The Stars are about to get back on the ice, and there’s plenty to watch as camp opens this week. Dallas is only 17 days from its regular-season opener, and the last stretch of September brings a little more clarity after a quiet summer gave way to a busier few weeks.
The biggest update involves Tyler Seguin, who is trying to put a brutal run of injuries behind him and get himself ready for the 2026-27 season. The 34-year-old winger has appeared in just 47 games over the last two seasons after hip surgery in 2024 and an ACL injury last December.
He also dealt with a torn labrum during the Stars’ Cup run in 2020, which kept him out for most of 2020-21. Even by the standards of a career that has already taken a few hits, Seguin said this one has been different.
“I never thought I’d get slapped in the face with something this different than the rest,” Seguin said at the Dallas Stars Foundation’s annual Drive Fore the Kids golf tournament. “I thought a lot of things were hard, and then this one’s been probably the most challenging.”
There is at least reason for optimism now. Seguin said he skated with teammates over the last month and was part of the captain’s skate a couple of weeks ago. That was a welcome development after a setback in mid-June forced him to stop skating for a bit.
“I had a setback in the middle of June and had to kind of stop skating,” Seguin added. “Now I’ve been trending in the right direction… I expect to keep getting better every day.
Continuing to work and seeing where I’m at. One day at a time.”
Dallas will need that trend to hold. Seguin may not be the same player he once was, but he still has the kind of game that can produce 20-plus goals and 50-plus points when he’s healthy.
Since joining the Stars, he has finished with fewer than 20 goals only four times, and in each of those seasons the injury bug or COVID shortened his year. With Mavrik Bourque and Mason Marchment gone, the top six looks thinner, and Seguin’s health suddenly matters even more.
“His game has really matured. He’s good on draws, he can score.
He was penalty killing for us,” general manager Jim Nill said. “He’s back on the ice.
He’s feeling good. He’s excited.
He wants to get back at it. It’s a big year for him.”
Training camp is right behind that news. The Stars released their camp rosters and schedule last Thursday, and on-ice work begins Thursday, Sept. 17 at Comerica Center with 57 players in camp. The first two days are split into Team A, Team B and Team C practices, with sessions running from 9:00 to 10:30 a.m., 11:15 a.m. to 12:45 p.m., and 1:00 to 2:30 p.m. on Thursday, then the same structure flipped around on Friday.
Saturday brings the first game action for players headed to St. Louis.
Those players will take a morning skate at 10:00 to 10:30 a.m., fly out at 1:45 p.m., and face the Blues at 6:00 p.m. The non-game group will stay back at Comerica Center for a Team A and Team B practice from 10:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.
Sunday is a day off.
The rest of the camp schedule will be announced next week, but the preseason game slate is already set for the next few dates. Dallas hosts St. Louis on Sept. 21 and then plays a home-and-home with Minnesota on Sept. 23 and 25, with the first meeting in Dallas.
There’s also a new broadcast setup to get used to. Prime Video is now the exclusive streamer for six NHL teams, including the Stars, as the league’s TV landscape keeps shifting. Out-of-market viewers can still follow those clubs through NHL Center Ice or ESPN+.
“We have always strived to deliver our fans with the best broadcast experience in the NHL,” Stars President and CEO Brad Alberts said. “Our launch on Prime Video ensures that fans can watch our games on a service that is widely available and easily accessible.”
Dallas and Anaheim were both tied to Victory+, but with that platform no longer in place, both clubs are moving to Prime Video this season. The good news for Stars fans is that the broadcast crew stays intact. Daryl “Razor” Reaugh and Josh Bogorad will still handle the call, while Brien Rea and Severyn remain in the studio for pre-, post- and in-game coverage.
For now, those games are part of the basic package, so most fans should already be covered. That said, the business side of streaming has a way of changing fast.
And then there’s John Klingberg, who officially announced his retirement on Friday after 12 years, 700 games and 443 points. Klingberg played 552 games for Dallas, posting 71 goals and 374 points. His 303 assists rank third all-time among defensemen in franchise history, and his 71 goals are tied for fourth.
In Other News...
Stars Fans Still Remember How Close That 2020 Run Really Came
Five years later, the memory of that 2020 run still lingers for Stars fans because it really felt like a group that kept finding ways to survive. Dallas had already authored one of the wildest moments in recent franchise history with Joel Kivirantas natural hat trick against Colorado, then leaned on Anton Khudobins steady goaltending to keep pushing through the Western Conference bracket.
The Western Conference Final ended on Sept. 14 in overtime against Vegas, a night that sent the Stars back to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 2000. The finish was the kind of moment that still gets brought up whenever that postseason comes up, even if the last chapter in Tampa Bay did not go the way Dallas hoped after six games. [Read more 🡒]