THN.com's Dallas Stars site continues a player-by-player look at the Dallas Stars' roster entering the 2024-25 season. In this file, we turn our attention to forward Mavrik Bourque.

As we get closer to the NHL’’s 2024-25 regular season, THN.com’s Dallas Stars team website is posting an series of player projections for the Dallas Stars. We’re now well into the series, and on this day, we’re examining rookie forward Mavrik Bourque.

The 22-year-old Bourque has only one game of NHL experience, but that is likely to change in a big way in 2024-25. He’s going to get big opportunities to establish himself as an NHL presence, and the Stars feel good about his chances of making the adjustment.

Career (AHL): 47 goals, 129 points in 147 games

2023-24 Statistics (AHL): 26 goals, 77 points in 71 games

Salary Cap Hit: $894,167, through 2024-25

Summary of 2023-24 Season: Bourque is still in the early stages of his professional career, but he demonstrated last season that he’s an excellent American League player who deserves an opportunity to prove he’s just as good at the NHL level. Bourque won the AHL’s John B. Sollenberger Trophy as the AHL’s top scorer, and he set a new career high – by an astonishing 30 points – with 77 points for the AHL’s Texas Stars last season.

For a guy who won’t turn 23 years old until January, that’s mighty impressive of Bourque in his sophomore pro season. The Stars need young players on low-cost contracts to help them keep their team together in the years to come, and while Bourque will be an RFA next summer, he’s a team-controlled asset who’s given Stars GM Jim Nill much evidence that he should be testing his skills in the NHL.

Projections For 2024-25 Season: Per THN Lineups, Bourque shapes up as Dallas’ third-line center who’ll probably play with fellow up-and-comer Logan Stankoven and either veteran Jamie Benn or Mason Marchment. That’s a considerable jump for Bourque to make, but the Stars clearly feel he’s capable of taking advantage of the assignment and lobbying for even more minutes sooner than later.

It’s not easy to put a number on the area where Dallas brass wants to see Bourque finish the season at, but a rookie year of 15-20 goals and 30-40 points, while finishing with 14-15 minutes of ice time per game is probably within Bourque’s grasp, but staying healthy and acclimating to the NHL grind will be crucial for him. He’s nowhere close to his competitive peak, but Bourque has to do what every youngster wants to do at the NHL level – prove he belongs in hockey’s best league. It may not be a completely smooth ride for him, but Bourque is going to get every chance to show he’s an NHL talent.

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