"I'll start on the wing and ease into it," Spezza said. "It gives me a chance to get my timing back. And with [Cody Eakins], we'll kind of both play center. I'll take a lot of draws, too, so things could change pretty quick.
"An injury is never going to feel 100 percent when you get back. But with an upper body injury, you're lucky because you can keep your legs going. Timing could be an issue, but with upper body, your legs should be pretty good."
Spezza, who is third on the Stars with 18 goals, has missed the past six games with an upper-body injury. Dallas gone 4-1-1 his absence.
Patrick Sharp will return to the first line right wing spot alongside Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin. Benn and Seguin rank second and third in the NHL in scoring with 64 and 63 points respectively.
Patrick Eaves will drop from the first line to play with Vernon Fiddler and Cotton Sceviour on the fourth line.
Antti Niemi, who is 15-5-4 with a 2.12 goals-against average and a .928 save percentage in his career against Arizona, will start for Dallas. It is the first of three games against the Coyotes; Dallas defeated Arizona three times by a combined 13-4 margin in 2014-15.
"They have a lot high end skill on their team and they play fast," Arizona coach Dave Tippett said. "We have to make sure we're engaged in the game. You have to match the speed but play fast defensively. You can't take penalties and let them used the skill to their advantage."
Mike Smith is still weeks away from returning from core muscle surgery, and the Coyotes lost goalie Anders Lindback for the rest of the season after he sustained an Achilles tendon injury prior to Arizona's 6-2 win against the Montreal Canadiens on Monday. Lindback will have surgery later this week.
The Coyotes recalled Niklas Treutle from Springfield of the American Hockey League on Tuesday and he will back up Louis Domingue. Each of the two goalies began the season with Springfield.
Smith has yet to practice with the team but will accompany them on a five-game Eastern road trip that begins Monday against the Washington Capitals.
"We're hoping to get him back integrated into full practices here the next few days," Tippett said. "The timeframe is hard to say. Once he gets back into full practices, then we'll get a better read on where he's at."
Here are the projected lineups:
STARS
Jamie Benn - Tyler Seguin - Patrick Sharp
Antoine Roussel - Cody Eakin - Jason Spezza
Valeri Nichushkin - Mattias Janmark - Ales Hemsky
Colton Sceviour -- Vernon Fiddler - Patrick Eaves
Alex Goligoski - John Klingberg
Johnny Oduya - Jason Demers
Patrik Nemeth - Jordie Benn
Antti Niemi
Kari Lehtonen
Scratched: Jyrki Jokipakka, Jamie Oleksiak, Radek Faksa
Injured: Travis Moen (lower body)
COYOTES
Jordan Martinook - Antoine Vermette - Mikkel Boedker
Max Domi - Martin Hanzal - - Anthony Duclair
Tobias Rieder - Brad Richardson - Shane Doan
Kyle Chipchura - Tyler Gaudet - Viktor Tikhonov
Oliver Ekman-Larsson - Connor Murphy
Klas Dahlbeck - Zbynek Michalek
Kevin Connauton - Michael Stone
Louis Domingue
Niklas Treutle
Injured: Boyd Gordon (upper body), Anders Lindback (Achilles surgery), Mike Smith (abdominal surgery), Joe Vitale (fractured orbital bone)
Scratched: Nicklas Grossmann, Jarred Tinordi
Status report: Tikhonov will skate as a 12th forward for Arizona after Tippett opted to go with seven defensemen in the past four games. Grossman will be a scratch for Arizona.
Who's hot: Ekman-Larsson has 10 points (seven assists) in the past six games including three three-point games. … Hanzal has three goals and five points in the past four games. ... Klingberg has two goals and five points in five games.
