Your Roadmap to Texas Stars Opening Night

(Credit: Texas Stars)

Just over a month from now, the Texas Stars will lace them up for the first time in the 2019-20 season. The road to their eleventh year will start this weekend in Traverse City. Here’s the roadmap to puck drop on October 4th.

Traverse City Prospects Tournament
September 6-10 in Traverse City, Michigan

The traditional beginning of the season event returns for the umpteenth year. Texas Stars head coach Derek Laxdal is the head coach of the prospects team in the northern Michigan town of Traverse City, pitted against seven other teams in a quick four-game tournament. The Stars have already released their roster for the event, which contains a plethora of players who will be with the Texas Stars this season and a number who might get a tryout look as well. The games are usually streamed online, since they are available on Fox Sports in Michigan as well.

Dallas Stars Training Camp
September 13-15 in Frisco, Texas

The first chance for most to see the newest crop of Stars comes just a few days after the close of the Traverse City tourney. Dallas opted to keep their training camp close to home this season, very close, with their usual practice facility serving as the venue. Big things to watch for here include those players who are right on the cusp of the NHL. How does Denis Gurianov perform? Where is Justin Dowling slotted? Does Joel L’Esperance play in heavily? However, it’s a lot of drills that are hard to decipher. That’s why we’ve got...

Dallas Stars Preseason
September 16-28

Seven games across 13 days will help the Stars pare down the roster from the giant group they will start with on the 13th. Texas Stars on Dallas contracts figure to all get at least one game in the preseason to see where they are in their development. Cuts will be rolling through this period and assignments to Texas will follow for many. If it wasn’t obvious, the last few players cut figure to be the first callups when injuries occur during the season.

Texas Stars Training Camp
September 23-26 in Cedar Park, Texas

After Dallas has made some cuts, the Texas Stars kick off camp on Monday the 23rd. Derek Laxdal, new assistant Neil Graham, and a bevy of assistants from player development and elsewhere in the organization will get the team ready for two preseason games to end the week. The roster will be full of tryout players looking to make a mark. Many of those will already be on contract to play in Idaho, if they don’t get a PTO in Texas. Either way, Texas knows what they have in Idaho when they need to call on them thanks to this camp. Practices are not open to the public.

Texas Stars Preseason
September 26-27

Bucking convention, Texas will play on Thursday and Friday this year for the preseason. Generally, the first game of the two, this year in San Antonio, is the “ECHL” game, where the players who are tryouts or on contract to the ECHL get a chance to show their stuff. Many cuts are generally made that night, and the team plays again in Cedar Park on Friday with a lineup that looks a lot like what they plan to roll out on opening night, minus any players who are still lingering in Dallas for the last few days before the NHL season opens up on October 3rd.

Opening Night vs. Tucson
October 4

After a week of practice, Texas faces Tucson to open 2019-20 with a roster full of potential stories to tell. Who will grab our attention? Who will demand a callup? Will Texas find its way back to the playoffs?