Monday marked the return of the Dallas Stars to the ice, at least in preseason mode, and tonight they will take a young squad out on the road to play the Colorado Avalanche in the first preseason road game.
The game will reportedly be available on Colorado radio, which can be found at this awful, mobile-optimized site.
(Side note – the very worst thing about this season so far, worse than the useless, injury-causing World Cup, is that the NHL has foisted it’s incredibly frustrating and sub-par website design upon its teams.)
To set the stage, the most veteran members of the forward lineup is Antoine Roussel, and at least six of the forwards playing in the game are almost certainly not going to be on the opening night roster. That said, it will be first test first-round pick Denis Gurianov gets in terms of opposing NHL teams.
Here’s the forwards.
Stars lines this morning:
Roussel-Janmark-Ritchie
DeFazio-Dowling-Gurianov
Elie-Faksa-Stransky
McKenzie-Cracknell-Ully— Mark Stepneski (@StarsInsideEdge) September 28, 2016
The blueline is a little more veteran heavy. Heck, depending on how hard injuries hit on any given night, this could be five of the seven or eight regulars. It is missing the top end, however. It’s also the return of the Patrik Nemeth-Jamie Oleksiak pair that struggled with zone time and possession in a brief stint together last year.
Stars defense pairs this mornings:
Oduya-Jordie Benn
Nemeth-Oleksiak
Lindell-BodnarchukNiemi, Desrosiers in goal
— Mark Stepneski (@StarsInsideEdge) September 28, 2016
That all said…. it’s still preseason. The Stars are probably hoping to get out of this game with good health, Radek Faksa getting his legs back under him, and some experience for the kids.