Welcome to Summer: Mapping Out The Big Dates on the Journey to October

(Credit: Logan Foust/Texas Stars)

The Dallas and Texas Stars both ended their season one round short of the summit. Now the long hot summer begins. There are still plenty of hockey-related items on the board leading up to opening night in mid-October.

June 27-28 -- NHL Draft in ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The NHL Draft is in Los Angeles, sort of. Unlike prior years, the league's luminaries will be distributed across North America in their cities during the draft. The top players likely to be selected will gather in LA for the pomp and circumstance of draft day photos and interviews.

Dallas has limited picks since they've been active on the trade market in pursuit of a Cup. The Stars select first in the third round and finish out with a fourth-rounder, two fifths, a sixth and a seventh.

June 30 at 5 PM ET -- Deadline for Qualifying Offers

Any restricted free agents must received qualifying offers by June 30th or they become unrestricted.

Most of Texas' players are either locked down or UFA. Forward Antonio Stranges is the only remaining RFA after Remi Poirier and Ben Kraws were both re-signed last week.

Jim Nill's usual tendency is to hoard assets and qualifying almost everyone. I think Stranges' year earns him another QO.

June 30-July 3 -- Development Camp in Frisco

New draft picks from 2025 along with some of the younger prospects will spend a few days in Frisco with the Dallas coaching staff. Some members of the Texas staff will also be in attendance to get started building relationships for their future careers.

All sessions are open to the public and free. There is a skills competition and mini tournament on the last day.

July 1 -- Opening of Free Agency

The biggest deals on Day 1 will not directly affect Texas. In previous years, AHL-destined players were signed in the following days after July 1. However, Dallas has done its AHL business on July 1 in recent years with Kyle Capobianco, Cameron Hughes and Kole Lind all signing on that day last summer. Lind and Hughes, both UFAs, have already re-signed with Dallas.

Free agent Magnus Hellberg has already signed in Sweden. Emilio Pettersen is the only remaining pending UFA aside from the most interesting question mark: Matěj Blümel, who is a Group 6 free agent and should be in the NHL next year somewhere. Will he decide to make that bet in Dallas or will he go somewhere else? It's totally his decision for the first time in his career.

Mid-September -- Frisco Prospect Tournament

The Dallas Stars prospects are coming to Frisco this fall. 

For over a decade, the Stars have sent their prospects to Traverse City for the prospects tournament run by the Red Wings. Attendance has dwindled to just two teams, Dallas and Detroit, as of last year. As first reported by various members of the Detroit media and confirmed by 100 Degree Hockey, this year, the Stars and Wings are expected to announce they will begin a home-and-home arrangement for the tournament, alternating locations between Traverse City and Frisco.

For the 2025 edition, the Comerica Center in Frisco will be the spot to watch future Dallas and Texas Stars in person. The prospect team is coached by the Texas Stars staff with Neil Graham at the head.

Based on when everything else happens in that time frame of the season, I would bet on the weekend of September 12-14 to host two games between the teams. Most likely there wouldn't be a day between the games so either 12-13 or 13-14.

Mid-to-Late September -- Training Camp

After a few training camps in Cedar Park, Dallas returned to Frisco last season and seems likely to stay there again. If it's in central Texas, it's a great opportunity to see the team as most everything on the ice is open to the public. If you can make it to Frisco, the same is still true.

There will be a team announcement later in the summer on exact dates and locations. This camp should immediately follow the prospect tournament. Last year, it opened on September 19.

End of camp until October 10 -- NHL preseason and AHL training camp

These dates are still TBD. I would expect AHL training camp to be Sept 29-Oct 2, approximately, leading up to where the Stars would have pre-season games, if they were in a geographical location to do so.

The Texas Stars will open their season at home on October 10.