Stars Daily September 30: Shore-Hanzal line could be solidified in preseason finale

Martin Hanzal will make his Dallas Stars debut this evening in the preseason finale against the Minnesota Wild.

Hanzal missed training camp and most of the preseason with an ankle injury, so the construction of his line is still a bit of a mystery. However if things go well tonight, the forward duo of Devin Shore and Hanzal could be locked in for Stars coach Ken Hitchcock.

Hitchcock likes to build his forward units using pairs and often juggles the third winger around. If Shore and Hanzal stick as a two-some, we’ll finally have a solid idea of the base for Hitchcock’s forward alignment.

Right now the two-somes for Hitchcock include:

Jamie Benn — Tyler Seguin
Mattias Janmark — Jason Spezza
Radek Faksa — Tyler Pitlick

Could Hanzal — Shore be the final two-some?

It’s something to watch (or more likely listen for) tonight when the Stars travel to Minnesota. Tonight’s game will not be video streamed by either Dallas or Minnesota.

In the AHL

The Texas Stars opened their preseason with a 4-2 loss to the San Antonio Rampage on Friday.

Mark McNeill and Cole Ully scored for Texas in the loss.

Texas had a lineup consisting heavily of AHL-depth and ECHL-bound players, but still looked like the better team with a 40-16 edge in shots. Spencer Martin was the difference for the Rampage and made 38 saves.

It was a lightly covered game by media standards, but the Rampage did put out a short highlight reel last night.

The preseason game presented a head-to-head opportunity for Philippe Desrosiers and Landon Bow, who are both fighting for the back-up role in Cedar Park. Each goalie played 30 minutes and each allowed two goals on eight shots.

Mike McKenna is expected to play the entire game tonight when Texas hosts San Antonio in its second and final preseason game.

Catchup links

STARS MAILBAG: Discipline with Hitch, high praise for Shore, and Honka to the minors?

Notes: “Good possibility” Stars will carry eight defenders, “A team” gets night off vs. Wild

Today’s schedule

The players in tonight’s game not skate, but a group of Jamie Benn, Alexander Radulov, Tyler Seguin, Mattias Janmark, and Greg Pateryn will remain in Frisco and skate at 10:30 a.m.