With limited number of players, Stars use practice to stay sharp

The Stars are on hold.
In dealing with a resurgence in the COVID pandemic, the NHL has postponed five Dallas games up to this point, meaning the earliest the team could return to the ice is Sunday at Arizona. However, that's only a tentative return as the Stars have several players who have tested positive and are in the NHL's COVID protocol.

On Tuesday, 12 players were on the ice for practice - goalies Braden Holtby and Jake Oettinger, defensemen John Klingberg, Ryan Suter, Joel Hanley and Andrej Sekera, and forwards Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin, Alexander Radulov, Denis Gurianov, Joe Pavelski and Jacob Peterson. Luke Glendening is resting a lower-body injury and isn't in protocol, so he also would be ready to play once the season resumes.
Still, that's a partial roster, and the Stars are also dealing with COVID at the AHL level, so they definitely would struggle to ice a full lineup right now.
"It's the unknown right now that is very, very frustrating for all of us," Stars coach Rick Bowness said. "It's something we have to deal with, clearly. It's something that's completely out of our control of when we do play. All we're going to keep the focus on is controlling what's in front of us, and that's making sure the players that we have stay as sharp as best they can."

Eight NHL players are in protocol and 15 more are in the same situation in the AHL. That means even if the Stars could call up players, the logistics of contracts and quarantine make it impossible to play games right now. Dallas could come back by Sunday or could skip that game too and then resume Jan. 6 at home against Florida. Bowness said it would be nice if the team had time to get the players in the protocol up and running. The Stars have been through this before, but it's different this time around. Dallas had a couple of stretches last season, but players weren't off the ice for this extended period.
"The players, from talking to them, none of them have really bad symptoms like we had last year," Bowness said. "Are they testing positive? Yes. Are they as sick as they were last year? No, they're not, which will help their recovery when we get them back on the ice."
Captain Jamie Benn said the players who are on the ice have to get themselves ready to be leaders once play resumes.
"When the time comes, it's going to be important for the guys who are skating right now to carry the load out of the gate," Benn said.
While it's been difficult to run lines or practice any system play, Seguin said the players who are skating are getting great cardio work and are able to work on individual skills.
"Practices have been good, you can kind of work on individual skills," he said. "It's tough to do system stuff, just because it's so limited with the amount of bodies. But your personal skills, you get a lot out of it."

Like Benn, Seguin said the players who are skating might be a step ahead and might have to help the players who are coming back get a little time to adjust.
"You have a routine as far as staying sharp and next man up," he said. "Guys who are negative, we have to stay sharp because some players might only have one practice and might have to play a game. It's so much unknown that you just have to stay focused on yourself and make sure you're ready."
Dallas is coming off two solid wins and will lean on the things they did in those games, Bowness said. While it's still early, the Stars need to maintain a push to get back into playoff positioning. After stoppages in the past two seasons, Dallas has played well.
"I think the fact we have been through this before, we kind of know where we're at," Benn said. "We don't know an exact date when we're going to play next, hopefully Sunday, but we're preparing for that."

The problem, Bowness said, is that athletes love a schedule and love to plan and set goals. Right now, they can only tread water until they receive directions.
"We are all creatures of habit - we need a date," he said.
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.