with a new head coach, new teammates, and a new outlook. And that new outlook could be the thing that makes or once again breaks the team’s hopes in the 2018-19 season.

After failing to convert and make their way into the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the second season in a row in 2017-18, Dallas once again entered the offseason with plenty of questions and doubt. Another season had passed, their talented players got a year older, and there still a dire need for consistent success that was abandoned after the 2015-16 season.

With the pressure mounting, GM Jim Nill needed to find some answers.

And from April 7 to September 18, he did just that. Nill went out and found a new head coach that should play perfectly to the strengths of the current roster, signed a handful of new players while breaking ties with others, and reassembled his team to put them in a solid situation to win in the year ahead.

Pucks and Pitchforks

But will it work? That has yet to be answered. With a new coaching staff comes a new scheme which must be learned and assimilated by the team. And even though Montgomery’s style and philosophy seems to be a nice middle ground between Lindy Ruff‘s high-risk system and Ken Hitchcock’s defensive-focused system, it will still take time to learn. If the Dallas Stars are going to succeed in a loaded Central Division, they have to be on the same page and ready to compete.

That’s why they have training camp. It’s a first chance for the entire team to connect with the new coach, begin studying and playing in the system, and show off their strengths to their new bench boss. But training camp is only three days long and is a team-centered event. So, how do the Stars put their scheme into motion against real competition without it counting against them?

That’s where the preseason comes in.

The Dallas Stars have seven preseason games scheduled over the next two weeks as they prepare for their season opener against the Arizona Coyotes on Oct. 4. They begin that six-game slate tonight against the St. Louis Blues at the American Airlines Center.

The preseason is useful for a few different reasons. It’s a chance for teams to try out different combinations and strategies, use both their NHL players and top prospects in a professional setting, and make decisions based on each performance that will put them in the best position for the season ahead. In addition, it also gives teams who endured significant changes during the offseason a chance to try out their new setup.

Dallas will have to do a little bit of all of that over the next two weeks. The seven games (which will be played against the Blues, Wild, and Avalanche in a home-and-home setting as well as one neutral site game against the Panthers) give the Stars a chance to set themselves up for quick success by the time October rolls around.

So, as the preseason gets underway for the Dallas Stars tonight, here are five things that you will want to keep an eye on.

1. The Transition Speed To The Jim Montgomery Way

The Dallas Stars have seven games to assimilate to a completely new style of play. To add on to that, this will be their third style to work under in the past two years. Sounds simple enough, right?

Even though the Stars are used to going through this transition, it doesn’t mean that it will be automatic by any means. And that’s why the team must use the preseason to their advantage. Adapting to a new mindset happens easiest when in a competitive setting, and that’s where Dallas has to cash in.

Causeway Crowd

At the beginning of last season, the Dallas Stars had to assimilate to “Hitch Hockey.” After playing four seasons in a Lindy Ruff system that breeds offensive power, the Stars flipped the script by hiring Hitch, who is known for his defensive focus.

And that took a toll on the Stars, to a certain extent. Even after training camp and the preseason, it took Dallas six weeks of the regular season to fully acclimate themselves with Hitchcock’s philosophies. By the time Thanksgiving rolled around, the Stars were 11-10-1 and were stuck in the middle of the pack. But they finished the season on a 31-22-7 run. That’s because they finally found their groove.

This same adaptation will have to take place with Montgomery coming in. How quickly will it occur? That’s uncertain. They may be ready to go midway through the preseason. Or, it may take them until November.

Regardless of how long it takes, the preseason is a perfect opportunity for Dallas to begin making the transition. Every NHL player should receive significant playing time throughout the slate, giving everyone a proper chance to acclimate. When looking at it on paper, the Stars seem to have the proper tools to perfectly execute Montgomery’s ideas.

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How will the Montgomery style look when stacked up to the rest of the NHL? Can the Stars make it a competitive one and battle for a top spot? These questions will begin receiving answers on Tuesday night against St. Louis. But over the next seven games, it’s up to Dallas to figure as much out as they can in order to be ready to go on Oct. 4.

2. How Will Point’s Play Stack Up Against Other Dallas Goalies?

Colton Point was one of six goaltenders to make the 2018 Dallas Stars training camp roster. That makes sense, considering he was signed by Dallas to an entry-level deal on July 1.

The Stars drafted Point in the fifth round of the 2016 NHL Entry Draft. At the time, they were still trying to figure out their goalie prospect pipeline because, for lack of better phrasing, it was a complete mess. Dallas has not drafted and developed an NHL goaltender within their system since Marty Turco (who stopped playing in 2012). The Stars have spent the past few seasons trading for and signing NHL goalies instead in an attempt to fix their problems, and the results have been less than stellar.

They took the first step in righting that wrong when they drafted Point. In the two years since the draft, he’s been one of the most impressive goaltenders in college hockey. While playing at Colgate University in 2017-18, he posted a .944 save percentage and 1.74 goals against average. Those numbers helped earn him a spot as a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award, which is given annually to the top player in the NCAA.

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So, his resume is already turning heads. As a result, the Dallas Stars signed him to a three-year, entry-level deal on the first day of free agency. With the signing, Point will get his first chance to play somewhere in the Dallas organization in the 2018-19 season.

But where will he play? That really depends on him and his play.

The Stars like Point a lot and think that he could be a solid asset to the team’s future in the crease, but he has to prove himself first. Playing professional hockey brings a much bigger challenge than playing college hockey.

Point has already been given a chance to get his feet wet at the Traverse City Tournament as well as in training camp. He looked good in both, but his time at center stage is just beginning.

Over the next seven games, Point will have to prove that he is ready to compete and win. At the moment, there is an open goaltending job in Cedar Park with the Texas Stars. Landon Bow will return to Texas for his third season, but the second spot is up for grabs.

While Ben Bishop and Anton Khudobin will be in Dallas with the Stars and Anthony Popovich is on an amateur tryout contract, Point will be competing with Philippe Desrosiers to win the AHL gig. The goalie that doesn’t fare as well will be designated to Boise to play with the Idaho Steelheads of the ECHL.

Point sounds hungry and ready to work his way into the best possible situation, but he has to prove it. Desrosiers has been in the organization longer and has his sights set on the same job.

It will be an interesting battle to watch and both goalies should get plenty of playing time to make their case. But which one will prevail? That’s the real question.

3. How Will The Lines Shape Out?

The preseason is a time to experiment. With the wins and losses not counting and the team trying to put themselves in the best position to succeed, it’s the perfect opportunity to try new things in hopes of finding something that works.

And that’s what the Dallas Stars will be doing over the next seven games: finding something that works. But that goes beyond how they play and what strategies they use. It also has to do with what their lineup looks like.

The Stars have dealt with both sides of the spectrum over the past few seasons when it comes to how their lines look. With Lindy Ruff, Dallas would shuffle their lines just about every game. It was also common for them to shuffle mid-game. If something didn’t look right, Ruff was quick to make changes.

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Last season, the Stars stuck to the same script most of the time. They would make changes with new players being put into the lineup and in other scenarios, but Hitch tried to stick to his guns for the most part. That’s why the Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin, and Alexander Radulov and Antoine Roussel, Radek Faksa, and Tyler Pitlick would always be seen on the ice at the same time.

Now, the Dallas Stars have Montgomery to figure things out. And you can bet that he will use these next two weeks to find out who works best in what situation.

Montgomery already showed off initial line combinations during the first day of training camp and expressed the desire for his team to build strong chemistry with their line mates. That chemistry typically translates to long-term success.

The seven preseason games will give Montgomery a chance to do a trial-and-error run-through. If he finds a line or pairing that he likes, he can mark it down. And if he finds a line or pairing that isn’t clicking, he can switch it around in time for the next game. But by game seven, he should have his opening night lineup ready to go.

These next two weeks are the perfect time to find a lineup that clicks and runs.

5. Which Forwards Claim The Final Roster Spots?

Assuming that nothing drastic happens in the preseason, the Dallas Stars should have 10-11 confirmed forwards for their NHL roster come opening night.

Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin, Alexander Radulov, Mattias Janmark, Jason Spezza, Valeri Nichushkin, Blake Comeau, Radek Faksa, Tyler Pitlick, Brett Ritchie, and Devin Shore will all more than likely be skating against Arizona on Oct. 4. Considering their talents, past performances, and current contract situations, they just make sense.

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But what about the other starting spot and the one or two healthy scratch spots? That’s where things get tricky. And that’s where the preseason can step in to help.

At the moment, Jason Dickinson, Remi Elie, Gemel Smith, and Roope Hintz seem to be the other forwards vying for those two or three spots.

They all have significant NHL and/or AHL experience and have proven themselves to be valid options for the fourth line in Dallas. But there’s not enough space for all of them.

And with that in mind, some decisions have to be made.

Each of these players will get a chance to further prove their value throughout the preseason, skating in different situations and with different teammates. Hintz and Dickinson will both be in the lineup and be looking to make a quick impact on Tuesday night, which means that Elie and Smith will likely be playing in game two or three.

This all boils down to which players best fit Monty’s style and which players have the most to offer. These will be significant factors  in deciding who makes it on the roster for game one.

These next seven games will give the Dallas Stars and the firsthand look at which of these players fit the best and which ones want it the most.

The 2018 preseason is a chance for the Stars to fully adopt their new game plan, try out new things, and build some momentum so they can burst out of the gate quickly on Oct. 4.

That’s what the preseason is all about.