Nill: 'I feel good about where we're at' entering opener

When you consider that the Stars have had 17 players go through some kind of COVID-19 shutdown and have had to
postpone the first four games
of the season, the fact they are getting together a 23-man roster that's pretty close to what they imagined a month ago is pretty impressive.
The Stars on Wednesday
loaned eight players to their AHL affiliate
and ran a practice with the lineup that will likely be in place Friday when they open the regular season against Nashville at American Airlines Center. For all the hoops that they have had to jump through, they're kind of right where they thought they would be.
"Yes, I think you're right about that," said Stars general manager Jim Nill when asked about his projected starting lineup. "We're looking a lot like we thought we would look."

PODCAST: [Razor and Heika discuss how the Stars will manage the COVID situation, a shortened schedule and the 'curse of Stanley Cup bridesmaids']
Blake Comeau is battling an injury that has not been disclosed and will not be available for Friday, coach Rick Bowness said. But, other than that, the Stars are in good shape. Yes, Tyler Seguin (
offseason hip surgery
), Ben Bishop (
offseason knee surgery
) and Stephen Johns (lingering post traumatic headaches) are not available, but the team knew they wouldn't be. Instead, a great deal of the lineup that helped the team to the Stanley Cup Final (where they lost in six games to the Tampa Bay Lightning) will be ready to go.
With Seguin out, Jamie Benn has been moved onto a line with Roope Hintz and Denis Gurianov that will likely get the most ice time and create the most scoring chances. A second line of Joe Pavelski and Alexander Radulov will look to continue the success it had in the playoffs and also look to incorporate playoff hero Joel Kiviranta as a lineup regular. The FCC line will be missing Comeau to start, but still will have Radek Faksa and Andrew Cogliano in their normal spots. Rookie Ty Dellandrea will get a chance to show his ability to hunt the puck in Comeau's place to start the season.

And the fourth line has some new blood in Nick Caamano and Jason Robertson, but will be centered by now-veteran Jason Dickinson and could have a real two-way effectiveness. Robertson led the Texas Stars in scoring last season, and likely will get some power-play time in the NHL this year.
On defense, the top four of John Klingberg, Esa Lindell, Miro Heiskanen and Jamie Oleksiak returns, while Andrej Sekera is expected to welcome free agent Mark Pysyk on the third pair.
Anton Khudobin will get the nod as the No. 1 goalie with Bishop out, and Jake Oettinger will get a chance to show what he can do as a rookie backup.
Despite all of the pandemic moguls the team has had to navigate, that's a solid place to start.
"I like where we're at," said Nill. "We've done a good job of getting through all of this, and I credit the players and coaches for dealing with all of it professionally, so I feel good about where we're at."

The fact the team had to deal with NHL roster deadlines and the COVID outbreak caused some creative accounting when it comes to the salary cap.
To keep all of their players practicing and ready, the Stars placed both Bishop and Johns on "long-term injured reserve" before the season started. That allows them to go over the salary cap by $7.2 million right now, and allows them to start the season in good shape. If Bishop returns in late March or early April when he is expected to be back, they will need to be able to have $4.9 million in cap space to fit him in, but they believe that is very doable.
It's a bit different than what they felt they were going to do, but it should work out in the long run. Bottom line, they were likely going to be up against the cap for much of the year and they were likely going to be limited in acquisitions at the trade deadline anyway.
Basically, the team has built its roster and believes in its roster and will trust that the players who are here can get the job done.
"Plus, if you're talking about adding a player like Tyler Seguin or Ben Bishop at the end of the season, well that's a pretty good trade deadline acquisition right there," Nill said.

The NHL will allow teams to have a six-man taxi squad to deal with the need for depth caused either by the squeezed schedule or potential COVID illness. The taxi squad is officially treated like players are in the AHL, but players will actually be practicing and traveling with the Stars. That means if there is a need for a call up, players don't have to quarantine and can be immediately available.
Because of that, the Stars won't try to run a 21- or 22-man NHL roster to save cap space. They are expected to carry 13 forwards, eight defensemen and two goalies on the NHL roster, and then six players on the taxi squad (likely five skaters and one goalie). The players on the taxi squad could get shuffled to the AHL when the Texas Stars' season begins in February.
"As good as it is for players to be practicing with the NHL team, we want them playing in games, too," Nill said. "So we'll be trying to make sure we have players available but also playing as much as possible. That's just part of this season that's going to be a new challenge."
And, as we have seen with the challenges of training camp, they won't always know how they are going to handle it until they go through it. That said, this has been a hectic three weeks, and the team seems to have navigated the rough waters quite nicely.
"That's how it's going to be this year," Nill said. "You don't know how things are going to go, and so you just have to be ready and just try to make the best decisions possible."

Regular season opener: Stars vs. Predators

Friday, 7:30 p.m. CT
Where:American Airlines Center
TV:FOX Sports Southwest PLUS, ESPN+
Radio: The Ticket 96.7-FM, 1310-AM
This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.
Mike Heikais a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on Twitter @MikeHeika, and listen to his podcast.