The Dallas Stars will gather at Comerica Center in Frisco beginning Thursday for this year’s training camp ahead of the 2024-25 season.
Coming off back-to-back Western Conference final runs and returning most of last year’s roster, expectations remain high for the Stars as one of the Stanley Cup favorites entering this season.
However, with some rookies joining the NHL roster and other new additions, particularly on the blue line, training camp will provide the first glimpse at the changes expected for this year’s group.
Here are five storylines ahead of camp, which runs Thursday through Saturday and culminates in a preseason game against St. Louis:
Where will Mavrik Bourque fit in the Stars’ lineup?
It’s understood that Mavrik Bourque will make the Stars’ opening-night roster this year after falling just short of doing so last year.
With Wyatt Johnston cracking the lineup two years ago and Logan Stankoven doing so around the trade deadline last year, it’s Bourque’s turn to solidify his permanent spot.
Bourque played in two games for Dallas last year — one against Chicago at the end of the regular season and another in the Stars’ last game of the year against Edmonton in the Western Conference final.
Expectations are high for the AHL’s MVP and scoring champion from last year, as he enters the season as a potential Calder Trophy contender.
But training camp will show where Bourque, a forward with two-way abilities and elite scoring talent, fits into Dallas’ relatively established forward lineup. His talents likely leave him somewhere in the middle six rather than the fourth line, so he will be able to use camp to build some chemistry on a new line — maybe one that includes Jamie Benn and Stankoven.
Can Lian Bichsel crack the opening-night roster?
The most promising prospect on Dallas’ blue line is Swiss defenseman Lian Bichsel, the organization’s first-round pick in 2022.
Bichsel nearly made his NHL debut in the playoffs last season against Edmonton to fill in for an injured Chris Tanev but ultimately spent the entire postseason as a black ace.
The 2024-25 season will likely see Bichsel make his debut at some point, though it may not come until later in the year when Dallas needs more defensive depth.
But Nill has said that training camp and players’ performances will determine who makes the roster for opening night against Nashville.
The 20-year-old spent most of last season playing in Sweden, exercising the European assignment clause of his contract. He ultimately returned to Cedar Park during the Calder Cup Playoffs before getting called up to Dallas.
The 6-6, 233-pound defenseman adds some size and physicality that Dallas could benefit from at the position. However, he’ll have to compete with defensemen who have years of NHL experience for a spot on the roster.
Will Dallas add a 13th forward?
Even after re-signing Thomas Harley and adding Bourque to the roster officially, the Stars should still have enough cap room to add a 13th forward if they choose to do so.
If that will happen and who it may be will be determined during training camp.
The Stars could elect to add another young forward from Cedar Park, like Matej Blümel, who totaled 62 points and led the Texas Stars in goals (31) last year.
But the Stars may also want to leave that roster spot open to accrue some cap space early in the season, especially if their top 12 forwards are healthy.
Dallas is also in a unique situation after adding defenseman Brendan Smith in free agency this summer. The veteran blue liner has played both forward and defenseman in his career and could slide into a fourth-line forward role if the Stars were in a pinch.
How will the Stars replace Joe Pavelski on Dallas’ top line?
The biggest change for Dallas among its forwards is replacing Joe Pavelski on the top line.
Pavelski, who retired this offseason, Roope Hintz and Jason Robertson played on a line together for years, which was long regarded as one of the best lines in the league.
Not only will the Stars need to account for the loss of his production (67 points last year), but they’ll have to brace for some changes when shifting a new forward to that top line.
Tyler Seguin and Wyatt Johnston are the two most probable candidates to fill in for Pavelski’s spot.
Seguin, who is entering his 15th season in the league, is often the first to get bumped up to the top line when any of those three are injured. He also played nearly 35 minutes with Robertson and Hintz in the playoffs once Pavelski was demoted during his postseason scoring slump.
Johnston also earned some time on that line both in the regular season and playoffs, playing nearly 140 minutes in between Robertson and Hintz. Together, they became one of Dallas’ most dangerous scoring lines, outscoring opponents 11-3.
What will the blue-line combinations look like?
Pete DeBoer shook up the defensive pairings often last season and may do the same this year with a lot of new faces on the blue line.
Dallas added three new defensemen in free agency — Matt Dumba, Ilya Lyubushkin and Brendan Smith — after parting ways with Chris Tanev, Ryan Suter and Jani Hakanpää in the offseason.
While Dallas returns its top two defensemen in Thomas Harley and Miro Heiskanen, even that pairing could be split if DeBoer wants to play Heiskanen on his dominant side, which he didn’t get to do last year.
Nils Lundkvist also returns from last year’s roster, and he and Brendan Smith will likely compete for the sixth spot in the lineup but may rotate in and out early in the year.
Esa Lindell, who skated alongside Tanev and Hakanpää last year, is guaranteed to have a new partner.
Camp and the preseason games will be a first test at some new blue line combinations.
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