Questions swirl, but Stars will soon have answers as preseason begins

Dallas Stars vs. St. Louis Blues

The Stars have dozens of questions in training camp, and the path to answering them begins Monday in the first preseason game against the St. Louis Blues at American Airlines Center.
Will Anton Khudobin be able to return to a high level of play after off-season surgery? He'll get the first period to take the first steps tonight.
Could Wyatt Johnston or Logan Stankoven make the opening night roster as 19-year-olds and then start the countdown to the deadline when they would have to be returned to Junior Hockey or have the franchise commit to making them an NHL player? Both are in the lineup tonight.

If neither of the teenagers make the final cut, will someone like Ty Dellandrea, Riley Damiani, Mavrik Bourque, Riley Tufte or Matej Blumel get elevated or sent to the AHL to start the season?
And if the team can't keep eight defensemen, does the opening night battle come down to Thomas Harley and Nils Lundkvist? Both are schedule to be in the lineup tonight.
That's a lot to consider, but it also makes the preseason games fun. Dallas will play Arizona in Tulsa, Oklahoma on Tuesday and then be back home Thursday against Minnesota. There will be a lot of bodies shuffling in and out, and a lot of players who will be answering questions.

But for now, sifting through these on Monday are more than enough.
Oh yeah, and new coach Pete DeBoer and his coaching staff will get their first real experience with the players in a game situation, and that in itself bears a ton of watching.
"Our focus is us more than the other team," DeBoer said of the strategy for Monday. "We are playing a great team tonight, but we are not spending a lot of time on St. Louis or their systems, we are working on us and the things we are trying to incorporate. We got our first power-play reps today, so we are going to start to chip away at that. But at the same time, you want to get the young guys out there and get a real look at them, you want to get the guys who are fighting for positions on the team the right amount of ice time."

For Johnston, he definitely understands what is on the line, but he said he doesn't want to get wrapped up trying to make the NHL roster or returning to juniors. He and Stankoven are trying to take it one game at a time.
"Just get on the ice and try to make a good first impression," Johnston said. "Not do anything over-difficult but just keep it really simple and play my game."
Likewise, Khudobin said he can't worry about where he is. The team has three goalies under NHL contract and being able to trade Khudobin and his $3.3 million cap hit would help in making room on the salary cap. So, in a way, Khudobin is playing for every team in the NHL during the preseason campaign.
"Just get back to normal, how I'm feeling, my body feeling," Khudobin said if Cedar Park during the first days of training camp. "Obviously, you know the injury that I had. That's what I'm recovering from. I hope that the injury is not going to bother me anymore. That's my key."

Stars projected lineup

Jacob Peterson - Roope Hintz - Joe Pavelski
Jamie Benn - Ty Dellandrea - Wyatt Johnston
Matej Blumel - Mavrik Bourque - Logan Stankoven
Riley Tufte - Riley Damiani - Marián Studenič
Esa Lindell - Nils Lundkvist
Thomas Harley - Jani Hakanpää
Joseph Cecconi - Artem Grushnikov
Anton Khudobin
Jake Oettinger
This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.
Mike Heikais a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on Twitter @MikeHeika.