Stars announce opening night roster

FRISCO, Texas -- Dallas Stars General Manager Jim Nill announced today the 23-man roster for opening night. To get to 23 players, the Stars assigned forward Justin Dowling, and defensemenGavin Bayreuther and Joel Hanley to Texas, Dallas' top development affiliate in the American Hockey League (AHL), while forwardRemi Elie was claimed off waivers by Buffalo.
Additionally, defenseman Stephen Johns was placed on Injured Reserve and center Martin Hanzalremains on Injured Reserve.

Forwards (14)

Jamie Benn, Blake Comeau, Jason Dickinson, Radek Faksa, Roope Hintz, Mattias Janmark, Valeri Nichushkin, Tyler Pitlick, Alexander Radulov, Brett Ritchie, Tyler Seguin, Devin Shore, Gemel Smith, Jason Spezza

Defensemen (7)

Connor Carrick, Miro Heiskanen, Julius Honka, John Klingberg, Esa Lindell, Marc Methot, Roman Polak

Goaltenders (2)

Ben Bishop, Anton Khudobin

By country

Canada - 9, Finland - 4, United States - 3, Czech Republic - 2, Russia - 2, Sweden - 2, Kazakhstan - 1

Experience

The Stars roster entering the 2018-19 season has a combined 6,854 regular-season games of experience. The 21 skaters comprise 6,384 of those games, having a combined 3,431 points (1,314-2,117=3,431). The two goaltenders have a combined record of 241-148-46 in 470 career games. Spezza is the most experienced player on the team, sitting 11 games shy of 1,000 for his career. Heiskanen and Hintz represent the only two rookies on the team, neither having played in an NHL regular-season game to date.

Size

Opening Night details

The Dallas Stars will open their 2018-19 campaign against the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday, Oct. 4 at 7:30 p.m. Color analyst Daryl "Razor" Reaugh and play-by-play announcer Josh Bogorad will call the action on FOX Sports Southwest and Sportsradio 1310 and 96.7 FM The Ticket. Upon arrival to the game, the team will take part in the Victory Green Carpet Walk through Victory Plaza beginning at 4 p.m. The current roster, coaches, front office and Stars dignitaries will walk the carpet and fans will have the opportunity to welcome them into the arena. The pregame event is free and open to the public, with fans able to start lining up to watch the carpet walk beginning at 3 p.m. FOX Sports Southwest will provide complete coverage of the opening night festivities beginning at 6:30 p.m. The Stars Live set, featuring new host Brien Rea, analyst Brent Severynand rinkside reporter Sarah Merrifield, will be positioned in the heart of the action on Victory Plaza for the entire duration of the broadcast.
Prior to the contest, country music legend George Strait will participate in the ceremonial puck drop with friends and fellow co-founders of Código 1530 Tequila, former Stars captain Brenden Morrow and Federico Vaughan. The undeniable "King of Country Music", Strait has a music career spanning more than 30 years; includes 60 No. 1 singles, more than any other artist in any genre; and boasts 33 platinum or multi-platinum-selling albums, more than any country artist and third across all genres behind only The Beatles and Elvis Presley. Strait is the only act in history to have a Top 10 hit every year for over three decades and has sold more than 70 million albums and earned more than 60 major entertainment industry awards.
All fans are encouraged to download the official Dallas Stars app and participate in the pregame Dallas Stars Light Show during opening night and at future games. Once the Stars app is downloaded, scroll down to info, click the tab for the Light Show to download and activate the microphone on your phone. When prompted on the scoreboard approximately 15 minutes before puck drop, open the Light Show app and join the in-arena experience.