Vancouver Canucks Game Day: Dallas GM Jim Nill Previews It

It seemed apparent Friday night when walking out of Rogers Arena after the Vancouver Canucks 3-2 loss to the Nashville Predators and seeing the Dallas Stars hockey bags, that the team came in quickly after it’s win in Calgary Thursday night and would probably be taking advantage of some fine BC hospitality and putting together an early season team dinner on the road. And that’s exactly what happened.

So the Stars had a little time to settle into Vancouver and prepare for Sunday evening’s tilt against the Canucks, an opportunity for Dallas to take five of a possible six points on their brief swing through Canada. They lost to Winnipeg in a shoot-out 4-3 on Tuesday before defeating the Flames by the same score in overtime two nights later to even their record at 4-4-2.

This is a club that lost the Stanley Cup Final in 2020, only to miss the playoffs last season with a slew of injuries that included veteran scorer Tyler Seguin and goalie Ben Bishop. Bishop remains with the club on Long Term Injured Reserve with a knee injury. Seguin presently has six points in ten games, good for second in scoring on a team that, similar to the Vancouver Canucks, has been desperate for more offensive production.

This summer, Stars General Manager Jim Nill signed goaltender Braden Holtby following his single season, 21-game stint with the Vancouver Canucks, and also added defenceman Ryan Suter, who became a free agent after being bought out by the Minnesota Wild. The Suter – John Klingberg D-combo is one worth watching, one of the topics of our quickie audio game preview with the Stars GM.

Anton Khudobin and Thatcher Demko are slated to be the starting netminders for Sunday night.

The Vancouver Canucks finish up their seven game homestand on Tuesday night against the high-flying Anaheim Ducks.