Yet, with a strong seventh defenseman in Joel Hanley, they also want to keep the rotation going, and the use of the left-handed Hanley then creates the need for more changes. It's been an interesting run, but coach Pete DeBoer likes what he has seen so far from the blueline.
Tuesday's game was the latest example of the versatility of the group. Lundkvist sat three games so Hanley could get some ice time, and then returned to the lineup and played on the top pairing with Miro Heiskanen.
"I thought they were pretty good," DeBoer said of matching the 23-year-old Heiskanen with the 22-year-old Lundkvist. "Miro's a pretty easy guy to play with. He makes whoever he plays with better. I thought Nils' game, he built his game as the game went on. I think naturally, after being out for a few games, you're a little slow out of the gate, but I thought he got up to speed pretty quickly. I thought he was much better the second half than the first half."
This allowed the team to go back to the lefty-righty pairs and also allowed veteran Ryan Suter to play on the third pairing with Colin Miller. Suter saw his minutes drop from 24 during recent games to 19. It's something that could help the 37-year-old.
"It's a long season," DeBoer said. "Sutes is a very valuable guy for us, but he's not 20 years old anymore. He can't play 25 or 28 minutes and in every situation. It's another option for us there with the second unit, if Sutes' minutes get too high and we need him in other areas."
The second pair of Esa Lindell and Jani Hakanpää has been solid and has been leaders on a penalty kill that ranks third in the league. Each play about four shorthanded minutes a night, and DeBoer said neither will be used on the power play this year. But that seems to work on how the team is dividing work assignments and trying to reduce everyone's minutes.
Only Heiskanen has seen his time on ice go up, and Heiskanen is a special player who is playing with a lot of partners on defense.
"The bottom line is everybody on this team is sacrificing some minutes to play the way we want to play," DeBoer said of the aggressive, attacking style. "We want to play up-tempo; we want to play fast; we want to dictate. In order to do that, you have to have legs and energy, both defensively and offensively. Everybody on this team is taking a haircut."
And a lot of that starts on defense.
Key Numbers
29.9
Ottawa ranks third in the NHL at 29.9 hits per game. Dallas ranks 26th at 20.8.
8
Ottawa forward Brady Tkachuk has 8 points (5 goals, 3 assists) in 6 games against the Stars.
Plus-18
Stars forward Joe Pavelski is tied for third in the NHL at plus-18.
He said it
"There are always things we could do better. We created more than enough chances to score three, four or five goals tonight. And most nights when we've done that, we have scored."
-Stars coach Pete DeBoer after his team was shut out Tuesday by Toronto.
Expected lineup
Robertson-Hintz-Pavelski
Marchment-Faksa-Seguin
Benn-Johnston-Dellandrea
Kiviranta-Glendening-Gurianov
Heiskanen-Lundkvist
Lindell-Hakanpaa
Suter-Miller
Oettinger
Wedgewood
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.
