The Dallas Stars practiced Thursday before heading North for a tough weekend set against the Winnipeg Jets and Colorado Avalanche… the return of Mikko Rantanen. Get your popcorn ready.
We have gotten some tidbits over the past couple of days, so let’s empty the notebook today.
Lian Bichsel & Roope Hintz
Lian Bichsel and Roope Hintz were the only Stars absent from practice on Thursday in Frisco.
Here is how the rest of the group looked:
Let’s start with Hintz because that is a little more serious at the moment.
Hintz will not fly with the team to Winnipeg today. Instead, he will stay in Dallas, skate today and tomorrow, and then the decision will be made whether he meets the team in Denver or not.
Stars coach Pete DeBoer called Hintz ‘a possibility’ for Sunday against the Avs, and that still seems be the case, as the 28-year-old recovers from a facial injury after taking a puck near the eye on Saturday against Edmonton. Initially, Stars GM Jim Nill told us Hintz needed to keep his heart rate down for 5-7 days from the injury… today is the five-day mark. So that is definitely good news that he is scheduled to skate on his own today and tomorrow.
Bichsel’s absence today was far more surprising.
After practicing Wednesday, Bichsel woke up today feeling under the weather, according to DeBoer. The team is not sure whether he will travel with them (2 pm flight today) or what his status will be for Friday or Sunday’s games.
For Dallas, they are bit blessed and lucky to have a defenseman/forward as their extra skater right now. Brendan Smith can draw in as a fourth-line forward or sixth defenseman if needed. That gives the Stars the flexibility of not using any call-ups as of now.
If Bichsel is not available all weekend though, do they call up a replacement or roll with Smith?
Casey DeSmith is a new dad
Casey DeSmith missed practice Wednesday… but it was for a very good reason. He and his wife had a new baby on Tuesday.
I got to talk to DeSmith today, who is excited to have a new baby girl. He said it is crazy to start again from scratch after just getting to the point where his now oldest daughter can somewhat communicate (about 1.5 years old). He joked with me that now he is faced again with the ‘I don’t know why you are crying / is there a reason or just because?’ situation.
But above all else, he and his family are very excited and happy.
I will have a fun article soon on DeSmith and what it takes to be a successful backup goalie in the NHL.
Also, this seemed to get some attention today, so I will add it to this notebook for your discussion…
The focus down the stretch
I asked DeBoer today about the focus over the last month of the season.
DeBoer talked about the balance of winning games to improve or solidify their playoff spot and identifying what is working and what is not before the Stanley Cup Playoffs begin.
“A huge weekend for the teams right around us in the standings, so we want to win these games and separate from Colorado and try and hunt down Winnipeg… that’s still on our radar, both those things from a points perspective,” DeBoer said. “You know, from a play perspective… put our game out there against some of the elite teams in the league and see where it stacks up. What [are] the areas, more importantly, that we maybe get exposed and have to fix or spend time on down the stretch.”
Quotable
Pete DeBoer on Mason Marchment’s play since the injury:
“A big injury, I think between the injury and 4 Nations break, I think he only played four or five hockey games over a two-month period. A month with the injury, six weeks maybe, and two weeks with the 4 Nations. So you know, he missed a lot of hockey, he’s catching up, and I think he’s getting better every night…
“A lot of mental side of it. He’s got a good perspective… he understands, he’s not a young player anymore, he’s a veteran guy, he understands that it’s not going to look exactly like it did when he went out of the lineup when he was playing at a really high level. He’s gonna have to work his way back to that.”
