A wild night at American Airlines Center on Thursday may have served as the breakout party for a Dallas Stars youngster.
Stars’ rookie Justin Hryckowian is the talk of the NHL after his wild night that saw him take on half the Edmonton Oilers roster himself during Dallas’ 7-2 smashing of their rivals to the Way North.
Here are five things to know about the scrappy youngster, including how he ended up in Dallas after going undrafted.
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1. The basics
Name: Justin Hryckowian
Born: February 23, 2001
Hometown: L’Île-Bizard, Quebec, Canada
Position: Center/forward
College: Northeastern
Height/weight: 5-11, 198 pounds
2. Pronunciation guide
Yeah, this one’s a doozy. But thankfully the Stars media guide is here to help.
Justin’s last name is pronounced: “rihts-KOH-vee-ihn.”
It features a few silent letters, and what’s known around these parts as “The Nowitzki W.” Stars fans have been hearing it a lot lately.
3. Journey to Dallas
Hryckowian played for Northeastern from 2021-2024 and was named the Huskies’ captain in his final season. Despite finishing with the Best Defensive Forward title in his conference, he went undrafted in the 2023 draft.
He signed with the Stars in March of 2025 as an undrafted free agent on a two-year entry-level contract, beginning in the 2024-25 season. He spent the rest of the 2023-24 season on an amateur tryout contract with the Texas Stars.
He stayed with the AHL Stars the next season and led all rookies with 26 points through his first 27 games before he was called up to make his NHL debut in December of 2024. He’d go on to play five games that season.
With the Stars’ heap of injuries both to start 2025-26, and still this far into it, Hryckowian has carved out a role for himself. He’s played in 64 games this season and totaled 22 points with 10 goals and 12 assists.
4. Justin, this is the Oilers. Oilers, Justin…
Hryckowian‘s scrappy playstyle has been apparent since he got to Dallas — he’s currently third on the team in penalty minutes — but he really seemed to make a name for himself in March after getting under the skin of the entire Edmonton Oilers roster.
In a game where the Stars smashed the Oilers, Hryckowian was pestering Edmonton players all night en route to drawing four penalties. It was none other than Connor McDavid — arguably the best player in the world — that he really seemed to be butting heads with, at one point even dropping gloves with McDavid. That’s quite out of character for the Edmonton captain … but not so much for Hryckowian, who’s had his share of five-minute majors this year.
5. Hryckowian vs. All of Canada
The lasting image from the 7-2 victory was Hryckowian standing solo in front of the Oilers bench appearing to point out players one-by-one with his stick before he was ushered away by the referees and another annoyed Oiler.
An all time ESPN+ freeze frame of the protagonist/antagonist Justin Hryckowian. The Stars should commission a local artist in Dallas to paint this and gift it to Hryckowian. I’m serious. This is an all timer. It is pure organic art. All-time chirper Ray Ferraro with the headset..… pic.twitter.com/pAW6PFgKMY
— BucciOT.Com (@Buccigross) March 13, 2026
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