Preseason, positive omens, and organizational depth

The Stars went 5-0-1 in the preseason.

So what does that mean?

“It’s better than the alternative,” said Stars assistant coach Steve Spott. “I hope it’s a good omen, that’s all I can say.”

Yes, the league will wipe the slate clean and start over before Thursday’s season opener in Nashville, but the lead up to the 2024-25 campaign is going about as good as it could right now. Not only did Dallas win most of its games in the exhibition schedule, it looked good doing it. Veterans like Matt Duchene and Tyler Seguin flashed their chemistry. Rookies like Logan Stankoven and Mavrik Bourque showed glimpses of what they can be. The defense looked deeper than ever. And the forward group had/has a fantastic battle going to fill the final roster spot.

As omens go, that seems pretty positive.

“We’ve done well in the preseason because of the depth this organization has,” Spott said. “We field a good lineup every night, and that’s with some pretty darn good players watching. We’ve got young players who are pushing and driving.”

While there is some concern about Joe Pavelski retiring and taking away one of the leading scorers of the past four seasons, the Stars have players lined up to fill that void. Yes, veterans like Seguin and Jamie Benn have seen their numbers start to wane, but the hope is players like Wyatt Johnston, Bourque and Stankoven can fill the void. Johnston, 21, had 41 points (24 goals, 17 assists) his first season and pushed that to 65 (32 goals, 33 assists) last season, so the belief is he can take another significant step this year. You can argue he was the team’s best player in the playoffs with 10 goals and 6 assists in 19 games, and that was during the toughest games of the year.

Bourque, 22, and Stankoven, 21, were arguably the two best players in the AHL last season, and they’re expected to bring that electricity to a line with Benn this year. That could be a great carry-over from what Benn did with Johnston last year.

Johnston, meanwhile, will likely move to Pavelski’s spot on the right wing with Jason Robertson and Roope Hintz. Robertson missed all of camp following surgery to remove a cyst from his foot, but he’s expected to get some practice time in this week to get ready. While an ideal camp would have allowed more repetitions for the top line, they should be able to pick things up quickly. Mix in the fact that the second line of Duchene with Seguin and Mason Marchment looks like it is ready to go could give the Stars the cushion it needs to get off to a quick start.

In addition to the organizational depth Spott spoke of, there also is depth at the top. If Robertson needs more time, a player like Evgenii Dadonov can step in on the top line, or Stankoven, or Bourque, or Seguin. That’s important in a league where attrition can take away valuable points that create space in the standings.

As for the “depth” depth, well that’s good too. Dallas has 12 forward spots filled when healthy. That means the Stars will likely carry one extra forward. In the past, that forward was often a veteran who couldn’t go to the minors. This season, all the extra bodies are on two-way contracts, and many of those faces are new to the organization. AHL regulars like Matej Blumel, 24, and Oskar Bäck, 24, are in the battle, but so are Kole Lind, 25, and Arttu Hyry, 23. Lind had 65 points (17 goals, 48 assists) in 69 games with Coachella Valley last season, while Hyry had 31 points (14 goals, 17 assists) in 55 games in the Finnish Elite League. That fits in well with head coach Pete DeBoer’s philosophy that he wants scoring from every line, and it also means these players can rotate down to the AHL, work on their scoring there and rotate back up.

It should make a for dynamic that has been missing in recent years from the Stars.

On defense, the front office did a big flip by adding Matt Dumba, Ilya Lyubushkin, Brendan Smith and Kyle Capobianco in free agency. Dumba looks like he will slot in next to Miro Heiskanen and allow him to play on his natural left side. Lyubushkin is also a righty and looks to be a possible new partner for Thomas Harley, and that will allow Esa Lindell to help Nils Lundkvist mature on that pairing. Getting those players some practice time has been key in preseason.

The additions of Smith, 35, and Capobianco, 27, means it could be tough for 20-year-old defenseman Lian Bichsel to jump right into the NHL, but that could be a good thing for the organization. And while Bichsel was among the team leaders with a goal and two assists in five preseason games, assistant coach Alain Nasreddine said a big part of the exhibition season was seeing what the new combinations could do.

“It’s about our game,” Nasreddine said. “Get better and get ready for Game 1. It’s good for me to see some of the new guys – Lyubushkin, Dumba. There’s not a lot of things for me to learn [about them], but there are some things that are different from where they played last year.”

And while there have been many moving parts in the preseason, they seem to be fitting together so far. Could this be the deepest Stars team we’ve seen in some years? Spott said yes, but added a caveat.

“On paper, yeah it is,” he said. “Last year, we were extremely deep, but it takes a lot of things to go right. You’ve got to sink a few 40-foot putts during the regular season. You need some things to go right. On paper, it looks really good, but our division, this conference has gotten so much better. You need a lot of things to go well. “

This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.

Mike Heika is a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on Twitter @MikeHeika.