Oettinger stopped 33 of 36 shots in the Stars win in Nashville on Thursday. The Stars were outplayed but Oettinger turned in an excellent performance on opening night. On Saturday he'll face the Islanders as large -172 home favourites. Oettinger was 17-8-2 with a 2.78 GAA and .898 SV% in 28 home games last year.
Oettinger stopped 33 of 36 shots in the Stars win in Nashville on Thursday. The Stars were outplayed but Oettinger turned in an excellent performance on opening night. On Saturday he'll likely face the Islanders as large -172 home favourites. Oettinger was 17-8-2 with a 2.78 GAA and .898 SV% in 28 home games last year.
To no one's surprise, Oettinger will start for the Stars in their season opener against the Nashville Predators, who will likely turn to Oettinger's former understudy between the pipes, Scott Wedgewood. With the departure of Wedgewood from Dallas, the Stars signed Casey DeSmith to serve as Oettinger's backup this season. The 33-year-old DeSmith has started more than 30 games only once in his career, an indication that Oettinger will likely start more than the 53 times he did last season. As an impending RFA, Oettinger will also be hoping to improve on his statistics from last season when he posted an unspectacular 2.72 GAA and .905 SV% in 54 appearances (35-14-4).
Bourque was the 2023-24 AHL points leader with 77 (26G / 51A) in 71 games and was projected to crack the opening night roster for Dallas before suffering an undisclosed injury that caused him to exit the team's final preseason game. The 22-year-old Bourque was expected to play on a line with Jamie Benn and fellow rookie Logan Stankoven.
Bourque was the 2023-24 AHL points leader with 77 (26G / 51A) in 71 games and was projected to crack the opening night roster for Dallas before suffering an undisclosed injury that caused him to exit the team's final preseason game. The 22-year-old Bourque was expected to play on a line with Jamie Benn and fellow rookie Logan Stankoven.
Johnston had been unavailable for the latter half of training camp after battling an undisclosed injury but could be ready for the Stars' season opener on Thursday against the Nashville Predators. The 21-year-old is coming off a breakthrough season, scoring 65 points (32G / 33A) in 82 games, and is expecting to be a driving force for a deep Dallas Stars offense.
Saturday was the first time that Robertson's practiced since undergoing foot surgery in the offseason. Stars assistant coach Alain Nasreddine said the team remains optimistic that Robertson will be in the lineup on opening night.
Robertson underwent surgery on his foot on July 31st and according to Stars' GM Jim Nill, he'll miss the the majority of training camp. It sounds like Robertson is expected to be a participant at some point, so as of today there should be no concern that he will miss the start of the regular season. Expect updates throughout the next couple of weeks.
Fresh off a career year which saw Thomas Harley put up 15 goals, 47 points, and a +28 plus/minus in 79 games played, the 23-year-old has signed a two-year contract extension worth $4.0M AAV ($8.0M total). The towering 6'4" defenseman was Dallas' 2019 1st-round pick (18th overall) and is expected to take another step forward in 2024-25 after averaging only 21:01 TOI/GP in his first full campaign last season.
Lundell will not get a chance to test free agency next summer after the 30-year-old defenseman was signed to a five-year, $26.25 contract extension ($5,250,000 AAV) on Tuesday. Lundell is entering his 10th NHL season (all with Dallas) and has had a positive +/- in all but his rookie season in 2015-16. In 82 games played in 2023-24, he had five goals, 26 points, 12 PIMs and a +17 plus/minus.
Edmonton needed to clear some cap space after St. Louis tenured two of their restricted free agents earlier in the week (Holloway, Broberg) and have dealt defensemen Cody Ceci and a 2025 3rd-round pick to San Jose for Ty Emberson. In 79 games with Edmonton in 2023-24, the 30-year-old Ceci had five goals, 25 points, and a +12 plus/minus in 2023-24.
Dallas may have created some competition in camp for their backup goaltender position after they signed veteran Magnus Hellberg to a one-year, two-way contract on Tuesday. The 33-year-old Swedish netminder spent 2023-24 with Pittsburgh and appeared in three games, picking up a 1-1-0 record, 2.50 GAA and .922 SV%. The veteran has appeared in 26 career NHL games for a whopping five separate teams across his 10 years of being in the NHL.
Joe Pavelski has announced his retirement after 18 successful NHL seasons and finishing 54th in all time goals (476) and 71st in all-time points (1068) in NHL history. The 40-year-old centre had spent the last five NHL seasons with Dallas and still had 27 goals and 67 points in 82 games in 2023-24.
Dallas selected Hemming with the No.29 overall pick in the 2024 NHL Draft. The 18-year-old winger spent the 2024 season with TPS Turku (Liiga), where he had seven goals and four assists (11 points) in 40 games. He also represented Finland at the 2024 World Juniors, posting two assists in seven games.
Blackwell has spent the last two seasons in Chicago but earned himself a one-year, $775,000 contract on Tuesday with Dallas. The 31-year-old is entering his seventh NHL season and had eight goals, 12 points, 10 PIMs and a -2 plus/minus in 44 games in 2023-24.
After a full season with Manitoba (AHL) in 2023-24, Kyle Capobianco has signed a two-year, two-way contract with Dallas. The 26-year-old last played in the NHL in 2022-23 with Winnipeg but has five goals, 12 points and 48 PIMS in 73 career NHL games played. In 2023-24, he had 12 goals and 54 points in 69 games played with Manitoba.
Dallas continued to add to its depth on Monday by signing Kole Lind to a one-year, two-way contract. The 25-year-old right-winger has eight points in his 31 career NHL games played but spent the majority of 2023-24 with Coachella Valley and had 17 goals and 65 points in 68 games played.
Hughes spent 2023-24 with the Coachella Valley Firebirds (AHL) and earned himself a one-year, two-way contract with Dallas on Monday. The 27-year-old winger has surpassed 40+ points in each of his last three AHL seasons and had 25 goals and 57 points in 69 games with Coachella in 2023-24.
Lundkvist will return to Dallas for a third NHL season after signing a one-year extension worth $1,250,000 on Monday. The 23-year-old collected a career-high in points (19) and +/- (+13) in 2023-24 to go along with 16 PIMs in 59 games played.
Lyubushkin will join his fourth NHL team in three seasons after signing a two-year contract worth $6.5 million ($3.25M AAV) with Dallas on Monday. The 30-year-old shutdown defender will make a solid replacement for Chris Tanev after he posted no goals, eight points, 57 PIMs and a -11 plus/minus in 74 games played between Anaheim and Toronto in 2023-24.
