First Shift \ud83c\udfd2<\/p>\n
One of the players most affected by the Stars\u2019 coaching change this season is Mavrik Bourque<\/a>.<\/p>\n The 24-year-old forward has not only benefitted from the approach of new bench boss Glen Gulutzan, he also has received a big boost from the elevation of assistant coach Neil Graham. You see, Graham was the head coach of the Texas Stars when Bourque won the league MVP in 2024, and that connection is important.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been a big part of who I am as a player and a person,\u201d Bourque said of his relationship with Graham. \u201cHim being here has helped me along the way. I think he knows how to press the right buttons. I really appreciate that he is here.\u201d<\/p>\n Bourque is in an interesting part of his career. He had a spectacular season in the AHL alongside Logan Stankoven, and then Stankoven was traded in the\u00a0Rantanen deal. The Stars this season decided to not bring back Mikael Granlund, Mason Marchment and Evgenii Dadonov, opening up a great deal of opportunity. And, then the new coaching staff had to shuffle their forwards while players like Benn, Duchene and Seguin were out with injuries.<\/p>\n That was great for Bourque, but his numbers didn\u2019t reflect it. He had 3 points in October, 6 points in November and just 4 in December. For a guy that had been a pretty successful scorer in the minors and a first-round pick (30th\u00a0overall) in 2020, you could say there was a little lacking.<\/p>\n Now Bourque was playing good defense and helping a grind line with Justin Hryckowian<\/a> and Oskar B\u00e4ck<\/a>\u00a0create energy, but he needed something more. He might have found that in Gulutzan\u2019s plea for \u201cone degree more.\u201d The strategy is aimed at helping the Stars be a little more intense, a little more physical, \u00a0and Bourque has been that.<\/p>\n In the month of March, he had 5 goals among 12 points and averaged 17:42 in time on ice. He has become one of the team\u2019s real answers as forwards have had to step in for a large group of injured teammates.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was probably our best player,\u201d Gulutzan said after a win over Winnipeg. \u201cHe\u2019s just getting stronger and stronger and more comfortable and more confident. You can see his talent coming out, and confidence is a big thing.\u201d<\/p>\n Bourque said he feels it too.<\/p>\n \u201cIt takes time,\u201d he said. \u201cIt took me over a year to be a good player in the AHL. It took me half a season in junior. I feel like I\u2019m finding a way to establish myself here, but at the same time it\u2019s such a good league that it can humble you pretty quick.\u201d<\/p>\n That attitude is one reason the coaches are so excited about helping Bourque build his game. They know what he can do, and they know he wants to work hard to get there.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just that they\u2019re playing, they\u2019re not thinking,\u201d Gulutzan said of the process that builds confidence. \u201cThey have confidence to hold a little bit, and they\u2019ve run the scenarios, they can make the right play at the right time, whether the chip with the blue line or make a play. They just got comfortable playing in the league, and they\u2019re growing in the league, and that\u2019s what Bourque is doing.\u201d<\/p>\n And now, he has the chance to take another step in the playoffs. Bourque last season played just three post-season games. This year, he is expected to fill the spot of Granlund or Marchment or Seguin. He\u2019s already showing that now.<\/p>\n \u201cDefinitely, when you play a team like Colorado, like Minnesota, like Winnipeg, there is always something more on the line,\u201d Bourque said. \u201cI think (the physicality) has helped my game, winning more battles and generating more levels. I think I can get to another level.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"First Shift \ud83c\udfd2 One of the players most affected by the Stars\u2019 coaching change this season is Mavrik…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":548598,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5117],"tags":[196,147,5278,5,4,197],"class_list":{"0":"post-548597","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas-stars","8":"tag-dallas","9":"tag-dallas-stars","10":"tag-dallasstars","11":"tag-hockey","12":"tag-nhl","13":"tag-stars"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116373781570200528","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=548597"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548597\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/548598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=548597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=548597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=548597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}