First, some bad news: the Dallas Stars will not win the Stanley Cup on Thursday night. The good news is that they will not lose it either. An 82-game marathon season simply does not allow single games to carry that much weight. What fans see on Thursday might be a sign of things to come or it might be a Fabian Brunnstrom first-game hat trick. Fans will need to wait until around Thanksgiving to really know much of anything if even then. Still, this is a roster with high expectations and a bucket full of important questions. While Thursday will not be definitive, it may very well be directional. Three storylines stand out in my mind as worth immediate attention.
1 – Thomas Harley’s Ice time
Yes, this should be Miro’s march to the Norris, but on night one, I recommend casting an eye a bit further down the defensive depth chart. Thomas Harley has to work out, right? The 22-year-old defender joined Dallas for a 6-game regular season cameo and won hearts and minds during a 19-game playoff tour-de-force. The young blueliner owned the puck (56.6% CF) while averaging 16:10 minutes per game. If he is that player full-time, and if the TOI inches its way up to the 20-minute range, Dallas goes from having a major question mark to a bona fide #2 defender. Obviously, the player has to do his part, but Pete DeBoer has to use the kid. Will there be training wheels, or has the Harley arrived?
2 – Power Play 2
The first unit is going to be fine, just fine. In all likelihood, Dallas can be an excellent team riding the top end. Miro surged to the extent that “career season” seems woefully insufficient, Jason Robertson flirted with MVP status, and we all celebrated the Bennaisance. Still, there is always room to get better. Nils Lundqvist got time with the second unit during the pre-season, and Harley has an offensive pedigree as well. Throw in free agent acquisition Matt Duchene, and what if Tyler Seguin suddenly has players who can play at a high level offensively? What if the Stars have two units that can score? Keep an eye on who gets ice time behind the first unit and on how the minutes are distributed.
3 – Mason Marchment
Last season was the best of times (21 points in his first 38 games) and the worst of times (0 goals in 32 games). Marchment does not head into the season as a lynchpin as far as Dallas’ offense is concerned, but having him get closer to the forward who scored 47 points in 54 games in 21-22 could still make a difference. The trouble is a more cluttered lineup. Marchment has spent time with Seguin and Duchene during the pre-season, but realistically will be competing against Sam Steel, Ty Dellandrea, and Craig Smith for time on a scoring unit. A hot start could put Marchment on the power play or potentially as part of a Duchene-fueled Seguin resurgence. Early struggles could start the “Dallas sure could use the cap space” conversation. And what happens if Logan Stankoven or Mavrik Borque start hot in Cedar Park? Where Marchment starts, where he finishes, and where he spends his in-between might hint at the answer to one of the Stars’ most interesting early-season storylines.
There will be more to watch (Nils Lundqvist, Ryan Suter, Joe Pavelski, everyone), but those three feel central to Dallas hitting the ceiling many project. What we see on Thursday could be an early indication of where coach DeBoer and staff see their lineup, and could be as close as fans get to really understanding what the Stars are at this early stage in the season.