Stars expect to be more versatile with power play this season

The drop pass isn't going anywhere, but there should still be some significant changes to the Stars power play this season.
Fans should get a pretty good look as the exhibition season opens against St. Louis on Tuesday night at American Airlines Center. Several of the man-advantage components are expected to be in the lineup, including the entire first unit.
Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin, Alexander Radulov, Jason Spezza and John Klingberg are scheduled to comprise the first unit, while the second unit tonight is expected to include Miro Heiskanen, Julius Honka, Valeri Nichushkin, Mattias Janmark and Brett Ritchie.
That's pretty tall cotton for the preseason.

Dallas finished 19th last season with a 19.3 percent success rate on the power play, and is hoping to improve that standing. In addition to new head coach Jim Montgomery, the team also has a new assistant coach in Todd Nelson, who has had several top five power plays while coaching in the AHL.
"He's got lots of ideas, lots of creativity," Spezza said. "I think we're going to have a lot of different looks … and he's talked about within one power play, a lot of parts need to be interchangeable. That's a little bit different than our structure in the past."
Spezza on Tuesday morning rotated down into the left circle to take a one-timer, a place typically occupied by Seguin. But by switching things up, Spezza said he believes the Stars will be tougher to scout.
"We'll move things around," he said. "You just try to be unpredictable … and then having the ability and comfort to change, you can prepare yourself for different penalty kills."
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Montgomery said the team just started working on special teams, so they are in the infancy of what they want to accomplish. But it still is exciting to see what the players can do under a new coaching staff.
"They really grasped what Todd was trying to teach. That's what a good coach does. You go over the details, players grasp it, and then you go apply it," Montgomery said. "Today was a little basic, but having worked with him for a month and a half, I know where it's going to go. That's when it's going to get exciting and fun for fans."
Even with drop passes, which often frustrated Stars fans in the recent past. The current Stars believe the drop pass can allow the team to move into the offensive zone with possession, and also with speed at times. That said, the use of the drop pass can be disguised better.
"I don't think it's risky if you're on the same page," Montgomery said. "It works against certain forechecks, and against other forechecks you're going to see us go north and south quickly."

Spezza, who often is the recipient of the drop pass, said he believes the team will be even better using the ploy.
"We're still using the drop pass, that won't change," he said. "Our get-in rate has been pretty high, I honestly think we were right there with the best in the league. The drop pass is the foundation of our entry. It gets you in with possession."
And if the Stars can get in with possession, they believe they can get to the net and create scoring chances -- a lot of scoring chances.
"Our whole unit wants to improve from last year. I think we should be top five in the league, we should be up with the best," Klingberg said. "I think sometimes we look too hard for the plays. We've got to take the shots when we get them, we want to be attacking the net and really punish teams if they take a penalty against us."
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.