Stars enjoying hard work, fun times during Global Series trip to Finland

HELSINKI -- There were a lot of tired Dallas Stars players on the ice toward the end of practice Tuesday at a suburban community ice rink on the outskirts of the city.

Players skated by, mouths open, sweating profusely. Some had the telltale giveaway of exhaustion -- hunched over, stick parallel across the knees, coasting after finishing a drill.

This was not a leisurely skate. This was a hard, crisp 45 minutes that featured a ton of skating and some instruction.

"Get the legs going and get some of the Finnish beer out from last night," coach Pete DeBoer said. "We had a great night out last night, some great Finnish hospitality, and we needed to get some work and some sweat today."

The Stars (7-2-0) are here to play the Florida Panthers (7-3-1) in the 2024 NHL Global Series presented by Fastenal, with games at Nokia Arena in Tampere on Friday (2 p.m. ET; Victory+, SCRIPPS, NHLN, SN) and Saturday (Noon ET; Victory+, SCRIPPS, NHLN, SN1).

On Monday, players and staff went for a sauna experience, including a cold plunge into the freezing Baltic Sea, and then had a dinner, when reindeer and salmon soup, two iconic Finnish dishes, were on the menu.

"It didn't feel great to start, but then it felt a little bit better," forward Tyler Seguin said of the workout. "It was a good, high-paced practice. It was exactly what we needed."

Seguin said the revelry Monday might have extended past dinner.

"A little karaoke gathering," he said.

The players raved about the experiences, the food, the companionship. Forward Matt Duchene sampled the reindeer at dinner, his first time eating it.

"It was all good. I was just hoping it wasn't Rudolph," he said.

Duchene said the locations for their team-bonding trips Monday -- after a long day of travel -- were awesome. They were selected by the Stars' three Finnish players, Esa Lindell, Miro Heiskanen and Roope Hintz.

"It was a good way to kick some of the jet lag hopefully," Duchene said.

It also was a good way for a veteran Stars team to bring some younger players into the fold, as well as further strengthen the bonds between the established players.

While the team is on the road for half its season, it's rare that all of the players are together in one place, completely relaxed, like they were Monday.

DeBoer relished it.

"It was critical for me, for team building and bonding," he said. "It's really hard to force those situations; they almost have to pop up organically. This trip, I think, provided that. Guys are across the world and in a different country and our Finnish players were so excited to show them some of the culture locally here and the guys dove into it.

"It was great. I think that stuff goes a long way as you get into the meat of the season because it is such a grind at the NHL level."

Rookie forward Logan Stankoven has fit right in with the Stars on the ice. The 21-year-old has nine points (one goal, eight assists) in nine games this season after playing 24 regular-season games and 19 games in the Stanley Cup Playoffs last season.

But he still is trying to find his way into the fabric of the team. He spent Monday watching and listening to those around him.

"It was nice to get out and experience some of the Finnish culture," he said. "The Baltic Sea was cold, freezing. A lot colder than I expected."

After the shock of the cold wore off, the bonding entered high gear during dinner.

"I don't know if I learned anything, it was just more stories from different guys," he said. "Obviously there are a lot of younger guys and older guys. It's a different era now, so it's nice to listen to guys' stories and see what they have to say."

Now the Stars are off for 36 hours, other than a move by train to Tampere on Wednesday afternoon. They will reconvene for practice at Nokia Arena on Thursday in preparations for the games Friday and Saturday.

The activities Monday whet the appetite of forward Jason Robertson for more adventures until the focus turns to important games against the defending champions and then the resumption of their North American schedule with a home game against the Chicago Blackhawks on Nov. 7.

The game against the Blackhawks starts a series of seven games in 14 days for the Stars.

"You can ask all the guys in the League, I'm sure the veterans will all say being on the road is the best part of being a teammate and having fun, especially during the Global Series here," Robertson said.

"[We want to] take advantage of the days we have here because I know in a about a week, we are going to look up to our schedule and it is going to catch up to us."