‘Good On The Walls’: Glen Gulutzan Moves Arttu Hyry To Wing As Dallas Stars Shake Up Forward Lines
FRISCO, Texas — Dallas Stars coach Glen Gulutzan moved Arttu Hyry from center to the wing at practice Monday, putting him on a line with Jason Robertson and Roope Hintz before the team left for Washington. The switch was one of several changes to three of the Stars’ four forward lines, according to Stars Thoughts’ Robert Tiffin.
Hyry has centered the third line this season. He leads the Stars with a 62.3% success rate on faceoffs, averages 14:35 of ice time, and had a goal and an assist Saturday in a 3-1 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets. His goal went into an empty net with 0.3 seconds left.
“Artie’s played well for us,” Gulutzan said. “So a thought in my mind, even before the season started was, I like to have lefty/righty faceoff guys on the same line. Then you can start them anywhere in the zones.”
“So the thought with that is to let him get up and running,” Gulutzan continued. “He is up and running, so we’re gonna see how he does on the wing. He’s big. He’s heavy. He’s good on the walls. So that might be a fit.”
Gulutzan coached Dallas from 2011 to 2013 and used Jamie Benn at center during that stretch. On Monday, he also brought up Loui Eriksson, whom he moved to center for a few games when the Stars were short at the position.
“It adds to your skillset,” Gulutzan explained. “Once you play center, you touch a lot more parts of the game, you take faceoffs, you’re in the D zone, it helps your game.”
Justin Hryckowian Returns To Center Between Sam Steel And Tyler Seguin
Moving Hyry to the wing opened the third-line center spot for Justin Hryckowian, who practiced between Sam Steel and Tyler Seguin. Gulutzan brought up Hryckowian on his own Monday, after talking about what playing center did for Benn.
“One of the other things, too, is I thought Ritzy, his game is starting to come up,” Gulutzan said. “He played heavy, heavy minutes for us at center last year against top quality players. So getting him back to the middle can help out a little bit, too.”
Hryckowian signed a two-year, $1.9 million extension in January that runs through the 2027-28 season. He went undrafted out of Northeastern before signing with Dallas in March 2024.
Seguin played 27 games last season before a torn ACL ended his year. Steel returned Oct. 29 after missing two games.
Jamie Benn Joins Wyatt Johnston, Mikko Rantanen As Radek Faksa Returns
Benn moved up to the top line with Wyatt Johnston and Mikko Rantanen. He played on the third line with Hyry and David Perron in Saturday’s win, when Perron logged 11:31 in his Stars debut and the first game of his 20th NHL season.
Perron moved to the fourth line with Radek Faksa and Joel Kiviranta. Gulutzan said he expects Faksa to return Tuesday from an upper-body injury, and Colin Blackwell skated as the extra forward.
Rantanen leads Dallas with 7 goals, 10 assists, and 17 points through 14 games. Johnston has 3 goals, 8 assists, and 11 points in 12 games, and Robertson has 5 goals, 9 assists, and 14 points.
Gulutzan said the word “complacency” has come up in conversations about the Stars’ recent games, and that players raised it themselves. Dallas took a 2-0 lead into the first intermission Saturday against Columbus and was outshot 25-17 for the game.
The defense pairs stayed the same, with Esa Lindell and Miro Heiskanen, Thomas Harley and Nils Lundkvist, and Lian Bichsel and Tyler Myers. Jake Oettinger and Casey DeSmith were the goaltenders.
The Stars are 8-5-1 and fourth in the Central Division. Dallas visits the Washington Capitals on Tuesday at 6 p.m. CT, then plays at Columbus on Thursday at 6 p.m. CT.
