Dallas Stars Daily Links: The Dallas Defense Unit Is Pretty Fluid After All

The Dallas Stars have gotten off to a difficult start in their first proper road trip of the year. Last night’s 5-4 loss to the Edmonton Oilers was the second coulda-would-shoulda won game in as many days.

As always, the devil is in the details, and head coach Ken Hitchcock says the team just isn’t working hard enough on them, writes Mike Heika of The Dallas Morning News. [SportsDayDFW]

"We're asking the same people to do everything. We don't have enough participants," Hitchcock said. "If we want to win on the road and be a good team, we don't have enough participants. That's the bottom line."

It wouldn’t be a Stars game if people weren’t talking about Jamie Oleksiak, for better or otherwise. Heika posed this question in his post-game Cold Facts. [SportsDayDFW]

[Oleksiak] continues to make key mistakes at the wrong time. Should the Stars leave him in and let him grow, or should they keep pulling him out if he's not "earning" his minutes?

Could it be that Hitchcock will look to Greg Pateryn to help stabilize the blueline? Pateryn got his first game of the season when Stephen Johns was kept out with concussion-like symptoms, and the coach sounds confident about him. [SportsDayDFW]

"I've got a feeling with a guy like him that he's going to come into the lineup and then we're not going to want to take him out," Hitchcock said. "He's supportive, he's a good team guy, he's working at an unbelievable level to be ready. And when you show that much character when things aren't going your way, you just know he's going to make it really hard for us to take him out."

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More Stars

Heika talked to Tyler Pitlick about his first trip back to Edmonton as a Star.

It turned out to be this kind of evening at Rogers Place.

But there’s no time to ruminate over a sputtering start: It’s go time against the Calgary Flames tonight in the Scotiabank Saddledome.

Around the league(s)

Last night, in The Murderous Central:

• The Minnesota Wild scored two SHGs, and Luke Kunin and Zack Mitchell scored their first goals ever, in a 6-4 win over the New York Islanders. [Hockey Wilderness]
• And the Winnipeg Jets took the Pittsburgh Penguins to overtime, but Phil Kessel finished the job – with his 300th career goal – for a 2-1 Pens victory. [Arctic Ice Hockey]

Meme freely. (It’s Kessel.)

Whatever you think about how the Montreal Canadiens have dealt with Alex Galchenyuk, it’s still pretty weird when an agent who doesn’t even represent him gets salty about it on Twitter – and now the NHLPA may investigate. [Sportsnet]

The NHL Network reported in on Mikhail Sergachev, Nico Hischier and other NHL rookies who are already making a big impact.

It’s always the season for Maple Leafs beat writers to daydream about other teams’ elite players who would solve all their troubles and finally make everything perfect. This time it’s a fantasy about trading Mitch Marner for Noah Hanifin. [Sportsnet]

Center Kyle Turris is out for at least two games with a viral infection that’s making its way through the Ottawa Senators dressing room. [Ottawa Sun]

The NWHL has updated its uniforms for the 2017-18 season. Here’s a look.

Alex Prewitt of Sports Illustrated talked to NHL players about their favorite hockey sounds for a great article about the amazing Foley work in the film Miracle.

And over at The Players’ Tribune, Vegas Golden Knights defender Deryk Engelland tells how his entire life, personal and professional, has threaded through Sin City – and what it means to him now.

Greetings From Cedar Park

It’s Star Wars Night in H-E-B Center, and the Texas Stars get you up to (light) speed for tonight’s matchup with the San Diego Gulls.

And there’s more theme-night action on Saturday, when the T-Stars welcome the San Jose Barracuda: Kids in Halloween costumes get a free ticket with purchase of an adult ticket.

Finally

High school golfer Savanna Roulette set out to raise $77,000 for multiple sclerosis research. M.S. Society ambassador Jamie Benn learned about her efforts through the Dallas Stars Foundation. It’s a story tailor-made for an episode of “The Franchise.” Enjoy.