Tales From The Clipped: Breaking down Lian Bichsel's debut (and beyond)

He's not going back.

Lian Bichsel has a lot in common with Dallas’ best picks. Wyatt Johnston, Logan Stankoven, Miro Heiskanen, Jason Robertson, Mavrik Bourque, et cetera. So much of what has defined Dallas’ success at the draft table is identifying maturity in players. In this regard, Bichsel is no different.

It’s something we’ve been tracking his entire career. Last year when I couldn’t help but draw comparisons to elements of Chris Tanev’s game. In August when reflecting on exactly who he was in each zone. And last month when I felt like Bichsel’s offense, limited though it is, was coming along — in particular (and this is relevant for obvious reasons), his shot accuracy. For a writer pretending to understand the nature of the prospect, Dallas gives me the toughest assignments. After all, what exactly does maturity look like? How do you measure it?

If being completely unphased by the bright lights of the NHL is a piece, then Bichsel succeeded with flying colors last Thursday versus the Nashville Predators when he scored the only Dallas goal of the game. It’s a good thing too. There was very little that was redeemable about Dallas’ performance versus Nashville. Saturday was another solid performance, boasting the element of his game that layfans love the most — his ferocity. Against Washington, we got a little bit of everything, including the “needs work” end of his maturity spectrum.

What’s patently clear, regardless of the work he needs or doesn’t, is that the Stars have a better blueline with Bichsel in the lineup. Even now, despite his inexperience, he’s a level above Matt Dumba and Brendan Smith. Paired with Miro Heiskanen last night with Thomas Harley out, he didn’t look out of his element (although it was definitely his toughest game up to this point, which makes sense). It’s been fun to see him score unexpected goals, but it’s the rest of his game that will keep him in the lineup.

For unpaid subscribers, Gavin Spittle and I talked quite a bit about him.

I’m not gonna break new ground or anything. If you’ve read one “in my amateur opinion, Bichsel is the truth, and here’s why” article of mine, then you’ve read them all. But rather than do a prospect report for today (which aren’t going anywhere), I figure it’d be more fun to revisit Bichsel’s work so far.