Stars still mulling final roster decisions with more cuts looming

The Dallas Stars trimmed their roster Thursday, but not by much. The only player moved was defenseman John Nyberg, who was assigned to the Texas Stars of the AHL, leaving Dallas with 34 players on the roster.
The Stars also placed defensemen Dillon Heatherington and Reece Scarlett on waivers Thursday morning with the intent of sending them to the AHL once they cleared.
But more cuts are coming, probably this weekend. The opening-day roster, which needs to be down to the league maximum of 23 players, must be set by Tuesday, Oct. 2 at 4 p.m. CT.

"We're evaluating every day, and ultimately (GM) Jim Nill will make that decision," Stars coach Jim Montgomery said, "but with a few guys nicked and banged up we just figured we'd keep more bodies around, and we'll evaluate again Saturday morning after the Blues game (Friday night)."
The list of players with some injury issues grew on Thursday. Forwards Valeri Nichushkin and Brett Ritchie and goaltender Anton Khudobin all missed Thursday's practice.
"All three minor stuff -- more maintenance," Montgomery said. "Just a little bit of muscle stress that we don't want to take a chance."

Defenseman Stephen Johns, who has been out with an undisclosed injury, missed practice again as well.
Khudobin was scheduled to start Friday's preseason game in St. Louis, but now Landon Bow will get that game in net. Montgomery said the plan is for Khudobin to back up Ben Bishop in the preseason finale against Colorado on Sunday.
Tyler Seguin, who has not played since the preseason opener due to a minor injury issue, will return to the lineup Friday in St. Louis and center Jamie Benn and Alexander Radulov. He is part of a strong lineup the Stars will roll out against the Blues.
"A good lineup," Montgomery said. "I think it is probably going to be our deepest lineup of the year."
Other forward lines will include Jason Spezza centering Mattias Janmark and Blake Comeau, Jason Dickinson playing left wing with center Radek Faksa and right wing Tyler Pitlick and Roope Hintz in the middle with Devin Shore and Gemel Smith on the wings.
Esa Lindell and John Klingberg will be one defense pair with Marc Methot-Miro Heiskanen and Gavin Bayreuther-Julius Honka as the other two pairs.

'The Process'

When Stars coach Jim Montgomery was head coach at the University of Denver, a lot was made of "The Process," a checklist of items he wants his teams to focus on in games. The theory is that if the process is good, the results will come.
His list in college consisted of seven items, but for the NHL he has sliced it down to five things, which were posted on the locker room door in Frisco on Thursday.
"Those are the five things I want," Montgomery said. "I think it allows the players to focus on details and not on outcome and results, and allow us to stay in the moment."
The two items he removed from the list he used in college process had to do with hits and blocked shots.

Thursday's practice lineup

Here is how the Stars lined up in practice Thursday.
Jamie Benn - Tyler Seguin - Alexander Radulov
Mattias Janmark - Jason Spezza - Blake Comeau
Jason Dickinson/Michael Mersch - Radek Faksa - Tyler Pitlick
Devin Shore - Roope Hintz - Gemel Smith
Denis Gurianov - Justin Dowling - Remi Elie/Erik Condra
Esa Lindell - John Klingberg
Marc Methot - Miro Heiskanen
Gavin Bayreuther - Julius Honka
Joel Hanley - Roman Polak
Ben Bishop
Landon Bow
This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.
Mark Stepneski has covered the Stars for DallasStars.com since 2012. Follow him on Twitter @StarsInsideEdge.