Hitchcock Separates Wheat from Chaff with Vet Practice, Scrimmage Rosters for Sunday

(Credit: Texas Stars)

With another practice session in the books today, not too much could be gleaned from individual players. Philippe Desrosiers struggled on a few drills at times in the later group, letting in at least five consecutive goals at one point.

The real meat of the day came after practices had finished with the team releasing the veteran practice and 'future prospects' scrimmage rosters. Coach Hitchcock told the media after practice that the players "on one-way contracts" would "get the first kick at the can," as far as the veteran practice goes. Being in the future prospects group shouldn't be seen as a death knell, but it should tell players that they need to keep working to make it onto the NHL roster.

The vet squad was mostly as expected. Jamie Benn, Adam Cracknell, Radek Faska, Mattias Janmark, Curtis McKenzie, Tyler Pitlick, Alexander Radulov, Brett Ritchie, Antoine Roussel, Tyler Seguin, Devin Shore and Jason Spezza made the list up front. Nine defensemen madethe list and they're all exactly who you'd expect: Dan Hamhuis, Julius Honka*, Stephen Johns, John Klingberg, Esa Lindell, Marc Methot, Patrik Nemeth, Jamie Oleskiak and Greg Pateryn. Note that it is nine names, which is three more than you can ice on any given night, so there is still work to be done there. Goalies on the list are Ben Bishop and Kari Lehtonen.

For everyone else on the roster, it's time to prove themselves in the scrimmage to slide up into the top group. Folks like Jason Dickinson, Remi Elie and Gemel Smith, who all played last season in Dallas at various points, will have to re-establish their credibility with the new coaching staff.

* - The roster lists Julius Honka as both a practice and scrimmage participant right now, which we understand is not a misprint.