• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers
• Game Tracker

Spezza, Stars receive early test from Blackhawks

Oct 9, 2014 - 3:12 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - The Dallas Stars showed they are ready to compete again in a heavily-loaded Central Division by trading for Jason Spezza, adding the veteran to the young core of Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn.

The Stars get to see how they measure up right off the bat on Thursday night as they play host to the Chicago Blackhawks.

Under first-year Stars coach Lindy Ruff, the Stars made it to the postseason for the first time since 2008, but were bested in six games by the Anaheim Ducks in the opening round.

Still, Dallas is viewed as an up-and-coming club thanks to Seguin and Benn, and the duo got some help as the Stars acquired Spezza from the Ottawa Senators. The former captain of the Sens posted 23 goals and 66 points last season.

The Stars also signed forward Ales Hemsky to a three-year deal and he flashed chemistry a season ago with Spezza. Ottawa acquired Hemsky from Edmonton at the trade deadline and he went on to notch 17 points in 20 games as Spezza's linemate.

Spezza hopes to have the same kind of impact that Seguin has in his first season with Dallas. All Seguin did after being acquired from Boston was finish fourth in the NHL with 84 points off team highs of 37 goals and 47 assists.

Seguin also helped Benn break out, with the latter notching career highs of 34 goals and 45 assists.

With defenseman Sergei Gonchar on injured reserve with a fractured ankle, the Stars avoided another potential blow to their unremarkable blue line by finally signing restricted free agent Brenden Dillon to a one-year deal last Thursday. The 23-year-old had 17 points a season ago.

Kari Lehtonen expects to get the start in net for the Stars after appearing in 65 games a season ago. He is 5-6-2 with a 2.81 goals against average and .916 save percentage in 13 meetings with Chicago.

The deep Blackhawks kick off their season after coming within a game of making the Stanley Cup Finals. Aiming for their third championship in five years, Chicago instead lost a thrilling Game 7 to the Los Angeles Kings in overtime.

Chicago added just one big-name player over the offseason, inking center Brad Richards to a one-year deal after he was bought out by the New York Rangers. Richards, who spent parts of four seasons with the Stars from 2007-08 through 2010-11, had a decent 2013-14 campaign with 20 goals and 51 points in 82 games.

The big move this offseason was the signing of stars Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews to identical eight-year, $84 million extensions. The duo are the face of the franchise along with two-time and reigning Norris Trophy winner Duncan Keith, having each earned a Conn Smythe Trophy in the past five seasons.

The two performed again this past spring, with Kane notching 12 assists and 20 points in the playoffs and Toews potting nine goals with 17 points.

Chicago also returns excellent depth in the form of forwards Patrick Sharp and Marian Hossa, but something had to give and the club was forced to shed salary and deal away young defenseman Nick Leddy on Saturday. The 23-year-old was traded to the New York Islanders for defensemen T.J. Brennan and Ville Pokka as well as goaltender Anders Nilsson.

The loss of Leddy and an upper-body injury to Michal Rozsival saps a bit of depth from the blue line and forward Kris Versteeg also is expected to miss three weeks with a lower-body injury.

Getting the start in net for the Blackhawks should be Corey Crawford, who is 8-5-0 with a 2.40 GAA and .904 save percentage in 14 meetings with the Stars, all but one of those starts.

The Blackhawks were 4-1-0 versus the Stars a season ago and have won nine of the last 11 meetings overall. That includes six straight wins in Dallas.