Texas Stars Announce 2023-24 Opening Night Roster
Oct 12, 2023CEDAR PARK, Texas -- The Texas Stars, American Hockey League affiliate of the NHL’s Dallas Stars, announced its opening night roster today ahead of the team’s 15th anniversary season. The roster consists of 25 players, including 15 forwards, eight defensemen and two goaltenders.
The Stars will open up their season on home ice for the third consecutive season and 11th time in team history, when they welcome the Tucson Roadrunners to the H-E-B Center at Cedar Park at 7:00 p.m. Friday. The same two teams will face-off Saturday and fans can pick up a Texas Stars magnet schedule giveaway both nights.
Friday’s game will start with the raising of the 2022-23 Central Division Championship banner, and fans are also encouraged to arrive early Saturday to receive the 15th anniversary T-shirt giveaway. Tickets are on sale at www.texasstars.com/tickets.
Click here to view the full roster
Forwards (15):
Francesco Arcuri, Oskar Back, Ben Berard, Matej Blumel, Mavrik Bourque, Nick Caamano, Riley Damiani, Fredrik Karlstrom, Keaton Mastrodonato, Kyle McDonald, Curtis McKenzie, Scott Reedy, Matthew Seminoff, Logan Stankoven, Antonio Stranges
Defensemen (8):
Gavin Bayreuther, Lian Bichsel, Artem Grushnikov, Michael Karow, Christian Kyrou, Alexander Petrovic, Derrick Pouliot, Gavin White
Goaltenders (2):
Matt Murray, Remi Poirier
BY COUNTRY
Canada: 15, USA: 5, Sweden: 2, Czech Republic: 1, Russia: 1, Switzerland: 1
EXPERIENCE
The Stars’ 2023-24 opening night roster has a combined 2,351 regular season games of AHL experience and 800 games of NHL experience. The 23 skaters have a combined 1,276 AHL points (441 -835=1,276).
The two goaltenders have a combined record of 32-16-7 in 56 career AHL games.
Captain Curtis McKenzie is the most experienced player on the team with 523 career regular season AHL games played. His 622 professional games (including 99 NHL games) is two more than Alexander Petrovic’s 620. Petrovic has appeared in 357 regular season AHL games and 263 NHL games. The Stars have two other veteran players, including defensemen Derrick Pouliot (276 AHL games and 221 NHL games) and Gavin Bayreuther (221 AHL games and 122 NHL games). Bayreuther returns to Texas, where he started his career from 2017-2020.
The Stars return 13 players from the 2022-23 team that won the Central Division and participated in the Calder Cup Playoffs, including forwards Oskar Back, Matej Blumel, Mavrik Bourque, Nick Caamano, Riley Damiani, Fredrik Karlstrom, Curtis McKenzie, Scott Reedy and Antonio Stranges, defensemen Michael Karow and Alexander Petrovic, and goaltenders Matt Murray and Remi Poirier.
Texas also carries 10 rookies on its opening day roster, including Dallas Stars 2021 second round pick Logan Stankoven and 2022 first round pick Lian Bichsel. Of the rookies, only three have played an AHL game, including Ben Berard (2), Keaton Mastrodonato (2) and Artem Grushnikov (1). Bichsel played the last two seasons professionally in Sweden, but the remaining six have yet to make their professional debuts, including Francesco Arcuri, Christian Kyrou, Kyle McDonald, Matthew Seminoff, Stankoven and Gavin White.
SIZE
Average Height: 73 inches - 6'1", Tallest: Bichsel (78 inches - 6'6"), Shortest: Stankoven (67 inches - 5'7")
Average Weight: 196 pounds, Heaviest: Bichsel (225 pounds); Lightest: Stranges (168 pounds)
Average Age: 23.32, Oldest: McKenzie (32), Youngest: Bichsel, Seminoff (19)