Pete DeBoer had a solid line when he was in Vegas with Reilly Smith, Jonathan Marchessault and William Karlsson, a trio who came together in 2017 and helped the Golden Knights to the Stanley Cup Final.
But DeBoer said he has seen a few coaches, like himself, try to split the group up in an attempt to spread their scoring throughout the lineup. He said he learned the lesson that sometimes players just have chemistry together.
The growing pains of creating consistency
Dallas continues to experiment with chemistry as it searches for more depth from the bottom six

By
Mike Heika
Senior Staff Writer
"Everyone tries to split them up to make two lines better, and then you're not as good on either line," DeBoer said. "I think sometimes the best formula is to go with what has worked consistently for a long time."
DeBoer is going through that with Dallas. When Roope Hintz was out of the lineup for seven games with an upper-body injury, DeBoer saw Tyler Seguin step in and play well beside Joe Pavelski and Jason Robertson. It sparked a few ideas, and the coaching staff has had Hintz centering Mason Marchment and Denis Gurianov in recent games. DeBoer has said now is the time to experiment with a few things, but he had the top line back together at practice on Thursday. The coach cautioned that forward Joel Kiviranta was out for a maintenance day and that they just tossed lines together for practice.
"I wouldn't read too much into that," DeBoer said.
Regardless, it's tough to break up the top line. DeBoer even said they might be the best line in hockey, so when you have that, you want to leave it together. Robertson ranks fifth in the league in scoring with 66 points (33 goals, 33 assists) in 50 games. Hintz has 45 points (19 goals, 26 assists) in 42 games and Pavelski has 47 points (14 goals, 33 assists) in 50 games. Pavelski ranks second in the league at plus-32, Robertson is seventh at plus-27 and Hintz is 16th at plus-22 - proving that chemistry can also help prevent goals.
DeBoer said Hintz's injury provided opportunities for the coaches to look at different combinations, and it could shape decisions moving forward. On Thursday, the second line of Jamie Benn with Wyatt Johnston and Ty Dellandrea was back together, while Seguin was riding on a line with Marchment and Radek Faksa. This would leave a fourth line with Kiviranta, Luke Glendening and Gurianov.
DeBoer said the whole season has allowed for experimentation, and the Hintz injury provided an additional opportunity to continue exploring.
When told the stretch offered challenges, DeBoer said: "Challenges that I thought we responded to really well."
"I thought some guys stepped up," DeBoer said. "I think what you learn is when you have a group that has chemistry like Hintz-Robertson-Pavelski, that's really hard to replicate and it's really hard to manufacture."
The Stars are finding a second line in that same category. The Benn-Johnston-Dellandrea line has been dangerous in recent games, as was evidenced when Johnston evened the score on Wednesday against Carolina and had four shots on goal.
"Honestly, they've had something since we first put them together early in the season," DeBoer said. "We've gone away from it and back to it. They enjoy each other and I think they complement each other. Wyatt Johnston is getting better every night, which I think helps, but so is Ty Dellandrea. I would say that out of our groups, that would be the second group that has found the most consistency."
Johnston is 19 and Dellandrea is 22. They've helped offer some young legs to Benn, who is having a nice season with 43 points (19 goals, 24 assists) at age 33. Johnston said the younger players are learning from the captain.
"We all kind of know what we're going to get out of each other and what to expect," Johnston said. "Even though we were split up for a little bit, I think we've been able to come back and readjust to each other's playing styles."
With those two lines seemingly locked in going forward, DeBoer and his assistants now need to find a good mix for the bottom six. It's been an ongoing assignment, and DeBoer said they will continue to try to get better.
"I think we're a work in progress," the coach said. "I think there's been improvement. Our fourth line, Radek Faksa got some huge goals for us. That's production that we weren't getting earlier in the season. We need more of that, contributions from everybody, in all the spots. Those other two lines, it's finding a way to make an impact."
Lundkvist is still possibly sitting out on Friday. The coaching staff has chosen to make 22-year-old defenseman Nils Lundkvist a healthy scratch for the past three games, and DeBoer said he believes the second-year player can benefit from the time away from the game. Lundkvist skated extra on Thursday and is getting a bit of a mid-season mini-camp. DeBoer said he hears the fans who complain about the recent decisions and acknowledges their concerns.
"He's doing exactly what he needs to do," DeBoer said. "He's working on some of the deficiencies he needs to work on. But I think, more important, it's just a mental and physical reset. I can't say it enough, he's a young defenseman who has played one full year in North America. If you go up and down the list of our defensemen right now, Hakanpää, Lindell, Miller, those guys went through at least a year in the minors. And some of those guys were older than Nils is now. This is the growing pains of a young defenseman who is learning to play in the best league in the world in a consistent manner."
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.