Oleksiak's playoff return should be boon for Stars' defense

Stars (37-32-8) vs. Golden Knights (39-32-8)

5:30 p.m., Rogers Place

TV:FOX Sports Southwest, NHL Network

Radio: The Ticket 96.7-FM, 1310-AM

Ask anyone in the Stars organization what would have made a big difference in their seven-game series loss to the St. Louis Blues last season, and the answer typically is Jamie Oleksiak.

That's not to say that defensive defenseman is the best player on the team, just that his absence due to injury was notable. Now that he's back, they hope his presence is equally notable.

Oleksiak is an intriguing story. He's a 6-foot-7 defenseman who weighs 255 pounds and can skate. That's one of the reasons the Stars took him 14th overall in 2011. However, as he worked his way up through the system, he never quite clicked with that version of the team. Oleksiak played 140 NHL games over six seasons, earning a ton of healthy scratches in the process, and in 2017 was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins for a fourth-round draft pick.

Oleksiak was a successful player in Pittsburgh, but was eventually traded back to the Stars for the same fourth-round pick in January of 2019. He jumped in and became an important part of the Stars defense, logging some nice minutes in a first-round series win over Nashville.

However, he suffered a knee injury and was not able to play against the Blues, and that hurt the Stars in their battle against a physical team.

"We definitely could have used him," said Stars general manager Jim Nill. "If we had Jamie and Stephen Johns (who missed all of last season with post-traumatic headaches), it would have helped a great deal."

So when Oleksiak returned to start this season, Stars interim coach Rick Bowness challenged the big defenseman.

"We had the conversation that we need you to keep getting better," said Bowness, who was the assistant coach in charge of the defensemen at the start of the season. "We need you to play so well that we don't even have that conversation again: `Is he a healthy scratch or is he playing,' and that conversation never took place during the regular season."

Oleksiak played all 69 games, averaged 15:49 in time on ice, and added 10 points (3 goals, 7 assists). He was second on the team in hits with 153 and first in SAT (shot attempt differential at even strength) at plus-83.

In the exhibition game against Nashville Thursday, Bowness said Oleksiak was their best defenseman.

"When he plays an inspired game like he did against Nashville ... when he's physical; you saw guys bounce off of him, he ended a lot of plays in our zone; and he shows his mobility … when he's skating like that and he's physical like that, he's a force out there. He was our best defenseman in that game on both sides of the puck."

Oleksiak said he appreciated the good words from Bowness and explained that he is maturing at age 27 and has been helped by playing beside Miro Heiskanen.

"Obviously, hearing those things from the coach is always a good feeling," he said while sitting next to Heiskanen for an interview Sunday. "Obviously, playing with this guy makes things pretty easy. I'm just trying to build off things every day."

How important can Oleksiak be in the playoffs? He's not going to log the most minutes or tally the most points, but he can definitely be one of the role players the Stars need.

Gurianov, Hintz still big keys to getting offense going

When Rick Bowness examined the Stars at the pause, he said he needed to find ways to get Denis Gurianov and Roope Hintz more minutes. Hintz ranked eighth on the team among forwards at 14:45 per game and Gurianov was 11th at 12:59, yet the two were among the scoring leaders at 19 and 20 goals. Bowness said each needed to be able to extend their shifts longer, and that was a main push in training camp for Return to Play. He even put Hintz and Gurianov on the top line with Tyler Seguin in hopes of creating not only the extra minutes, but a speedy challenge for opponents.

However, Seguin's move to the right wing didn't work well in scrimmages as the team's top scorer wasn't getting the puck enough, so Bowness and the coaching staff split that line up. Seguin is now centering a line with Jamie Benn and Gurianov, and Hintz is playing left wing on a line with Jason Dickinson and Corey Perry.

Bowness said the versatility of both players means they can find ways to be effective.

"They're both very versatile players. Roope can play wing or center and Denis is comfortable on either side of the ice," Bowness said. "We had those two together and they certainly could play together again at some point and probably will, but again they're both very flexible players. Their speed and their size and their strength, they should be able to protect the puck and hang onto the puck more in the offensive zone, and that's really what we're working with them on. We're seeing great progress on that.

"Can they play together? Yes. Do they help give us balanced speed on lines? Yeah, they do that too."

The duo probably have played their best with Dickinson as their center, so that might be the first change to look for if the Stars need a jump.

Seguin, Cogliano ready to go

While we don't get to watch practice or morning skate with the team in Edmonton, both Tyler Seguin and Andrew Cogliano appear ready to go for the first round-robin game. Seguin was held out of the exhibition game with the generic label of "unfit to play" that the NHL is giving to every absence, but Bowness said if it was a playoff game, the team would have had a difficult decision (meaning this was likely an injury or soreness).

Cogliano left the game when he was shoved to the ice and fell awkwardly in the first period. He has practiced the past two days.

The injuries allowed Ty Dellandrea to play in the exhibition game and allowed Joel Kiviranta to practice with the first team. The Stars have good depth, so it will be interesting to see how they use and even how they prepare to use it.

By the numbers

Plus-5.2

The Golden Knights rank first in the NHL in shot differential at plus-5.2. They are first in average shots on goal per game at 34.5 and third in fewest shots against at 29.3. Dallas ranks 18th in shot differential at minus 0.9.

2-5-1

Dallas is 2-5-1 in its career against Vegas. They beat the Golden Knights 4-2 on Nov. 25 this season and lost 3-2 in OT on Dec. 13. They were scheduled to play March 17, but that game was cancelled.

3.43

Robin Lehner is getting the start for Vegas in goal. He is 2-5-2 in his career against the Stars with a 3.43 GAA and .899 save percentage. Rick Bowness has not named a starter for the Stars.

#

He said it

"You get into a game and different emotions take over and sometimes you go back into your old habits, and that's basically what happened there. So we've got to break those habits. It's going to take some time, and it's going to take some games, but we're going to stick with it. We know the benefits of it and we're going to persevere with it and it's going to help us become a better hockey club."

-- Stars coach Rick Bowness on his team's attempts to become better at possessing the puck and how the results weren't great in a 2-0 exhibition loss to Nashville.

Stars projected lineup

Jamie Benn - Tyler Seguin - Denis Gurianov

Mattias Janmark - Joe Pavelski - Alexander Radulov

Andrew Cogliano - Radek Faksa - Blake Comeau

Roope Hintz - Jason Dickinson - Corey Perry

Esa Lindell - John Klingberg

Jamie Oleksiak - Miro Heiskanen

Andrej Sekera - Stephen Johns

Ben Bishop

Anton Khudobin

Injured: None

Scratched: Justin Dowling, Taylor Fedun, Jason Robertson, Ty Dellandrea, Thomas Harley, Joel Kiviranta, Joel Hanley, Gavin Bayreuther, Jake Oettinger, Landon Bow

This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.

Mike Heikais a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on Twitter @MikeHeika, and listen to his podcast.