Surviving scars: How early season adversity is helping Stars build back stronger

Scar tissue is a fascinating phenomena.

You hurt yourself, and your body, on many occasions, builds itself back in a smarter way. Skin can become tougher, bones can become stronger. It’s as if the gods of biology know you need a boost.

Hockey teams can be sort of the same way. In a perfect world, you would want your roster to be healthy from the start of the season to the end, and you would want the perfect parts to get the most repetition possible. Uncertainty seems to stand in the way of that goal almost every time.

But like collagen, the chemical bond of a group of humans in an ice cold petri dish can be surprising.

So it is that the Stars are dealing with adversity and building back from it, they might actually be getting stronger.

Take Jamie Benn out of the lineup, and other players like Tyler Seguin, Miro Heiskanen and Esa Lindell have to step up as leaders. Sideline Matt Duchene for the last 17 games, and players like Wyatt Johnston, Sam Steel and Colin Blackwell get extra responsibility. Knock out half of your starting defensive group with injuries to Thomas Harley, Nils Lundkvist and Ilya Lyubushkin, and all manner of supplemental blueliners are elevated.

In Saturday’s 3-2 OT loss at Calgary, Heiskanen played a season-high 32:47. In the extra minutes he has received this season, Heiskanen has pushed his points per game totals to 0.86 – up from 0.50 last season.

That’s important for him at age 26 – and a pretty big deal for the Stars.

Remember that when Heiskanen went out with an injury last season, Harley took a step forward in his development. It’s a natural reaction to a little trauma for the team.

Likewise, Lian Bichsel and Alexander Petrovic have had to step up with the injuries on defense. Bichsel played 21:29 on Saturday, Petrovic played 21:13. Both were on the ice during the 4-on-4 overtime – something they have rarely done in their NHL career.

You have to figure that experience is going to help them.

Up front, the injuries are giving rookie Justin Hryckowian the chance to play bigger minutes and take some huge faceoffs. Steel was skating in a top six role until Benn returned from his injury, and he continues to be inserted at key times.

And remember that all of this is happening while Glen Gulutzan is the new head coach and both Neil Graham and David Pelletier are new assistants. This group is learning together, it is leaning on each other.

Kyle Capobianco and Vladislav Kolyachonok have served on the third defensive pairing over the past few games. That’s digging deep, but the Stars are finding ways to win while they are indeed discovering new gadgets in the toolbox every day.

And now comes word that Mikko Rantanen will miss at least one game. The big forward received his second game misconduct for boarding in a span of three games, so he will now have some time to sit and think during Tuesday’s game against the Oilers.

That also can be a good thing.

Not unlike the physical adversity being navigated by the injured players – or the added pressure being explored by their replacements – Rantanen is forced to study his role on the ice and in the dressing room.

After being acquired by the Stars last season and given the biggest contract on the team at $12 million per season, Rantanen is in an adjustment phase. He not only is in a different role than he was in Colorado (where he likely deferred to Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar), but he is being seen by the league in a different way.

In 11 years before this season, Rantanen never had a game misconduct and was never in a fight. In the past week, he has two misconducts and was part of a brawl because of the second one. He currently leads the NHL in penalty minutes with 57.

That average per game of 2:35 is slightly higher than the 0:37 he has averaged in his career, so there is definitely something that needs to be discussed.

But that’s the beauty of this process: The adversity has the ability to make you stronger. You can indeed get hurt and come back better.

Different….for sure…but certainly, possibly, better.

This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.

Mike Heika is a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on X @MikeHeika.