Laxdal, Leadership Group Prepares Young Texas Stars Team for New Season

CEDAR PARK, Texas --  Don’t let the 95° heat fool you, Central Texans. Hockey season is here. After failing to make the postseason due to a number of injuries, recalls, and inconsistencies throughout the season, the Texas Stars are preparing for another playoff run with a group younger than ever before.

One step into the frigid atmosphere of HEB Center at Cedar Park will put you right back into the hockey scene as the Stars open up the 2019-20 regular season with a two-game set this weekend. On Friday, October 4, the Tucson Roadrunners come to town, followed by a Saturday, October 5 matchup against Central Division rivals, the Manitoba Moose.

Head coach Derek Laxdal commands a group that features 11 first-year pros headlined by Jason Robertson and Riley Tufte, an experienced defensive core sure to lift the team up (led by new team captain Dillon Heatherington), and a pair of competitive, talented young netminders in Jake Oettinger and Landon Bow.

The incoming core of exuberant youth will have to replace the departing forces of long-time Texas Stars Justin Dowling, who made the Dallas Stars roster out of training camp, and Travis Morin, who retired and joined the team in a front office role.

With this much youth, you can sense the beginning of a new era of Texas Stars hockey as the club starts its 11th season in the Austin, Texas metro area. Let’s take a peek at the roster of the Dallas Stars’ primary development affiliate, shall we?

Texas Stars 2019-20 Season Opening Roster

Goaltenders

#29 Jake Oettinger#35 Landon Bow

The battle for time between these two youthful netminders is a story to watch for all season long. Bow, entering his fourth year with the Stars organization after going undrafted, fights with Oettinger, a 2017 first-round pick and the denoted “Goalie of the Future” for the Dallas Stars.

“It’s gonna be good for us, we’re gonna be pushed to be better and play harder,” Bow said on Wednesday afternoon. “It’s a cool situation to be in. We had Mike McKenna for the one year, and I think having Mike come in was big for me...I was hoping I could take a lot of things from there and help with these younger guys.”

Bow went 24-15-3-1 as the team’s number-one goalie last season, with Philippe Desrosiers (now with the Florida organization) and Colton Point (will start with ECHL Idaho) begins him. He posted a 2.89 goals against average and .893 save percentage in 46 games.

Oettinger made a late-season cameo in the blue paint after finishing his season at Boston University, where the 20-year-old played as the NCAA program’s starter. The 26th overall selection in the 2017 NHL Draft recorded a 3-2-1-0 record, 2.47 GAA, and an .895 Sv% in six starts amid Texas’ playoff push.

Barring injuries or recalls, expect the two to split starts in the Stars’ crease throughout the 2019-20 season.

Defensemen

#3 Dillon Heatherington#4 Joel Hanley#5 Emil Djuse#6 Ben Gleason#7 Gavin Bayreuther#8 John Nyberg#24 Reece Scarlett#33 Joseph Cecconi

On Wednesday, Laxdal announced that Heatherington, entering his third full year as a Texas Star, would serve as the team’s new captain, the seventh in franchise history.

Heatherington is one of several veteran defenders the team will lean on as part of the leadership core of a very young group. “It’s awesome. I’ve had a lot of excellent captains that I’ve learned a lot from in my pro career, and I wanna implement what I know on some of these younger guys this season,” Heatherington said. “I’m a more vocal guy in the dressing room and the way I play, hard and physical, I think a lot of guys respect that.”

Joel Hanley, who will serve as an assistant captain for the club, is expected to log big minutes in the Texas top-four. “We want to bring some of our experience to some of the younger players, and whatever we can tell them and teach them to help them along, we’ll do, and lead by example,” Hanley said.

Laxdal predicts a defense core with tons of experience at this level to be the driving force of his team’s efforts this season.

“Heatherington is the perfect example of what kind of guy you would want to lead this team. He’s got the dressing room and he’s got a strong voice, and he leads by example on the ice,” Laxdal said. “Hanley is a great leader and a great example for young guys, and then Reece Scarlett and Gavin Bayreuther; those guys are leaders and those are the guys who are gonna lead this team.”

Forwards

*#11 Joel L’Esperance

13 Adam Mascherin

14 Joel Kiviranta

16 Nicholas Caamano

17 Tony Calderone

18 Jason Robertson

19 Brad McClure

20 Tanner Kero

22 Rhett Gardner

26 Tye Felhaber

27 Michael Mersch

28 Diego Cuglietta

36 Riley Tufte

37 Josh Melnick

39 Parker MacKay*

In the team’s first year without Morin, the youth movement is now in full effect. Eight of the 15 forwards listed above will be playing in their first full pro season.

That group is led by Jason Robertson, a menacing goal-scorer ranked by McKeen’s Hockey as the Dallas Stars’ third-best prospect. “He is a pure scorer. If he gets around the net, he’s gonna score a goal,” Laxdal said. “We’re gonna try to utilize his offense right off the hop because he is such a special player.”

Riley Tufte, a 2016 first-rounder, is another rookie forward whose game has drawn praise from Laxdal and the Texas coaching staff. “Six-foot-seven and skates like the wind for a big, strong guy,” Laxdal exclaimed.

Laxdal is up for the challenge of coaching such a young team, and points to his success with the Western Hockey League’s Edmonton Oil Kings in the early parts of the decade as a big reason why.

“It’s the first time since I’ve been here that we’ve had nearly a full turnover of players,” Laxdal said. “It’s an exciting time for the Dallas Stars and the Texas Stars. Having that many rookie prospects in your lineup is gonna be a bit of a process, and every guy is gonna have different learning curves.

“They’re hockey players. At the end of the day they want to be taught, they wanna be pushed, and you have to make sure you’re not too hard on them.”

Stars' Storylines

Prospects to Watch

Tye Felhaber

An undrafted forward, the Stars organization won a bidding war for the forward’s services and signed him to a free agent contract this past offseason. Felhaber tore up the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) last season, with 50 goals and 57 assists in just 68 games with the Ottawa 67’s.

“He has a different skill set offensively,” Laxdal said. “But you’ll see him on the power play as we give him a chance to succeed.”

The left-shooting winger should earn solid middle-six minutes this season.

Joel L’Esperance

Another undrafted forward, L’Esperance had a breakout 2018-19 season, his first full year in the pro ranks. Scoring 30 goals in just 54 games with Texas last season, the former Michigan Tech anchor earned a recall to Dallas and scored his first two NHL goals last season.

Though the 24-year-old could not crack the big-league roster through training camp, L’Esperance remains first on the depth chart and could start the season as the club’s top-line center.

Emil Djuse

A star player with Skelleftea AIK of the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), Djuse signed a free agent contract with Dallas and is one of many players trying to put their footprint in the AHL scene this season.

The left-hander is a smooth-skating, heads-up defender with swagger, and could be in line for a midseason recall to the NHL team thanks to his maturity and experience at 25 years old.

Veteran forward Mersch ready to take charge

Second-year Texas forward Michael Mersch was named the club’s other assistant captain, bringing himself into the leadership group of the AHL team and looking to take charge this season.

“It feels good to be back on the ice and get in the swing of things,” Mersch said. “We have a good leadership group and we’ll make it easier on the young guys. It will be a great season.”

The 27-year-old is a five-year veteran of AHL hockey and has just what it takes to lead a team younger than any Stars team of year’s past. “I want to be as consistent as possible this season. It’s exciting because there’s a lot of skill in these prospects for the Dallas Stars, but the competition within will bring them along even more.

“I will try to give them some tips along the way to help out their game. It’s a long season, and there are some college guys who haven’t played a schedule this long, but we’ll make sure they’re ready for some of those tougher games.

Morin’s impact extends to off-ice life

On July 31, Stars forward Travis Morin announced his retirement from professional hockey, joining the Texas Stars front office. In his new position with the club, Morin will serve both as a skills development coach in hockey operations and in a business development and community outreach role.

The longest-tenured player in franchise history, and the leader in almost every significant statistical category, Morin will become the first player to have his jersey number, his famous #23, by the Stars.

“He is a guy we can lean on in the skills development department,” Laxdal said. “He’s been a real good energy guy in the room with the kids. It’s really nice to have a guy like that.”

Morin is accepting of his role, although he is resisting the urge to jump back onto the ice. “Finding a way to help them out in any way I can, with both winning down here and their ultimate goals of playing up in Dallas, is what I’m gonna do,” Morin said. “It’s strange not getting ready for hockey season, because when you get on the ice, you get that itch again. But it’s good and easier on me, especially when you have a familiarity with the organization.”