CEDAR PARK, Texas — Ken Hitchcock is adjusting how he approaches training camp this season.
While it’s still a fast and disciplined session the Dallas Stars head coach is going to juggle things up on Day 3. It’s going to be a wake-up call and Hitchcock believes it will raise the intensity in his training camp.
“I’ve never done this before, I want to see how it works,” he said. “Day 3 is going to different than anything I’ve done before, it’s kind of a copy a little bit off an NFL team that I know the coach of and he’s done this in his camps and found it very successful to getting off to a fast start.”
Hitchcock said the players know what’s happening, but he wouldn’t divulge the full plan to the media.
While it’s not certain, it likely has to do with the practice and scrimmage on Sunday. The Stars will have a veterans practice at 9 a.m. that morning, while they are hosting a green vs. white future prospects scrimmage at noon.
“We’ll see. Day 3 is gonna change. I’ve never done it before and I want to see how players react and then carry it,” Hitchcock said. “I think we’ll do this every second, third day after Day 3 and see what happens. We’ll see how this looks, we’ll see how the guys are involved in one part of the training camp feel and the ones that are on the outside how fast and hard they want to come back into the inside. I’ve never done this before and I want to try it.”
Reading between the lines, if you are playing in the scrimmage on Sunday you’re on the outside looking in. If you are practicing with the veterans that morning you’ve impressed the head coach.
That could give us an interesting look into the potential roster construction.
For example, there are 18 defensemen in training camp and nine have a legitimate shot of making the NHL roster. Hitchcock has made it clear he’s going pick a consistent group of six defenders. The defenders practicing at 9 a.m. will likely have an early edge, while those in the scrimmage still have something to prove.
Overall Hitchcock was pleased with the first day of practice and he learned quite a bit on Day 1.
“I thought today was really revealing, I thought it showed the top players that we have on our hockey club how fast they can play,” Hitchcock said. “And some guys struggled. That’s why you got training camp, hopefully they figure it out over night and they catch the pace tomorrow.”
Honka impresses
The roster isn’t set, but Julius Honka has already impressed the coaching staff.
“He looks like a guy that’s more than ready to play in the NHL,” Hitchcock said. “One practice, but when you stand out as much as he stood out as practice as he stood out today he doesn’t look like a player that has any inclination of going back to the American Hockey League.
“He stood out in a big way today,” Hitchcock added. “His composure, his quickness, his ability to think. His tenacity in the one-on-ones and quite frankly, if one day is an indication he looked like a National Hockey League players. And this is the first time I’ve worked with him, this is the first time I’ve seen him, and he just looks like a veteran player to me.”
Umberger in camp
On Thursday both Hitchcock and Jim Nill confirmed that R.J. Umberger would have every chance to make the team out of training camp.
Umberger is on a PTO with the Stars and last played for the Philadelphia Flyers during the 2015-16 season. He had his contract bought out after that season and didn’t have any playing opportunities last season.
Back in May he started talking with Hitchcock about a potential return and the 35-year-old is excited to be back in training camp.
“It feels great I’m really excited,” Umberger said. “It’s been a long summer, I’ve been waiting for this moment. I’m anxious to keep it going and build off each day.”
I’ll have more on Umberger in a story tomorrow.
Friday’s lines and defensive pairs:
Group 1
Jamie Benn – Jason Spezza – Alexander Radulov
Remi Elie – Jason Dickinson – RJ Umberger
Samuel Laberge – Sheldon Dries – Greg Rallo
Curtis McKenzie – Radek Faksa – Adam Cracknell
Nick Caamano – Roope Hintz – Denis Gurianov
Jason Robertson – Austin Fyten – Colin Markinson
Dan Hamhuis – John Klingberg
Dillon Heatherington – Brent Regner
Ludwig Bystrom – Patrick Nemeth
Andrew Bodnarchuk – Niklas Hansson/Shane Hanna
Kari Lehtonen
Mike McKenna
Landon Bow
Group 2
Mattias Janmark – Tyler Seguin – Tyler Pitlick
Antoine Roussel – Devin Shore – Brett Ritchie
Cole Ully – Justin Dowling – Brian Flynn
Travis Morin – Gemel Smith – Mark McNeill
Brett Davis – Max French – Zachary Roberts
Shaw Boomhower – Tomas Soustal – Cole Tymkin
Marc Methot – Julius Honka
Esa Lindell – Stephen Johns
Jamie Oleksiak – Greg Pateryn
Gavin Bayreuther – Matt Mangene/Ondrej Vala
Ben Bishop
Philippe Desrosiers
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