With training camp weeks away, Stars hopeful that health translates to wins

Rick Bowness is entering his second full season as the Stars head coach. So, of course, he’s preparing for his fifth training camp.

Something like that. It just feels like it.

When the stars open training camp in less than three weeks, the feel will be familiar to Bowness. In addition to being the most experienced NHL coach of all time (including games as assistant coach), Bowness can count the various camps he has run in Dallas over the past 14 months.

There was the pre-2020 post-season bubble. The pre-regular season in January. There were the Mini after the shutdowns due to COVID-19 and the winter storm. Now he’ll be running a normal prep camp ahead of the 2021/22 season that the stars hope can get them back to the playoffs.

“You look at it on paper and you love it,” Bowness said in a recent telephone interview. “We know we’re a good hockey club. When we’re healthy, we know we’re a very, very good hockey club. The key is to stay there. That goes for every team in the league. You’re starting to lose three or four guys and they are top guys, the scramble will go on. “

Dallas missed the playoffs that spring after sustaining injuries (Tyler Seguin, Alexander Radulov, Ben Bishop and Roope Hintz all missed a considerable amount of time), 14 league losses, and the NHL’s most compressed schedule by five days.

Its depth thinned as the AHL players stepped into action, its goalkeeper was mediocre, and its finishing was below par given the opportunities Dallas had created.

Now that the stars are nearing training camp, they will do so in the healthiest way it was before the pandemic.

Seguin (hip and knee surgeries), Hintz (groin surgery), Radulov (core surgery) and Joel Hanley (knee surgery) will all be ready for camp, Bowness said. The stars can’t help but remember how injuries derailed each of their last two seasons, including as Dallas hobbled through the 2020 Stanley Cup final against Tampa Bay.

“These things stick with you when you’re this close and you miss a lot from your team,” said Bowness. “These things stay with you. That’s a big part of us, we manage our schedule. The rest, the journey, is a big part of trying to do everything possible to avoid injury.

“It won’t make sure you don’t get one, but we will do everything we can to make sure our boys are rested and fresh and try to stay away from this injury virus this year.”

The biggest question mark remains Bishop.

Bishop has been on the ice in Frisco, but the organization isn’t sure when the 34-year-old goalkeeper will be available or if he will play again at all. As a result, the Stars will enter camp with three healthy goalkeepers fighting for both starter and backup roles.

Anton Khudobin and Jake Oettinger shared the net last season in Dallas, and the stars added Braden Holtby, who has struggled in Washington and Vancouver for the past two seasons. Bowness said the stars would “sort it out on their own” during the preseason.

“Eight of our first 11 games are on the way,” said Bowness. “The goalkeeper who is ready to play will play. They have to fight that out in the training camp. We have confidence in all of them, of course, but the guy who plays best to start the season, he plays. “

The rest of the training camp is unlikely to be exciting as it is difficult to find vacancies in both the striker and the defender.

But Bowness and the Stars need to find the right combination of lines, including how often Jamie Benn Center plays against left wing. Dallas has to find the perfect fit for the newly acquired Ryan Suter, be it John Klingberg or Miro Heiskanen.

“We’ll make camp and see how it all works out,” said Bowness. “Do I have a plan for everything? Absolutely.”

The first training of the training camp is on September 23rd. The start of the preseason is on September 27th in St. Louis. The regular season opener is on October 14th at Madison Square Garden against the Rangers.

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