Dallas Stars Traverse City Tournament: Who had great performances?

The official start of the 2023-24 NHL season is literally just around the corner. One of the last things that happens before the start of every season each year is the yearly prospect tournament. For the Dallas Stars, that started just this past Thursday and finished up on Sunday.

For this tournament in particular, Dallas sent out 14 forwards, 7 defensemen, and 2 goalies to compete. Let’s look at some of the stars (no pun intended) of this tournament and who’s looking good coming into the Stars’ upcoming season as a team.

Which Dallas Stars performed the best at the Traverse City Prospects Tournament?

Let’s start with one of the goalies that participated in the tournament.

1. Remi Poirier

In the first game of this tournament, Poirier came out with guns a-blazin’ with 32 saves. He was able to stop 32 of the 34 shots that came his way in an epic win against the Red Wings 4-2. There is a reason why he won ECHL Goaltender of the Month a couple of months last month.

Next up, let’s talk about someone who has great potential in the AHL.

2. Lian Bichsel

In the first game of the tourney against the Red Wings, while Bichsel didn’t get a point, he did get under the skin of all of the Red Wings fans, to the point where any time he was on the ice he was getting booed. He’s got so much potential to definitely become a much more seasoned player over in the AHL.

After suffering a broken ankle in May, this prospect tournament was a test for him and he stated that he was back to “100 percent”. Overall, he did pretty well in this tournament. With his energetic and sometimes violent approach to the game, as well as his epic skills to deny space on the ice, he will appear endearing to just about any and all coaches out there.

Finally, here’s someone who is quite possibly one of GM, Jim Nill’s best decisions.

3. Chase Wheatcroft

Coming from the WHL, Dallas Stars’ GM, Jim Nill, decided to sign Wheatcroft to an entry-level contract. Upon seeing what he did in this prospect tournament, his decision to do so was nothing short of amazing for the team. He scored 3 goals at the tournament and just looked great the entire time overall. Expect him to be a player that fans will be watching in training camp.

4. Logan Stankoven

Logan Stankoven looked good as well this past weekend. He looked kind of rough in the first game against Detroit. Considering it was his first game in months since finishing his career with the Kamloops Blazers, it’s understandable. In the second game, we saw Stankoven get more chances to score. In the third game, he finally got a pass from Mavrik Bourque and Stankoven finished it off for a goal. Now that he’s warmed up for training camp, fans should keep an eye on him.