It was one of my favorite records as a teen, and the story of how it came together is certainly intriguing. Deep Purple went to Montreux, Switzerland to record the album, and the concert venue/studio they were supposed to use suffered fire and water damage at a Frank Zappa concert the day before they were scheduled to start work.

AXS TV has a lot of great music documentaries and I was watching the making of Deep Purple's album Machine Head the other day.

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That forced the band to scramble for a new location, and they set up in the empty Grand Hotel and made the most of it even though the sound wasn't perfect and it was freezing cold in December. The documentary is great because it shows how all of these challenges forced the members of the band to dig deeper and really uncover a side of themselves even they didn't know was there.

The experience became the story that is told in the iconic song "Smoke on the Water," which is certainly the band's biggest hit and one of the biggest rock songs in history.

Video: NYR@DAL: Hanzal deflects home a PPG from in front

The story of challenge and opportunity is threaded through sports, and we each probably have a tale when the most difficult environment brought out the best in either ourselves or a team we cover. It's corny, but it's true that obstacles can actually make us better.

All of that leads us today to Martin Hanzal. The big center had back surgery in March and Stars GM Jim Nill said last week that Hanzal won't be able to return until late November or early December. That's certainly an obstacle for a team that signed Hanzal to a three-year contract last summer at an average salary of $4.75 million. Hanzal is 6-foot-6, 230 pounds and he has averaged around 16 minutes of ice time in his career. While he played just 38 games last season and had several injury problems, he's only 31 and he could recover from this back surgery to become a significant player.

Hanzal tallied 20 goals among 39 points in 71 games for Arizona and Minnesota the year before Dallas signed him, so the potential is there for him to play an important role.

That's one part of the challenge for the Star -- the personal challenge that Hanzal has in battling back to become a key part of the team.

Video: NSH@DAL: Hanzal taps home rebound to give Stars lead

The other part is how they fill in until Hanzal returns. While new coach Jim Montgomery has said he is open to shuffling lines and finding new chemistry, it's easy to visualize the top nine forwards next season as:

Jamie Benn - Tyler Seguin - Alexander Radulov Mattias Janmark - Jason Spezza - Valeri Nichushkin Blake Comeau - Radek Faksa - Tyler Pitlick

That leaves an interesting mix for the fourth line. Among the forwards who could be battling are Devin Shore, Brett Ritchie, Jason Dickinson, Remi Elie, Gemel Smith and Roope Hintz. Ritchie and Elie are primarily wingers. Shore, Dickinson, Smith and Hintz can play center or wing. If you were one of those hybrids, wouldn't centering that fourth line be a real prize?

Shore has his skate dug in the hardest with 167 NHL games of experience. He averaged 15:26 in ice time last season, and had 32 points (11 goals, 21 assists) in 82 games. That said, he also was a team-worst minus-30 and is worst on the team over the past two seasons in SAT (shot attempt differential at even strength) at minus-133. He also won just 46.3 percent of his faceoffs last season.

So Shore has to prove himself.

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Same goes for Dickinson. He's 23 and he requires waivers this season, so he needs to become an NHL regular. Dickinson last season bounced back and forth between the NHL and AHL. He played 27 NHL games and tallied two assists. He played 42 AHL games and had 28 points (18 goals, 10 assists). He also played 22 AHL playoff games and had 10 points (two goals, eight assists).

Dickinson showed some physicality in the playoffs, and there is some thought that he can play on a wing with Radek Faksa and take some of the minutes that Antoine Roussel played. But with Blake Comeau signing as a free agent, it seems Dickinson will have to fight for fourth line minutes.

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Smith, 24, showed a lot of speed last season and had 11 points (six goals, five assists) in 46 games while averaging 9:26 a game. He also requires waivers. He is scheduled to go to arbitration with the Stars on Wednesday, and cleared waivers on Friday, so he is being put in a position to prove himself, as well.

The player who could be in the mix that doesn't require waivers is Hintz. He's 21, has yet to play an NHL game, but also looked really good in the AHL playoffs. Hintz is a left wing/center who tallied 12 points (four goals, eight assists) in 22 playoff games. He also had 35 points (20 goals, 15 assists) in 70 regular season AHL games. While he is a dark horse to make the opening night roster, he has the chance to be the best player of the bunch. And that could make preseason games a lot of fun.

Video: DAL@SJS: Smith bangs home Shore's feed to tie game

Bottom line, the process could actually be good for the Stars.

"With the relentless style of game I want my team to play, we have to have four lines playing," Montgomery said. "That's going to be exciting for all of those guys, because the opportunity to get in and play somewhere between eight to 12 minutes, that's great for young players. The players that seize those spots with effort and execution, they will be rewarded."

As the Deep Purple documentary was ending, they went through a series of cuts where the band members were talking fondly about how hard it was to get through the making of Machine Head and yet also commenting about how fun it was, in retrospect.

In a perfect world, the Stars could have a healthy Martin Hanzal at the end of next season and also a group of young forwards who have taken the next step in their careers. But for that to happen, there are quite a few hurdles to overcome.

Still, history has shown us, when life gives you lemons, you can find a way to make "Smoke on the Water."

This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.

Mike Heika is a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on Twitter @MikeHeika.