Camp notes: Stars lineup beginning to take shape after first round of cuts

The Stars made the first trims to their training camp roster on Monday, ending an amateur tryout for one player and sending five others back to their junior teams.

The cutdown leaves Dallas with 59 players and allows head coach Glen Gulutzan to reduce practice groups from three to two. The first group on the ice was veteran heavy and could be a sign that Tuesday’s preseason game against Minnesota could be a nice look at the 2025-26 team.

“It will be a more veteran-type lineup,” Gulutzan said, pointing out that having three of the next four exhibition games on the road does create a push for veterans to get their work in at AAC.

The lineup on Monday also showed that the coaching staff is trying a few things that might be seen on opening night. Sam Steel grabbed the spot on the left wing next to Roope Hintz and Mikko Rantanen – something fans have been discussing since the summer. Wyatt Johnston centered Jason Robertson and Mavrik Bourque on the “second” line. And Jamie Benn moved up to take the spot of Mason Marchment on a line with Matt Duchene and Tyler Seguin. The quartet of Radek Faksa, Colin Blackwell, Oskar Bäck and Nathan Bastian will battle for a spot on the fourth line, with Kole Lind and Justin Hryckowian also getting time with the first group on Monday.

On defense, it seems Esa Lindell could start out next to Miro Heiskanen, while Thomas Harley and Nils Lundkvist could form the second pairing. Lian Bichsel will likely play beside Ilya Lyubushkin, while Alex Petrovic and Vladislav Kolyachonok could be fighting to be the seventh defenseman on opening night.

All of that is speculation, of course, as we have 17 days before the puck drops in Winnipeg on Oct. 9. But with a new coaching staff and most of the spots determined by one-way contracts, management seems ready to move forward quickly.

“You go through the first days of camp and you’d like to get some young guys exposed, both on and off the ice, with the top players,” Gulutzan said. “And then as camp goes on, you divide up.”

The coaches even started looking at the power play on Monday, and, once again, there were no concrete decisions. But there were hints of where they might like to go. Harley was quarterbacking the first unit, which also included Rantanen, Hintz, Robertson and Johnston. The second unit was led by Heiskanen and included Duchene, Benn, Seguin and Bourque.

Gulutzan ran a very successful power play in Edmonton and will team up with new assistant coach Neil Graham this season. The head coach said that he expects to be flexible in how he deploys his units.

“We’re talking about a few things as a coaching staff where we can add some unpredictability,” Gulutzan said. “Each guy has his own skillset, brings something different to the table, so sometimes that’s healthy to do.”

But he added: “You want to establish a foundation first, but you also want to be working on a side project. There’s times when you’ve got a guy in the box or you’ve got somebody who just came off a long shift, so it is good to mix and match.”

The Stars last season had two strong power play units, and that helped fuel an inner battle. That said, they ranked 17th in power play success at 22.0 percent, so they have room for improvement.

“That internal push is always good,” Gulutzan said. “A little competition and battle for ice time is good.”

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 X @MikeHeika.