But whether or not Joe Pavelski can fit in and come anywhere close to the 38 goals he got last year? Yeah, that's not so clear right now. Whether Corey Perry can jump in and squeeze another productive season out of his All-Star career? The Magic 8-Ball says "Ask again Later." And whether or not Denis Gurianov or Jason Robertson (or any of the other candidates) can become this year's Hintz or Dickinson? Well, let's just say there is hope and optimism for each and every one of the aspiring scorers.
That creates trepidation with just one preseason game to go. That makes you worry and wonder whether they will be ready for the two Stanley Cup finalists in the first two games, or for seven of the first 10 on the road, or for trips to Washington and Pittsburgh. You wonder if this highly-anticipated Magical Mystery Tour will be in a drainage ditch before we even see Halloween.
But if you're struggling with all of this, I do have one kernel of Zen peace I can offer, and that's this ... goaltending, it turns out, is pretty important in hockey.
The Stars right now seem to have that part of the game figured out. They were second in goals against last season, Ben Bishop was the runner-up for the Vezina Trophy, and Anton Khudobin was one of the best back-up goalies in the league. That's pretty comforting.
Khudobin stopped 21 of 23 shots on Thursday in the loss, and looked pretty good doing it. He had been held out of a few practices because of a nagging injury, but his return was solid and confidence-building.
"He's an excellent goaltender," Stars coach Jim Montgomery said. "He was really good tonight making big saves. He kept us in it when they got some opportunities to stretch the lead to two goals."