September 16Sep 16 It's Stars training camp week and we have our first preseason game this weekend! Happy to change the thread title if someone has something better, btw. My feeling going into last season was we were not as good as the 23-24 season based on our offseason moves, but I really don't know about this season. Same basic cast of characters but a new coach and some fairly ho-hum offseason moves. Anticipated lines: Robertson-Hintz-Rantanen Duchene-Johnston-Seguin Benn-Steel-Bourque Back-Faksa-Blackwell Lindell-Heiskanen Harley-Lyubushkin Bichsel-Lundkvist Oettinger-DeSmith Honestly that last D pairing gives me both pause and hope. Maybe the brass think Nils is ready. I was sorta surprised we didn't make another D move, but we're so tight on the cap this season it's understandable. What are your predictions for the season?
September 20Sep 20 Author first preseason game tonight against the blues. will be going while the horns are playing. should be fun to see some hockey action finally. Go Stars!
September 23Sep 23 Author Another preseason tilt again tonight against the Wild. Will have a mostly nhl lineup tonight, which I have mixed feelings about. on the one hand, you want your guys up to game speed by the start of the season, but also want them healthy. anywho, go Stars!
September 23Sep 23 I'm kinda meh on the offseason moves and especially at head coach. I guess we'll see.
September 23Sep 23 Author 1 hour ago, Bill Brasky said: I'm kinda meh on the offseason moves and especially at head coach. I guess we'll see. serious question: do you watch hockey outside of the Stars? Glen Gulutzan has been a head coach before and has been an assistant coach running the PP with the Oilers for the last almost decade. I think he's going to be quite good, personally. I was sure they were going to bring Neil Graham all the way up, but making him an assistant right now makes sense. as far as the roster, I think there is a reason we are considered one of the contenders again this season. for reference, here is our opening night roster last season (and who is not on the roster this season) Forwards (12) Oskar Bäck, Jamie Benn, Colin Blackwell, Mavrik Bourque, Evgenii Dadonov, Matt Duchene, Roope Hintz, Wyatt Johnston, Mason Marchment, Jason Robertson, Tyler Seguin, Logan Stankoven, Sam Steel Defensemen (7) Mathew Dumba, Thomas Harley, Miro Heiskanen, Esa Lindell, Nils Lundkvist, Ilya Lyubushkin, Brendan Smith Goaltenders (2) Casey DeSmith, Jake Oettinger Additions: Nathan Bastian, Lian Bichsel, Radek Faksa, Vladislav Kolyachonok, Mikko Rantanen Obviously Rantanen, Bichsel, and Faksa are known commodities at this point and Rantanen (Stankoven) and Bichsel (Dumba) are massive upgrades over the players they replaced. Faksa and Bastian are both depth players and aren't expected to score a ton, which makes Marchment really the only uneven loss that I see (Dadonov disappeared most games so I don't think he'll be all that missed). But I assume the brass expect the rest of the roster to pick up his 47 points - and leave his PIMs at the door. Rantanen can make up those points on his own. I think the fact that Nill didn't make more moves shows how nearly solidified this roster is. The real question mark for me is Lundkvist - the previous coaches didn't trust him for some reason. If he can be 75% of the first round prospect he is supposed to be, he'll be a massive upgrade both in his puck pursuit but in scoring as well. We need more goals from the blueline this season.
September 23Sep 23 yeah I do. especially once regular season football winds down. nothing about this offseason stands out as moving the needle enough to get over the hump unless Gulutzan is able to maintain better team chemistry in the playoffs than DeBoer. the best moves were moving on from Dumba and Marchment.
September 24Sep 24 Author 18 hours ago, markstanco said: Lots of new forwards when I was on the stars page this afternoon. that's the expanded roster for camp. most of those players will play elsewhere this season.
September 24Sep 24 Author 21 hours ago, Bill Brasky said: yeah I do. especially once regular season football winds down. nothing about this offseason stands out as moving the needle enough to get over the hump unless Gulutzan is able to maintain better team chemistry in the playoffs than DeBoer. the best moves were moving on from Dumba and Marchment. again, I think the fact we made so few moves is testament to where this team is now. we shall see!
September 25Sep 25 5 minutes ago, Bill Brasky said: Jamie Benn out with a collapsed lung, to be reevaluated in 4 weeks Him and Jordie playing lawn darts back in Canada?
September 25Sep 25 Author 1 hour ago, BigDHornfan said: how the fuck you get a collapsed lung out of the blue? just retire. it wasn't out of the blue. it was in the last game. probably got speared with the end of stick. but sure, just run our captain out bc he gets hurt. cool fandom. lol
September 26Sep 26 Author Fun little comeback win for the stars over the wild. It was looking bleak after they took control after the first. Stars battled back with multiple goals from Johnston and the winner from Hryckowian. 5-2 in this one and 3-0 to start the preseason is at least a good eye test. My guess is Hryckowian will stay up while he captain recovers, but his absence gives someone an opportunity for the start of the season, at least.
September 30Sep 30 Author another preseason tuneup tonight with a mix of starters and those hoping to be on the roster. hopefully everyone comes out healthy.
October 5Oct 5 Author welp, preseason is over, Stars went 5-1, and are generally starting the season healthy (minus the Captain, but he should be back within a few weeks).
October 6Oct 6 I keep saying every year, can’t keep Seguin and Benn and expect a cup. But here we are again. I’m fully prepared to get invested then disappointed again.
October 6Oct 6 glad to see Petrovic make the opening night roster, dude has earned it with his play in the postseason
October 7Oct 7 Author 15 hours ago, Bill Brasky said: glad to see Petrovic make the opening night roster, dude has earned it with his play in the postseason 15 hours ago, Bill Brasky said: I wouldn't read too much into that lineup. That was the declared lineup to get us under the cap and to allow us to put Benn on LTIR. I expect Bichsel, Hryckowian, and Hyry to be in the opening lineup and for Scott, Taylor, and Petrovic to be sent back down to the AHL. My guess is Lyubushkin and Hyry will be the opening night scratches. Could be Lundkvist, though instead.
October 7Oct 7 Author I would switch us with the Avs and Ducks and Mammoth and that's pretty close to my rankings. I think the Ducks are going to be a surprise team this season. I also think VGK is going to be a problem - assuming they can figure out their cap space. Edited October 7Oct 7 by Longhorn_Fan68
October 7Oct 7 5 hours ago, Longhorn_Fan68 said: I wouldn't read too much into that lineup. That was the declared lineup to get us under the cap and to allow us to put Benn on LTIR. I expect Bichsel, Hryckowian, and Hyry to be in the opening lineup and for Scott, Taylor, and Petrovic to be sent back down to the AHL. My guess is Lyubushkin and Hyry will be the opening night scratches. Could be Lundkvist, though instead. I always find it interesting in how late the Texas Stars announce a roster. They still don't have one posted and the first game is Friday night at home.
October 7Oct 7 Author 8 minutes ago, Catpfish said: I always find it interesting in how late the Texas Stars announce a roster. They still don't have one posted and the first game is Friday night at home. well, considering the Stars signed Adam Erne to a 2-way contract today and recalled Bichsel it's entirely likely they won't know their lineup until Thursday, at the earliest
October 7Oct 7 Author 53 minutes ago, Dbeasy said: Who else will be at the Texas Stars opener drinking beer with us? I'll be in Dallas. Cheers!
October 8Oct 8 I went to a college game last night, and it was awesome to see ice again.Who did you see? I need to do this on a road trip to the Northeast.
October 8Oct 8 21 minutes ago, markstanco said: Who did you see? I need to do this on a road trip to the Northeast. I have Saturday season tickets for University of Denver.
October 9Oct 9 20 minutes ago, Vertuzzi said: Who the fuck is Sam Steel and why is he a first line winger on this roster? That Steel-Bourque-Seguin PP unit also scares the shit out of me. As does Lundquist as a 2nd-liner.
October 9Oct 9 On paper, these are very complementary lines. Sam Steel is a perfect guy to dig pucks out of piles, back check an attempted breakout, and just generally do the grind work between Roope and Mikko. If you wanted all offense, you might swap Robo or Wyatt for him, but rolling in a game, you'd like Sam to set up his line mates for pretty play. Alternatively, he can collect the garbage when the opposition sends all their guys in panic mode to Mikko and Roope. I'm personally interested in the development of Lian Bischel this season. I think, at the end of last season, he was starting to get comfortable with the level of physicality a player his size should exhibit at the NHL level.
October 9Oct 9 3 hours ago, Vertuzzi said: Who the fuck is Sam Steel and why is he a first line winger on this roster? This is his 3rd year. Gets about10-12 minutes of ice time probably.
October 9Oct 9 Author On 10/7/2025 at 10:46 AM, Longhorn_Fan68 said: I wouldn't read too much into that lineup. That was the declared lineup to get us under the cap and to allow us to put Benn on LTIR. I expect Bichsel, Hryckowian, and Hyry to be in the opening lineup and for Scott, Taylor, and Petrovic to be sent back down to the AHL. My guess is Lyubushkin and Hyry will be the opening night scratches. Could be Lundkvist, though instead. 4 hours ago, markstanco said: Was pretty close on my prediction. I wasn't sure we had room to add Erne, but apparently we did with a 2-way contract. Erne and Petrovic appear to be the scratches tonight.
October 9Oct 9 Author 36 minutes ago, GoldAppleCorps said: On paper, these are very complementary lines. Sam Steel is a perfect guy to dig pucks out of piles, back check an attempted breakout, and just generally do the grind work between Roope and Mikko. If you wanted all offense, you might swap Robo or Wyatt for him, but rolling in a game, you'd like Sam to set up his line mates for pretty play. Alternatively, he can collect the garbage when the opposition sends all their guys in panic mode to Mikko and Roope. I'm personally interested in the development of Lian Bischel this season. I think, at the end of last season, he was starting to get comfortable with the level of physicality a player his size should exhibit at the NHL level. yeah, i like the idea of having two skilled scorers and a puck retriever on each line. I think people forget or don't know Steel was a 1st round pick. he's no slouch.
October 9Oct 9 55 minutes ago, GoldAppleCorps said: On paper, these are very complementary lines. Sam Steel is a perfect guy to dig pucks out of piles, back check an attempted breakout, and just generally do the grind work between Roope and Mikko. If you wanted all offense, you might swap Robo or Wyatt for him, but rolling in a game, you'd like Sam to set up his line mates for pretty play. Alternatively, he can collect the garbage when the opposition sends all their guys in panic mode to Mikko and Roope. I'm personally interested in the development of Lian Bischel this season. I think, at the end of last season, he was starting to get comfortable with the level of physicality a player his size should exhibit at the NHL level. Yep, and he seemed pretty comfy with the physicality in that last preseason game. Edited October 9Oct 9 by wood
October 9Oct 9 1 hour ago, Longhorn_Fan68 said: I think people forget or don't know Steel was a 1st round pick. he's no slouch. He was a god in juniors, but left his game there.
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