One thing I like about preseason hockey is the fact that the young prospects battle it out to impress the head coach of their hockey team. It's fantastic to see players like Justin Hryckowian and Arttu Hyry fight for playing time at the NHL level in the event of an injury. Tonight's preseason game against the Minnesota Wild just got a lot more interesting with the news this morning on Jamie Benn. Here's why everyone should have their eyes on Hryckowian heading into tonight's game against the Wild.
Justin Hryckowian was one of the best rookies in the AHL last season. In fact, he came away with the AHL Rookie of the Year after such an impressive season. There was no doubt that he would be getting a lot of playing time with the Texas Stars this upcoming season. However, with the recent news this morning, there's a good chance he could be starting the season with the Dallas Stars on the opening night roster.
Hryckowian is the type of player that I know Gulutzan would love to have in the bottom six of his lineup for a month. He's able to create scoring chances while finding the back of the net. He would be the perfect replacement for Benn until he gets healthy. Hryckowian can start to show Gulutzan he deserves that empty roster spot against the Wild tonight. You don't know how many times you get to impress the NHL Head Coach, so he would need to make every shift count against the Wild.
We will have more on other prospects that could fill Benn's roster spot around 3 PM CT today. Just looking at the performances so far, Hryckowian is the frontrunner to take that spot in the lineup for October. If you thought that the roster was set in stone for the upcoming season, things just changed on a whim this morning with the news about Benn. There's a temporary roster spot available for grabs, and I know the prospects tonight are going to fight over that one temporary spot.