Stars forward Wyatt Johnston has emerged as one of the top young players in the NHL. He joins Dallas’ top line this season.
Johnston has been one of the Stars’ best players during his first two years. He is leading the team in goals as a sophomore and threatening team records as a rookie.
As great as he has been, the third-year forward faces new challenges in 2024. An increased role and getting used to playing with new linemates.
The Dallas Top Line
Johnston has spent most of his career playing alongside captain Jamie Benn. Last season, it was most often Evgenii Dadonov. He has also played with Ty Dellandrea (now with San Jose) and Mason Marchment.
This year, Johnston projected to join Stars’ first line He will be replacing his mentor Joe Pavelski next to Roope Hintz and Jason Robertson. While the change could affect his game, it isn’t changing his approach as he navigates training camp.
“I’m just doing what I can to play good hockey, make plays, and do what makes me as a player successful — which will ultimately help the team,” Johnston told the media earlier this week. “At the end of the day, I don’t think it really matters who you’re playing with. … They’re all good players, and it’s awesome to play with anyone on the team. At the end of the day, I’m just trying to support my linemates and help the team win.”
Robertson is missing from training camp after undergoing surgery to remove a cyst from his foot. That won’t give the trio much time to work together before opening night, but it will not be the first time they’ll work together in a game. They played in 13 games as a line last season and finished as the Stars’ most productive unit, scoring nine goals and only allowing one.
It’s an extremely small sample size, but it could be a sign of things to come. Johnston is a dynamic player. His ability to work hard has allowed him to reach this point.
Wyatt Johnston’s Expanded Role
As alluded to above, Wyatt Johnston has played most of his career along the bottom two lines in Dallas and thrived. I wouldn’t expect much, if any, drop off from the change as the Stars run a system that makes things interchangeable and allows the use of many different combinations throughout the game.
However, the line change isn’t the only increased responsibility Johnston may have. He has proven himself a vital asset on the penalty kill, helping create shorthanded scoring opportunities alongside guys like Sam Steel and Radek Faksa. With Faksa getting traded to St. Louis and other penalty-killers departing, the Johnston-Steel penalty-kill pairing could become a staple for Dallas this season.
“He’s obviously a great player. He’s easy to read off,” Steel said of playing with Johnston. “I think he reads off me well, too. We had a little bit of success there, and we did well. We’ll see what happens, who they throw together, and whatnot, but we did good things down the stretch last year.”
Preseason Johnston
Johnston is using the Stars’ preseason games to ready himself for the challenges awaiting him this season. If the early returns are any indication, he’ll be just fine. He seems to be picking up right where he left off with a goal in two preseason appearances thus far.
Increasing his role and putting him in spots where — not only he can thrive — but others can feed off his success could bring even more great opportunities for the Dallas Stars. With certain losses, he is a player to watch for in 2024-25.
Main Photo: Chris Jones-Imagn Images
