Likely still reeling from their Stanley Cup Finals loss at the hands of the champion Tampa Bay Lightning, the Dallas Stars opened training camp on Sunday with a pair of notable absences.
Per The Athletic's Saad Yousuf, Russian netminder Anton Khudobin faced some immigration issues that have prevented him from joining the team for the start of training camp.
Khudobin appeared in 30 regular season games for the Stars last season, compiling a 16-8-4 record, boasting a lofty .930 SV% to go along with a 2.22 GAA last season. Though his regular season efforts were certainly enough to move the needle on their own, Khudobin's playoff heroics in relief of the injured Ben Bishop is what really jumped off the page.
In a playoff run that saw the backup start 24 games and appear in 25 for the Stars, Khudobin managed to help his squad knock off the Calgary Flames, Colorado Avalanche, Vegas Golden Knights and push the eventual Cup winners, the Tampa Bay Lightning to six games in the Stanley Cup Finals, giving his team every chance to win. Not bad for a career backup.
In addition to starting off training camp without the likes of Khudobin, the Stars are also without the services of veteran forward Joe Pavelski, who signed with the Stars as a free agent ahead of the 2019 season.
The long-time San Jose Shark registered 31 points in 67 games in his first season in Dallas in 2019-20, producing an additional 19 points 27 playoff games in the Edmonton bubble.
As of now, Pavelski, 36, is listed as day-to-day while he awaits results from medicals. The Stars have not expressed concern with either absence at this time. The hope is to have both Khudobin and Pavelski available to the team prior to the end of training camp.
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