Heika's Take: In preseason debut, Hintz proves why he's a top-line center

DALLAS -- Back in the day, the Stars had an interesting philosophy where their top line often went against the opposition's top line.
It worked, in large part, because Mike Modano dedicated himself to strong two-way play and embraced the challenge.

This season, we might see a reincarnation of sorts. Roope Hintz is a fantastic two-way player. He's big, he's strong, he's fast, and he's healthy. That could mean that he and linemates Joe Pavelski and Jason Robertson will sort of be a checking-scoring line.

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"You've got to go head-to-head in this league," Stars coach Rick Bowness said, acknowledging that he'll definitely use the Hintz line in several roles. "You get on the road and you don't have the last change. You can match up a little bit, but you have to teach all of your players to be responsible a little bit. You've got to trust your players."

Hintz is easy to trust. The big center played through an injury last season and posted 43 points in 41 games. He jumped into his first preseason game this year on Thursday night and was a dominant force in a 3-1 Stars win over Colorado at American Airlines Center.
Hintz had a goal and nine shot attempts in just 15:55 of ice time. He actually paced himself in the game, taking a few shorter shifts, but he played a huge role on a power play that put 13 shots on net in just eight minutes. He also was solid as a penalty killer, and he just looked like a really good two-way center.

Asked what he liked about Hintz's game, Bowness said, "Everything. He was flying out there."
The coach then went into more specifics, saying that Hintz is good at pretty much every part of the game. Now that he's not having to manage injuries that limited his practice time last season, he should be even better.
"When you see him coming through the middle of the ice like he was tonight, you know he's feeling great," Bowness said. "His reads were better than I thought they would be, his timing was really good, he showed what a great player he is."
Hintz earned a good deal of respect for playing through his groin injury last season, and he said he's hopeful that not having to do that this year will be a good thing. He said he didn't think the injury affected his play, but he did say it was tough dealing with off days.
So far in the preseason, he said he's felt good, but he also said a lot will be told on Friday after his first full game.
If he can do this on a consistent basis without pain, it seems the sky is the limit.
"It was exciting," said Robertson, who also scored a goal. "I mean, he was flying up and down the ice. I knew where he was going to be. The whole pace of the game runs through the middle of the ice, and he's taking off, so it's great to have him back."

Bowness said he too liked the chemistry of the line. Pavelski is a smart veteran and Robertson is an intelligent second-year player.
"What they're really good at is reading off of Roope," Bowness said. "You saw Pavs tonight finding him coming through the middle a lot."
And when that happens, the line is very effective. Asked if he believes that his line can play against the opposition's best players, Robertson said sure.
"The best defense against a top line is hemming them in their zone, right?" Robertson said. "Roope is so fast and so quick, and Joe knows where you are always on the ice. It helps having two centermen on your line who can play low and manage all of that and are interchangeable, so it's definitely an advantage. If that's what Bones wants us to do, we'll take that head on."
Pavelski had two assists, fired six shots on goal and won five of six faceoffs. He said in the morning he believes the chemistry will come back quickly.
"I think you definitely pick up where you left off in a lot of areas, but the process of getting back is understanding it didn't come easy," Pavelski said. "There was a lot of hard work that was put in, a lot of nights where you have to compete to earn your goal or your points. The process for us getting there is making sure we're hard enough on battles, on loose pucks."
And, yeah, fight through whatever pain might come up.
"It feels good," Hintz said before the game. "Then, of course, I need to get a game before we start the season, so I can see how it is and everybody can see how it is."
Right now, the consensus is the future looks bright.
"He's got great speed, he's a big body, very skilled," said defenseman Ryan Suter, who's joining the Stars this season and seeing Hintz up close for the first time. "You don't realize how skilled some of these guys are until you practice with him. Just seeing them handle the puck and seeing how they carry themselves on the ice every day, it's very eye opening."
So eye opening that Hintz might be the key to a lot of the team's defensive strategy this season.
"He can play against (Connor) McDavid, he can play against (Sidney) Crosby, he can play against anybody," Bowness said. "Defensively, he's very smart and he's very reliable, and he's big and fast and strong enough to get back. I have no problem running him against anybody."

Notebook: Anton Khudobin stopped 26 of 27 shots, including a big flurry in the first period and a late run with the goalie pulled. "He was solid," Bowness said. "He made some good saves in the first to keep us in it until we could get going." Dallas won 67 percent of its faceoffs (35-17). Luke Glendening went 13-4 in the dots. The Stars played the defense that might be on the ice opening night in New York. Miro Heiskanen logged 23:04, John Klingberg had 22:20, Suter played 20:59, Esa Lindell logged 18:13, Joel Hanley played 15:42 and Andrej Sekera played 14:37.
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.