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Stars Head to Nashville for Opener |
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Facing a critical year in their window to pursue their first Stanley Cup championship since 1998-99 (the lone Cup in Minnesota/Dallas history, which dates back to 1967-68), the Dallas Stars will open the regular season on the road on Thursday against the Nashville Predators.
Last season, the Stars compiled a 113-point regular season -- second most in franchise history -- and advanced to the Western Conference Final in the playoffs before being defeated by the Edmonton Oilers. Dallas remains a significant contender to reach their first Cup Final since 2020 but anything can happen come next spring.
The best news for the Stars exiting the preseason was that leading scorer Jason Robertson will be ready to go for opening night after missing the entire preseason due to foot surgery. Additionally, Wyatt Johnston appears healthy now after being limited to two games in the exhibition slate. After missing several days of practice, Johnston seems ready to go.
Following the retirement of Joe Pavelski at the end of the 2023-24 season, Johnston was tabbed to move up to the top line at 5-on-5 this season with Robertson (29 goals, 80 points last season) with and center Roope Hintz (30 goals, 65 points, traditional +26 last season). Johnston led Dallas in goal-scoring with 32 tallies among his 65 points.
With a new season dawning, team captain Jamie Benn (21 goals, 60 points last season) is now 35 years old. Tyler Seguin (25 goals, 52 points in 2023-24) is now 32. Matt Duchene (25 goals, 65 points) will turn 34 around midseason. Pavelski, as noted, has retired.
Something the Stars have navigated exceptionally well in recent years is the evolutionary period from where Benn and Seguin were THE focal points of the Dallas attack (and Benn also being the No. 1 forechecker and momentum-shifting physical presence) to where they are veteran leaders on a team packed with very talented younger players.
Dallas remains a very deep and potent team, with bigger things expected this season from Logan Stankoven in his first full NHL season and a bit more consistency in net from Jake Oettinger.
Meanwhile, veteran head coach Peter DeBoer is feeling much better after going an appendectomy (i can relate) during the preseason. He was only able to coach one of the six preseason games while recovering.
Below is the Stars' opening night roster, listed alphabetically by surname: Oskar Bäck, Jamie Benn, Colin Blackwell, Evgenii Dadonov, Casey DeSmith, Matt Duchene, Mathew Dumba, Thomas Harley, Miro Heiskanen, Roope Hintz, Wyatt Johnston, Esa Lindell, Nils Lundkvist, Ilya Lyubushkin, Mason Marchment, Jake Oettinger, Jason Robertson, Tyler Seguin, Brendan Smith, Logan Stankoven, Sam Steel.
Injured and/or Non-Roster Designations: Mavrik Bourque.
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Note: As longtime HockeyBuzz readers probably know, I maintained daily Stars blogs as well as Flyers blogs for a number of years because my official residence is a couple hundred miles from Dallas. In recent years, however, I've concentrated almost solely on the Flyers. I'm a Philly native, have working relationships with both the Flyers and Flyers Alumni and spend most of the season in the Delaware Valley (save for long road trips, schedule breaks and the holidays when I can work in trips to Texas to be with my wife and kids).
This season, I have agreed to pick back up on Stars blogging on top of my other work. I will not be able to do it on a nearly daily basis but will write as often as I have bandwidth to do so on a given day.
Dallas Stars Blogger • 
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