'I'm your man': The only card Dallas needs is the Ace of Spades

Stars (2-1-2, 6 points) vs. Avalanche (1-3-0, 2 points)

That said, Hintz dealt with an injury all season, had surgery in the offseason and could be even better this year. Hintz hasn't played a preseason game yet, a precaution from the organization to make sure he's 100 percent, but will be in the lineup Thursday against the Colorado Avalanche at American Airlines Center.
"It's his first game in a long time, and I think he's going to be a little rusty," Stars head coach Rick Bowness said.

Hintz centered a line with Joe Pavelski and Jason Robertson, and that line will be together again this season. Pavelski had one of the best statistical years of his career at age 36, and Robertson was runner-up for the rookie of the year, so the mix brought out the best in everyone.
In a perfect world, that chemistry will quickly return this year.
"The chemistry takes a little time," Bowness said. "Even though they played so well together last year, that'll take a little time to gel. But he needs to play a game, he's ready to play a game, he's worked really hard, so it's time to play a game."
Hintz could've played earlier, but the Stars wanted to make sure. Because they have a week to go before the season opener against the Rangers, this seems the perfect time to see what Hintz can do.
"It's nice to get back and get to play a game, finally. It's nice to play with them," Hintz said. "I'll try to focus on little things, just focus on every shift."
Bowness said he'll be cautious with Hintz, monitoring his energy level and making sure he works in slowly.
"I'll watch him very closely and I'll talk to him after every shift," Bowness said.

What to watch

Bowness said Thursday morning that defenseman Jani Hakanpää will not test his broken pinkie in a preseason game. That allows one to imagine he might not be ready for the regular season opener next Thursday. If that's the case, the defense the Stars throw out tonight could be the one that plays opening night.
Ryan Suter is beside John Klingberg, Esa Lindell and Miro Heiskanen are in a pairing, and Joel Hanley and Andrej Sekera will work together on the third pair. That's a solid group, but there still have been a lot of changes, and there still is work to do.
Suter joined the team after nine seasons in Minnesota, and he could be a great complement to Klingberg. The duo has had their ups and downs in preseason, but they could work perfectly together.

"It's a big game for us to continue to work on things," Suter said. "I just think familiarity on the ice, off the ice, for all of us, not just me and John. As a team, we've gotten to know each other, a good group of guys. We've got a week left before our first game, continue to get better.
"Practices I'm sure are going to get a little more intense, so just get ready for that first game. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter how your camp goes, as long as that first game you're ready to go."
Suter is a reliable two-way defenseman who has a history of playing a ton of minutes. He's seeing his workload decreased at age 36, but he also has the experience to manage his game and get the most out of his teammates. Suter is a lefty who likes to play with a righty, so he and Klingberg could be a perfect fit.
"He's highly skilled, he's a great player, he's very offensive minded," Suter said. "The big thing for us is when he's doing his thing, I've got to make sure I'm covering for him and we're reading off each other. It's just these little things we've got to continue to get better at."

Lineup updates

Anton Khudobin will get the start in net Thursday against Colorado, and it's a big night for the veteran goalie. Khudobin has a 5.15 GAA and .857 save percentage this preseason, so he'll need to improve on those numbers to earn the start on opening night.
Braden Holtby has played five periods so far and has a 1.20 GAA and .955 save percentage.
Asked if this is a big game for Khudobin, Bownness said "Yeah."
"We knew going into camp that it would be a very competitive position, and it is," Bowness said. "Holtby has given us five great periods, very calm, very calculated. I said before camp that the guy playing best during camp is going to be the guy in the net in the opener Thursday night."
Worth watching in the forward group will be Tanner Kero, who still is fighting for a spot on the opening night roster and should get a good look on a line with Jamie Benn and Alexander Radulov. Also interesting will be the chemistry of the Michael Raffl-Radek Faksa-Denis Gurianov line. That trio could play together if Bowness decides to put Benn at left wing on a line with Tyler Seguin and Radulov.
Here's how the Stars lined up during the morning skate:
Robertson-Hintz-Pavelski
Kero-Benn-Radulov
Raffl-Faksa-Gurianov
Kiviranta-Glendening-Comeau
Lindell-Heiskanen
Suter-Klingberg
Hanley-Sekera
Khudobin
Holtby

Numbers

79.1 percent

The Stars ranked 19th in the NHL in penalty kill success rate at 79.1 percent. They ranked 23rd in times shorthanded at 153 and were 22nd in shorthanded save percentage at .857

Plus-12

Andrej Sekera played in 46 games for the Stars last season, averaging 15:38 per game. He ranked fifth in plus/minus at plus-12.

Plus-96

Joel Hanley played 35 games for the Stars last season, averaging 12:31. He ranked sixth in SAT (shot attempt differential at even strength) at plus-96.

#

He said it

"There's guys who aren't in the lineup every night and they handle it really, really well. You can throw them in every two weeks and they play really well. Those things come into play." -- Bowness on the thinking of the organization when it comes to making last cuts