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Dallas Stars Daily Links: Notes From The First Day Of Summer Camp

It’s about 175 degrees outside in North Texas right now, so it’s a great time to be on ice. And the Dallas Stars seem to be loving every moment as training camp begins, and the playoffs appear over the horizon at last.

Interim head coach Rick Bowness and his staff are finally getting an opportunity to demonstrate the offensive changes they’ve been talking about for months. The results could be spectacular up front, as reported by Stars senior staff writer Mike Heika:

The tweaks the coaching staff made were noticeable. Leading scorer Tyler Seguin skated on the right wing with Roope Hintz and Denis Gurianov. All three players have speed, and moving Seguin from center to wing allows the trio to try an alignment that hasn’t yet been tested.

“That’s a very fast line,” Bowness said. “That’s great speed up front, so we want to take a look at it and see what it looks like. What that line has in terms of speed is going to intimidate a lot of teams.”

The coaching staff hasn’t neglected depth scoring in its quarantine brainstorming, either. With the FCC Line of Radek Faksa, Blake Comeau and Andrew Cogliano returning intact, Bowness has asembled a puck-possession lline of Joe Pavelski, Alexander Radulov and Mattias Janmark:

“They didn’t play a whole lot together, but when they did, they obviously had results,” Bowness said. “If we can generate time in the zone with those guys and generate quality chances, we’re confident the puck will go in the net for us.”

Pavelski and Radulov are second and third among forwards on the team in terms of time on ice, so that could be the top line or the fourth line, but that’s the kind of balance Bowness is looking for.

“We want to roll four lines, and we want to be consistent,” he said. “That’s what we’re working toward.”

There’s more at Mike’s place, once again. Good times. Good times. [Dallas Stars]


Stars Stuff

Matthew DeFranks examines the first signs of Bowness’ new system.

First things first – check out the new enhancements in Comerica Center.

Admit it, you’ve missed arguing about extra-man configurations.

Brent Severyn brought some color commentary to opening day.

Hands up, who thinks Jamie Benn isn’t allowed to mention that he took up painting during quarantine without showing some of them?

Around The League(s)

How did the new Collective Bargaining Agreement come to be? Turns out COVID quarantine can bring even the NHL and the NHL Players’ Association together.

To be honest, I’m surprised the Pittsburgh Penguins revealed anything at all, because I’m pretty sure this is against the law or something.

Remember free agency? Matt Larkin teases out some interesting details in the new CBA.

Also at THN, maybe we ask Ryan Kennedy why Nick and not Jason Robertson made his list.

Greetings From Beautiful Boise

Good news for the Idaho Steelheads: Captain A.J. White will return for the 2020-21 season.

Finally

Yeah, it’s like that. Enjoy.

Talking Points