Dallas Stars: Julius Honka Set For Season Debut Against Anaheim

After a week of touting #FreeHonka on social media, Dallas Stars fans will finally get their wish on Saturday night. Defenseman Julius Honka is set to start on the blue line and make his 2018-19 season debut.

After a three-day break, it’s finally a Dallas Stars game day once again.

Following a 7-4 defeat at the hands of the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday night that turned out to be the Stars’ first loss of the year, Dallas has since been re-racking and preparing for Saturday.

In the first three games of the year, the Stars showed a lot of potential and promise. They look comfortable in their new system, new head coach Jim Montgomery seems to have a good connection with his team, and Dallas is 2-1-0 on the year, including a big win against a Central division opponent.

But there is always room to get better. Following their victory against the Winnipeg Jets one week ago, Montgomery called for caution and reminded the media and fans that there were still 80 games to go. A 2-0-0 record that came with two dominant performances is great, but there is a lot of season left for things to go south.

The Stars experienced that first taste of defeat in the following game. They gave up seven goals to the Leafs and only scored four in return, using the usual suspects of Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin, Alexander Radulov, and John Klingberg to find the back of the net.

So, with a first loss pinned against the team, the three days of rest became even more crucial for Montgomery to use. He put each one to good usage, holding the “best practice of the season” and ending it with a bag skate on Wednesday, giving the team the day off on Thursday as a result, and hosting one last practice on Friday before getting ready for morning skate on Saturday.

But Montgomery also made some lineup adjustments in preparation for the arrival of a 3-0-1 Anaheim Ducks team.

After running with a similar lineup in each of the first three games, Montgomery will take the team in a new direction tonight. As it was reported on Friday, Jason Dickinson will slot back into the lineup, taking the spot of forward Roope Hintz.

Also, the Dallas Stars will run with backup goaltender Anton Khudobin after giving starter Ben Bishop the first three games of the year. Khudobin will make his debut in a Dallas uniform and do so in front of a home crowd against a tough Anaheim team.

“Anton’s been really good through the preseason and we thought his first game should be at home and Bish will get the first game on the road. That’s what the thinking was,” Montgomery told Stars Inside Edge.

But perhaps the biggest story isn’t even the debut of Khudobin. Instead, the 2018-19 regular season debut for defenseman Julius Honka might take center stage.

At Friday’s practice, Honka skated alongside Marc Methot, giving way to his first potential start of the year. That will hold true tonight, as Honka and Methot will make up the second pairing.

“We want to see him play with more pace and take away time and space better,” Montgomery said about Honka following the morning skate on opening night.

After three games and a rough defensive showing on Tuesday night, though, it seemed like a good time to rotate the lineup. This will be Honka’s first chance to build on a rough 2017-18 campaign that came with an overall lack of trust from head coach Ken Hitchcock and plenty of healthy scratches.

But it’s a new season, a new scheme, and a new opportunity to earn a starting spot. We’ll see if Honka can make anything of it or if there really might be something to keep an eye on.

It’s another tough test for the Dallas Stars tonight in the final matchup of their four-game homestand to open the season. Can they hand the Ducks their first regulation loss and get their momentum back?