Training camp is well underway, and the Dallas Stars will play their first game of the preseason tonight against the St. Louis Blues. Two names to keep an eye on: Denis Gurianov and Thomas Harley.
For Gurianov, this year is his chance to finally break into the NHL for good, perhaps even in a Top 6 role. The Russian rookie has been getting plenty of practice time alongside Jamie Benn and Joe Pavelski, and has impressed head coach Jim Montgomery thus far:
“I see a more confident person as far as playing with Jamie and Pavs. He’s just the same skillset and power, and the ability is there,” Montgomery said. “Now it’s gotta transfer to the games and we’re excited to see what he can add to our lineup on a nightly basis.”
Harley isn’t expected to contend for a NHL roster spot, but given the defense’s current state, anything is possible. Especially since Montgomery has compared the Stars’ first round pick to Miro Heiskanen:
“And I’m being serious,” Montgomery expanded. “He covers ice really well, his instincts offensively and defensively have been really impressive… He’s a beautiful skater. He covers a lot of ice, makes a lot of good decisions. I mean, wow, we’re excited about him.”
You can read more training camp observations from Sean Shapiro here.
Stars Stories
The Stars knows who three of their Top 4 defensemen will be. Could Andrej Sekera be number four?
“He feels fine now and he’s ready to go. He’s in a good spot.”https://t.co/MtgKsuHJat
— Dallas Stars (@DallasStars) September 15, 2019
Moving is always tricky — Joe Pavelski opens up about how it’s been getting settled into Dallas:
Joe Pavelski was a fixture in San Jose before signing with the Stars this offseason. @seanshapiro has the story on how he and his family are adjusting to life in Dallashttps://t.co/vn0LwRKEty
— The Athletic (@TheAthleticDFW) September 13, 2019
League Links
Ben Bishop comes high on Sam McCraig’s ranking of starting goaltenders:
Who’s No. 1 – and who’s No. 31 – when it comes to the most important position in sports? Here’s the Great Goalie Ranking heading into the 2019-20 season:https://t.co/H8t8P7swlx
— The Hockey News (@TheHockeyNews) September 15, 2019
Speaking of goalie lists, Find out where Jake Oettinger ranks in Corey Pronman’s list of top goalie prospects:
New post @TheAthleticNHL: My ranking of the top goalie prospects in NHL organizations https://t.co/BlcNc8Zh1x
— Corey Pronman (@coreypronman) September 13, 2019
New contracts just keep on coming. First up is Bill Guerin’s first as the Minnesota Wild’s GM, inking Jared Spurgeon to a 7x$7.575M deal:
NEWS: #MNWild re-signs defenseman Jared Spurgeon on a 7-year, $53,025,000 million contract extension.
📰 More details → https://t.co/20DaN1ya36 pic.twitter.com/j5oSf3oCcO
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) September 14, 2019
Meanwhile the Boston Bruins re-upped Charlie McAvoy for 3 years at $4.9M a piece, because high cap hits are apparently banned in Boston:
We have some good news…@CMcAvoy44 has been signed to a 3-year contract with an annual cap hit of $4.9 million: https://t.co/7ksEj98RQP pic.twitter.com/rXxnbMF5K6
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) September 15, 2019
For those keeping score:
Interesting fact about the McAvoy contract in comparison to Werenski (CBJ) and Meier (SJS), two other RFAs who signed this off-season with a significant increase in the base salary of their final contract year pic.twitter.com/aYXumNzJAl
— CapFriendly (@CapFriendly) September 15, 2019