When the Dallas Stars began training camp this season, the team split up into two main groups — the main roster and those bound for the AHL or taxi squad. Rookie Ty Dellandrea skated with the latter, signaling that the coaching staff perhaps didn’t feel he was quite ready for the NHL.
Two games and a COVID-19 breakout later, head coach Rick Bowness and his staff are singing a different tune. Filling in for Blake Comeau — who is still on the team’s COVID-19 protocol-related absence list — Dellandrea has been one of the most heavily-used forwards on the team.