FRISCO — For Stars coach Pete DeBoer, the goal is to play faster.
The target date to accomplish that? Well, that’s up in the air.
“Before your group’s moving seamlessly or not thinking about, I don’t know the answer to that,” DeBoer said. “But it’s not Game 1. It might not be Game 10. I think in my history of coming into new programs, it’s probably Thanksgiving where you start to feel ‘OK, we’re getting this and it’s becoming second-nature.’ But this is a smart group, maybe they’ll pick it up quicker.”
DeBoer and his coaching staff have installed a new system and style of playing, one that focuses more on generating offense and asking the defensemen to be heavily involved in scoring.
On Monday, the Stars submitted potentially their best offensive performance of the preseason in a 3-1 loss to the Avalanche. According to Natural Stat Trick, they racked up shot attempts (75), shots on goal (39), high-danger chances (21) and expected goals (4.57) at a rate that should have yielded more than one goal.
DeBoer said his team has to be quicker in decision-making, supporting the puck and executing plays.
“It’s working away from the puck for support for the next play, knowing there’s going to be a quick play made, so you’re not standing watching,” DeBoer said. “That’s all over the ice. It’s habits, you’ve got to do it in practice every day. We run through breakout drills every single day until it becomes second nature.”
The Stars still have two more exhibition games — at Colorado on Wednesday and at Minnesota on Saturday — before opening the regular season in Nashville on Oct. 13.
“For me, we still have to play faster in all three zones: breaking out, through the neutral zone and in the offensive zone,” DeBoer said. “We still get stuck too much. Just working on playing quicker.”
Smaller group?
For the first time publicly, the Stars acknowledged that they may have to carry one fewer skater on their active roster in order to fit Jason Robertson’s new contract under the salary cap.
“We can carry probably as many extra forwards as we want going into the season if he doesn’t sign,” DeBoer said. “My options are totally different than if he does sign and you’re up against the cap.”
As it stands now, the Stars have around $7.25 million cap space available to sign Robertson, if they choose to carry a full 23-man roster (and depending on which players actually make the team). But they can push that number to and above $8 million by carrying one fewer skater.
An example of the Stars' salary cap situation, based on a 23-man roster with 14F, 7D and 2G.
— Matthew DeFranks (@MDeFranks) October 2, 2022
Things can change (battles for the last spots up front and on the blue line), but a sample nonetheless. Dallas can easily get to $8M of cap space by carrying a 22-man roster. pic.twitter.com/8SSpLiEwZZ
Robertson’s new contract is expected to land between $7 million and $8.5 million, depending on the term agreed upon. He has not joined the team during his contract dispute.
Briefly
Goaltender Jake Oettinger did not practice with the team on Tuesday, and instead worked out before practice with goaltending coach Jeff Reese. Scott Wedgewood and Anton Khudobin were the two goalies for main practice.
— The Stars sent defenseman Gavin White back to OHL Hamilton on Tuesday morning. White did not participate in Dallas training camp due to a broken orbital bone.
