Living the dream: Justin Hryckowian “staying in the moment” during wild rookie season

Seeing this season through the eyes of rookie forward Justin Hryckowian has been intriguing.

The 24-year-old from L’Ile-Bizard, Quebec was an undrafted free agent who signed with the Stars organization out of Northeastern University in 2024. After a banner season in 2024-25 with the Texas Stars, Hryckowian (pronounced Ritz-KOH-vian) made the NHL team out of training camp and has been a pleasant surprise this year.

“He’s getting accustomed to the league and he’s getting better and better,” said Stars coach Glen Gulutzan. “You can see his growth from Day 1 to now, and most of that growth is in his puck play. He’s a little more confident in his play, and that’s just going to help us.”

Hryckowian is on a career-long five-game point streak (3 goals, 2 assists) and is playing on a line with Matt Duchene and Jamie Benn. That’s been a key to the Stars trying to find chemistry with bodies going in and out of the lineup due to injury. Dallas has lost forward Tyler Seguin for the season, and that creates a huge opportunity for younger players. The team also is juggling veterans on the third and fourth line, where Hryckowian was playing, so his advancement opens other doors. Bottom line, Gulutzan is working to find the right combinations, and a player like Hryckowian is key.

Gulutzan is in his first year back with the Stars after being an assistant coach for seven seasons in Edmonton, and he is well aware of the changes the team is making. Dallas lost Mikael Granlund, Mason Marchment and Evgenii Dadonov in the offseason, and each player scored 20 or more goals last season.

“You’ve got 60-something goals out of the lineup. Marchment, Dadonov, Granlund, they’re not here,” Gulutzan said. “You can’t just say Ritzy is going to score 24, it doesn’t work that way. But at the end of the day, I think we’re on a pretty good path.”

Hryckowian has a history of scoring. He had 43 points (13 goals, 30 assists) in 32 games in his final season at Northeastern. Last year, he was named top rookie in the AHL with 60 points (22 goals, 38 assists) in 67 games with the Texas Stars. Even more impressive, he was dominating in the playoffs with 18 points (9 goals, 9 assists) in 14 games.

This year has been a bit more of a journey, but it has definitely been a fun one. As he adapts to the speed and intensity of the NHL, he also has to adjust to living his dream. In traveling with the Stars, he has played in historic buildings like Madison Square Garden and at his home in Montréal. He has squared off against the best players in the best league in the world.

“It is incredible,” he said. “But you just have to live in the day and play right and work to get better every day.”

Still, a lot of the daily experiences are surreal. His younger brother Dylan, 21, plays at Northeastern and the two often exchange phone calls to discuss what’s happening. Their dad was able to go with Justin on the team’s recent dads’ trip. And on Sunday, Justin was at the Children’s Health StarCenter in Euless signing autographs for a large crowd of young fans after practice.

“I kind of chuckle when I hear my name called,” Hryckowian said. “Its’s a great experience to see all the kids here. It’s a lot of fun.”

In fact, the whole season has been.

“It’s just building every night, it’s coming each game,” Hryckowian said when asked about his recent point streak. “I’m taking each practice and rep and building confidence through those. And I’m playing with some great players too.”

The chance to ride shotgun on a line with Duchene and Benn, who each have played more than 1,000 NHL games, is fantastic in a lot of regards. Not only does it help Hryckowian get better, it helps the team win games right now.

“You’ve put Dutchy in there and Benny in there, two high-end guys with him. So you put them with him, and what he does really well is he can go get pucks and he can hold pucks and he wins battles,” Gulutzan said. “If you look at Dutchy, he can hold onto pucks in the o-zone, and he needs somebody to go with him. I think they have been good on that line and Ritzy adds to that with his puck battles and his tenaciousness.”

Gulutzan has used Sam Steel on a line with Wyatt Johnston and Mikko Rantanen and had Mavrik Bourque playing beside Roope Hintz and Jason Robertson, so he’s definitely giving the young guys a chance to show their skill. Hryckowian is cashing in right now.

“They all have to bring something to the table,” Gulutzan said. “Sammy brings a lot of speed, he backs people off, he can create space, he goes and gets pucks. We’ve got young guys on each of those lines, Sammy, Bourquey and Ritzy and they’ve done a great job.”

And that’s a pretty good place for an undrafted rookie to be.

“It feels good to go through these experiences. I’ll look back when I’m done playing and I can lie to my kids about what I did in the league,” Hryckowian said with a laugh as he took in the wild day in Euless. “Right now, I’m just trying to stay in the moment and live day to day.”

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.