Dallas Stars training camp notebook: Day 2

Day 2 of Dallas Stars training camp has come and gone. Let’s get right into the notebook.

Wyatt Johnston is living on his own

When I spoke to Wyatt Johnston this summer, he mentioned that he was excited to have the chance to live on his own. He also told me that both Logan Stankoven and Thomas Harley will be living in the same apartment complex, so he won’t really be all on his own.

Johnston spoke to the media today and said that he got a lot of his furniture from his former landlord, Joe Pavelski. He also said that his parents came down to help him move in, and more importantly, set up his apartment to make it look ‘a lot better’ than he could on his own.

Stars coach Pete DeBoer talked about the transition for Johnston in his third NHL season:

“I’m excited for him,” DeBoer said. “I think he’s ready, you know? I think he definitely wasn’t ready two years ago. And I think last year he made a really mature decision where, you know, he probably could have gone on his own, but he wanted to limit distractions, and he knew how great he had it there… But he’s ready now, and he’s so mature for his age, and even compared to where he was two years ago… This is the next step for him.

“He’s a pro now, and I think he is in the same building with Stankoven, Logan and Harley, and I’m sure those guys will be… a lot of ordering in UberEATS….I think [assistant coach Steve Spott] might be giving him a bed.”

DeBoer on forward competition at camp

As we wrote about previously, the Stars really only have one roster spot up for grabs during camp and the preseason; a depth forward. Today, our own Owen Newkirk asked DeBoer about what he is looking for in that competition:

“We probably don’t need a top-six guy,” DeBoer said. “That doesn’t mean a top guy with top-six type skill can’t make the team, you know… If someone comes in and and blows us away, you can always move a guy down to replace him with a guy… I don’t want to pigeonhole myself there… But in a perfect world, the spot looks like… It’s going to have depth, penalty kill, energy, you know, defensive reliability, but also be able to create some offense. I think that was the strength of our team last year, that our third, fourth line was scoring every night, or a lot of nights…. There’s definitely a job there.”

This makes me believe that Oskar Bäck will be strongly considered for that spot. Bäck is a big, physical center that can play that type of role, whereas a guy like Matěj Blümel–who looked great again today–maybe has more offensive upside than two-way. But that doesn’t mean he won’t be in that spot, as Blümel, Arttu Hyry, Bäck, and a few others all have legitimate shots.

Other notes

• Jake Oettinger got married this summer and said that he wears his wedding ring everywhere–under his glove, lifting weights, and on the golf course–said he was surprised how many people take it off often.
• DeBoer mentioned that if he had both goalies healthy all season, he would like Oettinger to play around 55 games, with new backup Casey DeSmith filling in the other 27 of the regular season.
• Both DeBoer and Oettinger spoke highly of DeSmith and believe that the relationship between goaltenders will be excellent, as it was with Scott Wedgewood.

“He’s been awesome,” Oettinger said. “He’s, like, the nicest guy in the world. So he reminds me a lot of ‘Wedge’, like, same personality. He’s a little quieter, actually, I’ll say that’s a given…. Just such a nice guy, and got to play golf and hang out a little bit too. So he’s just great through and through. And I think it’s gonna be a great relationship.”

• Oettinger, Matt Dumba, Mason Marchment, and Evgenii Dadonov each sat out of the scrimmage.
• The Stars open the preseason at home against the St. Louis Blues on Saturday at 6 pm.