QUICK HITS
BLUES Alexander Steen’s first season as general manager will begin when his club drops the puck in Dallas on Friday. Steen played in 765 regular-season games with the Blues over 12 years from 2008-20 and helped the team capture its first Stanley Cup in 2019. Now as general manager, he’ll begin his pursuit of another one.
Steen’s Blues — with former GM Doug Armstrong shifting to President of Hockey Operations — made plenty of new additions over the summer, acquiring Mason McTavish from the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for two first-round picks at the NHL Draft while also adding Connor McMichael in a trade that sent Jordan Kyrou to the Washington Capitals. Other new faces to the roster include Brandon Carlo, Ross Johnston, Dillon Dube and Adam Jiricek - a first-round pick in 2024 who will start the season in the NHL because of injuries to Logan Mailloux and Tyler Tucker.
“There’s a lot of new. New coaching staff, new leadership group, new players, myself in this position is new. I’m excited and ready to go,” Steen said. “I feel like we’ve been doing a lot of prep work for a long time… We have our long-term plan. Where my focus lies right now is I want us to have a great start and see these traits and identity things we’ve been talking about for so long start being implemented and growing.”
STARS The Dallas Stars recorded 50 wins and a second-place finish in the Central Division last season but were bounced from the Stanley Cup Playoffs in the first round by the Minnesota Wild.
It was a disappointing finish for the Stars, who have plenty of firepower as they look to attempt to break through once again this season.
Jason Robertson led Dallas with 96 points last year (45 goals, 51 assists) and is back after signing a one-year contract in the offseason. Whether he remains in Dallas longer than that remains to be seen.
Familiar stars such as Wyatt Johnston, Mikko Rantanen, Roope Hintz, Tyler Seguin, Matt Duchene (lower-body injury, doubtful), Miro Heiskanen and Jake Oettinger are back, too, ensuring the Stars will be a force to be reckoned with once again in the Western Conference.
