Winning job alongside Marc Methot a confidence boost for Jamie Oleksiak

McKINNEY, Texas — For the first time in his career Jamie Oleksiak is entering NHL opening night with roster stability.

After bouncing in-and-out of the lineup, playing 119 NHL games in five seasons, Oleksiak is considered one of the top-four defenders and Dallas Stars coach Ken Hitchcock has big plans in mind for the 2011 first-round pick.

And that’s a nice feeling for Oleksiak.

“It’s nice, at the same time this is just the start of things,” Oleksiak said after practice Wednesday. “You have to remember that and you have to keep that in mind. But I feel like I’m in a good spot.”

That “good spot” for the 6-foot-7 Oleksiak is on the right side of a mammoth pairing with 6-foot-3 Marc Methot, a veteran defender the Stars acquired in a trade with the Vegas Golden Knights back in June.

“In terms of playing with him it’s a confidence boost, because you know he’s going to be there defensively and there supporting you, so that’s kind of nice,” Oleksiak said. “I kind of recognize what our role is, where definitely a shutdown pair, and that’s my responsibility first and foremost.”

When Methot was first acquired conventional wisdom had him playing with John Klingberg. It would have made sense, especially after Methot spent the past five seasons on a pairing with another offensive defenseman — albeit a much better one — in Erik Karlsson.

But Hitchcock had other ideas, and instead settled on a pairing of Klingberg with Esa Lindell, while there was a battle amongst the rest of the somewhat-younger defenders for a chance to play with Methot.

And Oleksiak won that battle. Stephen Johns ended up on the third pair with Dan Hamhuis, Patrik Nemeth was waived (and claimed by Colorado), while Julius Honka and Greg Pateryn will open the season watching games from the press box.

So what does Methot, who has spoken at length about chemistry with his defensive partner, think about being paired with Oleksiak?

“He’s huge, so he’s got tremendous reach, very strong. And the more he learns to use his body like he has been doing, he’ll be an incredibly effective player,” Methot said. “He’s got deceptively good hands to, he can move the puck, so for a young guy, as big and as strong as he is, it’s impressive.”

For Oleksiak, who turns 25 this season, being paired with the 33-year-old Methot has already paid dividends.

“I’m just trying to pick his brain a little bit and learn as much as possible,” Oleksiak said. “I think he’s a great defender and he’s played with some great players and I think I can learn a lot from him. I’m just trying to sit back and take it all in.”

While most of their work together has been in practice, Oleksiak said the teaching moments have already stood out in preseason games.

“He kind of knows what buttons to push and when we kind of need it and when we don’t,” Oleksiak said. “Such a big part of it is communication, and I’ve noticed that a lot from him. He’s always talking, he’s always reading the game.”

Methot says he sees a lot of promise in the pairing, but patience is going to be required. It’s simply not fair to expect Methot-Karlsson level chemistry right away.

“It’ll take a couple weeks, it doesn’t take one or two practices. When you play on an established team a lot of pairings are guys that have played together for seasons, so there’s going to be hardships,” Methot said. “We’re going to have great games, we’re going to have average games, it’s just the way the games played. It’s managing those ups and downs, assuming we’re going to play together, we’re going to learn off each and other and learn each other’s tendencies. That’s the biggest thing with chemistry on D. Learning each other’s tendencies and what you expect from each other, so that’s gonna be fun.”