Adam Erne Earns Contract with Dallas: Stars Roster is Complete Ahead of Winnipeg Clash!

Adam Erne Earns Contract with Dallas: Stars Roster is Complete Ahead of Winnipeg Clash!

After some finishing touches, the Dallas Stars opening night roster is complete, including the signing of Adam Ernie to a two-way contract. We’ll discuss that, what lines and pairings to expect on Thursday night, and more. Your Locked On Stars, your daily podcast on the Dallas Stars, part of the Locked On Network, your team every day. Howdy stars fans. I’m Joey Ericson, former producer of 105 through the fan. Please be sure to subscribe. We are free available wherever you get your podcast and on YouTube. And as always, thank you so much for making us a part of your day and making us your first listen. Welcome to a Wednesday edition of Locked On Stars, part of Locked on Podcast Network, your team every single day. Today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Download the FanDuel app now by visiting FanDuel.com and win $300 in bonus bets if your first $5 bet wins. We’re one day away from Dallas Stars Hockey beginning the 202526 season against the Winnipeg Jets. Cannot wait. Just 24 hours away. Stars fans, one more sleep. So, let’s discuss the opening night roster. Talk about some of the line combinations, the pairings on the back end, and plenty more. So much to get into on this Wednesday edition. Please sure to like, comment, subscribe, hit that notification bell, and get ready. Buckle up for another great season of Stars Hockey. We’re going to finish out the show talking about some power rankings as well. Sportsnet put out their first edition of power rankings. Where did the Dallas Stars fall? You have to find out a bit later on. But let’s talk about this opening night roster. So, the Stars have made some finishing touches, so to speak, and it looks like they’re going to carry 13 forwards and seven defensemen into tomorrow night against Winnipeg. And the last move they just made as of a couple of hours ago, when I’m recording this on Tuesday evening, Harrison Scott and Trey Taylor have been loaned back to Texas and Justin Ritzovian has been recalled. He has certainly earned a spot on the Dallas Stars. Who knows if he’s going to play tomorrow, but it looks like he will be the 13th Ford at least for the Dallas Stars. And we’ll go ahead and talk about Adam Ernie as well. That’s someone I forgot to mention yesterday, and he was in training camp on a professional tryyout. He looked really good. He has over 300 games of NHL experience. We’ve touched on him a bit over the last few weeks during the preseason. Plays just a physical fourthline type of role and he’s even mentioned he’s just a role guy. He’s not going to uh stuff the stat sheet. He understands who he is. He’s coming off an injury. He actually has a relationship with Glenn Gooson uh going back to to Edmonton a couple years ago. He played in 24 games and he plays just a real physical brand of hockey. And that of course is what Dallas is looking for a little more of. And he he’s 30 as well, so he’s a grown-up in the room. There has been a lot of talk about how everybody loves him within the dressing room. So just an overall good character and congratulations to him for earning a spot a as well coming on a PTO and um he’s looked really good. Uh last season he was with the Hart Hartford Wolfpack of the American Hockey League. Um he’s 6’1, he’s 209 pounds, and as I mentioned, 379 games in the NHL, 41 goals, 50 assists, and uh 91 points. Uh he played 24 games with Edmonton during the 23 uh 24 season. Uh as I mentioned, he he’s coming off some some hit surgery. Um so, um he’s still sort of uh working himself back into shape, but from what we’ve seen during some of the preseason games, uh he’s looked really good. and um a guy that I I think um may fill in really nicely on the fourth line and with the injury to Ben. Also, it is a two-way contract. So, in theory, uh if Ben does come back, um which he’s going to come back at some point, it’s not if, it’s a it’s a matter of when Ernie can be sent back down to Texas um to play in the AHL. Uh that’s at least what you uh would uh think would happen when Ben returns um at some point this season. But uh the 13 Fords the Stars may carry uh we’ll go down the list. You have Hints, Steel, Rantin, you got Duchain, Blackwell, Sean, Robertson, Johnston Bourke, Ernie Fox, Sebastian, and Justin Ritzian who was just called. On defense, you have Lindell, Hastenan, Harley, Lanquist, Bishel was also brought up earlier in the day. That was to be expected. Have Labouchkin and Petravic. Again, a round of applause for Petravic. He’s he’s earned a shot at at being a full-time NHL defenseman over the last couple years. Has looked really good in the postseason. Him and Bishel were just an awesome duo for Dallas during the the playoffs last spring. Love to to see them get another crack at it. And as I sort of touched on it yesterday, it gives Labouchkin a chance to rest every once in a while. We all know what Petravic can bring. He’s solid, stable. D has stable pairings on the back end. So Petravic is your seventh defenseman. Of course, you have Beck on the IR. You have Ben on the LTIR. Uh Beck is not expected. There was an update. Beck is not expected to play over the weekend as well. He’s expected to miss the first couple of games. Minnesota, which is a Star’s third game, may be an option, but it it looks like he’s certainly out for tomorrow against Winnipeg and then on the weekend um against Colorado. So, that is your 13 Ford and seven defenseman lineup. And of course, you have Jake Goter and Casey De Smith as your two net minders. But, uh did want to update you on some of the the signings the stars have made or just the roster moves. Again, congratulations to Adam Ernie. um at 30 years old coming on on a PTO. Um that just shows a lot of heart. I think it shows what kind of player he is. Um and maybe even more importantly a person that um he got himself uh into the locker room, the dressing room, and uh became sort of a favorite right away. Uh and for him to sort of get a shot um and who knows if he’s he’s going to stick um but to at least earn a shot this season, I think says a lot about a player. So, I think that’s just a remarkable remarkable story. Uh, Ritz Scovian, too, right? He he he deserves it after what we’ve seen. Um, and and let’s face it, this could be a a player that sticks for for Dallas. this could very well be an opportunity for Ritzcoian to prove himself in the first month, month and a half of the season and potentially stick and uh be a a young guy that contributes this season um in Dallas. Uh I I I just think he has a pretty high ceiling. Uh maybe not high ceiling, but um I think he has a a pretty nice ceiling offensively. Um, and let’s face it, Dallas is gonna need some some depth scoring. I think there’s some questions there with Ben out. They’re a little slimmer than they have been in years past. Um, and if Fritzcoian can can pitch in a little bit up front, which I I think he can after what we’ve seen, uh, I uh I I just I think that’s a great great thing for for for Dallas. Um, and if he does stick around, that’s even better. um if if if he can play meaningful minutes um and get an opportunity um to to contribute this season. So, I’m looking forward to to watching him play. I’ve liked what we’ve seen. Now, of course, you’re going up against different competition. You’re going to be playing the best of the best now, night in night out, playing a heavy schedule that of course can have effects on young players. But, uh I’m intrigued to to see how uh the sort of experiment goes here um early this season. But, uh, I’m fired up for some Stars hockey. The the roster’s complete. I know it came out yesterday and everybody’s a bit boggled. They’re like, “What’s going on here?” They finally made some some finishing touches. Um, and it doesn’t look like the Stars are going to make any more moves. If you are curious about the cap space, so the Stars have 80 grand, 81 grand of current cap space. So, they are in the green. Their projected cap space um is in the negative. Uh but uh their current cap space is in the green, so they’re all good. Ben was moved to the LTIR. Beck is on the IR as well. I would suspect maybe six, seven days Beck uh is out and then he will uh rejoin um rejoin the side. Um the Stars may have to make a move then. Um I don’t know exactly who they would maybe send down to to make some room. Uh may maybe that is a Ritzcoian if they would rather keep Ernie up. Maybe it’s it’s Ernie. Um so uh we’ll uh we’ll we’ll sort of cross that bridge when we get there. Um but we’ve mentioned the opening night roster. I’ve gave you the the lineup. Now the lines um from practice a little bit different. They vary um quite a bit from what I even predicted yesterday. So, I want to share some of that with you now with the signing of Adam Ernie and uh recalling Justin Rgoian. We’ll do that in just a moment. Today’s episode of Locked On Stars is brought to you by Indeed. You just realized your business needed to hire someone yesterday. How can you find amazing candidates fast? Easy. Just use Indeed. When it comes to hiring, Indeed is all you need. Stop struggling to get your job post seen on other sites. Indeed sponsored jobs put your post at the top of the page and help you reach the right candidates faster. Sometimes you’ve been in a spot where you need to hire someone like yesterday. The pressure is on every day without that right person can be a setback. That’s exactly why Indeed sponsored jobs come in handy. They make sure your post is seen by the right candidates right now. Now you can speed up that hiring process with a $75 sponsor job credit. Just go to indeed.com/lockedon right now. Support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Hiring Indeed is all you need. I do apologize if some of the the quality of the last week and a half, maybe two weeks of episodes have have not been uh I guess up to to my standards. Uh, I just have not had Wi-Fi in my apartment the last month, so I’m having to use a hot spot. Um, from what it seems like, it’s been okay. Uh, but just rather rather rather infuriating to to be completely honest, but we’re trying to to get it uh we’re trying to get rectified and all that uh good stuff. Um, if you are looking for some season predictions, I did those yesterday. Um, on yesterday’s episode, I dropped my official predictions, kind of rank the West, um, and, uh, and where I see kind of the stars falling in and some other bold predictions, which are always fun. So, you can catch that from uh, from yesterday’s show. Now, um, some of the lines from practice because, uh, these are fascinating. Um, and maybe the stars are going to give Sam Stole an even bigger role than I thought. Um because I did predict yesterday that the Stars wouldn’t overthink it much. Um and they would just put Robo with hints um and Ransin. But practice today on Tuesday, Steel was on the left wing with Hints and Ransin. I don’t hate it, but Steel may get a shot here with Hints and Rantin. Colin Blackwell was with Duchain and Sean. Now that is fascinating. Look, Duchain and Sean don’t grade out the best defensively. Uh, Blackwell is more of kind of a defensive guy. So, uh, maybe that’s sort of the idea behind sort of throwing Blackwell up uh, with with Duchain and Sean gives them somebody responsible. Um, and sort of similar to Steel like just plays a simple direct game. So I I I can certainly see the perspective uh of why Goldson would maybe try Blackwell with Duchain and Sean. Now I’m fascinated to see how it all gets executed. Um but hey, they uh they’re going to try it. It seems like Steel, again, I think this goes back to sort of the the point I’ve been making over the last few weeks. Sometimes it’s not just the obvious choice. Sometimes it’s a guy like Steel. He doesn’t have an overly elite skill set really maybe in anything. Uh penalty kill um to be fair, but it’s not like he’s gonna uh make your jaw drop offensively, but sometimes those are great compliments. Uh when you have two elite players, it’s not like you you always need to have three elite players um on a line to make it good. Um you can look around the league. That’s the case. Um then you have Johnson, Robertson, and Bourke, which woo that is sexy in my eyes. That that’s that is that’s pretty sexy. Uh Jonathan Bour Robo. Um and then you have Fox, Sebastian, Ernie. I just I like that. Sort of a rough and tough rumbling fourth line. Can set the tone for you. I’d love to see them start in Winnipeg. They’re on the road. You just chuck out that fourth line and let them go pound somebody into the end wall right off the hop um on the forch check. Um we’ll see if Ritz Going gets a spot, right? We’ll we’ll we’ll see. Um, maybe if he jumps in, I could see Ritz Scovian playing with Deshaine and Sean. Maybe Blackwell drops in u to the fourth line. Ernie’s out. Uh, or maybe Blackwell’s the third man. Maybe he’s the odd man out. Maybe he’s just a placeholder in practice today with Duchen Sean. That could be always a possibility, too. Um, so we’ll continue to monitor that. Again, we probably won’t know until maybe even warm-ups um or morning skate um tomorrow morning. Uh on the back end, pretty much what we’ve seen all preseason long throughout training camp, throughout practices, all that good stuff. You have Lindell, you have Hayeskin, you have Harley, Lungquist, Bishop Labouchkin, Petravic is your seventh D. Uh the power play units, Hastenan, Rantin, and Johnston, hence Robo, power play unit one, Harley, Sean, Bour, Steel, Duchain. It does seem like the Stars are going to leave out Ransin for both power plays. That is to be expected. He may just stay out for both units. I would imagine Steel is the placeholder there. Um does he stay out for the full two minutes? I don’t know. Uh, I imagine he’ll just kind of stay on for maybe 30, 45 seconds depending on whatever the overlap is and then maybe he gets off um and and still jumps on uh for the you know final 15 maybe even half a minute uh depending on how the power play set is going. But uh really really good stuff. Of course like the Stars have a ton of talent on their on their their power play units. Uh one of my bold predictions was little sneak peek if you haven’t listened to yesterday’s episode. Stars power play um is going to lead the league. They’re gonna have the highest power play percentage uh next season. I’m kind of uh throwing that out there with Golson and Graham um trying to to get this power play going. Um again, Harley on your second unit. So, they’re going to give Hastin a crack at it. Um at the top, look, I’ve I’ve been on record saying I I think it’s fair to give Harley uh Harley the reigns. Um, I imagine it will be sort of a a short leash to some degree. Um, if it’s not working right off the hop with with four, uh, they could, uh, they could move right to Harley. But I have to say, I think there’s going to be, well, not think there is going to be a change in how Dallas is attacking on the power play. And I think it’s gonna really benefit mero because I feel like in the last couple years Miro has just been real stagnant and he’s been asked to just stay sort of near the top of the blue line, kind of the the 131, right? He’s scored the tip of the umbrella and he’s just dealing with distributing and shooting. I think there’s going to be a lot more movement in this power play. Mero’s going to move around. He’s not going to just be as century located on the ice. He may move down the left wing. He may be crisscrossing with Rantin. So, I think he’s going to uh allow some more freedom to make plays. Um, and that I I I believe is is going to help him offensively and will allow him to to maybe pitch in a bit more offensively than he has over the past couple years. We’ve been expecting a bit more. Hasn’t quite materialized. We know it’s in there. His 70 points a couple years ago. He can be that type, especially on the power play. I think 36 of those points were on the man advantage. It was somewhere 34 36 uh whatever it was. He can be lethal. Um so he’s going to get that that chance and if not you you know Harley can can run it um and be really successful at it after what we saw last season uh when Mero went down. So that’s uh what sort of the lineup looks like. I’m curious um concerns about it uh maybe going into the season. Look, I’m I’m all on board. just kind of letting it take place, watching it against, you know, the best of the best now and u and then having criticisms or whatnot, but um they they seem to to have an idea of of what they’re um going to trot out there. Um I’m curious to to see what it looks like. Um, again, I I think that that Robo Johnston Bour trio could be that could end up being your your second line. Um, towards, you know, early late, maybe even November, you’re thinking that that line is maybe your actual second line. Um, uh, just because they they want to keep Johnson at at center, right? They want to keep him involved. It allows them to impact the game more. So, uh, he’s sort of your your your third line center. Um, and then Duchain come out of the two-hole is is not bad. A guy that of course had, uh, 82 points, uh, a season ago. So, the Stars are in good shape. Um, again, are are they going to be as deep offensively last year? I I don’t know. Um, I they’re they’re not going to have as many what 20 goal scorers, I would predict. um or even guys that reach maybe the 15 mark as as they’ve had last couple years, right? The one year what they had eight guys that reached 20 goals. That’s not going to be this type of offense, but they do have Ranson in for 82 games. I mean, they got some some guys that can be elite scorers. still am optimistic about what Sean can be um and and and and be pretty pretty good um and and and chip in some some meaningful offense for you. So um I’m I’m uh I’m bullish I’m bullish right now um because it’s game one uh game 20 we’re going to be asking different questions but I’m fascinated to see how it all transpires and really really looking forward to it. Now where do you see Dallas this season? How do you see them in the scope of the entire NHL? Sportset came out with their first edition of the power rankings. Where do the stars fall into place? I’ll tell you in just a moment. You may be shocked. 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I’m going to give everybody three guesses in the comments below. to pause the video and then I tell you. But three guesses on where the stars fall on the first edition of NHL Power Rankings by Sports Net because I think it’s going to shock some of you. Um, so pause the video, let me know. Um, your top 10 looks like this. Number 10, we’re going to go in order. We’re going to go down. Number 10, the Tampa Bay Lightning. Then you have the New Jersey Devils. You have the Washington Capitals. Winnipeg Jets coming in at number seven, Toronto Maple Leafs. Number six. Number five, the Edmonton Oilers. Still haven’t got to Dallas yet. Number four, Colorado Avalanche. Two of the teams the Stars played last spring. Number three, Carolina Hurricanes. Number two, is this where they come? No, the Vegas Golden Knights at number two, who I’m pretty high on this this year, which again, I hate to say, are the Stars out of the top 10? No, we haven’t got to number one yet. This is via Ryan Dixon, by the way, the Dallas Stars, the number one team and the NHL power rankings. Um, that may be a bit too high. Um, not that I I don’t believe the Stars can be one of the better teams. um in the NHL. Uh but uh one is is is I think um really really high. Obviously it’s the highest you could be, but uh man um I would sort of put the Stars I think right now I would I would maybe replace him with the Jets. I put them sort of in the seven category. Uh I wouldn’t put the Winnipeg up one, but I I think I would put them in in the seven. Uh maybe that’s too harsh. Um, but with with Ben out and some other injuries, if you’re going to have power rankings going into the season, um, this isn’t the Star’s best lineup. I think that’s fair to say. Um, so I don’t know if I’d have won, but hey, uh, I I like that that Ryan is is high on the on the Stars, but that is your top 10. Um, I’m curious if any of you really would have thought the Stars would come in at number one. Where would you sort of put the Stars? um if if you had to to rank, but the the 16 teams and I kind of see this as maybe the 16 teams that would make the playoffs. I know it’s not perfect um with, you know, eight and eight, but um to round out sort of your top 16, you have New York, Montreal, Ottawa, Minnesota, LA, Florida. Um some teams that are getting some love. So, um I I again, little sneak peek of what I said from yesterday’s episode of my predictions. I got Vancouver making the playoffs this year. Just feel like every year you got two teams that kind of come out. You have two teams that kind of jump in. Uh I’m hating Winnipeg. So I have Winnipeg dropping out. Uh which could really bite me in the rear. Um I’m not showing any love to Utah again. That could be one that bites me in the rear by Vancouver sort of jumping in. Um I’ve seen a lot of predictions with St. Louis uh not making the playoffs, which I find a bit odd, but maybe I’m too bullish on them. I I just I liked them a year ago. I think they’ve gotten better. Uh maybe it’s just because they play the Stars really well every time. So, um I I I think they may make the playoffs comfortably. Um I I’ll be honest with you. Um but again, I got fooled by Nashville, right? I was the one hyping them up. Like they’re going to finish third in the division. They’re going to be awesome. Um and of course, they were out of the race basically at the beginning of November. Um they were just atrocious. So maybe there’s there’s one team out there. Maybe it’s Winnipeg this year. Um but um thought that was a really curious uh power ranking. Um and did want to to share that your Dallas Stars coming in at number one via Ryan. So heck yeah. Some uh some fun fun stuff. There you go. Um that is a Wednesday edition of Locked on Stars kind of getting you set. Uh congrats again. Big time. Congrats Adam Ernie Petravic making the Sovian they earned it. Um, and it’s nice to see uh some of these guys get rewarded. I was a bit nervous that Ritz Scovian wasn’t going to make it. Uh, with Ernie being signed, I’m like, ah, maybe uh maybe Ritzovian is is going to miss out. I think that would have stumped just um because um he he did a lot of great things throughout uh throughout camp. Um please be sure like, comment, subscribe, uh hit that notification bell. You can follow us at Lockdown Stars on Twitter. Uh you just retweet some some stuff there. just kind of keep everything um up to date. But I’m excited for another season which kicks off tomorrow. We’ll have a little preview episode uh for you. Hoping I can maybe do a crossover episode um with Harrison of Locked on Jets. Um he’s a lot of fun as always. Get his perspective. I can maybe tell him that I’m not very high on your Jets this season. Maybe um uh he can uh he can yell at me. No, he’s not like that. He’s very softspoken, but uh he can tell me why I’m wrong. Uh, which I I probably am. Let’s be Let’s be fair. I just say a lot of crazy things. I’m sorry. You can find a lot of stuff uh that I’ve said wrong over the past couple seasons on Locked on Stars. But enough rambling for me. Have a great rest of your day. One more sleep. It is Christmas Eve for Stars fans everywhere. And uh we’ll catch you on tomorrow’s episode. Getting you ready for Jet Stars opening night. See you next day. Tomorrow. Bye.

Dallas Stars stun NHL with #1 power ranking. Is this lofty placement justified as the season kicks off? Joey Erickson breaks down the Stars’ opening night roster, highlighting Adam Ernie’s impressive signing and the intriguing line combinations. The discussion covers Colin Blackwell’s defensive role alongside Duchene and Seguin, power play strategies featuring Miro Heiskanen, and potential breakout performers. Erickson analyzes Sportsnet’s controversial NHL rankings, weighing Dallas’s strengths against tough competition from Colorado, Vegas, and others. Will the Stars live up to the hype? Can their revamped lineup dominate the Western Conference? Tune in for expert insights on Dallas’s path to Stanley Cup contention.

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