Previewing the 2023-2024 Texas Stars and Their Dallas Implications
What's in store for Cedar Park, and by implication, what's in store for Dallas?
If you’re not watching the Texas Stars this year, you should be. This is easily the most stacked roster of blue chip prospects Dallas has ever had. Remember when we were all googly-eyed for Jamie Oleksiak, Brett Ritchie, and Patrik Nemeth? The thought of being a skilled team that could benchpress the opposing roster was unique. Remember when Julius Honka, Esa Lindell, and Stephen Johns were all in Cedar Park and we were positive they’d be the future of the blueline? These were solid groups, all things told, but they don’t hold a candle to what Dallas’ farm is growing now.
This is not a hindsight retrospective, either. Previous groups starred prospects with rich pedigrees for Dallas’ system. The current group are prospects with rich pedigrees for the NHL at large. Logan Stankoven, Mavrik Bourque, Lian Bichsel, Christian Kyrou, Ayrtem Grushnikov: it’s a veritable dream team. But here’s the thing: for now it’s just that - a dream.
We saw how the reality affected Bourque last year, a player with a blue chip offensive ceiling, but who struggled with the pace of play in the beginning. Will that affect players like Stankoven and Bichsel? Dallas, of course, doesn’t need these players. This isn’t about players who could play their way into the NHL lineup. Even if some of these kids go nuts, the Stars won’t rush them. Not only is a nice lineup to offer hockey fans outside of Dallas, but the Stars will need them when it’s next season, and they know they have blue chip talent with professional experience to take the place of the departing veterans.
With that said, let’s get to the breakdown. For reference, I’ll be following Stephen Meserve’s preview at 100 Degree Hockey. Speaking of, be sure to give him a follow. What he does deserves some serious praise. It’s one of the unique hockey privileges to have someone dedicated to the beat of an NHL’s farm team. Not only is the coverage as comprehensive as a traditional beat, but Meserve has been doing it long enough to plug you into the history of Dallas’ Cedar Park prospects. Just saying; don’t take that for granted.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Stars Stack to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.