Dallas Stars Welcome Jason Robertson Back to Practice

“We are a better team today than we were yesterday with him out there.”

That was Dallas Stars Head Coach Pete DeBoer’s assessment of life with Jason Robertson back on the ice in Frisco. The newly-signed Robertson had his first practice with his teammates this morning since signing a new four-year deal on Wednesday night. DeBoer slotted Robertson back with familiar line-mates Roope Hintz and Joe Pavelski. The Avengers had assembled and the coach was impressed.

“It changes our lineup obviously, changes our power play. He's an elite player. He hadn’t obviously been with the group before, but to jump in mid-training camp like that after sitting for as long as he did, I’m pretty impressed with his skill level. He's excited to be here, the guys were excited he's here, so you can already see the difference he makes on the power play for us.”

DeBoer also seemed comfortable with the one-week time frame for Robo to ramp up for the regular season.

“A week is better than a couple days and he's in good shape. He walked in and he looks like he's been working really hard on the offseason.That's a good sign and I'll try and get him up to speed as quickly as we can.”

Other Notes from practice:

The Stars placed Goaltender Anton Khudobin on waivers. If he clears, Khudobin is likely to head for Cedar Park and the AHL squad. In three preseason games, the veteran netminder went 0-3 with a GAA of 5.47 and a save percentage of .839.

Ty Dellandrea has been skating this week on his own prior to Stars practice. He is expected to join the team for full practice starting on Monday.

With Robertson signed and the Stars almost at the Salary Cap maximum, DeBoer expects to start the season with a 22 man roster consisting of 13 forwards, 7 defensemen and 2 goaltenders.