The Dallas Stars Dig Deep, And Utah Will Get To Experience That

The gritty green-clad Texas team has steadily improved in recent years, and will be one of the favorites to win the Western Conference in 2025.

Utah Hockey Club general manager Bill Armstrong has made it a point to be physical.

It was what won him a Stanley Cup as an assistant GM with the St. Louis Blues under Doug Armstrong, and it's what he's made a point of creating since joining Utah in 2020 when they were the former Arizona Coyotes.

The young Utah team will see how that physicality works when the Dallas Stars come to town.

Just how gritty can the Stars get? All three of their decisive games in the playoffs last season were all decided by a 2-1 score (Florida would be proud).

While Jamie Benn, Jason Robertson, and Tyler Seguin may grab the headlines with their scoring ability, the Stars also have some young talents of their own.

One of them is Wyatt Johnston, who just barely turned 21 and is turning plenty of heads with his play after being snubbed completely from the Calder Trophy voting in 2022-23.

It will be interesting to see him go up against Sean Durzi and Mikhail Sergachev on the top defensive line, who both are no strangers to playing with the body.

The Stars will also have the bulk of their production returning from last season, with the services of Miro Heiskanen, one of the best defencemen in the league, quarterbacking their offence.

Now, Dallas and Utah won't meet until Dec. 2 in Salt Lake, so the club has plenty of time to prove themselves against the best teams in the league.

However, since Bill Armstrong's goal is to win meaningful games, the first game against a gritty Stars team favored to win the conference in December will provide a great benchmark for where they're at heading into the new year.