The Dallas Stars’ projected forward group for 2025-26 is already taking shape on paper, and the early reads from Daily Faceoff and PuckPedia point to a lineup with plenty of familiarity up top and a few interesting wrinkles lower down.
The biggest consensus comes on the first line. PuckPedia keeps Jason Robertson, Wyatt Johnston and Mikko Rantanen together, while Daily Faceoff has Justin Hryckowian on the left side instead of Robertson.
The case for keeping the trio intact is pretty easy to see. Johnston and Rantanen spent most of last season together, and once Robertson joined them, the group produced a plus-7 rating, scored nine goals and allowed just two over 133 minutes in 51 games together.
Behind them, the second line looks like a blend of bounce-back bets and established scoring touch. Sam Steel, Roope Hintz and Tyler Seguin are the projected trio, with Hintz coming off time missed because of injury and Seguin trying to answer another health question in what’s now the final year of his eight-year deal.
Seguin showed he can still drive offense at a high level in 2024-25, putting up 21 points in 20 games, but he’s also missed 131 games over the last three seasons. If he can stay in the lineup, he should have a real chance to produce alongside Hintz.
Steel’s presence makes sense here too. He spent a lot of last season next to Hintz when Hintz was available, and this setup gives Dallas a second unit that could still punch above its weight if Seguin and Hintz click quickly.
The third line keeps another veteran pair together in Jamie Benn and Matt Duchene, with Hryckowian projected to fill out the group. Daily Faceoff has Steel there instead of Hryckowian, but both projections keep Benn and Duchene linked.
Benn appears to be heading into what could be the final season of his NHL career, and the expectation is that he can still chip in close to 40 points. Duchene missed time last season, but the scoring upside is still there when he’s healthy, with 60-point potential mentioned in the projection.
That line may need Duchene to do a lot of the heavy lifting offensively, especially with Benn and either Hryckowian or Steel on the wings.
At the bottom of the lineup, the fourth line is projected as Oskar Back, Radek Faksa and Colin Blackwell. That combination did not skate together last season, even though all three have established themselves as dependable depth pieces.
Faksa brings the defensive side and penalty-killing work. Back is in a contract year and looking to set a new career high after emerging as a steady 15-point scorer.
Blackwell is also in a contract year and chasing that same benchmark. Even so, they’re not locked in, with Arttu Hyry and newly signed Joel Kiviranta also in the mix for roster spots.
Taken together, the early projections suggest a Stars forward group built around a top line that already showed real results, a second line with bounce-back potential, and veteran depth that will have to hold off competition to stay in place.
In Other News...
Tyler Seguins Recovery Leaves One Big Question For Stars Fans
Tyler Seguin is back on the ice and back in the familiar grind of a comeback, skating again after the torn ACL that interrupted his season and sent the Stars into waiting mode. For a veteran who has been through plenty over the years, the return to skating is an encouraging marker, the kind that suggests the rehab is moving forward and the long road back is starting to feel a little more like hockey and a little less like a medical timeline.
The bigger issue for Dallas is the same one that hangs over every late-stage recovery: when, exactly, will Seguin be ready to play again? He talked about the difficulty of the process, and the Stars will keep watching each step closely as the regular season approaches. Even with progress on the ice, there is still uncertainty around his status for the opener, which leaves one of the teams most important forwards in the gray area between recovery and return. [Read more 🡒]
Tyler Seguins Latest Rehab Update Keeps Stars Fans On Edge
Tyler Seguins road back from ACL surgery has been anything but straightforward, and the Stars veteran made clear just how demanding the rehab has been as he works toward a return. He has not played since the December injury, has dealt with setbacks along the way and is now moving forward again, trying to get his body ready for training camp and a season opener that are suddenly not all that far away.
Seguin also revisited the broader story of his career health, including the hip surgeries that came before this knee issue, a reminder of how much wear and tear has piled up on one of Dallas most important players. For the Stars, the timing matters because Seguin is still a central piece of what they do, and every update on his recovery carries weight as the club inches closer to the start of camp. [Read more 🡒]
Stars Fans Have A Finnish Prospect Entering A Crucial Test
The NHL Prospect Games have given Dallas fans a useful snapshot of three Finnish names worth tracking, with Niilopekka Muhonen, Jesse Kiiskinen and Luka Arkko all part of the conversation. Muhonen has drawn attention for the kind of defensive game the Stars tend to value, while Kiiskinen remains the more obvious offense-first watch after a recent move to Detroit changed his path but not his reputation as a scorer.
For Dallas, Muhonen is the one who best fits the organizations long-term need for steady blue-line depth, even if he is still in the stage where every shift is part showcase, part test. The scouting read on him is all about whether his size and positioning can translate against faster pro pace, and these prospect games are exactly the sort of setting where a player can either strengthen that case or leave more questions hanging for the next stop on the ladder. [Read more 🡒]