Fresh From The Ice

Mid-Season Report

2011-01-12T21:53:00.003-05:00

Once again, school has kept me off the internet and particularly away from writing hockey. This is very disappointing and I apologize to any who were hoping to read something.

On the bright (understatement, more like blindingly good) side, the Stars are having what might be their best regular season since the early 2000s. As of January 12th, the Stars were comfortably sitting in 3rd place in the Western Conference with a 7-point lead over the Ducks, who reside in 7th place.

The team's forwards have been phenomenal.

A usual top line of James Neal, Brad Richards, and Loui Eriksson have combined to score 50 goals and 129 points in the first 44 games. Richards is on pace to best his career high of 91 points while Loui should set a career high in points for the fourth straight season.

On the second, or rather the 1B line, Brenden Morrow and Mike Ribeiro form their usual deadly tandem and have had Jamie Benn on the wing for the majority of the season. They've combined for 39 goals and 94 points so far, with Morrow on pace to best his career high of 36 goals.

The rest of the forwards have swapped lines throughout the season depending on their level of play, but the bottom 6 group was recently bolstered by the re-acquisition of Jamie Langenbrunner. A Dallas Star from the '99 Cup team, Langenbrunner started off rough in New Jersey this season but still managed 4 goals and 14 points through 34 games. His defensive play, and more significantly his leadership skills, bolster a group that has already played well this season. Steve Ott heads the group offensively, with 9 goals and 19 points through 44 games and, of course, a team-leading 108 penalty minutes. Langenbrunner and Ott now play on a 3rd line that typically includes either Adam Burish, who has 4 goals and 6 points, or Tom Wandell, who has 3 goals and 4 points. The fourth line shuffles between Brandon Segal, who has 4 goals and 9 points, Brian Sutherby (2g, 4pts), Toby Petersen (1g, 3pts), and Krys Barch (1g, 2pts). Also, the Stars have used Aaron Gagnon as an injury call-up, and he has 2 assists in 7 games.

It's not very easy by the offensive numbers to tell that the Stars' offense has improved much over last season, but take the fact that last year, the Stars' worst forward in plus/minus was Steve Ott at -14, and the team only had 6 regular players with plus ratings overall. Comparatively, this season Ott is tied with Toby Petersen for lowest +/- at -7, but only 7 regulars have a minus rating. That's a pretty significant improvement, especially when you consider that the Stars have generally been outshot all season. Major credit for this of course goes to Kari Lehtonen, who we'll talk about later.

The Stars' defense has been an interesting tale all season.

Despite a true number 1 D-man, the team has done fairly well. Stalwarts Stephane Robidas and Nicklas Grossman continue to be the top shutdown pair for the team, and Robidas is also the highest scoring defender with 3 goals and 19 points. Right behind Robidas offensively is Trevor Daley, who has 3 goals and 16 points and has shown more flashes of the Mike Green potential he has, rather than last season's aimless speedster. Defensively his game has improved too, as Daley leads the blueline with a +10 rating. Also on the chart are stay-at-home veteran Karlis Skrastins (2g, 5 pts, Even), young and still learning Matt Niskanen (0g, 6pts, Even), and the underrated duo of Jeff Woywitka (5a, +7) and Mark Fistric (2g, 3pts, -1). Rookie Philip Larsen, still developing his potential in the AHL, has managed 2 assists and a plus-1 rating in 6 games.

As far as goaltenders go, my opinion has been completely changed compared to my concerns over the summer.

Kari Lehtonen has remained healthy, and with an 18-10-5 record, 2.59 GAA and .926% SP, has kept the team afloat in many games that they should have lost based on the play of the skaters. He's had very few moments where he hasn't looked better than Marty Turco did in his last two seasons of being a Dallas Star, and if he keeps up this level of play, the Stars could go deep into the playoffs. Back-up Andrew Raycroft has been solid, posting an 8-3-0 record, a 2.05 GAA and a .934% SP, and leading the Stars to their only two shutouts this season. Richard Bachman played 9:35 in one game this year, and stopped all 4 shots he faced. After gaining some pro experience, he'll be a solid prospect. And don't forget about Jack Campbell.

Overall, the team has worked hard and largely earned their seat as the Pacific Division leader so far. With very few injuries having affected the team, and appearing to have set the distractions of ownership issues to the side, Dallas could have quite a run in the playoffs this season. And with prospects like Campbell, Bachman, Gagnon, Larsen, Travis Morin, and Severin Blindenbacher in the pipeline, expect a fairly bright future in Dallas.

Stars Season Still on the Right Track

2010-11-12T16:19:00.002-05:00

So the Stars had a fantastic first half of October.

Now that the season's in full swing, they've slowed down a bit and have resumed the usual patterns of wins and losses. They've slipped down to 10th in the Conference, but it is once again an extremely competitive West. If the Stars can bounce back from some recent tough losses, like the game last night against Los Angeles, they can definitely fight for a lower-4 playoff spot.

The differences in the negatives between this season and last will, to be redundant, make the difference in the Stars season.

Last year, the worries were centered around just about everything. Our top veterans were either getting injured or playing inconsistently, our defense was infinitely weak, and Marty Turco was having one of the worst seasons of his life. On top of that, players, staff, and management were all distracted by the risky ownership situation. Divisional rivals Los Angeles and Phoenix were having surprisingly outstanding seasons, San Jose was a typical powerhouse, and Anaheim has never been an easy team for Dallas to beat. Along with the rest of the Western Conference being neck and neck, a struggling Stars team once again missed the playoffs.

Over the summer, it was difficult to tell the direction things would go in the season. General Manager Joe Nieuwendyk decided on some interesting moves, releasing veterans Mike Modano, Marty Turco, and Jere Lehtinen, while bringing in Adam Burish and Andrew Raycroft.

However, the Stars leapt out of the gate with a 5-1 start, and even with a less exciting 8-6 record through 14 games now, the team looks solid. The offense is being led by the youthful trio of Loui Eriksson, Jamie Benn, and James Neal, as well as the talents of Brad Richards, Brenden Morrow, and Mike Ribeiro. The defense is stronger behind the solid Stephane Robidas, Karlis Skrastins, and Nicklas Grossman, as well as the improvements of Matt Niskanen, Trevor Daley, and Mark Fistric. Kari Lehtonen has been the reason behind at least half of Dallas' success this year, and has played outstandingly well thanks to his improved training over the summer.

The primary player to watch is Lehtonen. If he stays healthy, he'll give Dallas a chance every night. If he gets hurt, the Stars will either have to rely on Andrew Raycroft, or more likely give up a key player for a starting goaltender.

(Did I seriously just type that? Suuuch cliche writing.)

Surprising notes: Brad Richards has been in the top 10 NHL scoring leaders for most of the season so far, and Loui Eriksson's been in the top 20 in goals for most of the season as well. Mike Ribeiro still hasn't scored a goal. Tom Wandell hasn't scored a point beyond the game against the Panthers, where he scored two goals.

Stars 5-1, Jamie Benn's Back

2010-10-22T18:11:00.002-04:00

The Stars defeated the Florida Panthers 4-1 yesterday, and oh what a sweet win it was.

Jamie Benn (3 assists) returned from injury to spark life into the Stars' third line. Playing with Steve Ott (1 goal) and Tom Wandell (2 goals), the line controlled the entire game and played like a top scoring line, rather than a checking 3rd line. James Neal also had a goal, while Loui Eriksson, Niklas Grossman, Stephane Robidas, and Karlis Skrastins had assists. Kari Lehtonen made 28 saves on 29 shots and would have had a shutout if not for a screened deflection goal by Stephen Weiss. Adam Burish won his first fight of the season, but also got ejected for instigating the fight after Mike Ribeiro was elbowed by Dennis Wideman.

A major improvement in the Stars game was on defense, especially on the penalty kill. The Stars cut off a lot of shot opportunities and didn't give up a power-play goal. Their defensive play was solid, and while Lehtonen still played spectacularly, it was much better to see him only face 29 shots rather than the customary 35-40. If the Stars can cut that number down to stay in the range of 25-30, they'll stay at this level of play for the rest of the year.

The Stars now have a much more dangerous forward line-up with Benn back:

Neal - Richards - Eriksson

Morrow - Ribeiro - Burish

Benn - Ott - Wandell

Barch/Sutherby - Petersen - Segal

All top three lines can bring a consistent offensive threat, while the fourth line features prize-fighter Barch, defensive specialist Toby Petersen, who can often pop in a goal here and there, and Brandon Segal's physical play and nose for the puck (though not always the net). Brian Sutherby can step in at any time and play well, though he's the lowest on the team in +/- with a -3.

The defense, which has struggled this year, looked a lot stronger last night. And despite a rather high shots-against total, only Mark Fistric (-1), Barch (-1), and Sutherby are minus players for the Stars.

Grossman - Robidas

Daley - Fistric

Skrastins - Niskanen/Woywitka

And through 6 games, the defense has combined for 11 points (though only one goal, from Robidas).

Kari Lehtonen, of course, has played so well for the Stars that their defensive shortcomings have only resulted in one loss so far. He faced myriad numbers of shots on goal when playing in Atlanta, so he's used to a heavy workload. He makes 35-40 saves a night, and hasn't shown that he needs a rest yet. Still, it wouldn't be bad to give Andrew Raycroft or Brent Krahn a start before the season hits 10 games.

The Stars are about to start a long home game stretch, which has the potential to boost the Stars record even further, seeing as their only home games so far were a 4-1 thumping of Detroit and an intense shootout win over St. Louis.

And So It Ends

2010-10-19T16:26:00.002-04:00

The Stars finally lost a game.

The Tampa Bay Lightning, also on a roll before losing 6-0 in their game before last night, came out with a vengeance. The Stars came out cocky and sleepy.

Honestly, the final score of 5-4 Tampa has almost no indication of what a terrible game Dallas played. The Stars didn't really come out ready to play until the final 5 minutes. They only managed 4 goals because Mike Smith, who only faced 19 shots altogether, and saved 15, was so off rhythm that his normal level of play faltered. The game could have easily been closer to 8-2 if not for Kari Lehtonen's 39 saves for Dallas.

However, Marc Crawford best summed up the reason for Dallas' loss in a post game interview:

"We couldn't kill a penalty to save our lives."

Darn right, Marc. The Stars' PK has been off since the start of the season, but it really became a factor tonight as the Bolts scored 4 of their 5 goals on the PP, including one just seconds after Toby Petersen opened the scoring with a shorthanded goal. The Stars took a lot of penalties in that game and also failed to score on any of their own power-plays.

Overall, the Stars' defensive game sucks. A weak top 6 lacks a true number one d-man, while the forward corps lacks a solid penalty killing center that doesn't get much of a load offensively.

Offensively, the Stars were mostly invisible. For much of the game, only Brandon Segal and Stephane Robidas had more than one shot. Adam Burish's first goal as a Star came off a flubbed play by the Bolts and a smart pass by Ribeiro. Toby Petersen's shorthanded goal was mostly a one-man effort, Brenden Morrow's goal was a fluke, and the one truly good goal, James Neal from Brad Richards, came with only a minute left in the game.

Weird stat of the game: Only Brian Sutherby was a minus for Dallas, while only Teddy Purcell was a plus player for Tampa (several on each team were even).

Fortunately, despite this poor game (and a poor start for the PK), the Stars have still managed to come out with a 4-1-0 record so far, and Thursday's game against Florida offers the opportunity for another win with the Panthers off to a bad start. Follow the @FreshFromTheIce Twitter feed for live game updates and constant thoughts on the NHL!

Roster issues? Don't panic

2010-10-17T13:24:00.002-04:00

So the Stars won in a shootout against the Blues last night, keeping their record a perfect 4-0-0 to start the season. A key note from that game is the fact that the Stars were able to not only beat the Blues (who destroyed us last year), but also came back from a poor start to push the game to a shootout, where we showed a superiority similar to the 05-06 season.

While the dynamic duo of Mike Ribeiro and Brenden Morrow looked lost, and failed to score, the line of James Neal, Brad Richards, and Loui Eriksson was on fire. After the early collapse where everyone looked awful, the trio amped up their game and combined for the two actual goals that Dallas scored. Then in the shootout, Loui and Rich scored while Lehtonen had a few awesome saves.

And of course, Ribsy won the shootout.

However, this post is to point out the crowd that the Stars have up front. As of last night, the lines were:

Neal - Richards - Eriksson

Morrow - Ribeiro - Burish

Wandell - Ott - Petersen

Barch - Sutherby - Segal

Which all in all, isn't that bad. Wandell's been invisible lately, and Segal hasn't continued last year's rampage (hardly expected anyways), but aside from that, everything looks good.

But wait, Jamie Benn's about to come back from a concussion. What do we do now?

Benn's a top line scoring threat with some good physical play. Sounds like a Morrow-Ribeiro-Benn unit would fare pretty well. But where does small-things man Adam Burish, who's had solid chemistry with the Morrow line, end up? He could play the third line, but where would Toby Petersen/Tom Wandell go? Either one could go to the fourth line, but where would sparkplug Brian Sutherby, who plays his role perfectly, have to go? Surely not to the AHL. That's where we send players like Fabian Brunnstrom.

To make matters a little more confusing, we just called up Aaron Gagnon from the Texas Stars. He'll likely get to spend time as the 13th forward, but if he proves he can play in the big league, we'll have a real issue on our hands.

The solution? Well, there's two that I can think of.

Option A: Put Benn on the third line, try and create a third offensively dangerous trio. Lines would be:

Neal - Richards - Eriksson

Morrow - Ribeiro - Burish

Ott - Wandell/Petersen - Benn

Barch - Sutherby/Gagnon - Segal

It could either end up working perfectly, or end in disaster. I'd give it one game, depending on the outcome from that, keep it or go for...

Option B: Package a forward and a draft pick for a solid defenseman.

Most everyone in the hockey world agrees that the Stars are thin on defense. A top six of:

Grossman - Robidas

Niskanen - Daley

Fistric - Skrastins

Isn't exactly intimidating. And with Jeff Woywitka as the 7th D, and prospect Philip Larsen still about a year away, Dallas could do with a solid veteran.

An offer of a 2nd round pick plus Wandell or Sutherby wouldn't exactly get a superstar, but it could swing a good deal if Nieuwendyk plays his cards right.

Let's say a 2nd rounder plus Wandell gets us (example only) Cody Franson. Yeah yeah yeah it would never happen, whatever. That leaves Dallas with these lines:

Neal - Richards - Eriksson

Morrow - Ribeiro - Burish

Benn - Ott - Petersen

Barch - Sutherby - Segal

Franson - Robidas

Grossman - Skrastins

Fistric - Niskanen/Daley

That'd be quite the improvement.

Obviously, Dallas won't be able to wrangle away such a rising star as Franson, but if a deal can be made to get a top defender, I'd say do it. There's plenty of youth on the way to take the place of a forward anyways (Sceviour, Gagnon, Glennie, Backman).

By the way, I have respect for Kari Lehtonen now. The man can play goal.

Stars 4, Red Wings 1, My Ego = Through the Roof

2010-10-15T11:30:00.003-04:00

Ok, so last night's win against Detroit was just about the best win ever.

1) We finally won 3 games in a row. Hasn't happened since early 08-09.

2) We beat the Detroit Red Wings, a team I really really despise.

3) Do I need a three? We beat Detroit.

Yeah, in case you can't tell, I'm highly biased against the Detroit Red Wings. There are many players on their roster that I respect as individuals (Modano, Lidstrom, Datsyuk, Howard) but as a team, I hate them no matter what. Kinda like how people view the New York Yankees. They do so well, with some good players, but that's exactly why you hate them.

Anyways, to the game itself.

Brad Richards had his third straight multi-point game, further leading me to suspect that he has a severe inability to score only one point during a game. But hey, as long as he does score, no problems with multiple points instead of just one.

Just like I predicted on Twitter, Ribeiro and Morrow combined on a play (with a little help from Adam Burish) to keep up their goal-a-game pace. Morrow has 4 goals, Ribeiro has 5 assists.

Speaking of Adam Burish, the ex-Hawk played a really solid game last night. He was key in setting up the Morrow goal, and played a really good game along the boards. As Ralph Strangis put it, he'll be the "little things" guy on that line.

James Neal finally stepped up his play. In the first period, he took a couple unnecessary penalties, but after an intermission where I assume Marc Crawford called him out, Neal looked much better the rest of the game. He made a smooth play to set up Brad Richards, who set up Loui Eriksson for a goal, and then scored his own late in the game by battling with Brad Stuart before getting off a backhander that fooled Osgood.

Overall, the difference maker was special teams and goaltending. The Stars killed off four Detroit power-plays and Brad Richards potted an early power-play goal, while Kari Lehtonen made some incredible saves on chances. The one goal that slipped past him was un-stoppable, and he still got an arm on it before it fell in the net. Osgood looked tired, and the Morrow goal definitely shouldn't have gotten past him.

Mike Modano got a 45-second salute from the fans during the "official" welcome back moment, but received applause constantly throughout the game. He made some pretty good plays, but with third line duties, it was apparent that he was frustrated with the rest of the team's play.

One of the bigger stories from the game will be the hit on Johan Franzen by Mark Fistric that likely resulted in a concussion for Franzen. The Wings claim the hit was dirty. I say the hit was clean, just in a bad area (Franzen hit the boards at a bad angle), but you guys decide for yourselves:

Yeah, an elbow was there, but it wasn't blatantly thrown towards Franzen with intent to injure. I think the landing did worse than the hit. Either it's clean, or Fistface is REALLY sneaky.

Public Intoxication, Public "Kojak"'s, Public Salary Cap Mismanagement

2010-10-11T17:17:00.002-04:00

Ok, so I missed my posting on the last Stars game. Essentially, it was a higher-scoring repeat of the game against the Devils. Morrow had two goals, and Jamie Benn and Stephane Robidas each potted their first of the year. Ribeiro of course had the shootout winner, but he gets the spotlight later in this article.

The main concern coming out of Dallas' first two games is that the Stars' offense won't be able to keep pulling through for a mediocre blueline. Sure, Robidas, Nick Grossman, and Karlis Skrastins have solid reputations, but all three are best suited to being second-pairing defenders and they're struggling to keep up with the inefficiencies/growing pains of Matt Niskanen, Fistface Fistric, and Trevor Daley. And the fact remains that in the first two games, we've given up seven goals.

But now down to the news that's relevant:

-First off, Mike Ribeiro made the mid-day buzz after word of last night's arrest for public intoxication got out. Ribeiro, Joe Nieuwendyk, and other Stars officials made statements about it not long after, but it's still an embarrassing moment. It led to a ton of Twitter buzz, but maybe Ribeiro will turn it into inspiration to prove that he's not a drunk, or whatever's being said.

-What made an even bigger buzz (still going) in the social hockey world was James Wisniewski's obscene (and often scene in high schools) gesture to Sean Avery during a scrap. Bob McKenzie has coined it as a 'Kojak,' and you either already get it from there, or you will when you youtube the incident. A lot of debate went on about the type of punishment Wis should recieve, but it comes down to another McKenzie quote: "If it can't be shown on network TV, it deserves punishment." The TSN analyst was responding to many who were comparing Avery's suspension in 08-09 and Nick Boynton's two separate 1-game suspensions, and saying that players make gestures and comments equally as volatile and Wisniewski's pretty much all the time. However, Wisniewski was caught on TV and in order to keep up a good public image (or whatever's left of it) the NHL must take action. Expect a 1 or 2 game suspension.

-The most recent buzz item going around the league is how the Devils will likely play a game today with only 15 players dressed, about 5 or 6 less than usual. This is primarily due to a slew of injuries combined with the fact that the team was already right up against the cap. There's still a possibility that the Devils could find a way to call up some minor league players, but already the incident has been added to a long list of poor cap decisions by Lou Lamoriello, including the Kovalchuk contract fiasco and the Mogilny and Malakhov signings and subsequent KHL demotions. It remains to be seen what will come of the situation.

Stars 4, Devils 3

2010-10-09T10:22:00.002-04:00

Well, the Stars finally won a season-opener, the first time in 3 years. Beating a team that we haven't won on the road against in a decade felt pretty good too.

Overall, here's hoping that last night's game was a strong indicator of the rest of the season.

Unlike many games in the last two years, where Dallas would start strong and then falter in the final two periods, the opposite was true. Kari Lehtonen let in two quick goals in the first 8 minutes, but came back with a strong 27-save effort and only let in one other goal. Meanwhile, the Stars surged back on the strength of Loui Eriksson, who showed that he intends to be the number one Dallas sniper for years to come.

Offensively, everything went as it should. Captain Brenden Morrow scored a goal from Mike Ribeiro and Fistface Fistric, Brad Richards assisted on Loui's first goal and scored what ended up as the game-tying goal, and James Neal assisted on Loui's first and Richards' first. Surprisingly absent from the scoresheet were Jamie Benn and Steve Ott, but Benn led the team in shots with 5, while Ott played the pest with Krys Barch as a healthy scratch. Adam Burish also had 4 shots. If one game is anything to go by, Brandon Segal's tear last year was a fluke, which is very believeable.

Defensively, after the opening two goals, the Stars were tight, but under the radar. They made a few mistakes in the beginning but resumed normal expectations later on. Sadly, Matt Niskanen made the game summary as the man who messed up and forced Lehtonen to up his game in overtime.

Some interesting notes: Jason Arnott proved that he's still a powerhouse, reminding Dallas fans of how we lost the 2000 Cup Final by scoring during the second period. Ilya Kovalchuk didn't score, but he had two assists. Has New Jersey turned him into a better playmaker? We'll see.

Last, but definitely not least, Mike Modano showed Joe Nieuwendyk that it was a mistake to let him leave, as he scored in the Detroit season-opener last night.

Revamps for Cup Champs

2010-08-09T12:51:00.003-04:00

Everybody talks about how much the Hawks had to change over the summer, and while it certainly is significant for one summer, check out these other team revamps:

Anaheim Ducks:

Pre-08/09 (Depth Chart by The Hockey News) vs. pre-10/11 (Depth chart by me, including assumptions about Kariya and Selanne)

Kunitz - - Getzlaf - - Perry---------------------------------Ryan - - Getzlaf - - Perry
Sutherby - Morrison - Marchant-------------------------Kariya - Koivu - - Selanne
Moen - - Pahlsson - R. Niedermayer--------------------Blake - Marchant - Lupul
May - - - Carter - - Ryan--------------------------Beleskey - Chipchura - Voros/Parros

S. Niedermayer - Pronger----------------------------------Visnovsky - - Sbisa
Schneider - - Beauchemin----------------------------------Sutton - - - Lydman
O'Donnell - - Huskins------------------------------------Mikkelson - Festerling
Montador - - - Evans--------------------------------------Brookbank - Syrvet

Giguere - Hiller--------------------------------------------Hiller - McElhinney

Tell me that's not a major revamp (though obviously over a larger span of time).

More to come on this later.

Brunnstrom deserves zero hype

2010-08-06T22:52:00.002-04:00

Not a lot of time to write today, working on many a recording for several different bands.

However, I've got a piece of criticism to throw out into the world wide web.

Why the heck did Dallas re-sign Fabian Brunnstrom, and why did Mike Heika place him in the same category as Jamie Benn in a Dallas Morning News article a few days ago?
As far as I can tell, all the hype for Brunnstrom faded pretty quickly last season, and was completely gone at the end of his 49-game, 2-goal, 9-assist year that included an 8-game demotion to the AHL, where he didn't manage more than a goal in 8 games (not a sign of someone beyond the talent of the AHL). So why is he even slated for fourth-line time this year?
The big issue for Fabian at the beginning of his rookie season was the fact that he probably needed second-line time, but the Stars also had Loui Eriksson, James Neal, Brenden Morrow, Steve Ott, Jere Lehtinen, Sean Avery, Mark Parrish, Chris Conner, Krys Barch, Landon Wilson, Joel Lundqvist, B.J. Crombeen, and Ray Sawada all vying for a roster spot on the wing. Fortunately for Brunnstrom's chances, Crombeen got traded early, Sawada didn't make it out of camp and Morrow got injured early. Wilson was mainly an AHL filler/call-up guy, and Parrish, Lundqvist, Lehtinen, and Conner all played rather inconsistently that year. So he capitalized on the opportunity and potted 17 goals.
At the beginning of last season, the Stars were way thinner on wing. Eriksson, Neal, Morrow, Ott, and Barch were the only wingers with solid roster spots along with Brunnstrom. He definitely could have topped Ott for a role on the second line. But instead, Jamie Benn steals his thunder with an awe-inspiring rookie year, Ott pumps out 22 goals, Lehtinen maintains a roster spot, and Brunnstrom sputters out of the gate and ends up with 2 goals. Even Brandon Segal, a former fringe player, impressed more people with his 5 goals and 10 points in 19 games after a deadline move from Anaheim.
So all in all, if Brunnstrom even grabs a roster spot this season, don't expect much out of him.

Modano To Red Wings Official On Friday

2010-08-03T14:15:00.002-04:00

Friday will be a sad day for anybody who's a Stars fan.

Mike Modano's signing with the Detroit Red Wings will be made official during a press conference on Friday at 2:30 PM. According to Helene St. James of Free Press Sports, the deal is worth $1.25M for a year, which is about the numbers most people expected Mo to sign for after Nieuwendyk announced that they'd let him become a UFA. He'll likely have a third-line role between Jiri Hudler and Dan Cleary.

Modano had a solid season last year, with 14 goals and 30 points in 59 games. More importantly, he continued his role as a strong leader on the team, even with the captaincy on Brenden Morrow's jersey. Despite his age, Modano's always been revered for his excellent conditioning, and there's no reason to expect that he won't be as youthful as ever.

I'd expect Modano to score around 40-50 points this season, but with Hudler (23 goals in 08-09 with Detroit, point-per-game player in KHL last year) and Cleary (two 20-goal seasons in Detroit) around him, you can probably safely raise that barrier to 50-60 points. If either Hudler or Cleary (or whatever defensemen get assigned to that line) are particularly productive in assists, Modano could probably hit 20 goals again, and if Hudler and Cleary hit 20 goals, then you can definitely expect 30-40 assists for Mikey.

So, even though I hate the Red Wings, I'll hate them less this year, in honor of Modano. Good luck in Detroit Mike, I'm hoping you'll get to the playoffs and maybe even the Cup Finals!!

Turco To Hawks? Dallas Should Take Niemi

2010-08-01T00:02:00.000-04:00

Ok, so according to WGNTV and a crapload of tweets, Marty Turco has signed with Chicago for $1.75M for a year. This comes not long after Niemi gets his arbitration award, which was a perfectly reasonable $2.75M.

What the **** is Chicago thinking right now?

There is an INSANELY obvious money-saving solution waiting for them—dump Cristobal Huet and his over-paid back-up role in the AHL, take a tandem of Niemi and Corey Crawford all the way to another Stanley Cup title and somewhere along the way dump the Brian Campbell contract. They'd keep a future star goaltender (or a future Cam Ward, says the cynic in me), avoid most of their cap issues, and keep a solid core of the roster.

Instead, they make an offer to Marty Turco, who I highly respect, but I have to say he's got a lot less going for him. Niemi is younger, probably more talented, and has a Cup ring before he's anywhere close to hitting his prime as a netminder. Sure, Turco signed for less money, but with less payment comes a poorer product. Turco can definitely give them a solid regular season and get them into the playoffs–however, what happens once the playoffs role around? Turco will inevitably falter, and the Hawks will have to desperately hope that one of Crawford or Huet can replicate Niemi's playoff run. Which is HIGHLY unlikely.

Mr. Nieuwendyk. I know I criticized you earlier for letting go of Turk, but this is your big chance. Throw a TON of money at Niemi with, say, anywhere from 2 to 5 years on the contract, and take advantage of the Hawks mistake while letting them have, for a lack of a funnier term, our sloppy seconds worth of Turco. Seriously, even if it means dropping Raycroft or Lehtonen to the minors (which needs to happen anyways, really), this deal would SO be worth it. Niemi is going to be a star (or at least as good as Cam Ward, who seems to have relapses of stardom every now and then) and the Hawks are making the worst possible decision if they let him go in favor of Turco. Take advantage of it and I will take back any criticism I've ever given to you.

On another note, I have to point out that there is absolutely no way that the Hawks could keep any combination of Turco, Niemi, and Huet. Not only would none of those guys be happy in a back-up role, but you've also got a very impatient Corey Crawford in the AHL who needs a full-time role. If I were Chicago, I'd drop all Turco rumors (at this moment being dismissed by Hawks sources and TheFourthPeriod as inaccurate), shove Huet into the AHL and maybe even trade him, and then go with Niemi/Crawford as a beastly goalie tandem.

At this very moment though, lots of new reports saying Dan Roan of WGNTV was the only guy apparently aware of any deal going on between Turco and Chicago. Several tweets from legit sources were out there right after, but all cited WGNTV as where they heard it. So it's actually pretty likely that there's no Turco deal, and he's still a UFA. For the sake of theory, though, I'm publishing this post.

Steve Yzerman is a Genius

2010-07-30T17:38:00.001-04:00

And if the other 10 billion hockey blogs out there haven't shown you why, let me try to explain real quick.

First of all, Tampa Bay has been a disaster area since the pre-lockout days (excluding 03-04) and it's no easy task to turn a team from fender-bender to Cup-contender in a single summer.

The wheels were set in motion by Brian Lawton, who smartly grabbed Steven Stamkos and Victor Hedman in the draft. Key pieces were already in place in the form of Vinny Lecavalier, Marty St. Louis, Paul Ranger, Mattias Ohlund, and Mike Smith.

But Mr. Yzerman has played a part in bringing Simon Gagne, Dan Ellis, Pavel Kubina, Brett Clark, Dominic Moore, Chris Durno, and Marc-Antoine Pouliot to the team. All of those guys with the possible exceptions of Durno and Pouliot will be key players on Tampa this year, and Durno and Pouliot could fill valuable roles as well.

If you look at the potential line-up for the Lightning at this moment, it's actually composed of some pretty solid players:

Gagne - - - - Lecavalier - - - - St. Louis
Malone - - - - Stamkos - - - - Downie
Purcell - - - - Moore - - - - Hall (Minors)
Szczechura(Minors) - Pouliot - Persson(?)

But that's just judging from who's on the actual roster. Tampa also has Blair Jones, Martins Karsums, and James Wright ready to be called up at any time, and prospects Juraj Simek, Mitch Fritz, and Dana Tyrell are all but ready for a bigger role with the team.

As for defense, things are a little thinner, but not awful:

Ohlund - - Kubina
Clark - - Ranger
Hedman - - Lundin
Smaby - - Roy/Vernace

And in the wings, defenders Matt Lashoff, Vladimir Mihalik, and Ty Wishart are all NHL-capable and probably even ready for a full role.

In goal, I envie the tandem of Dan Ellis and Mike Smith. Especially because both of those guys were Stars prospects at one point. Despite the inconsistencies of each of these netminders, they each have the talent to fill in for each other if one starts faltering. Ellis has the better record as a starter, but Mike Smith was an excellent 20+ games back-up in his years in Dallas, and he can do it again.

Steve Yzerman, I applaud how well you've put together this team. I hope you make the playoffs this year.

Let the Rantings Continue

2010-07-30T00:58:00.002-04:00

Ok, so the other day I pretty much tore up the Stars roster, remarked on every aspect that I hated, but also pointed out the bright spots.

Now, I'll do the same with The Stars coaching staff and management.

Keep in mind: I mean no personal offense to human beings referred to this article, and I get it: They're a heck of a lot more successful than I am, so I should shut up. But I've got some bones to pick with them.

The Coaching Staff:

Alright, first off, I was extremely displeased with the hiring of Marc Crawford. He was a good old part of the dandy Colorado days when they won the Cup in '96, and he has a decent W-L-T record as a bench-runner for the Avs in general.
But first of all, anybody who's a true Dallas Stars fan HATES the Avalanche as a team, and probably has somewhat of a tough finding any of their players (aside from Joe Sakic) who can truly be revered regardless of who you are.
Second of all, after Crawford's fairly good track record in the Mile High City, he joined the Canucks. True, he holds the team wins record, that makes me hopeful. But he was also the guy who never took them anywhere playoffs-wise, and we've had enough playoff trouble already. Then, he had a disastrous two-year tenure with the Kings, where he didn't make the playoffs but didn't get them terribly high draft picks, and got bad reviews of behind-the-scenes attitude.
However, the guy's got an okay record overall, and I am a big critic. Personally, it felt like a huge downgrade to go from Tippett to Crawford.

Willie Desjardins is the new guy. I know very little about him (as in, I listened to his radio interview but that's all), but as far as I can tell, he's cool. Had a strong run with the Medicine Hat Tigers in the WHL, lots of kudos thrown his way, and he shares last names with a defenseman who I was a fan of. Nothing against this man unless he somehow magically screws up the whole team, which I don't see on the horizon.

Charlie Huddy was a pretty dang solid defender back in his NHL days with the Oilers, Kings, Sabres, and Blues. I have never heard any negative feedback about this man. As far as I'm concerned, he's cool too.

Stu Barnes is a man I have respected since the day I knew he was on the Stars, back in the summer of 2003 when I really started picking up on hockey. Recently I've delved into his past as a player and discovered just how solid and reliable of a player he was. Yet another guy who I wish I had seen in his prime. Now? He's an awesome coach, and I wish he had a bench role rather than viewing from above (not heaven). Regardless, good to have him on the staff.

As little as I know about Desjardins and Huddy, I know even less about Mr. Mike Valley, seeing as he doesn't have a profile on the Stars website like the others. I do, however, have the greatest sympathy for him as he'll get stuck dealing with Leht-down-nen and Raycroft. God sooth your soul, Mr. Valley.

Now, on to The Management:

To get down to business, Joe Nieuwendyk is awesome. Anyone (including myself) who says otherwise should get their head checked. He was great as a player, he led us to the Stanley Cup, and he's been a consistently good general manager.
However, I have just one question:

Why the _____ did he let Mike Modano go?!?

Sure, there's a matter of whether he'll retire or not. But we've all been keeping track of how much Mikey's been training and we all know he's still got at least one more solid season in him.
Sure, there's the fact that the Stars have less than zero dollars to spend on anything, but whatever we gave Adam Burish and Andrew Raycroft surely wasn't a necessary purchase, and that money could have gone towards a one-year contract for Modano.
Sure, there's the fact that.. well, no, there's really no other reason to let Modano go. Anaheim still hasn't dropped Selanne and they didn't drop Niedermayer until Scotty said so. Other teams have had similar waiting games played with key players because they were, in fact, key players.
But Joe just drops Modano like a sack of potatoes and says, "Thanks for your service, come get a desk job if you want, but we're going to go pay for a fourth-liner and a crappy goalie with your potential money. Have a nice summer!" I just don't get it.

Les Jackson is a confusing man to me. He was one of our most influential and important scouts, and a great assistant GM before the 08-09 season, and yet, when he was given a Co-GM role for a year, he was almost silent. Now, he didn't do anything stupid, but there was nothing to prove that he should keep the job. I'm glad we didn't him go (though one could argue we need him less than Modano), but seriously Les, pick up your game a little bit.

Brett Hull's season of being a co-General Manager admittedly didn't go all that well. However, that's understandable, seeing as he had almost no executive experience beforehand. Fortunately, the Stars held on to him as a Exec. VP and Alternate Governor, so once he gets his feet wet, we could possibly try again.

Joe Nieuwendyk made a really smart move in keeping Frank Provenzano as an assistant GM. Not only has the man been quietly reliable, but Provenzano's name even sounds like he's fit for any job you assign to him.

Lastly, you may have noticed that I'm incredibly pissed off at Tom Hicks Sr. for not selling the team to someone with a bit of money available.

That's because I am.

This is ridiculous Mr. Hicks. We haven't spent money on a high-end free agent since the beginning of time, and around now when we could really use one, you and your broke self are rejecting offers from people who would pay you more money than you currently have for a team you can't afford, and from what I've heard, you're doing the same thing to the Texas Rangers too. Hey Mr. Bettman, quit messing with contracts that don't break written CBA laws and come get a broke man to give an NHL team back their respectability!

P.S. Hey Mr. Balsillie, if you're done trying to move a team to Hamilton, then go ahead and buy the Stars as long as you keep them here.

Stars' Summer So Far..

2010-07-28T13:32:00.002-04:00

So, it's been forever since I've posted. You can thank my school for that.

The Stars' summer has sucked, to be plainly honest.

First off, the ridiculous (if somewhat forced) decisions by Nieuwendyk to release Mike Modano, Marty Turco, and Jere Lehtinen from the team. Basically, no more memories of the good years.

Second, we've hardly got enough money to make new offers to RFA's James Neal, Nicklas Grossman, and Matt Niskanen, and then we go and throw some cash at Andrew Raycroft and Adam Burish? Don't get me wrong, Burish is a tough guy who can put in some solid minutes and defend the rest of the team. But isn't that why we have Steve Ott and Krys Barch in the line-up? Not to mention Brenden Morrow and James Neal, both of whom can defend themselves pretty well if necessary. We've even got Luke Gazdic as a prospect. Burish is a good guy, but we don't need him.

As for Raycroft, the dude went on a worse downward spiral than Alex Auld, who bothered me last year. Oh, and we have the man who attracts injuries like a flower gets bees—Kari Lehtonen—as the starting goalie? I think I know which NHL team has the worst 1-2 punch in the league.

The only bright spot is that a top six forward group of Brenden Morrow, Mike Ribeiro, Jamie Benn, James Neal, Brad Richards, and Loui Eriksson isn't half bad. Throw in Steve Ott's developing scoring touch, Brandon Segal's 10-points-in-19-games post-deadline run, and Tom Wandell's 15 points as a rookie before injury, and there's some potential goal-scoring depth in the mix that the Stars haven't felt in a while. Toby Petersen and Brian Sutherby are reliable third or fourth liners, and apparently we've decided to give Fabian Brunnstrom one last chance.

Potential forward lines:
Morrow - Ribeiro - Benn
Neal/Ott - Richards -Eriksson
Ott/Neal - Wandell - Segal/Burish
Sutherby - Petersen - Brunnstrom/Burish

On defense, the Stars have been getting thin over the years, and last year we sent our top defensive prospect in Ivan Vishnevskiy to Atlanta for Kari Injury Lehtonen. However, Stephane Robidas is still a solid leader. Nicklas Grossman hasn't lost a step, and he can hold his own in the defensive zone. Karlis Skrastins is a bona-fide shot blocking star if he stays healthy, and Trevor Daley can easily regain his high-scoring form. Niskanen's still a little shaky, but he has a lot of potential and Mark Fistric has had more than enough AHL seasoning. Jeff Woywitka can step in when needed and Philip Larsen is looking more and more like he's ready for the big time, especially after getting an assist and a plus 1 rating in 2 games last year. Beyond that, the future is clouded.

In goal, I really really dislike the tandem of Lehtonen/Raycroft, in case you didn't pick up on that. However, we've got a brighter future. Matt Climie was a solid performer in the AHL last season as he led the Texas Stars to the Calder Cup Finals in their first year. Richard Bachman was a solid goalie in college, and hopefully this coming season, he'll get some quality AHL time as a backup. Brent Krahn isn't my favorite goalie prospect ever, but he was solid in the AHL as well and will likely be the first call-up when Lehtonen gets injured.

Overall, it'll be a rough season in Dallas, but we'll get plenty of glimpses at what our future could hold. And who knows; if Lehtonen manages to stay healthy, he was a highly touted prospect and he's had good numbers before. The playoffs could possibly be in the picture.

Dallas Stars: Week 4 (plus a game)

2009-10-25T22:14:00.003-04:00

Today's post is a day late due to the fact that the Stars played St. Louis yesterday. My only available time to write coincided with the game's start time. Anyways;

Dallas vs. Los Angeles: 4-1 Loss
The Stars certainly didn't have their game on Monday against the Kings. They seemed sluggish the entire night, and were unable to even stifle the one line they decided to focus on. Ryan Smyth, Anze Kopitar, and Justin Williams were all huge scoring threats, and all three capitalized on the mistakes that seemed to be made by every Stars player.
Jamie Benn appeared to spark the Stars towards a win, as he ended a first period scoring drought by pounding in a goal with 2:42 left. However, the Stars' rookie was the only bright spot.
In the second period, the Kings' top line knocked in three goals past Marty Turco, and they never lost momentum as they continuously hounded the Stars' defenders, and the forwards never really had time to play offense.

Dallas @ Anaheim: 4-2 Win
Wednesday was Dallas' redeeming night. They were determined to make up for Monday's painful loss to the Kings, and they did so in style.
Two of Dallas' most reliable scorers in Brenden Morrow and Loui Eriksson cashed in, while Trevor Daley finally got himself on the scoresheet along with Steve Ott. The Ducks attempted to mount a comeback in the third period, but the Stars never allowed them to tie the game, and Ott's empty net goal crushed whatever hopes they could possibly have had with 9 seconds left in the game.

Dallas @ Los Angeles: 5-4 OT Loss
Thursday was Dallas' chance at revenge against the Kings, and they almost pulled it off. However, Michal Handzus ruined those hopes 55 seconds into overtime.
Anze Kopitar had a hat trick for the Kings, and despite James Neal's two-goal effort, Jamie Benn's second goal in his second game against L.A., and Mark Fistric's first career NHL goal, the Stars could not pull off a win. Regardless, the game was much more exciting and intense than the first match between the clubs.

Dallas @ St. Louis: 4-1 Win
The Stars and the Blues had an intense rivalry begin last season. St. Louis, and particularly youngsters Patrik Berglund, T.J. Oshie, and David Perron, destroyed the Stars on several occasions last season, and headed into Saturday, another crushing defeat was feared.
However, the Stars did get to taste revenge. Thanks to James Neal and Loui Eriksson, the Stars were able to quickly crush the Blues' resolve, and Tom Wandell and Brian Sutherby potted goals in the third period to secure the win. St. Louis rookie Alex Pietrangelo did manage to score his first NHL goal, and to be plainly honest, I hate the Blues as a team but I love their young players, so it was pretty neat to see Pietrangelo finally rack up a goal.
Brad Richards was an absolute beast in the lineup, assisting on both Neal and Eriksson's goals. He turned the entire Blues penalty kill into a freeze frame from the point before firing the puck to Eriksson for a snapshot goal.

As a "side" note, the Blues game was chock full of nastiness. Krys Barch had his first big fight of the season, and everybody in blue wanted a piece of Steve Ott that night.

NOTES:
-Loui Eriksson, James Neal, and Brenden Morrow are all on pace for around 40 goals this season, which is pretty much a sigh of relief compared to having only Loui break 30 last year. Brad Richards, Mike Ribeiro, and Jamie Benn could all easily be on pace for 20+ goals as well.
-Richards also has over an assist per game so far, and is the first Stars player in about 3 years to top the stats sheet besides Ribeiro. He's finally truly earning the contract that we acquired in the Tampa trade.
-Fabian Brunnstrom has yet to score a goal this season.

Dallas Stars Week 3

2009-10-18T11:24:00.002-04:00

[Sunday, October 11th - Sunday, October 18th]

The Stars' 3rd week of the season was much more successful, as they went 2-1-1. They currently stand 7th in the West, at 3-1-3.

Dallas @ Vancouver: 4-3 SO Loss
The Stars fired another shootout blank on Canada's west coast on Sunday, but the game was monumental regardless. Stars' rookie Jamie Benn scored his first ever NHL goal that night, which made the score 3-3 to send it into overtime.
Overall, the game was similar to the home opener against Nashville: the Stars did everything right, but just like Nashville, Vancouver had all their pieces in the right place and topped Dallas in the shootout.

{Video highlights to be posted later!}

Dallas vs. Nashville: 6-0 Win
In the midst of a building rivalry, the Stars pulled off a massive defeat of the Nashville Predators at home this week. Expecting a challenging match from the team that won in a shootout opening night, the Stars came out charging hard and fast. However, the Preds had come off a crushing defeat already, and as a result were quite discouraged at their chances. Mike Ribeiro popped in the opening goal hardly a minute into the game, and the goals came in a downpour through the first period as the Stars went into the first intermission with a 4-0 lead.
Brenden Morrow scored two goals, James Neal had a career-high three assists, and Toby Petersen scored his first goal of the season as Dallas absolutely flattened the Predators.

{Video highlights to be posted later!}

Dallas vs. Boston: 3-0 Loss
The Stars could not carry their momentum into Friday's game against Boston, however. The Bruins came out and Marc Savard fired the gun that killed Dallas' energy for the game. They looked tired, slow, and often out of place, and the Bruins rolled over the Stars to win 3-0. Savard was a dangerous presence all game, and James Neal was the only Star who even managed to make himself noticeable on the ice.

{Video highlights to be posted later!}

Dallas @ Chicago: 4-3 Win
Whatever was said to the team between the Boston game and this Chicago game must have worked, because the Stars managed to recover from a poor first period to come out on top in the end. Chicago had their young players trying to take over the game, as Troy Brouwer, Jonathan Toews, and Niklas Hjlamarsson all cashed in. However, Dallas put their veterans to work, and Brenden Morrow, Mike Ribeiro, Toby Petersen, and Stephane Robidas all got on the scoreboard as the Stars fought to attain the 4-3 victory.

{Video highlights to be posted later!}

NOTES:
-Mike Modano and Steve Ott are still out of the line-up with injuries, and neither have placed a definite date on their return. However, the Stars have played decently without them, and as such would only be stronger with the two back in the line-up.

-Brenden Morrow leads the Stars in goals with 5; Brad Richards leads in assists and points, with 6 and 9, respectively; Jamie Benn is the highest scoring rookie on the team with a goal and 5 assists; Alex Auld has credit for two of Dallas' three wins.

Dallas Stars: Week 2

2009-10-10T11:22:00.002-04:00

So, I was a little late in writing a review for the Edmonton game, and now I've got to write both game reviews. Anybody think a post per week is a better idea?

Dallas vs. Edmonton: 5-4 (OTL)
The Stars' second game of the year featured lots of goals, some hard-hitting action, and unfortunately, a second straight shootout loss.
Brenden Morrow "arrived" for the season, scoring two goals and getting an assist as well. Along with several highlight reel hits, Morrow certainly looked like the captain that the Stars expect him to be. James Neal scored his 3rd goal of the season short-handed, staying at the top of Dallas' stats-sheet. Stephane Robidas also scored, getting his first goal of the season.

The Stars did put up quite the fight. However, being notorious as a shootout-dominating team, starting the season that way was a little discomforting to a Stars fan like myself.

Dallas vs. Calgary: 5-2 (W)
Despite losing both of their first two games in shootouts, the Stars came into the Pengrowth Saddledome on Friday as a well-rested team ready to take on the 4-0 Calgary Flames.
Back-up goaltender Alex Auld recieved his first test of the season by going up against the Flames, but the Stars did have an advantage over the other Alberta boys, who were forced to bring in back-up Curtis McEhlinney after having played the previous night in Edmonton.
The Stars took advantage of not feeling fatigued right away as Mike Ribeiro popped in a rebound past McEhlinney. The goals came from all around that night, as Brian Sutherby, Tom Wandell, Loui Eriksson, and Brad Richards all scored as well. Only Dion Phaneuf and Rene Bourque cracked the shell that was Alex Auld's goaltending. Judging by the way he played, Marty Turco will recieve plenty of rest this season.

The Stars did suffer their first non-goal this year, as a puck appeared to get stuffed into the net by a diving Fabian Brunnstrom. However, despite one video angle clearly revealing the puck going past the line, the official call was a no-goal and Steve Ott was called for goalie interference.

The Stars play the Vancouver Canucks tomorrow to start off week 3 and to close their Canadian road trip. The Canucks got their first win in their last game, absolutely destroying the Montreal Canadiens. Which team will carry the momentum into tomorrow? We'll find out.

STARS RULE!

Final: 3-2 Shootout Loss to Nashville

2009-10-03T23:09:00.002-04:00

Well, the opening game of the year for Dallas was quite the intense game, although slightly a let down at the end.

However, the team played really well, and showed that despite all of their troubles last season, they'll be able to solidly bounce back this year.

[Video Highlights soon to come!]

The most obvious standout was James Neal, who scored both of the Stars' goals in regulation and then hit the post in the shootout. He played outstanding, clearly returning to the level he was at last year. He'll be at the top of the charts offensively for Dallas all season long.

Marty Turco didn't perform nearly as awful as some people have said he would, but there were a few holes in his game. He still lets a few too many rebounds escape his reach, and wasn't at his best during the shootout. However, he didn't make any risky passing plays that he's usually known for, and made a lot of key saves that could've had the Stars in a much deeper hole and without the small gain of one point from the shootout loss.

The defense played way above the expectations of such an un-proven group. Newcomers Karlis Skrastins and Jeff Woywitka filled in seemlessly, and Skrastins especially proved his worth on the penalty kill.

However, that leads to the one issue I had: special teams. Now obviously anybody who watched the game will agree, the Stars need to take less penalties and take advantage of their power-play more often. However, James Neal did manage to capitalize on a power-play goal, and the penalty kill only gave up one goal in four Nashville opportunities.

Mike Ribeiro showed that he hasn't lost his niche in shootouts, of course. He scored a fantastic goal that kept the Stars in the game a little longer.

J.P. Dumont had an awfully scary moment in the second period, hitting his head against the boards after taking a particularly rough, although clean, hit from Stephane Robidas. He was pretty shaken up, and having not seen the exact moment of the impact, I panicked when I saw him flat on the ice unmoving. I was glad to see that he left the ice on his own though, and hopefully he won't be injured for too long.

The next Stars game is against Edmonton on Tuesday, and they'll be on the road. If you don't get to catch the game (and you don't have DVR like me) then be sure to check back here, I'll have a postgame review!

Pre-post

2009-10-03T17:39:00.002-04:00

Ok, so the Stars game starts in a few hours, and I'm psyched!

Of course, I have nothing to do for those couple of hours, so I figured I'd make a quick little post for now.

AT&T Uverse with DVR has saved my life. I've watched most of the games they've already shown on Versus so far, including the very first game that featured Alex Ovechkin scoring two goals.

The first Versus NHL game of the year featured the first goal of the season, the first save of the season, first check, first two-goal performance, first crunching hit, first fight, and first crushing defeat.

Also in the good news category, every NHL game except one so far has had at least one team score 4 goals. The game that didn't was a 3-0 Colorado victory over Vancouver. High scoring is back!

I really can't express how much anticipation is in this room right now, from just me. I'm really excited about the new season, it should be a redeeming one. And if anybody doesn't think a team can rebound, just look at the Avalanche so far this season. Two wins already, and a lot of great young talent is there.

STARS RULE!

Pre-season writings

2009-09-20T15:25:00.003-04:00

So, I realize that I'm still incredibly inconsistent with my posting, to the point where I missed the start of the pre-season. However, this time I'll set a date for my full return: Dallas' season opening game.

For now, though, let's take a look at what the Stars have been up to relating to training camp and how their roster is shaping up:

Roster Spots:
The Stars retained most of their roster from last season, and with a few players returning from injury, the majority of their lines will be filled.

Offense
Up front, expect to see Brenden Morrow, Mike Ribeiro, Jere Lehtinen, James Neal, Brad Richards, Loui Eriksson, Steve Ott, Mike Modano, Fabian Brunnstrom, Brian Sutherby, Toby Petersen, and Krys Barch as the regular forwards. They each performed their jobs well, and were sorely missed when injured. The only holes in the lineup would be from injuries.
However, the Stars do have several players on the verge of joining the team. Jamie Benn is the next pure scorer for Dallas, and he proved it by scoring two goals in a recent pre-season win over the Columbus Blue Jackets. Ray Sawada is another candidate for cracking the lineup, although more as a grinder/checking player with a bit of offensive flair. He might be carried as the 13th forward for the team.

Defense
On the blue-line, the Stars look a little uncertain. Losing the mentorship of Darryl Sydor and Sergei Zubov was a tough blow, and Karlis Skrastins will be hard-pressed to make up for some of that. Stephane Robidas will also have to take another step towards the role of head veteran, and Trevor Daley will be expected to elevate his game. Nicklas Grossman should continue his steady play that has earned him the admiration of most Stars fans, and Matt Niskanen should be able to redeem himself from last year's erratic and often poor play, while Mark Fistric should finally get the full time NHL job he deserves. Andrew Hutchinson and Jeff Woywitka will be the backup defenders.
Waiting in the wings are several young players with hopes of reaching the NHL soon, the most prominent among them being Ivan Vishnevskiy. The offensively talented defenseman showed great improvements defensively last year, prompting the Stars to give him plenty of time to prove himself in training camp. However, management will likely decide that more improvement will come from top-line AHL time, rather than sporadic play with Dallas.

Goaltending
The Stars have relied on Marty Turco since his rookie season, and it's unlikely that anything will change this year. However, they will have a solid backup in Alex Auld, who will be able to provide Turco with more nights off than in recent seasons.
In the wings, Richard Bachman quietly sits under the radar, waiting to bring his superb skills to the NHL.

Straying From the Usual

2009-08-10T14:19:00.003-04:00

So today, I had some thoughts about the music world that I felt like letting out to see what other people thought. Seeing as I didn't feel like creating a new blog, I decided to post it on here:

THE MYSTERY THAT IS "POP" MUSIC

Pop is perhaps the most broad genre of any music genre. However, the official definition of Pop Music is simply a shortening of the phrase Popular Music. So why do I call the genre a mystery?

Pop can be; Hannah Montana, The Killers, ABAM, Nickelback, Lady Gaga, The Fray.
The diversity of the above listed bands is immediately clear.
Obviously, those aren't the only pop bands. But I'll use these six as my examples because in a way, they're the six subdivisions of pop.

1. Hannah Montana "Pop"
This is perhaps the subdivision of pop that I despise the most. Not just Disney artists, but any pop artist who fits under one of the following:
A) Letting the record company write songs for you,
B) Using Autotune or similar applications because you really suck at singing,
C) Never allowing your backing band to become famous (if listed as a single artist),
D) Wasting your own musical talent by allowing A,
E) Being more interested in the fame or money than the music.
Bands that allow themselves to get sucked into this style of pop really put the music industry to shame. The fact that they could just as easily write their own songs, book their own shows, gain fame via becoming local favorites, etc., but give that up because they don't want to wait that long, or put in that much effort, makes me sad that they have real fans. Also, if I was a member of, say, Demi Lovato's backing band, but I never got any credit, I'd be pretty pissed.
Other bands in this subdivision: Every band signed with Disney, most one-hit wonders

2. The Killers "Pop"
The Killers and bands like them are considered pop bands for any of the following reasons:
A) The ability to constantly release hits that receive lucrative amounts of airplay,
B) The ability to draw a wide variety of fans,
C) The amount of fame they get while staying committed to the music,
D) The amount of money they get while committed to the music.
Some bands that fit the above qualifications are hard to qualify as pop by the actual sound of their music. The Killers' latest album doesn't seem to fit any genre except for a vague qualification of pop-rock. However, they often get classified as pop in articles in popular magazines because, well, as is the obvious case, they're popular. Their songs appeal to almost everyone, and because they name other well-known bands (U2, The Beatles, etc.) as influences, they're immediately accepted as having a good sound.
Other bands in this subdivision: Collective Soul, Silversun Pickups, U2.

3. ABAM "Pop"
This subdivision is actually quite similar to The Killers "Pop" musically, but bands get put into this subdivision for any of the following reasons:
A) They give themselves the genre of Pop, Jpop, Power Pop, etc.,
B) They remain, or at least currently, a relatively unknown band when viewed in the entire scope of the music world,
C) They don't make a lot of money,
D) Their style is universally acceptable.
Often, a band that fits into this kind of pop is an indie band, hence their lack of relative popularity. Also common, any band classified as a "one-hit wonder" that didn't allow a record company to write the song for them, may have started out in this subdivision.
Other bands in this division: The Tough Alliance, Molly Rockwell, Ben Cyllus, Eisley

4. Nickelback "Pop"
There are, for whatever reasons, a number of rock bands who's popularity shoot through the roof after one or two hit songs, and end up getting sucked into the pop music scene. Some of the reasons may be as follows:
A) The song/band has lyrical content that almost anyone could apply to a memorable moment in their life,
B) The song has an instantly catchy and easily memorizable melody,
C) The band manages to grab a spot on a Clear Channel playlist
D) The band has had a considerable following before becoming a "Pop" band and therefore has a large base to build on when they join the pop scene.
The majority of these bands' most popular songs will be soft rock, although on occasion a few loud ones (Animal I Have Become -Three Days Grace) will break through. This subdivision rose up in the late 90's, in the post-grunge era, and appealed to a lot of music fans who were looking for a quieter sound after listening to bands like Nirvana, Green Day, Rage Against The Machine, and other grunge bands.
Other bands in this division: Hootie and the Blowfish, The Goo Goo Dolls, Three Days Grace

5. Lady Gaga "Pop"
Half of the artists in this subdivision are really R&B or Rap, but get classified as pop for any of the following reasons:
A) The artist is wildly popular on radio, or with videos on MTV, or both,
B) The artist makes a ridiculous amount of money (and shows it off in videos)
C) The popularity of the artist comes from the content of their lyrics or videos rather than in the music,
D) The artist isn't particularly keen on creativity, instead taking lyric ideas from other artists and displaying the concept with different words.
This is another subdivision of pop that often disgusts me, because the artists take more pride in the money and fame that they get than the actual potential quality of their music. And the fact that 90% of the time, the lyrical content is about sex, drugs, money, or fame continues to downgrade the kind of music these artists could be making.
Other artists in this subdivision: Rihanna, T-Pain, Timbaland

6. The Fray "Pop"
This is the style of pop that pains me the most. It mainly encompasses Alt. Rock and Soft Rock bands, but the reasons they might get qualified in here go as follows:
A) The band produces a major hit that's instantly catchy, and then proceeds to release a bunch of mediocre songs that are instantly overhyped simply because it's the same band,
B) The band writes a number of songs with universally relatable lyrics, but allows the instrumentation to be arranged by a record company, in which case the songs end up sounding mediocre and often similar to each other,
C) The band releases a number of songs that they personally wrote and composed, but strangely, it's hard to distinguish one song from another.
To me, this is the lazy side of pop. The bands usually work hard to get to the pop scene, and then become lazy, write cliche songs, and yet manage to remain atop the pop scene for at least a year.
Other bands in this subdivision: Shinedown, Nickelback (yes, they fit two), The Script, Jason Mraz

Now, to get things straight, this writing doesn't mean I hate pop. The opposite actually; The Killers, Silversun Pickups, Collective Soul, ABAM, and The Tough Alliance are among my favorite bands. And I mean no offense to any musical talent any of the implied musicians may have; I simply criticize the way they go about using it. So, without rambling on any longer, please, comment with criticism/questions/applause etc.

(P.S. I've been in a music mood lately, so this blog may become the subject of more music writings.)

Free Agent Moves Around The NHL

2009-07-20T20:39:00.014-04:00

So, in order to make it look like I frequently post to this blog, I'm going to try and spend more of my time thinking I'm bored writing about hockey.

Today; A quick look at each team in the NHL to grade their free-agent additions and subtractions.

Anaheim: (additions: Saku Koivu, Nick Boynton, Steve McCarthy / subtractions: Francois Beauchemin)
-The Ducks' biggest splash was signing long-time Canadiens center Saku Koivu. The Ducks didn't have a lot of offense down the middle after Ryan Getzlaf, so adding Koivu, who brings leadership, scoring, and defensive play, will really make a difference. However, after trading Chris Pronger to Philadelphia for Joffrey Lupul and Luca Sbisa, and losing Francois Beauchemin to the Maple Leafs, will the Ducks' defense be as dominating? Before, it was a top three of Scott Niedermayer, Chris Pronger, and Francois Beauchemin. Now, it's a top three of Niedermayer (who's status of retired/active is debated every off-season), Nick Boynton, and Ryan Whitney. The top three remains a formidable group, but some of the intimidation factor has been lost.

Atlanta: (additions: Nik Antropov, Jason Krog, Drew McIntyre, Peter Mannino, Noah Welch, Anthony Stewart, Tim Stapleton, Mike Vernace, Josh Gratton / subtractions: Clay Wilson, Brett Skinner)
-Atlanta has stayed relatively low-profile this off-season, mainly acquiring minor leaguers and prospects. Nik Antropov was the only major name added, as the Thrashers continue to search for that secondary scoring they've needed so dearly. Antropov recently became a high-end scorer; can he do the same job in Atlanta? Noah Welch may also be able to help a defense corps that's becoming younger and younger.

Boston: (additions: Steve Begin, Dany Sabourin, Drew Fata, Drew Larman, Trent Whitfield, Derek Morris / subtractions: Steve Montador, Jeremy Reich, Shane Hnidy)
-Boston suffered relatively minor losses so far this off-season, and as a result, have added only fringe players and Derek Morris. Steve Begin may play a role as a checker and penalty killer, and Morris will be a good addition on defense, but the other additions will likely see time in the minors and as healthy scratches. The Bruins retained pretty much the same roster from last season, and will once again be a top contender.

Buffalo: (additions: Steve Montador, Cody McCormick / subtractions: Jaroslav Spacek, Mathieu Darche, Michael Funk)
-Despite an up-and-down season, the Sabres made very few moves to improve their team. When free-agent defender Jaroslav Spacek left, they quickly replaced him with veteran Steve Montador. Maxim Afineganov is also likely to leave the team, although he hasn't been signed by anyone yet.

Calgary: (additions: Jay Bouwmeester, Fredrik Sjostrom, Garth Murray, Riley Armstrong, Jason Jaffray, Staffan Kronwall, Nigel Dawes / subtractions: Jordan Leopold, Warren Peters, Adam Cracknell)
-The Flames went with big names up front the last time they underwent major revision; the result was another reasonably disappointing season. This year, after losing relatively nobody to free agency, and replacing Jordan Leopold with ex-Panthers star Jay Bouwmeester, the Flames went for depth and youth. Bouwmeester will obviously play a huge role on defense as the 3rd big name behind Dion Phaneuf and Robyn Regeher. Sjostrom will be looked to provide a Rene-Bourque-esque season, and the other additions will be sparingly used.

Carolina: (additions: Steven Goertzen, Jay Harrison, Andrew Alberts, Zack Fitzgerald / subtractions: Mark Flood, Dwight Helminen)
-Carolina surprised a lot of fans by returning to the playoffs this season, despite having made very few major moves. The same thing occured over this summer, as Andrew Alberts will likely be the only addition to play a significant role on the team. However, a full season out of the Eric/Erik duo of Staal and Cole should boost the Canes up the standings once again.

Chicago: (additions: Marian Hossa, Tomas Kopecky, John Madden, Richard Petiot, Danny Bois / subtractions: Matt Walker, Nikolai Khabibulin, Samuel Pahlsson, Martin Havlat)
-The Hawks made some major moves last summer on their way to a playoff run. This summer, they intend for their moves to do the same. In light of winger Martin Havlat's free agency, they went out and opted to sign the best replacement available, in the form of two-time Cup Finalist Marian Hossa. Hossa has been looking for a Stanley Cup win for several seasons, and made it to the Finals with Pittsburgh and Detroit in the past two seasons. He'll be expecting a Finals trip in Chicago. Chicago also added Tomas Kopecky, a Stanley Cup winner with the Wings two years ago, and John Madden, who's won several championships with New Jersey. Obviously, experience was the goal here. An interesting move however was letting Nikolai Khabibulin, the man who saved the Hawks season in goal, test the free agent market, while keeping the inconsistent Cristobal Huet, who must provide a much better season this year to prove his worth.

Colorado: (additions: Craig Anderson, David Koci, Darren Haydar, Brett Skinner / subtractions: Ian Laperriere, Lawrence Nycholat, Tyler Arnason, Andrew Raycroft, Ben Guite, Nathan Smith, Cody McCormick)
-After the worst season in the history of the Avalanche, team management decided it was time to build from within. Free-agent additions failed them last season (particularly Andrew Raycroft and Darcy Tucker), so they'll look mainly to prospects to step in this year. Craig Anderson was signed to attempt to find stability in goal, while the hole left by Tyler Arnason will likely be filled by 1st round draft pick Matt Duchene.

Columbus: (additions: Samuel Pahlsson, Mathieu Garon, Mathieu Roy / subtractions: Aaron Rome, Wade Dubielewicz)
-The Blue Jackets added most of their major pieces last summer, and it led to their first ever playoff round. Despite being swept by eventual Stanley Cup finalist Detroit, Columbus entered the off-season full of confidence. They added Mathieu Garon to be a veteran back-up to Steve Mason, while Samuel Pahlsson will strengthen the defensive play of the forwards.

Dallas: (additions: Alex Auld, Karlis Skrastins, Jeff Woywitka, Warren Peters / subtractions: Steve Begin, Chris Conner, Brendan Morrison)
-The Stars will be relying on the return of Brenden Morrow, Brad Richards, and Toby Petersen from injury, along with a revival by Marty Turco, to bring the team back up the standings. They replaced free agents Sergei Zubov and Darryl Sydor with Karlis Skrastins and Jeff Woywitka in the hopes that their younger defenders will take another step up. Alex Auld was brought in to be a solid back-up goaltender. They only lost two rental players and Chris Conner to free-agency, so the roster won't look a whole lot different in 09-10. (see previous blog post for more on the Stars)

Detroit: (additions: Jeremy Williams, Kris Newbury, Doug Janik / subtractions: Marian Hossa, Ty Conklin, Tomas Kopecky, Mikael Samuelsson, Darren Haydar)
-The salary cap finally caught up to the Wings this off-season, as the Wings lost four vital pieces of last season's roster to free-agency. Marian Hossa was one of the leading scorers on the Red Wings and had chemistry with the whole team. Ty Conklin was a solid back-up goaltender who salvaged much of the Wings' season when Chris Osgood got rusty. Tomas Kopecky was a rising young player who could've been worth a lot in a trade, and Mikael Samuelsson was a strong defensive player and secondary scorer. The Wings could only add minor league depth via the free agency market.

Edmonton: (additions: Nikolai Khabibulin, Chris Minard / subtractions: Dwayne Roloson, Dany Sabourin, Ales Kotalik, Mathieu Roy, Kyle Brodziak)
-The Oilers are depending on their young players to bounce back from disappointing seasons last year in order to move up the standings. They replaced a reliable goalie with another reliable goalie, and probably won't need to replace Ales Kotalik, who was only with the team for games after the trade deadline.

Florida: (additions: Scott Clemmensen, Clay Wilson, Jordan Leopold, Jeff Taffe / subtractions: Jay Bouwmeester, Craig Anderson, Karlis Skrastins, Nick Boynton, Anthony Stewart, Drew Larman, Tanner Glass)
-Florida's defense corps suffered some losses over the summer and they just didn't have the budget to re-stock with other free agents. Jordan Leopold will be a welcome addition, but he alone won't be able to replace Jay Bouwmeester, Karlis Skrastins, and Nick Boynton. A year ago, Scott Clemmensen would have been considered a step down from Craig Anderson. However, after Clemmensen saved New Jersey's season in 08-09, it may be a step up in goal.

Los Angeles: (additions: Rob Scuderi, Brandon Segal / subtractions: Matt Moulson, Brian Boyle)
-The Kings didn't make very many moves by the way of free agency. Rob Scuderi will be a good stay at home defender for the team, although they may regret letting the young Brian Boyle develop in New York instead of Los Angeles.

Minnesota: (additions: Greg Zanon, Martin Havlat, Shane Hnidy, Wade Dubeiliwicz, Jon DiSalvatore, Nathan Smith / subtractions: Marian Gaborik, Corey Locke, Stephane Veilleux, Kurtis Foster)
-The Wild essentially played the replacement game, knowing which players they planned to lose to free agency, and replacing them with players of the same value. Marian Gaborik jumped ship to New York; Minnesota nabbed Martin Havlat from Chicago. Kurtis Foster bolted to Tampa Bay; the Wild signed Greg Zanon and Shane Hnidy to fill the gap. Stephane Veilleux was a good checking winger and might need a replacement, but his role wasn't so hard to replace. Wade Dubeiliwicz's signing has led to questions about the future of Josh Harding.

Montreal: (additions: Jaroslav Spacek, Hal Gill, Mike Cammalleri, Scott Gomez, Brian Gionta, Mathieu Darche, Paul Mara, Travis Moen, Curtis Sanford / subtractions: Mike Komisarek, Chris Higgins, Alex Kovalev, Saku Koivu, Tom Kostopoulous)
-The Canadiens had a confusing season last year, starting off looking like they would ursurp the Red Wings as Cup champions (who were actually ursurped by Pittsburgh), and playing the entire first half as such. However, soon after the All-star game (which featured 4 members of the team), the Canadiens fell apart. They were one of the most inconsistent teams in the league, plummetted down the standings, and ended up in a battle for a final playoff spot.
To fix the problem, they went for a major revamp. Mike Komisarek and Alex Kovalev were two members that made it to the all-star game, Saku Koivu was the face of the franchise for many years, and Chris Higgins was an up-and-coming goal scoring winger. All of them were let off to free agency. Replacing Komisarek; Jaroslav Spacek, Hal Gill, and Paul Mara. The Canadiens are determined to have the best defense in the league, and a group including Spacek, Gill, Mara, Andrei Markov, and Roman Hamrlik is fairly intimidating. Up front, Scott Gomez, Brian Gionta, Mike Cammalleri, and Travis Moen will fill the gaps left by Kovalev, Higgins, Koivu, and Tom Kostopoulous.

Nashville: (additions: Ben Guite, Peter Olvecky, Ben Eaves / subtractions: Vernon Fiddler, Greg Zanon, Scott Nichol, Jed Ortmeyer)
-The moves made by the Predators have been so largely insignificant that I almost forgot to write about them (sorry Preds fans!). They lost a few of their less-known players, but have the means to replace them. Alexander Sulzer will be taking over Greg Zanon's place on the blueline, while Vernon Fiddler's spot will be filled by Patric Hornqvist.

New Jersey: (additions: Yann Danis, Cory Murphy / subtractions: Scott Clemmensen, Mike Rupp, John Madden, Brian Gionta, Jon DiSalvatore)
-The Devils had an interesting season in 08-09, facing the obstacle of trying to win without Martin Broduer in net for a majority of the season. Luckily, Scott Clemmensen stepped in, and Zach Parise stepped up, and the Devils were able to salvage most of their season. However, the playoffs turned into yet another disappointment, and New Jersey management let several ex-key players test free agency waters. Gone are Clemmensen, scorer Brian Gionta, and long-time defensive specialist John Madden. Gionta and Madden haven't been replaced via free agency, so it's likely we'll see some young faces in the Devils' line-up this year. Yann Danis will be looked upon to be a sparingly used back-up as Broduer will return to his 70+ games/40+ wins status.

NY Islanders: (additions: Dwayne Roloson, Scott Munroe, Brett Westgarth, Jeremy Reich, Greg Moore, Matt Moulson, Greg Mauldin, Mark Flood, Martin Biron / subtractions: Chris Lee, Peter Mannino, Yann Danis, Joe Callahan)
-The Islanders mostly made small changes, bolstering their depth in the minors while hoping that their young players on the roster will continue to improve. The most interesting part of the Isles' off-season so far is the fact that, barring a retirement-due-to-injury by Rick DiPietro, New York will have 3 potential #1 goaltenders. Dwayne Roloson, Martin Biron, and DiPietro all have the potential to be top goaltenders, and have all been paid the money to do so. My guess? The Islanders will use one goaltender as trade bait to pick up a top forward, and have already warned the goaltender they plan to do so with.

NY Rangers: (additions: Donald Brashear, Marian Gaborik, Tyler Arnason, Corey Locke, Chris Higgins, Brian Boyle, Ales Kotalik, Enver Lisin / subtractions: Colton Orr, Fredrik Sjostrom, Nik Antropov, Greg Moore, Doug Janik, Paul Mara, Lauri Korpikoski)
-The Rangers are in the midst of remodeling, and although many agree that Glen Sather is the man who needs to be away from the team, he insists the problem lies in the team, and so New York has endured yet another summer of player shuffling. Out goes Nik Antropov, who was added at the trade deadline for scoring but let go in order to acquire more of the same in the form of Marian Gaborik. Definitely an upgrade, although Gaborik's health is eternally questionable. Paul Mara abandoned the big city's defense, and while nobody from free agency (unless Brian Boyle returns to the blueline, an unlikely situation) can replace him, prospect Bobby Sanguinetti may finally be ready to join the big leagues. Chris Higgins, Tyler Arnason and Ales Kotalik come in to bolster a forward group that released Lauri Korpikoski, Donald Brashear replaces Colton Orr as resident thug, and one ex-highly touted-Coyote (Fredrik Sjostrom) for another (Enver Lisin).

Ottawa: (additions: Alex Kovalev / subtractions: Greg Mauldin, Drew Fata, Danny Bois, ?Dany Heatley?)
-The biggest off-season news in Ottawa has yet to finish playing out. Other than the strange choice by Alex Kovalev to sign with the Sens, Dany Heatley has been the only major player to be involved in rumors. The right-winger is apparently unhappy with his situation in Ottawa, and has been approached by several teams with contract/trade offers. He's also apparently picky, as no firm decision has been reached as to what his status will be at the start of next season.

Philadelphia: (additions: Ray Emery, Brian Boucher, Ian Laperriere, Lukas Kaspar, Krys Kolanos, Jason Ward / subtractions: Mike Knuble, Scott Munroe, Antero Nittymaki, Andrew Alberts, Martin Biron)
-The Flyers underwent several big changes during the off-season. They entirely restocked their goaltending, letting Antero Nittymaki and Martin Biron walk and bringing in Ray Emery and Brian Boucher. They also gave up points (Mike Knuble, Joffrey Lupul) for toughness and defensive responsibility (Ian Laperriere, Chris Pronger).

Phoenix: (additions: Vernon Fiddler, Jason Labarbera, Adrian Aucoin, Lauri Korpikoski / subtractions: Garth Murray, Steven Goertzen, Nigel Dawes, Enver Lisin, Ryan Lannon)
-Wherever the Coyotes end up after the NHL season starts, they'll have a relatively solid roster to take with them. Adrian Aucoin was added to bolster the defense, Jason Larbarbera will solidify the goaltending, and Vernon Fiddler will be a good checking center. GM Don Maloney is still considering making an offer to free-agent Alex Tanguay, but the main drama of the team's summer has been the financial situation and whether or not someone will buy the team.

Pittsburgh: (additions: Nate Guenin, Chris Lee, Chris Conner, Jay McKee, Brent Johnson / subtractions: Hal Gill, Mathieu Garon, Rob Scuderi, Jeff Taffe, Chris Minard)
-Last season's Stanley Cup champions spent the summer trying to retain the majority of their roster to make another run next season, and just like the Red Wings before them, they were successful. Hal Gill was substituted with Jay McKee, while the Penguins expect a prospect to fill in Rob Scuderi's spot. Mathieu Garon's spot on the team will be filled by Brent Johnson, unless John Curry takes a major step up.

San Jose: (additions: Scott Nichol, Joe Callahan, Jed Ortmeyer, Dwight Helminen / subtractions: Brian Boucher, Riley Armstrong, Brett Westgarth, Travis Moen, Lukas Kaspar)
-The Sharks kept up on their pattern of being regular-season dominators and post-season failures, and GM Doug Wilson demanded major changes. Surprisingly though, the team made relatively minor changes, spending money on resigning the majority of last year's roster, only losing Brian Boucher, and replacing Travis Moen with Scott Nichol.

St. Louis: (additions: Ty Conklin, Barry Tallackson, Adam Cracknell, Brendan Bell / subtractions: Jeff Woywitka, Jay McKee, Trent Whitfield)
-The Blues made it to the playoffs after a long hiatus last season, and kept the majority of their roster this season. Ty Conklin will be the next attempt at stabilizing the goaltender position, while a return from injury by Erik Johnson and a step up by Steve Wagner should fill in the gaps left by Jay McKee and Jeff Woywitka.

Tampa Bay: (additions: Mattias Ohlund, Matt Walker, Stephane Veilleux, Kurtis Foster, Antero Nittymaki / subtractions: David Koci, Richard Petiot, Brandon Segal, Noah Welch, Cory Murphy, Jason Ward)
-Many things held Tampa back from being an improved team last year, but a major one was a lack of defensive strength. So the Lightning went out and signed Mattias Ohlund, Kurtis Foster, and Matt Walker to bolster the blueline. They also signed Antero Nittymaki to help out the goaltending, and Stephane Veilluex will buff up the forward lines.

Toronto: (additions: Colton Orr, Francois Beauchemin, Mike Komisarek, Garnet Exelby / subtractions: Jeremy Williams, Kris Newbury, Jay Harrison, Tim Stapleton)
-The Leafs decided to boost their young defensive corps with veterans Francois Beauchemin and Mike Komisarek to give the team some stability while they develop from within. Look for Luke Schenn, Mikhail Grabovski, and Lee Stempniak to take big steps up.

Vancouver: (additions: Aaron Rome, Lawrence Nycholat, Andrew Raycroft, Tanner Glass, Mike Funk / subtractions: Mattias Ohlund, Jason Labarbera, Jason Krog, Drew MacIntyre, Jason Jaffray, Zack Fitzgerald, Curtis Sanford)
-The Canucks made a lot of minor changes to their roster, but also let Mattias Ohlund leave the defense corps slightly weaker. They're hoping that a prospect or minor leaguer can step up, unless a free agent and/or trade presents a better opportunity.

Washington: (additions: Mike Knuble, Brendan Morrison / subtractions: Donald Brashear, Brent Johnson)
-The Caps had an outstanding season last year, although they fell short of their desire for the Stanley Cup. However, they only improved their roster as Brent Johnson left the team due to the sudden surge of prowess shown by Simeon Varlamov, and they added Mike Knuble and Brendan Morrison for just a little bit more scoring.

This report came out way later than I expected, but I'm pretty sure it's up to date as of August 2nd, 4:10 PM.

Long Absence—Stars report

2009-07-08T22:12:00.003-04:00

For quite some time now, various things have prevented me from blogging, school and working with my band, Drayned (myspace.com/drayneband) amongst them.

However, tonight I managed to secure some time to write.

Let's start with examining the changes made by the Dallas Stars since I last checked in:

New Players: The Stars have added Alex Auld, Karlis Skrastins, Jeff Woywitka, and Warren Peters through free agency/trade over the summer so far.

With Tobias Stephan and Brent Krahn failing to provide a steady back-up presence in goal, and prospects Tyler Beskorowany, Matt Climie, and Richard Bachman needing seasoning with the new Texas Stars AHL team, the Stars brought in Alex Auld from the Ottawa Senators. Auld was a surprise last season, coming from a reputation of inconsistency to ursurp Martin Gerber as the Sens starter. However, he failed to stay at that level of performance, and became expendable after Brian Elliot showed some strong play and the Senators traded for Pascal Leclaire. With Marty Turco perfectly capable of bouncing back from last season's poor play, Auld will be a reliable veteran back-up, the likes of which haven't been seen in Dallas in several seasons.

A combination of age and salary cap limits have forced the Stars to let longtime fan-favorite defenders Sergei Zubov and Darryl Sydor test the free agent market. Zubov, facing the trials of age and injury, managed only 10 games this past season. However, his leadership will be sorely missed. Darryl Sydor is a consistent defenseman who will surely have a solid NHL job in another location this coming season. He's been on a couple Stanley Cup teams.
To make up for the loss of these two defenders, the Stars have brought in Karlis Skrastins and Jeff Woywitka. Skrastins is a servicable defender who had an iron man streak for many seasons. He'll be a solid veteran addition. Woywitka had a tough time breaking into the NHL, but last season he was a steady presence for the St. Louis Blues.
However, the Stars have a serviceable crew of Trevor Daley, Stephane Robidas, Nicklas Grossman, Matt Niskanen, Mark Fistric, and Andrew Hutchinson already signed. Skrastins will surely get a role, perhaps replacing Fistric, but Woywitka and Hutchinson will have to vie for ice time in training camp, and one of Fistric, Woywitka, and Hutchinson will have to accept a role as a veteran leader in the AHL.

Up front, the Stars only added Warren Peters, who is likely to accept an AHL job. The Stars will have Brenden Morrow and Brad Richards returning from injury, leaving the following players vying for ice time (listed by official stars.nhl.com positions):
CENTER: Mike Ribeiro, Mike Modano, Brad Richards, Brian Sutherby, Toby Petersen, Tom Wandell
LEFT WING: Brenden Morrow, Steve Ott, Loui Eriksson, Fabian Brunnstrom, James Neal
RIGHT WING: Jere Lehtinen, Krystofer Barch

Now, obviously, a couple players will swing over to play right wing, most likely Steve Ott and Brian Sutherby. Left wing presents a problem, as Morrow, Eriksson, Brunnstrom, and Neal can all play roles as scorers. Morrow and Neal can play top line roles, but Brunnstrom is the only one suited for a third-line-scorer role. Wandell will be a top center with the Texas Stars, and Ribeiro, Richards, Modano, and Petersen had no problems last season being on the lines they were.
The lines could then play out as such:

Morrow-Ribeiro-Lehtinen
Eriksson-Richards-Ott
Neal-Modano-Sutherby
Brunnstrom-Petersen-Barch

Last season developed some chemistry which will be interesting to work out. While Morrow was injured, Steve Ott took a role as enforcer/scorer on his line. Not long after, the line of Ott-Ribeiro-Lehtinen became one of the Stars' most productive, and most efficient at creating scoring chances. Ott reached career highs of 19 goals and 27 assists for 46 points. Whether he can return to that level on a line with Eriksson and Richards remains to be seen, if the lines are formed as predicted above.

The other major change the Stars made during the summer was the decision to no longer go with the dual GM role of Les Jackson and Brett Hull. Replacing the duo is former Maple Leafs, Panthers, Devils, Flames, and Stars center Joe Nieuwendyk. Nieuwendyk's hiring was accepted happily by many fans, as he was a fan favorite during his days with the Stars, and won the Conn Smythe trophy in 1999.

In the 2009 NHL draft, the Stars chose Scott Glennie, Alex Chiasson, Reilly Smith, Tomas Vincour, and Curtis McKenzie. While none of those players had big enough names to come out from under the shadow of John Tavares and Victor Hedman, they caught the eyes of Stars personnel.
Scott Glenie: A right winger for the Brandon Wheat Kings of the WHL for the last two seasons, Glennie is a speedy playmaker. Last season he scored 28 goals and 42 assists in only 55 games. He also cut his penalty minute total in half, from 50 PIMs in his first season (during which he scored 26 goals and 32 assists) to 25 PIMs in 08-09. He'll likely play another year of junior before enduring some AHL seasoning.
Alex Chiasson: Another right winger, Chiasson played for the Des Moines Bucaneers in 08-09. A tough playmaker, Chiasson scored 17 goals and 33 assists for 50 points in 56 games, while garnering 101 PIMs. He'll need a few more years of seasoning before attempting to crack the lineup.
Reilly Smith: In light of the lack of true right wingers with the Stars, Smith, yet another right winger, was drafted out of the OPJHL as a long-term project. In 08-09, Smith played in 13 games with the St. Michael's Buzzers, scoring 2 goals and 7 assists. He also had 22 minutes.
Tomas Vincour: Drafted out of the Edmonton Oil Kings of the WHL, Vincour is a low-scoring center. In 49 games last year, Vincour scored 17 goals and 19 assists.
Curtis McKenzie: A left-winger for the Penticton Vees of the BCHL, McKenzie is another long term project for the Stars. He scored 3 goals and 7 assists in 49 games for the Vees, while recieving 81 PIMs.

While most of the changes made by the Stars aren't terribly major, the biggest impact will be from captain Brenden Morrow returning from an injury-riddled season. Expect a steadier season from Marty Turco, and a younger, more mobile defense corps.

First Round Musings

2009-04-28T11:39:00.004-04:00

Well, the first round's just about over by the time that I'm starting this blog, and while I don't have the time to recap every series, here are some interesting things to note (get out a sheet of paper, really):

-Of the 8 first round series, only two have made it to seven games (NJD vs CAR, NYR vs WAS). However, 3 of those series made it to the intense mark of six games, meaning in those three match-ups, the teams were fairly equal, but one gained more momentum and won it all.

-The leading scorer of the post-season so far is Evgeni Malkin. Interestingly enough, it's not very common to see the regular season scoring leader top the playoffs in scoring, for whatever reason. However, with the experience of a Finals appearance last year, Malkin's Penguins could go all the way again this year, leaving the possibility of the top regular and post- season scorer being the same man.

-Detroit's 4-game sweep marked the first time since 2002 that the team who won the Cup made it beyond the first round the next year, while Pittsburgh's 4-2 series win over Philadelphia marked the first time since that same year that both finalists made it past round 1.

San Jose vs. Anaheim
Result: Anaheim wins series 4-2
Perhaps the most surprising, yet not fully unexpected, upset of the first round, eighth seeded Anaheim, who struggled to even stay in playoff contention, took down the top seeded, President's Trophy-winning, San Jose Sharks, who are annually expected to go the distance and win a Cup, and annually disappoint the league and their fans.
Series difference-maker: Jonas Hiller (Ducks goaltender) Hiller was shifting between backup and starting goalie throughout the year as J.S. Giguere suffered through numerous inconsistencies, but was always rock solid when called upon. He kept the Sharks' goal total low enough to allow the Ducks a victory every night.

Boston vs. Montreal
Result: Boston wins series 4-0
Coming into the playoffs in their 100th season, the Canadiens had a year of many struggles, but were expected to contend fairly well. Instead, they went up against a Bruins team that had dominated the Eastern Conference all year and weren't ready to slow down just yet. In a crushing sweep, the Bruins took down the Habs like lightning, leading many to wonder just what challenge actually awaits Boston.
Series difference-maker: Michael Ryder (Bruins winger) Ryder came back to haunt his former team in the first round, scoring 4 goals and 7 points in 4 games for Boston.

Detroit vs. Columbus
Result: Detroit wins series 4-0
Perhaps the only series that ended exactly as predicted, the first-time-post-seasoner-Blue Jackets entered the playoffs hyped up, but with a poor match-up that resulted in a crushing defeat at the hands of defending champs Detroit. However, the supposed parity increase in the NHL has finally played out, as the Blue-Jackets, previously the only team in the league to have never made the playoffs, finally tasted the first round. And if the fans in Ohio are any proof, the Jackets want more.
Series difference-maker: Henrik Zetterberg (Red Wings Center/Winger) Although the entire Wings team was balanced out in terms of scoring and defensive play, there's no denying that Zetterberg is one of Detroit's ultimate leaders, and with 3 goals to lead the team, not to mention his outstanding defensive play, he'll lead the Wings wherever they go.

Washington vs. New York Rangers
Result: Washington wins series 4-3
One of the NHL's 7-game series, the Caps pulled off an upset, coming back from a Rangers 3-1 series lead to upset the boys in blue. After the Rangers chased goalie Jose Theodore from the Washington net, rookie goalie Simeon Varlamov came in and stole the show, and the comeback ended on Washington ice in game 7 with a 2-1 win.
Series difference-maker: Simeon Varlamov (Capitals goaltender) With Alex Ovechkin being harassed by Marc Staal and Alexander Semin and Nick Backstrom proving ineffective without him, it was up to the rookie Varlamov, who changed the series momentum in game 5 when he shut out the Rangers 4-0 for the second time. Comparisons to Mr. Cam Ward have already begun, and while it's a bit early, it looks good for Washington. Next up? Pittsburgh.

Vancouver vs. St. Louis
Result: Vancouver wins series 4-0
The first series to end (Boston's sweep of Montreal and Detroit's sweep of Columbus ended only a few days later) proved that while an underdog team can carry plenty of momentum, consistent goaltending will take you all the way. That was the story, as the Blues could not rely on the scoring of David Backes and Brad Boyes to get past the wall of Roberto Luongo. And surprisingly balanced scoring made sure that the Canucks topped the Blues in only four games.
Series difference-maker: Sedin Twins (Canucks center and left winger) It's practically impossible to seperate these two in any way. They duo dominated the series along with right winger Alex Burrows, making precision passes and sniper-like accuracy on net turn into goals. While Burrows had three goals, Daniel Sedin led with 2 goals and 5 points, while Henrik Sedin had a goal and 4 points.

New Jersey vs. Carolina
Result: Carolina wins series 4-3
There might not have been a more dead-locked series in the first round than this 7-gamer between the Devils and the Hurricanes. The Devils had Zach Parise to pour in goals, a world-reknowned defense to shut down the Canes, and star goalie Martin Broduer in net in case all else failed. The Canes had Eric Staal to lead on offense, a somewhat inexperienced, but still strong defense, and former Conn Smythe winner Cam Ward in goal. Through the first six games, it was literally a back and forth series. Two games went into overtime, with New Jersey winning one and Carolina winning the other. Although the Canes dominated in game 6, winning 4-0, it appeared that the Devils had the series locked up with a 3-2 lead going into the final period of game seven. However, goals by Jussi Jokinen and the heroic Eric Staal gave the Canes a 4-3 win and a chance in the second round.
Series-difference maker: Eric Staal (Hurricanes center) With 5 goals and 7 points, the Canes future captain stayed on a point-per-game pace throughout the series and was the leading goal-scorer as well. Although counterpart Zach Parise played perhaps as heroicly as Staal, the Canes came out on top thanks to their leader.

Chicago vs. Calgary
Result: Chicago wins series 4-2
The story of this series was toughness and experience (Calgary) up against energetic youth (Chicago). The Flames were led by gritty veteran Jarome Iginla and solid netminder Miika Kiprusoff, while the Blackhawks had the goal-scoring and leadership of Jonathan Toews and the netminding of former Stanley Cup winner Nikolai Khabibulin. Many people gave the series to Calgary because of the lack of experience (17 players never having played in the playoffs) that Chicago had in their lineup. However, the Hawks managed to overwhelm the defensive efforts of the Flames and moved on to the second round.
Series difference-maker: Jonathan Toews (Chicago Center) Despite being so young, the future Chicago captain dominated the series with his gritty play. He had 2 goals and 6 points to tie for second on team scoring, and kept up the morale of the team even as they lost games 3 and 4 in Calgary.

Pittsburgh vs. Philadelphia
Result: Pittsburgh wins series 4-2
The series with the most heated rivalry already in place became intense right off the bat. Both teams relied on scoring, as Pittsburgh had the dynamic duo of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, while the Flyers relied upon Mike Richards and Jeff Carter, among others. In the end, though, the superb goaltending of Marc-Andre Fluery bested the efforts of Martin Biron, and the Penguins came out on top. Next up, the dream series of Pittsburgh vs. Washington.
Series difference-maker: Evgeni Malkin (Penguins center) Despite the hype surrounding Sid the Kid, Malking quietly lead the playoffs in scoring through the first round, and potted 4 goals and 9 points total.

We didn't sign you for THIS

2009-04-09T16:50:00.003-04:00

Every team has its flop signings/draftings/tradings, maybe even annually. Here's a list of each team's "We didn't sign you for THIS" player for the 08-09 season.

Anaheim Ducks: The Ducks flop of the year actually wasn't a new addition. Goaltender J.S. Giguere was expected to be a solid No. 1 this year, but through each game he's played, he's been inconsistent. With a 19-18-5 record, and alleged "backup" Jonas Hiller going 22-15-1, Giguere definitely didn't live up to expectations this season.

Atlanta Thrashers: Other than the entire team consistently playing as a flop, the Thrashers signing of Jason Williams didn't play out as expected. Following a season in which Williams scored 36 points in 43 games, the Thrashers signed him as a free agent expecting him to help lead the attack along with Ilya Kovalchuk. However, Williams never panned out, only managing 7 goals and 18 points in 41 games before being traded to Columbus. However, where Williams failed, Todd White (22 goals, 72 points) and Brian Little (31 goals, 51 points) picked up their game.

Boston Bruins: As hard as I try, I can't seem to find a player for the Bruins that really failed. Marco Sturm's stats are a low, but that's because of a long-term injury that had nothing to do with his level of play while healthy. Mark Recchi has a rating of -17, but was on a poor Thrashers team for the majority of the year and has only been a -2 in Boston. The entire team has risen beyond expectations to clinch the Eastern Conference, and should have quite the playoff run.

Buffalo Sabres: The season as a whole has been slightly disappointing for the Sabres, but a particular disappointment has been backup goalie Patrick Lalime. Signed to be a steady presence if Ryan Miller went down with an injury or needed a rest, he's only managed a 5-13-3 record in 21 games.

Calgary Flames: Most of the players on the Flames have played fairly well this season, but Jamie Lundmark hasn't been able to secure a job with the team. He's managed 15 points in 25 games this year, but hasn't been a consistent presence.

Carolina Hurricanes: Scott Walker's point totals have been steadily declining over the past three seasons and injuries this year haven't helped. Through 38 games, Walker only had 5 goals and 15 points. His importance to the team is slowly waning.

Chicago Blackhawks: Brent Sopel signed on with the Chicago crew last year in hopes of helping return the team to glory. While the Hawks will finally make the playoffs this year, Sopel has turned in a disappointing 08-09 campaign, only playing in 23 games, with a goal, an assist, and a -4 rating.

Colorado Avalanche: The entire year has just plain sucked for the Avs, but it's interesting to note that the Darcy Tucker signing completely failed. He's only managed 8 goals and 16 points in 60 games, played to a -13 rating, and hasn't even fought a lot, with only 67 PIM's.

Columbus Blue Jackets: The Jackets are finally in the playoffs after clinching a spot a couple days ago. In the summer, they'll be looking to re-style their roster to fit the style of play that has gotten them this far, and a likely casualty of that change will be center Jiri Novotny. Novotny has never been able to consistently hold an NHL job, and only managed 3 goals and 6 points in 40 games with the Jackets this year.

Dallas Stars: This may be the most obvious pick of the league—Sean Avery. The Avery experiment in Dallas was a complete disaster. The team went on a downward spiral with Avery in the lineup, and was only able to somewhat reverse the tailspin after kicking Sean off the team. Interestingly, Avery re-joined the New York Rangers later in the year, and has sparked them into fighting for a playoff spot.

Detroit Red Wings: The Red Wings are yet another team who seems to have no bad decisions this year. The only real issue has been the play of goalie Chris Osgood, who, despite his outstanding record of 25-8-7, has been fairly inconsistent. Osgood's GAA is currently 3.10, and has hovered around that mark all year. He must improve if the Wings want to repeat.

Edmonton Oilers: Fernando Pisani has been unable to recreate his magic of the 2006 post-season, during which he went on a goal-scoring rampage. This year he's only managed 7 goals and 14 points in 36 games.

Florida Panthers: The play of Nick Tarnasky hasn't contributed to the Panthers' hopes of a playoff berth this year. In his 44 games so far, he's only managed 6 assists and a -2 rating.

Los Angeles Kings: The Kings probably wish Denis Gauthier had played a little better this year. The veteran defenseman didn't provide all that great of a presence, and had a string of suspensions mid-season that messed with the team's chemistry.

Minnesota Wild: The Wild probably would have liked a bit more production out of Craig Weller. The ex-Coyote only managed a goal and two assists in 36 games and was a -3.

Montreal Canadiens: The entire Canadiens team went on a downward spiral in the second half of the year, so every player underachieved in one way or another. However, I still can't find the point of Montreal keeping Mathieu Dandenault on the roster. Once again, he only played half the year, and managed 4 goals and 12 points this time. The Canadiens have so many young players that could be using that playing time instead.

Nashville Predators: Patric Hornqvist needed more AHL seasoning than the Preds thought. Unfortunately, they ran out his Calder game-limit (28 games this season) and he won't be able to contend for rookie of the year next year, that is, if he can pick up his play (2 goals, 7 points) by next year.

New Jersey Devils: Nicklas Bergfors has been unable to secure a spot with the Devils. Despite getting 9 games over the past two seasons to prove his worth, Bergfors has only scored one goal and has played in the AHL the rest of the time.\

New York Islanders: Seeing as the Islanders finished last, every player could be considered a flop. However, a particular letdown was the play of Brendan Witt. Despite still being a veteran leader for the Isles, Witt was a -34, a team worst, and definitely not helping the club.

New York Rangers: Everyone's talking about how Wade Redden has been a huge disappointment for the money the Rangers gave him, but another strange season came out of Aaron Voros. Voros was at the top of league scoring during October, but hit a slump much worse than the rest of the Rangers, and ended up with only 8 goals and 16 points and went scoreless during the month of February.

Ottawa Senators: Shean Donovan has certainly slowed down at this point in his NHL career. Expected to be a role player, Donovan's totals of 5 goals, 10 points, and a -2 rating are still fairly disappointing.

Philadelphia Flyers: Despite an upswing in the latter half of the year, Claude Giroux's play at the beginning of the season was way below what was expected of him, and earned him a trip to the AHL. His expectations will be just as high next season, however, as the Flyers faithful expect him to only need one learning season.

Phoenix Coyotes: The Desert Dogs are certainly upset that the sophomore slump hit Peter Mueller so bad. The (still) future captain of the Coyotes on managed 36 points this year after breaking the 50 point barrier last season.

Pittsburgh Penguins: The Penguins definitely aren't happy with the play of Miroslav Satan. After recording just 17 goals and 36 points through 65 games, he was assigned to the AHL, a tough blow on the reputation of the veteran winger.

San Jose Sharks: The Sharks wish that veteran leader Jeremy Roenick had brought last season's magic. Despite winning more games than ever, San Jose had no help from Roenick in that department, who only scored 4 goals this year, none of which were game-winners.

St. Louis Blues: Barret Jackman was expected to be a solid veteran backbone for a relatively young defense corps. However, his play wasn't the best; a -17 rating looks really bad for the experienced defender, especially when compared to counterpart veteran Jay Mckee, who finished the year at +11.

Tampa Bay Lightning: The entire Tampa team was the biggest disappointment in the NHL, from expected top rookie Steven Stamkos (who still managed a respectable 23 goals and 46 points) all the way down to ex-coach Barry Melrose, who lasted 16 games. However, a lot will be made out of the poor play of Noah Welch, who only managed a goal and an assist with a -9 rating. Welch, through a series of trades, was the replacement of star defender Dan Boyle.

Toronto Maple Leafs: The Leafs actually improved this season, somehow. However, you'd be hard pressed to find someone who thinks that Jeff Finger's numbers (23 points, -7 rating) match up to the ridiculous contract he was given over the summer.

Vancouver Canucks: Winger Taylor Pyatt was expected to return to the 20-goal plateau this season, but due to his limited ice time with the Sedins, he only managed 10 goals this season. Fortunately, the unexpected goal-scoring prowess of Alex Burrows relieved most of the disappointment.

Washington Capitals: Michael Nylander did nothing near living up to his expected role as a top center. He only managed 9 goals and 33 points for the Caps and was a letdown.

Climie's Debut A Win; Looking Towards the Future

2009-04-05T13:23:00.000-04:00

Well, there’s nothing like seeing the newest Stars rookie get a win in his NHL debut.

Matt Climie was in net for Dallas yesterday when they played the St. Louis Blues. Although he let in a few goals that he certainly would like to get back, I’m sure he’s pleased with the 5-4 OT win.

Climie was supported very well by a Stars defense who was quick to knock away rebounds and block key shots. Had Brad Boyes had his way, the game would likely have finished with a score of 6-5 or higher.

But thanks to the efforts of Loui Eriksson, who scored twice, Mike Ribeiro and Steve Ott, each with a goal, and Trevor Daley, who clinched the game in overtime.

Tom Wandell got his first two NHL assists and proved that he’s ready for at least the AHL, if not the NHL. He was a strong presence for the Stars throughout the game.

James Neal continued to show why he’s one of the top rookies in the NHL. Despite not scoring a goal, he managed an assist on Eriksson’s second goal and had several huge hits that drew cheers from the crowd.

A worrying note for Stars fans were the words of Mike Modano after the game:
The 38-year-old Modano said was unsure whether he’ll be back for his 21st season with the Stars. “I don’t know if it’s my last home game ever,” Modano said. “It crossed my mind. I’m too aggravated right now to make that decision. I’ll spend a long month on the beach and make a rational decision about what’s next.” (nhl.com game recap)
Modano certainly has enough credentials to retire respectably. He’s the top scoring American in the NHL ever, and despite a rough season, he’s managed 15 goals and 46 points in 77 games so far.

Although the Stars have officially been eliminated from playoff contention, they can use their last three games to get a look at how ready their young prospects are for the NHL. Climie will most likely get at least one more start because the Stars should let Marty Turco rest. Defenseman Ivan Vishnevskiy was called up from Peoria and will likely see action in the final three games of the year while one of the non-injured veterans takes a break. The Stars could also bring up Jamie Benn for a few games and see how much longer he’ll need to develop in the AHL. Tom Wandell will also probably see action in the final 3 games.

If all turns out well, the Stars will draft either 8th or 9th. According to the three mock drafts NHL.com writers Brad Holland, Shawn P. Roarke, and Adam Kimmelman, the Stars should pick either Jacob Josefsen, a Mike Modano-type, Zack Kassian, a Brenden Morrow-type, or Magnus Paajarvi-Svensson, a speedy Swedish winger.

My personal favorite would be Paajarvi-Svensson. The Stars could use some speed on the wing, and fellow Swede Fabian Brunnstrom could be a good mentor once he himself is accustomed to the NHL. Plus, you can’t go wrong with two last names.

Long Hiatus; The Stars' Demise

2009-04-01T18:57:00.005-04:00

I haven't blogged since about a week after the trade deadline; that's largely due to immense amounts of important schoolwork.

The trade-deadline analysis blogs will restart once the season ends, starting over from the beginning. This is so I can include the impact that acquired players may have had on the playoffs-or-non playoffs status of the team, as well as how well that player did in the playoffs if the given team did make it.

This article, however, will focus on the fate of the Stars that likely won't be changed within the last 5 games of the season.

Firstly, the Stars would have likely have to win each of their last 5 games, and have several other teams go on losing streaks, in order to reach the playoffs. They currently sit in 12th, with 78 points.

The Stars have definitely had a strange season; they started out the year with a Conference Finals "hangover", and dropped as far as 15th in the conference at one point. They played without captain Brenden Morrow, who was injured after 18 games, and defenseman Sergei Zubov, who started the year on injured reserve and has only gotten into 10 games this year. Often going Lose-Win-Lose-Lose-Win, it was only after superpest Sean Avery, having made comments about former girlfriends and fellow NHLers, was suspended and officially kicked off the team, that the season began to turn around. The Stars then went on a relatively good streak, rocketing up the standings into a playoff position, and managed to hold onto either the 7th or 8th spot for the better part of the year until approximately the trade deadline.

It was a few games before the deadline that things began to fall apart once again. Already without Morrow and Zubov, the Stars lost the services of Brad Richards, Toby Petersen, and Fabian Brunnstrom within a matter of days. Richards suffered a fractured arm, made it back to the lineup for one game, and left partway through that game due to a broken hand, which has kept him out since. Brunnstrom has made it back and stuck in the lineup, but Petersen, perhaps the Stars' hardest worker, has yet to make a return.
The Stars attempted to offset those losses with the acquisitions of Steve Begin (from Montreal for Doug Janik) and Brendan Morrison (waivers). While each player has done his part and contributed (Morrison scored two goals including the game-winner last night against the Kings), the Stars have yet to snap out of their slump.

If the pattern continues, Dallas will most likely finish the year out of the playoffs in what might be the worst possible position.

Finishing 12th in the conference means the team doesn't make the playoffs, but has a poor chance of getting a good draft pick, likely picking 7th or 8th. While that isn't normally too bad of a spot (THN Blogger Mark Seidel ranked Magnus Svensson-Pajaarvi 7th and Landon Ferraro 8th last year), rankings change quickly, and players that have been drafted that high have still turned out to be busts on occasion.

The Stars will also have to clear some roster space over the summer; they have potential overcrowding at both center and defense once players return from injury.

The most pressing issue right now is UFA defenseman Sergei Zubov. Zubov's been a great defender since his first season in the NHL, and has been a Stars veteran since before they won the Cup. However, he's been injury riddled for the past two seasons, minimizing his contributions and making his salary seem too high for what he's done. If he doesn't retire to avoid more injury issues, I think the Stars should let Zubov test the UFA market.

However, the defense will still be crowded even with the departure of Zubov. The Stars who deserve a roster spot next season line up like this:

Stephane Robidas - Trevor Daley
Matt Niskanen - Nicklas Grossman
Darryl Sydor - Andrew Hutchinson
Mark Fistric - Ivan Vishnevskiy

Hutchinson is the most likely candidate for a trade, seeing as he doesn't have very many ties with the team. However, he played well for the Stars when he was in the lineup and his contributions are highly valued.
Vishnevskiy will likely have to play another year in the AHL, although he'll be among the first to get the call when an injury comes up. Garrett Stafford is another defenseman who could hold his own in the NHL if there were more space available for him.

The Stars will also soon find themselves to have quite the crowd at the center position. Mike Ribeiro, Brad Richards, Mike Modano, Brendan Morrison, Toby Petersen, and Brian Sutherby have all performed well for the Stars, although Sutherby has spent a fair share of time playing wing due to the crowding. But still, Petersen doesn't deserve a year in the AHL after all he's contributed this season, and Morrison probably wouldn't be happy on the fourth line anyways. My guess is that Morrison gets traded and Sutherby plays wing on Petersen's line; the Stars were at their most consistent when the line up went Ribeiro, Richards, Modano, Petersen.

So depending on whether or not the Stars draft an out-of-nowhere-NHL-ready kid, and depending on who they trade, the ideal line up would look like this:

Ott----Ribeiro-----Lehtinen
Brunnstrom/Begin?-Richards-Eriksson
Neal--Modano--Parrish/Conner
Sutherby/Begin?---Petersen---Barch

Robidas--Grossman
Niskanen----Sydor
Daley-----Fistric

Turco
Stephan

The goaltending most likely won't change. Turco's had his ups and downs during the year, but management probably has enough faith to let him rule the crease next year. Richard Bachman will almost definitely be the top AHL goaltender for Dallas next season.

Steve Begin's spot on the team will also likely fall into question after all the injuries are through. He was essentially hired to take the place of Toby Petersen.

Despite Begin's addition, though, the Stars are in need of a little more wing depth. The Richards-Eriksson pair has no solid left winger, and the Neal-Modano pair has no solid right winger. Richards and Eriksson could potentially get help in the next two years, when Jamie Benn decides to make the jump to the NHL. The Stars could also trade Hutchinson or Morrison for an experienced right winger to join Neal and Modano, or they could wait for Colton Sceviour to develop.

Three prospects to look for in the next two or three seasons: Jamie Benn, Colton Sceviour, and Richard Bachman. All three will be entering their first AHL seasons, and the Stars will be looking for them to develop into the leaders of the franchise's new AHL team, the Texas Stars.
Benn is the most natural scorer of the group. He's said to have lightning fast hands, and has the potential to become a Dany-Heatley-style player, although perhaps just consistently in the 30-goal range, not the 40-50 range.
Sceviour's game is similar to that of Daniel Alfredsson when it comes to the numbers game–this season, Sceviour's most productive, has him with a total of 29 goals and 51 assists for 80 points. However, Sceviour also likes to play the rough-along-the-boards game, putting him in the range of Jarome Iginla as well. While his NHL numbers and leadership might never reach that high, his potential is definitely there.
Richard Bachman is most likely the Stars' future in net, if numbers and awards can tell anything. In 2007-08, Bachman won 25 of 35 games and won player of the year and rookie of the year for the WCHA. While his 08-09 numbers aren't quite as impressive (14-11 in 35 games), he's still the top goaltender for his team and could be an AHL starter as early as next season.

To sum up the general feelings of the Stars fans, and, most likely, the Stars organization, Dallas just needs this season to be over so they can begin fresh next year.

The comeback kids?

2009-03-07T14:34:00.003-05:00

I saw an interesting snippet today while perusing The Hockey News' Future Watch 09.

Stefan Legein is back in hockey now.

For those of you who aren't aware of this young man's story, Legein made headlines late in the summer, claiming he had quit hockey. The decision was so questionable that it sparked debate for a good month or so before quieting down.

Now the young right winger is back, playing for the Syracuse Crunch of the AHL, and although he's still looking for his first point through 9 games, he's gained enough attention and shown enough potential to get back to #8 of Columbus' top 10 prospects.

Another NHL prospect who recently went through this sort of ideal was current Providence Bruins center Dan Ryder.
Last season, Ryder left the Quad City Flames 6 games into the AHL season, claiming he needed to take some time to think about his commitment to the game.
Ryder didn't return for the rest of the season, and his game has struggled since returning this season. Despite 9 points in 19 games with Quad City, he was sent down to the Las Vegas Wranglers of the ECHL for 4 games, where he went scoreless, and then was traded and has gone scoreless in 4 games with Providence.

Unfortunately, this probably won't be the last time a young prospect with enormous potential questions their commitment to the game. And while it would be wrong to try and force the prospect in question back into the game, one can't help but feel somewhat more depressed at seeing someone with so much promise throw it all away because of a commitment issue.

Trade Deadline Analysis: Atlanta

2009-03-07T08:59:00.002-05:00

All one has to do is look at the Thrashers spot in the standings to easily realize that Atlanta's purpose at the deadline was to clear out veterans to continue (or start?) a youth movement.

Their first trade was to send solid D-man Niclas Havelid to New Jersey along with prospect Miles Stoesz in return for young defender Anssi Salmela. Salmela was a highly regarded free agent coming out of Finland, and still has the potential to be a top blue-liner with some experience. He had 3 assists in 17 games with the Devils and was plus-1.

Atlanta's last trade was to send checking center Erik Christensen to Anaheim for prospect center Eric O'Dell. O'Dell will be another building block for the team in the future. The Thrashers might miss Christensen's shootout skills, though.

Those were the only moves made by the Thrashers. Many expected Ilya Kovalchuk to be involved in a blockbuster trade, as he'll be a free agent soon, is unsatisfied with the success in Atlanta, and would draw a strong return from many teams. However, the Thrashers will most likely look to the draft and hope that they can get a center to play with Kovalchuk; or hope that Bryan Little can develop stronger chemistry with the Russian left-winger.

Trade Deadline Analysis: Anaheim

2009-03-05T07:35:00.003-05:00

This is the start of a team-by-team trade deadline analysis that has no set time in length, although I'm going for a team a day.

*Anaheim-* The Ducks made several trades in February and March before the deadline, although only two of them are likely to have any impact.

Their first two moves sent center David McIntyre, acquired in the Brian Sutherby trade, to New Jersey in exchange for defenseman Sheldon Brookbank, and defender Nathan McIver to Vancouver for winger Mike Brown.

Their next trade was the major impact move, sending star left winger Chris Kunitz and prospect Eric Tangradi to Pittsburgh for star blue-liner Ryan Whitney. The Ducks are trying to break a three-team tie to get into 7th or 8th place, and Whitney will be an cannon from the blue-line to add offense, and will also relieve some of the pressure that Scott Niedermayer and Chris Pronger inherited when Francois Beauchemin went down with an injury. However, the Ducks, who have struggled on offense at different times this year, are sure to miss Kunitz and the 16 goals and 35 points he scored in 62 games with Anaheim.

Anaheim continued with their defender shift, sending Steve Montador to the Bruins for Petteri Nokelainen. Nokelainen will add a defensive presence to the Ducks 4th line when he plays. He had 3 assists in 33 games with the Bruins.
The next Ducks move was to send prospect Eric O'Dell to Atlanta for center Erik Christensen. Christensen will add depth offense, likely from the 3rd line. He has scored 5 goals and 19 points so far this year with the Thrashers, and will probably take on some of the departed Travis Moen's defensive responsibility.

The Ducks also sent prominent checking center Samuel Pahlsson to Chicago for defensman James Wisneiwski. Wisneiwski is a hard-hitting defender who's also injury prone, but should add good depth on the blueline.

Lastly, in a deal with San Jose, penalty-killing center Travis Moen and up-and-coming defenseman Kent Huskins were sent to the Sharks in exchange for prospects Nick Bonino and Timo Pielmeier, as well as a conditional draft pick.

Overall, the trades the Ducks made seem to be building up for the post-season while simultaneously trying to add some insurance for the team's future. The trade most likely to make an impact is probably the Kunitz-Whitney trade, but we'll have to wait for the playoffs to roll around to see who wins that deal.

Columbus vs Dallas and Richards hurt

2009-02-18T22:01:00.003-05:00

A few nights ago, the Stars had a win against the Blue Jackets in a shootout. The game was kept close by goaltenders Marty Turco and Steve Mason, while James Neal was scored the shootout winner.

However, perhaps one of the most important events of the game could turn out to hurt the Stars.

Brad Richards took a heavy hit from behind in the second period, and never returned the game. Now it has been announced that Richards will be out for 6-8 weeks with a distal radius fracture in his wrist. That’s probably the most accurate injury report an NHL team’s given out in a while.

However, it’s the length of recovery time that could affect the Stars the most. Recently, Richards had been the second leading scorer on the Stars, and his absence could potentially mess up the lines.

Previous to the injury to Richards, they were:

Ott/Brunnstrom-Ribeiro-Lehtinen
Eriksson-Richards-Lundqvist
Neal-Modano-Connor/Parrish
Petersen-Sutherby=Barch

Now, post injury, there’ll be a huge gap in the second line.

Ott/Brunnstrom-Ribeiro-Lehtinen should stay together, although it’s been more successful with Ott playing bodyguard then with Brunnstrom as another scorer.

Eriksson and Lundqvist could potentially be centered by Petersen, who has a lot of talent, but doesn’t get much ice time to show it. However, he has a lot of chemistry with the team as a whole and his role can be versatile.

Another option is to move Lundqvist to the fourth line, and play Petersen between Eriksson and Brunnstrom. This would leave the Ott-Ribeiro-Lehtinen line together, reunite a solid checking line of Lundqvist-Sutherby-Barch, and allow the Neal-Modano-Connor/Parrish line to remain unchanged.

However, the Stars mainly want Richards back. It will once again be a struggle to make the playoffs for Dallas, as they are now without top players Richards, Brenden Morrow, and Sergei Zubov. They won’t be happy with a playoff-less season after all the work they’ve done to return to that level.

On another note, please, please, Hull, or Jackson, or whoever decided to play Brent Krahn, go back on your decision and return to Tobias Stephan as the backup. There’s nothing wrong with Krahn, but Stephan fits better with the team. Trust me on this one.

There's a new Sean?

2009-02-15T13:16:00.001-05:00

Out of curiosity today, I read the NHL’s story about Sean Avery’s first AHL game since being suspended.

Most of what was expected was there; minimalistic but helpful offensive contribution with three shots on goal, and of course, two minor scraps of the typical Avery fashion.

However, one quote by Avery stood out to me while reading:

“I had a few comments, but nothing that was too drastic,” Avery said. “Or something the old Sean would say.”

That surprised me.

I wasn’t expecting anger management and any personal goals by Sean to turn out that apparent. For Sean to acknowledge that there were major differences between the way he was in December compared to now, that’s probably a big step.

Now, don’t think for a second that I want Sean back with Dallas. He screwed up the chemistry with the team, and since the Stars got rid of him, they’ve been playing like a real hockey team.

But maybe this man, who once waved his arms around in front of Martin Brodeur in an attempt to distract him the same way a 5-year-old might in street hockey, has a chance of making it back to the NHL now. He’s playing in Hartford; the Rangers will have a good long look at him for the rest of the season. Perhaps a deal can be worked out through re-entry waivers? Time will tell.

The week(-ish length of time) in review

2009-02-10T18:24:00.001-05:00

Well, the Stars have had a good week or so since my last blog.

Let’s see…

The Stars had wins against Calgary, New York, and Nashville, while they lost a close one to Colorado.

The highlight of those games was without a doubt the Stars-Rangers match-up.

The Rangers were supposed to be a fairly good team this year, and at times, they were. The game was expected to be close.

However, after a relatively close first half of the first period, the Stars took control. Leading 3-1 going into the second, Nik Zherdev’s minor scare of the game with a goal was quickly silenced as the Mike Ribeiro scored not long after. The third period ensured that Dallas would have a win, as they scored 6 unanswered goals to dominate the Rangers 10-2. Mike Ribeiro, James Neal, Steve Ott, Matt Niskanen, Fabian Brunnstrom, Mike Modano, Jere Lehtinen, and Darryl Sydor all had multi-point games, and Brian Sutherby and Brad Richards each contributed a goal.

The Calgary game wasn’t quite as exciting, but it helped Dallas continue their push for a playoff spot. A 3-1 victory was sparked by power-play goals from James Neal and Jere Lehtinen. The Stars power-play has vastly improved since the start of the season, and is a big reason why the Stars have gotten themselves back into the playoff race. Solid goaltending by Marty Turco also helped.

The game against Nashville, also a win for Dallas, was again spurred by strong special teams play. The Stars didn’t allow a power-play goal, and Brian Sutherby, who’s been picking up his offense with 3 goals in 5 games, managed to score a short-handed goal. Brad Richards popped in a goal on the power-play, Mark Parrish potted a rare shot that turned out to be the game winner, and Steve Ott tied his career high goal-total with an empty-net goal. And once again, Marty Turco, who’s goaltending has been phenomenal as of late, had a great night.

Looking ahead, Dallas’ schedule for February is jam-packed with home games. This will definitely help the Stars in the standings if they can keep up their outstanding play on home ice.

(Late) Half-season review for Dallas

2009-02-03T19:22:00.000-05:00

Again, I have to feel the need to say sorry for not posting in a while, although I’m sure none or very, very few of you missed my blogs.

Anyways.

The Stars have recently gotten their selves back on track, and have jumped to the upper half of the crazy race in the Western Conference. Every team from 6th to 10th place has 53 points, and the Stars are lucky enough to be at the top. However, one slip, and Dallas could be back in 9th, 10th, or even lower. Vancouver sits in 11th with 52 points, and Colorado holds 12th with 49 points. It’s a dangerous predicament, but the Stars should be able to take advantage of their recent success and stay in a playoff spot.

Winning the division is essentially out of the question. The only team ahead of San Jose right now in terms of points has also played 3 more games and is still only 3 points ahead. However, the Stars have the chance to grab second if they play well against Anaheim, who has 57 points, but has taken 53 games to get their 26 wins, compared to Dallas’ 48 games to get 23 wins. Dallas’ only other worry in the division would be Phoenix, who’s had an up and down year but has still managed to keep in the race, putting together 53 points in 51 games.

A 4-game winning streak that the Stars hope to improve upon tonight against Calgary has been yet another sign of the Stars’ turnaround following the departure of Sean Avery. Before the past two games, the Stars hadn’t won 3 or 4 games in a row the entire year.

In the past couple of games, Loui Eriksson and James Neal have regained their scoring touches following a short slump, which makes the Stars offense much more threatening. Mike Ribeiro and Brad Richards are piling up the assists, and Steve Ott has added a scoring touch to his mean streak, racking up 8 goals in 32 games so far, on pace to break his previous career high of 11. The Stars have also received helpful secondary scoring from players like Toby Petersen, Mark Parrish, and Fabian Brunnstrom. Not to mention, veterans Jere Lehtinen and Mike Modano are still capable contributors even at their old age.

In the defenseman position, Stephane Robidas has smoothly taken the spot of blueline leader. Once thought to be a third-pairing guy who wasn’t very necessary, Robidas has taken control of the blueline this year and provided some very helpful offense. Matt Niskanen is also developing an offensive touch, while Trevor Daley seems to have been infected with Orr-itis, often rushing down to the opposing goal line to create an offensive chance. If he’s not careful, the Stars will place him in a Dustin Bfyuglien role and call up Mark Fistric. Meanwhile, Nicklas Grossman, Darryl Sydor, and Andrew Hutchinson have quietly held down the fort in the defensive end.

In goal, Marty Turco has perhaps made the biggest turnaround. At the start of the year, he was horrific. His save percentage was at the lowest of his career, and his goals-against average had ballooned to around 5 goals. In about the past 15-20 games, though, the amazing Marty Turco returned. He’s managed to lower his GAA down to 2.98, and his save percentage is only slightly bad, at %.899. Tobias Stephan hasn’t recieved much action at all, only appearing in 7 games and only getting the win/loss in 3, earlier in the year. If the Stars are locked for a playoff spot with some regular season time left, expect him to get a little more action. Otherwise it’s all Turco, all the time.

The Stars are in the middle of last year and the year before as far as general scoring. Two years ago, Mike Ribeiro was the leading scorer with only 59 points. Last year, he shot up to 83 points to lead the team again. At 43 points so far this year, he’s leading the team and will likely get more than 59 for the year, but it would probably take some gargantuan effort (or the surprise return of Brenden Morrow in the next week) for Ribeiro to best his 83 points of last year.

Despite the relatively low scoring, however, the Stars appear to have regained their usual talent and could be up in the top of the league as soon as next season, if not later this year.

Lots of time away, lots of Stars news

2009-01-23T17:31:00.001-05:00

Well, I missed four games to cover.

I’m planning on writing a book where all the people from Buffalo disappear, starting with Ryan Miller, Paul Gaustad, and Jason Pominville. Just kidding, but I hated that night’s game so much. I was expecting the Stars to dominate the Sabres throughout game after they started out leading 3-0. Then the Sabres pulled a comeback, dragged the game into a shootout, and stole the win.
..I nearly dented my wall with my phone..
Gotta love seeing Matt Niskanen score, and Steve Ott’s breakaway goal was fantastic. Turco had the game of his life until the third period, and the shootout probably included goals he would want back. Buffalo’s offense was sparked by desperation, but Ryan Miller had a great game as well.

The Los Angeles game, a shootout win, proved that while the Stars haven’t had the greatest year, they can still pull out wins.

The Tampa Bay game, a devastating loss that saw the Stars collapse in the third period after leading 2-1 throughout most of the game, proved that the Stars can no longer look at a team and say, “easy win, don’t worry.”

However, the Florida game was against a team that I’ve considered an “easy win” opponent, and last night, the Stars seemed to get just that. After slightly struggling in the first period, and giving up a goal to Karlis Skrastins, the Stars turned up their game and powered their way to a 4-1 win, led by the duo of star-caliber Mikes on the team. Mike Modano, who will be in the All-Star game that is to arrive very soon, tied the game with a power-play goal from a beautiful Brad Richards set-up. Then Mike Ribeiro played goal-crasher, break-away speedster, and empty-net-scorer to get 3 goals for his first NHL hat trick.

Ribeiro’s hat trick made him the 5th Stars player to get a hat trick this season, and the 4th Stars player to get his first career, following Fabian Brunnstrom, Loui Eriksson, James Neal, and Mark Parrish.

Speaking of the All-Star game, I was glad to see Stephane Robidas chosen to replace an injured Nicklas Lidstrom for the Western Conference team. Robidas is definitely among the top defenders in the West, and although I think Nicklas Grossman has been more consistent this year, Robidas has still been one of the best defensemen for Dallas this year.

Injuries have struck the Stars over and over again this year. Steve Ott went down with a broken hand earlier in the year, and the drawbacks are still tangible, as he can’t provide a fighting presence for Dallas. Brenden Morrow’s been on the IR list since November, and no date has been placed on his return, which likely means he will in fact be out for the year. Joel Lundqvist has been placed on injured reserve a couple times already this season, and hopefully this current return will be his permanent one. Fabian Brunnstrom was recently placed on IR, and no word has been made about his return any time too soon. Landon Wilson was placed on injured reserve, and his efforts will be missed. It’s incredible that the Stars haven’t fallen any more than they have already with all these injuries.

Colton Sceviour was recently signed to a three-year contract. Hopefully, this means we’ll see another talented young Stars player in the line-up within the next few seasons.

Versus proving itself a mistake

2009-01-14T17:43:00.000-05:00

Tonight, another chapter will be added to the epic war that is the rivalry between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals.

The rivalry features 3 of the most talented individuals in the league in Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Alexander Ovechkin, and each roster has many players that can play the game well. Ovechkin, affectionately called Ovie by fans across the world, has taken to trying to knock the lights out of Malkin every time the two players are on the ice together. While the “attack” seems to be unprovoked, and a little harsh, it adds excitement to the game.

Now, this is a game that I would watch, and I rarely watch games where the Stars aren’t playing.

And yet, my only ways to watch games where the Stars aren’t playing are NBC, which only shows a game a week and won’t be showing the Pens-Caps match, and Versus, which used up it’s own game of the week showing Detroit and Dallas on Monday.

Now, being a Stars fan, I’ll watch every Stars game as long as it’s possible somehow. But I don’t think too many people were going to watch the Detroit-Dallas game on Monday besides Wings fans who wanted to see Dallas get crushed again, and Stars fans (myself included) who wanted revenge.

While the game turned out to be an exciting one, it probably wouldn’t have gotten as many views as the Pittsburgh-Washington game would have.

Yet another scheduling mistake by Versus, and yet another reason why the NHL should find a better sports network to air most of its games.

Oh. My. Gosh.

2009-01-13T20:55:00.001-05:00

Before I get to the good stuff, I have to recap the previous couple of Stars games.

Thursday’s loss to Detroit was awful. Anybody watching the game who was a Stars fan was ashamed. Anyone affiliated with the Stars was ashamed. 6-1 is unacceptable.

The Phoenix game was somewhat better. Despite losing in a shootout when Kyle Turris scored the winning goal, it was a close game throughout regulation and overtime. It looked as though the Stars would be able to bounce back from the loss fairly quickly.

The start of Monday night’s game against Detroit was interesting. There were a few moments when the Stars appeared to gain momentum, but finishing the first period down 3-1 didn’t look promising. The only major bright spot was Nicklas Grossman’s first NHL regular season goal.

As the players returned to the ice for the second period, I was beginning to regret that the Stars would be playing Detroit again soon.

However, my hopes lifted when Stephane Robidas snapped a shot that made it through a screen of Steve Ott and a Detroit defender to slip past Chris Osgood. Then, with four minutes left in the second period, Mark Parrish and Krys Barch made a nice play to tie the game at 3-3.

Early in the third period, Pavel Datsyuk scored on a dazzling one-man effort and, after Detroit’s defense brought in their A game and shut down nearly every Dallas chance, the win was apparently locked in.

However, with 3:00 left in the game, Steve Ott, who had had a goal absolutely robbed from him by Chris Osgood earlier, proved that he can be a force in front of the net by pounding in the puck to tie the game at 4-4.

The overtime period was as tense as any, and when Trevor Daley poked in the puck for the winning goal, the hockey fans of my house exploded with joy. Of course, that meant I was the only one running around shouting “Daley! Daley! Daley!” at the top of my lungs.

My three stars of the game (which may or may not be the actual three stars) would have to be Nicklas Grossman, Trevor Daley, and Chris Osgood.

If anybody saw all the saves Osgood made in that game, they’d vote him at least third star. Think Patrick Roy-esque.

Grossman has consistently been the Stars best defensive defenseman the entire season, and seeing him get his first NHL goal only raises his potential.

Daley is the same story in the form of an offensive defenseman. His presence on offense has sparked a lot of Stars goals, and his ability to be the third/fourth man down low is vital, as evidenced by his rebound goal in OT.

Modano an All-star again

2009-01-07T19:33:00.000-05:00

It would’ve been even more awesome if Joe Sakic hadn’t been injured and was voted to the team as well.

In my opinion, Mike Modano and Joe Sakic are the league’s two most respected veteran centers, and along with perhaps Nicklas Lidstrom, Chris Chelios, Martin Broduer, Sergei Fedorov, and Mats Sundin, they represent an era of the NHL that, while it might turn out be a branch between four of the league’s ultimate superstars (Gretzky and Lemiuex, Crosby and Ovechkin), still had its own superstars and players that were league favorites.

Modano, along with Chelios, Sakic, and perhaps Sundin if he has a strong rest of the season, is one of the ageless wonders that has managed to play successfully well after many players of the same age have retired happily.

Chelios may have finally lost a step, and should be looking towards retirement soon, while Sakic could play until 2010 or later if he manages to stay healthy.

Modano has had another strong season for Dallas so far, garnering 13 goals and 26 points in 38 games. He’s a veteran of the all-star game, and I’m glad to have a reason to watch the all-star game this year.

However, there’s another Stars player who I personally think should be in Montreal instead of, if not along with, Modano.

Think leading Stars scorer with 20 goals.

Think top-6 goal scorers in the league.

Loui Eriksson has not only led the Stars in goals this season, but particularly picked up the pace when other snipers James Neal, Fabian Brunnstrom, and Modano suffered slumps.

He’s also been one of few Stars players to remain on the plus side of things so far, currently owning a +5 rating. He’s also stayed away from the penalty box, only earning 6 PIM’s, and he’s second behind Kyle Wellwood in shooting percentage out of players who have scored 10 times or more.

So why hasn’t this future Stars leader been voted to the all-star game? Perhaps the same reason Keith Tkachuk (39 games, 14 goals, 27 points, -11) got voted over Patrick Marleau (39 games, 19 goals, 42 points, +15 rating). The world may never know…

3-2 Shootout Victory

2009-01-07T19:32:00.000-05:00

Well, the game against Vancouver turned out better than I expected. The Stars came back from a 2-0 deficit to win the game behind the heroics of James Neal in the shootout.

Loui Eriksson and Mike Modano also scored in the shootout, while Neal assisted on Modano’s goal in the first period, and Mike Ribeiro scored during the second period to tie the game and eventually send it into OT.

I didn’t get to see much of the game, but apparently the Stars are definitely back in top shape these days because it’s been a rare occurence to see the Stars win the second game of back-to-back games.

For now, the Stars have a quick break, and we’ll see if they can keep up their momentum in the next game.

Loss to Edmonton, hoping for better results against the 'Nucks

2009-01-04T17:22:00.000-05:00

Well, last night’s game against the Oilers didn’t go as planned, but it was largely due to the effort made by Edmonton goalie Dwayne Roloson, who stopped 38 of 39 shots to earn star-of-the-game honors at the game, and in the NHL for that night.

Despite the large number of saves Roloson made, none of them made the highlight reel, and through the part of the game that I watched, the Stars just didn’t put enough effort into putting their scoring chances on net.

Kudos to Andrew Hutchinson and James Neal for combining to get the only Stars goal of the night. Nicklas Grossman was definitely the Stars best defender, and Turco did what he could in net, although I’m sure he wishes he could get the Cole and Souray goals back, if not all of them.

I’m worried that with the Stars going on the road to Vancouver in order to play tonight, the team won’t have had time to rest. Hopefully they can pull through and at least make a respectable game out of it, but I’m not sure how well it will work out. A key will be shutting down the Sedin twins, because even though the Canucks have been getting offense from players such as Kyle Wellwood, Mason Raymond, and Ryan Kesler, the Sedin twins are still the top scorers by 10+ points.

Josh Bailey's first NHL goal

2009-01-02T23:16:00.000-05:00

Although I display myself as a Stars fan, the Islanders are a relatively close second favorite and tonight it was great to notice that Josh Bailey has scored his first NHL goal.

Now, I still think it was a little foolish of Garth Snow to bring Bailey up right after drafting him, but he’s held his own so far and finally got his first NHL goal against Phoenix earlier tonight.

Hopefully in the near future, we’ll see Bailey and Kyle Okposo, another Islanders rookie, lighting the lamp on the top line for New York.

Two games to close the year

2009-01-02T16:56:00.000-05:00

The last two games of 2008 for Dallas were a loss to San Jose and a win against New Jersey.

Now, if anyone wants to see definite proof that the Stars have had a huge turnaround since getting rid of Sean Avery, just look at the two times Dallas has played New Jersey this year.

In the first Stars-Devils game, the Stars had Avery in the lineup, and while they had been struggling in previous games, a blowout loss of 5-0 was unexpected.

Now, when the two teams met on New Year’s Eve, it was a different story. Dallas was 4-2 in its past 6 games, and went on to win 4-2, with Avery out of the lineup.
Granted, the Devils were without the services of Martin Brodeur, but Scott Clemensen has filled in well, and the Stars' win was a well-earned one.

Loui Eriksson scored two great goals, including a short-handed marker to open the game. Brad Richards had 3 assists, including helping out on both Eriksson goals. Landon Wilson also scored a goal, his second of the year, and Mark Parrish got his fifth goal of the year, proving that he can still provide the occasional skilled shot past the goalie.

The Sharks game wasn’t the best it could have been for Dallas, but they didn’t perform terribly, and they can’t help that the Sharks are the strongest team in the league, second only possibly to Detroit.

So far, the Stars are getting back to the style of winning that had people rating them as potential Stanley Cup champs before the season began. If they can hold themselves in a playoff position long enough, they just might be able to go far.

An edge-of-your-seat game

2008-12-28T14:52:00.002-05:00

Wow, what a crazy night against Anaheim yesterday. Although pretty much the first half of the game was boring, the rest of the game was intense up to the point where Dallas had two consecutive power-plays in OT and scored right after they ended.
James Neal has a little two-game goal streak going on, and his timing on last night’s power-play goal was great. Along with Fabian Brunnstrom and Brenden Morrow, he’s got that knack to just sneak up on the crease and pop in a rebound or loose puck right when he needs to.
Mike Modano seems to have borrowed the ageless drought recipe from Chris Chelios and Joe Sakic. His clutch goal to win the game last night was awesome, and he also had an assist, giving him 12 goals and 24 points in 34 games. There aren’t a lot of players in their late 30’s, nearly 40’s, that can play like that.
Brad Richards and Toby Petersen combined for one cool-looking goal to put Dallas on the board. Toby seems to have a knack for inconsistently making passes worthy of Mike Ribeiro. He’d be a much more appreciated player if he could get one of those every other game. And Richards still has a great shot, despite passing a lot more this year.
Overall, it’s great to see the Stars getting a lot more consecutive wins, even if tomorrow the streak will end when the Sharks come into town.

8-2!!!!

2008-12-24T11:46:00.002-05:00

Well. If that wasn’t enough of a Christmas miracle for the rest of you Stars fans, then too bad.

It’s not everyday that we get an 8-2 win on the road, including a James Neal hat trick, and I couldn’t be happier.

Last night I nearly didn’t watch the game because my TV Guide didn’t actually say there was a game on KDFI. However, I checked anyways and came in during the first period. I was shocked to see that the score was 3-0 already. And not 5 minutes after I started watching, Brad Richards made it 4-0. I knew right then that the night was going to be awesome.

Congrats to Andrew Hutchinson on getting his first point of the year, with an assist.

Congrats to Steve Ott, who had a multi-point performance while simultaneously ticking off the entire Leafs team without getting into a fight.

Another first was the biggest story, that of James Neal being the 4th Stars player to get a hat trick this season, and only 2 games after Loui Eriksson got his first career hat trick. Neal actually stole the lead in rookie goals for Dallas from Fabian Brunnstrom, who also scored. Neal now has 11, while Brunnstrom has 10.

Marty Turco also had a strong performance last night, and his 2 goals that he did allow were perfectly excusable. Jason Blake’s goal came off a funky rebound, while Mikhail Grabovski caught a rebound that got away from Turco on the fly and snapped it in with skill.

The biggest surprise of the night was seeing Loui Eriksson go point-less. Of course, it’d be hard to expect another goal after he’d gotten 6 in three games, but it was a little surprising nonetheless.

A warm welcome to Brian Sutherby. I can’t remember seeing him in the little bit of the Ottawa game that I watched, but it’s nice to see him healthy and in a Stars uniform regardless.

Krys Barch had a couple of great fights and his 3rd goal of the year, and Landon Wilson kept up his strong play by getting two assists.

Mike Ribeiro, congratulations on scoring your 100th career goal! Let’s see how close we can get to 200 out of you before the year ends.

Overall, it’s great to see that the boys can pull off this kind of win without the leadership of Brenden Morrow, and hopefully this won’t be the last dominating win we see out of the boys in black and gold.

The OT curse strikes again

2008-12-21T14:45:00.000-05:00

What a heartbreaking game against Ottawa yesterday.

Starting out down 2-1, then coming back to get a 3-2 lead, and then when all hope looked lost down 4-3 in the third, Loui Eriksson tied it at 4-4. All that hype died when Jason Smith’s first point of the year slipped past Turco for a Senators win.

Gotta give credit to Matt Niskanen, Brad Richards, Toby Petersen, and Loui for scoring. That made the game alright. And at least we got a point out of it.

However, now I bet the winning percentage the Stars would have to keep up to make the playoffs has gone up from the .625 that I heard from Ralph Strangis earlier.

There are benefits from this type of season though. Developing young players (Brunnstrom, Neal, Niskanen), discovering future stars (Eriksson), and realizing that just about every rookie that we call up is going to get a goal (Brunnstrom, Neal, Wandell).

Good luck Dallas. Try not to make the rest of the year look to bad.

What a night..

2008-12-19T14:57:00.001-05:00

I don’t think there’s been a scarier night all year. Not even the first Columbus OT game and the Washington OT game could match the scare of waiting for a final call on a reviewed potential winning goal.

To be honest, I didn’t think Manny Malholtra kicked that puck in. Ralph and Razor weren’t too sure either, but I’ll take it. And the fact that we won in the shootout that followed made it all the crazier of a night.

Loui Eriksson had his first NHL hat trick, making him the second player to get that achievement with Dallas this season and the third Stars player to score a hat trick this year. All three of his goals were in typical Loui fashion, close up to the net, pouncing on a loose puck or rebound.

Matt Niskanen and James Neal combined on a power-play to get a goal. Niskanen was originally given credit when it appeared to be a solid goal from his point slap-shot, but later credit was given to Neal, who tipped the puck in with full Ryan Smyth-flair.

Brad Richards had one heck of a night as well, getting three assists and knocking in a goal with a blind backhand. Richards is still kind of inconsistent this year, although in a somewhat good way. He’s had very few one-point games, but I believe now 10 multi-point games. It’d be nice if he could get points on a nightly basis, but I’m ok with what he’s got so far.

Marty Turco. You could say he had an off night, but then you’d look at his shootout performance and say, that guy gave up 5 goals?

Mike Ribeiro pulled off another fancy shootout goal and it gave the Stars a win. Meanwhile, Richards just walked in and scored, no worries.

Neal also pulled off an awesome win in his first NHL fight, albeit against Derrick Brassard.

Overall, it was good to see the Stars earn consecutive wins, and Loui was the backbone of both. Hopefully we can take advantage of a weak Ottawa Senators team on Saturday and make it 3 in a row.

Eriksson saves the day

2008-12-17T10:54:00.001-05:00

Well, what a game that was last night, no?

I can’t believe the Stars managed to pull a win out of that one. Marty Turco definitely had his game on, and Loui Eriksson brought his goal-scoring stick to the rink, notching two goals including the OT winner.

I have to give a lot of credit to the defensive play of the Stars. They killed off a lot of penalties, and also didn’t take as many as they have before.

Toby Petersen continues to go unrecognized throughout the league for his solid play on defense. It’s hard to believe that just last year, he was considered a call-up player who couldn’t stay in the NHL.

I also have to give a lot of credit to Phoenix defenseman Zybnek Michalek, who made half as many saves as Ilya Bryzgalov. There was one play (might have been a powerplay, I can’t exactly remember) where the Stars were getting shot after shot off, and Michalek blocked nearly all of them. The Stars announcers were jokingly wondering what the point was of having Bryzgalov stand there bored while Michalek played goalie. The play then ended on a “rare” save from Bryzgalov.

I still can’t believe how well Loui Eriksson is playing this year. I knew he could score goals, but I always saw him as a second or third liner who would get 10-15 goals a year and keep his spot in the lineup. However, this year, he’s been a key scorer for the Stars, and I can’t imagine getting through the season without him.

Last night’s game was a good effort by the Stars, and I hope we can keep it up and grab a playoff spot.

Avery's Gone

2008-12-16T11:00:00.000-05:00

To be honest, I think I’ve been pretty conflicted on the Avery issue.

If you look back to the summer, I put a blog out criticizing Dallas for signing the beast also called Sean Avery, saying that his presence was redundant and he’d just cause trouble for the team.

However, I think later in the year, just barely into the season, I said that Sean was a semi-key player to the team and that his ability to draw penalties would help out.

However, now more than ever do I agree with my summer opinion. The Stars lost a lot of early games (and are still losing more games) because they were/are taking a lot of penalties, and Sean had 77 of those penalty minutes. That’s not actually helping.

What I hope to get out of the Stars A.A. is a return to form. As long as we can start playing hockey like a team, and even climb up the standings a little, it’ll be plainly obvious that the Dallas Stars DO NOT need Sean Avery.

Now the only thing we have to overcome is a season without Brenden Morrow…

The One-Year Wonder

2008-12-09T18:14:00.003-05:00

The Tampa Bay Lightning assigned right winger Radim Vrbata to BK Mlada Boleslav of the Czech Extraliga, ending the former Coyote, Blackhawk, and Avalanche's one-summer reign as a desirable skilled player.

Last season, Vrbata shocked many hockey experts by breaking out with a 27-goal, 56-point season to rank as the second-leading scorer for the Phoenix Coyotes. He was an unrestricted free agent over the summer, and when it was announced that he had signed with the Tampa Bay Lightning, who had also acquired Ryan Malone, Gary Roberts, Mark Recchi, and Steven Stamkos, many believed he would be among the offensive leaders on the team.

If I remember correctly, earlier in the year, an NHL Connect blogger sent out a dire warning to those with high expectations of Vrbata, saying "Remember one name! Bochenski!", referring to the erratic Brandon Bochenski, who appeared on the verge of a break-out season leading up to 07-08 after scoring 13 goals and 24 points in 41 games the previous season, including 11 goals and 22 points in 31 games with Boston. However, in the 40 games he played in 07-08, with Boston, Anaheim, and Nashville, he only managed 3 goals and 13 points.

Apparently, the same curse has befallen Vrbata, who had 3 goals and 6 points in 18 games with a -1 rating leading up to his demotion to BK Mlada Boleslav.

In other news, I really wish the Stars had managed to hold on to Brandon (B.J.) Crombeen. Originally one of a trio of Stars rookies to start the season (along with Neal and Brunnstrom), the Stars attempted to send Crombeen to the AHL, but while he was on waivers, the St. Louis Blues picked him up. In Crombeen's 10 games as a Blue since the waiver pick-up, he's scored 4 goals and 6 points, as opposed to the goal and 5 points he had in 15 games for Dallas. However, I expect his story was the same as Neal's, needing time to adjust to the big league's before pumping out the points. He'll be my second-favorite Blues rookie (behind Patrik Berglund) for the rest of the season.

A Win!

2008-12-06T15:51:00.003-05:00

Well, I can’t help but be thankful (although, it’s after thanksgiving) for the Stars getting a win tonight against the Avs. It was a very tense game, not to mention the first one that I’ve watched entirely for a while. I was glad to see my man Toby Petersen score a key goal for the Stars, and both Mike Ribeiro and Mike Modano were awesome in the shootout.

Kudos to sniper Marek Svatos. I’m dead serious, if there will ever be any Avalanche players that I like, it’ll be Paul Stastny, who was surprisingly ineffective, and the man who threaded the puck like a needle with 55.something seconds left in the game to scare the heck out of me.

I really, really like the way that Andrew Hutchinson is playing so far. I don’t know if any of you ever saw a blog I wrote two seasons ago about underrated and under-played players, but Hutchinson was one of them, and it looks like he’s fitting in with Dallas better than Sean Avery. I was surprised by his Hutchinson’s reasonable skill on offense, and there were a few key plays on defense that he made.

Modano was great, not only with his shootout-winning goal, but also his stellar play all over the ice. He basically saved one or two goals on his own.

Another little-known player that stood out to me was Chris Conner. I don’t know if anyone here’s ever seen the man skate, but if you haven’t, try and find a complete recording of this game and check out his near break-away in the second period. I am not kidding, he would’ve made every defenseman in the league take a tripping penalty (I believe Ruslan Salei actually did) in order to stop that beast. He also had a few nice defensive plays, including sliding right in front of a slapshot from the point. Great kid.

Fabian Brunnstrom’s very first shootout attempt definitely won’t be something to remember. To me, he’ll probably turn out to be the way Ryan Getzlaf was during his rookie year with shootouts: he won’t score very often because there are no rebounds or passes to tap into the net. That’s how Fabian’s skill works, and it’ll probably take him a little while longer to become as complete of a player as Getzy.

All in all, that was a heck of a game out of the Dallas Stars, and I’m glad that we could get two points out of it.

GO STARS!!!!!!

Avery Suspension Too Long

2008-12-05T17:19:00.000-05:00

Hey, the guy ticks me off as much as just about any hockey fan in the world. I wanted him suspended at times, and at times I didn’t.

Here’s the reason why this suspension is too long: it’s at the wrong time.

I’m not the only one talking about it. In fact, most of the buzz for Sean right now is the fact that the NHL, and Gary Bettman, took way too long to take some action against Avery.

I would take the time to go back and look up every incident where Avery should have been suspended, and wasn’t, but I’m sure most of you know the stories already. The Brodeur incident is probably the one that stands out in most people’s minds, especially those hockey fans who haven’t been around for Sean’s entired reign on terror.

Now, they did make an “Avery Rule” disallowing sticks and hands to be waved in front of the goaltender as a distraction, which was Avery’s original action, but they didn’t suspend him at the time mainly because there wasn’t a rule against it.

Oh, but now Avery has finally cracked the NHL’s patience? There’s almost definitely no rule against talking trash about a guy on another team because he stole your girlfriend. I honestly haven’t looked it up, but I’m pretty darn sure Gary Bettman doesn’t feel like getting into the love lives of NHL players.

So now Avery’s gone out and talked smack about Dion Phaneuf because Canada’s wonder-boy on defense decided to date Elisha Cuthbert, one of Sean’s exes. Big whoop. I bet you a million bucks that if Roberto Luongo starts dating Elisha Cuthbert, Phaneuf’s not going to go out in public and call Luongo a crap goalie and other abusive things.

The Avery act has gone on long enough, and honestly, I want him off my team.

What does he honestly add? Fighting? Umm, hello Krys Barch, Steve Ott, and Brenden Morrow. Grit? See above trio. Points? I highly doubt that we wouldn’t have been able to replace Avery’s current 3 goals and 10 points with, say, Brandon Crombeen?

Ah well. I listened to Brett Hull’s press conference regarding Avery’s suspension, and I have to admire the fact that although he’s got strong connections to Sean, Brett did not confirm even the fact that Avery would stick with the team. He merely said the team would discuss Sean’s future with the team.

To be honest, I wouldn’t mind seeing an Avery for Crombeen trade, with perhaps another player coming out of St. Louis.

Anyway, if you’ve read this, thanks. I know there are plenty of Avery-bashing blogs out there right now, but this is a perspective from a die-hard Dallas Stars fan. GO STARS!!!

Fabian shows me up again

2008-12-03T17:06:00.002-05:00

Well, maybe I should start throwing out crap about Mr. Brunnstrom before every game, because the last time I questioned his skill level, he scored a hat trick in his first game.

In my last blog, I said that one of the ways to improve the Stars' season would be to send Fabian down for a trip in the minors. The next Stars game, he scores the game-winner on a rebound from a break-away.

The Calgary game was a good one, without a doubt. Loui Eriksson also had a goal, and while it was a none-too-special empty-netter, it still shows that he has a nose for the net, and in the end it'll count towards his stats, so it's all the better for him.

Toby Petersen got his second goal of the year, which makes me proud of the Stars for sticking with him as a solid fourth-liner, even though the beginning of his year was relatively unproductive. Although he'll probably only get 10-15 points on the year, any offensive contribution is appreciated by me.

For once, Marty Turco looked alright, making 36 saves and achieving first-star honors. Keep it up, Marty, and you just might reach that level of consistency I was looking for.

Good game boys, let's keep it up.

THE PLAN

2008-12-01T16:44:00.006-05:00

Alright. I am extremely frustrated with the way the Stars are playing, and I'm sick of the fact that we aren't doing anything to fix it.

Let's face it: Mark Parrish is our new Nik Hagman. Darryl Sydor and Phillipe Boucher play the exact same style of game. James Neal didn't need that time in the AHL. Fabian Brunnstrom probably does need that time in the AHL.

Here's what Dallas needs to do in order to improve this year, and stay strong for years to come.

*1*- +Knock some sense into Marty Turco's head.+
If the man who runs Dallas' net-minding duties can't get his act together, he needs to get out of town. Here's Turco's current stats, straight up:

Season GPI Min W L OT GA SA SO GAA Sv%
2008-2009 21 1,198 7 10 4 72 544 0 3.61 .868

I look at these numbers and grimace. Where's the Marty of last season, who had a 2.31 GAA and a .909 Sv%?

The fact is that even though a good number of those 72 goals against have come from defensive lapses, Marty's game hasn't been at its top and there are a number of times where a goal could've easily been stopped and he just didn't have his head on straight.

Here's a tip for you, Marty, a tip that I hear repeated by everyone from fellow Stars fans to casual hockey fans to Ralph and Razor as the announce games.
STOP HANDLING THE PUCK SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Every Dallas game that I've watched, there's at least 5-1o moments where Turco grabs the puck away from his net to make a risky pass, and I cringe, waiting for the turnover and the empty net goal. Fortunately, there haven't been too many mistakes like that this year, but I've seen them, oh boy have I seen them. Check the Peter Schaefer goal a few years ago, or Richard Park's goal last year that forced the game into OT instead of giving the Stars a 2-1 win over the Islanders.

Another idea goaltending-wise would be to give Tobias Stephan more games. He's been in 5 games so far this year, but only has credit for a win and a loss and has only played 190 minutes. However, his play has looked promising and I'd like to see more of his play in net.

*2* +Send Fabian Brunnstrom to the minors for 5 games or more+
Why not? They sent James Neal to Manitoba for a quick spell, and it worked wonders. Neal has impressed me beyond any expectations I had for him so far. His goal-scoring is incredibly well timed, although his efforts sometimes don't get equaled by the rest of the team.
Here's the deal with Brunnstrom: he wasn't all the way ready. To be honest, I'm surprised he was as good as he was in the beginning of the year. The hat trick was great, but in his next 19 games, he only had 3 goals and an assist, not to mention his plus/minus dropped to an awful -9. I say Fabian needs a good 5 games in the AHL, just to see whether or not he'd be dominant at that level. Worst-case scenario, he turns into a Kirby Law of sorts, dominating the minors but making little-to-no impact NHL-wise. Best-case scenario, he pops back into the lineup like James Neal and starts piling up the points.

*3* +Check up on Dave Tippett+
NO, that does not say fire him. Although I can imagine quite a few Stars fans wouldn't object to a new coach, I can't help but look at the fact that he's so successful, we'd have to lose over 100 games to turn his 235-127-48 record (since being hired) into a losing record. He's a good coach, no doubt about it, but I'm wondering about some of the strategies he's using.
First of all, Dave–Please emphasize shooting! At all times! Power-play, even strength, even on penalty kill chances. During the San Jose game on Friday, I saw Mark Parrish skate into the Sharks zone with what was essentially a break-away (he had maybe half of the ice, a Sharks defender was in the other) and instead of shooting, he pulled back and waited for a pass, which didn't work. Also, a lot of power-play opportunities have failed because our players are not willing to shoot enough.

Now, here are some positives to build off of.

*1* +Loui Eriksson's skyrocketing skill level+
Nobody can deny the talent that we've seen in Loui since day one. However, in his first two seasons, his talent was inconsistent and nobody was sure what kind of player he would be.
HELLO! Think again, folks. So far this season, Loui has the same amount of points (19) in 23 games as he had in 59 games during his rookie year, and nearly twice as many goals (11 to 6).

*2* +James Neal is one heck of a rookie+
You got it, people, James Neal is the man of the future. Right now, we have Modano, Morrow, Richards, and Ribeiro. Soon, we'll have Neal, Eriksson, and Brunnstrom. Specifically of Neal, however, his skill at finding the right moment continues to amaze me. 6 goals and 3 assists in only 18 games, now that's pretty good.

Alright. 8-11-4 isn't a good start. But we had that win against the Oilers the other night, so let's try and build on that boys.

GO STARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Blackhawks ruined my first AAC game

2008-11-21T17:24:00.002-05:00

FFTI's debut at a Dallas home game was spoiled by a superb effort from the Chicago Blackhawks.

Man, there were so many mistakes by the Stars, I can't even list them all.

For once, fortunately, none of the goals were the direct result of turnovers. Instead, much of the problem was a lack of willingness by the defense to block shots. I only saw a few players block shots purposely. It was great to see Morrow play the captain's role and take a hard shot right to the foot, stick with the play and get the puck out of the zone, all while on the penalty kill. Too bad not many of the defensemen followed his example.

Turco—I'm still confused as to why everyone but him seems to realize that he'd benefit from staying in his net more often. I know a lot of the fans at the game expressed displeasure whenever he stepped out, and my uncle is just so annoyed by Turco's play in general that he's suggested trading Turco. Honestly, I might agree; Stephan is a good goalie, and there are a good amount of goalies out there who could help. However, it'd be hard to let go of a guy who means so much to the team, but now you can't help but hear the name "Boucher" whenever a player gets off of being traded on the fact that he was a fan favorite.

The atmosphere inside the arena was awesome. Cheering at every Stars hit, save, shot, goal, strong defensive play, successful penalty kill, etc. etc. was a great feeling. And I gotta hand it to the soundtrack guys in Dallas; playing Headstrong by Trapt to open up the pre-game skate was pretty cool. So is the Stars' theme song played and the start of each period.

It wasn't the perfect return for longtime fan favorite Darryl Sydor, but the return of James Neal to the line-up was a smart move; need proof? Check out his excellent rebound capitalization goal.

Honestly, I was too disappointed last night to keep in mind everything I wanted to write, but rest assured, I'll be more specific the next time I'm at a Stars home game. For now,

GO STARS!!!!!!!!!!!

Long time, no post

2008-11-19T19:40:00.003-05:00

Sorry if anyone's been waiting for a post from me.

Hmm...alright, so I've got three games to go over.

Well, the two L.A. games were simply not good games. We had some chances, scored on a few of them, but overall didn't play as well as we could have, and ended up losing.

The Phoenix game was definitely more promising. A 3-2 win, including another 2-goal performance out of Loui Eriksson, and a power-play goal from Mark Parrish.
Personally, I'm seeing Eriksson turning into a prominent right winger. The start of his career may not have been quite as superb as, say, Jarome Iginla, but look at Bill Guerin. He had a good 3-4 average seasons before finally becoming a reasonably reliable scorer, and his potential topped out at a 41 goal season with the Bruins in 2002. Eriksson could turn into much of the same sort of player.
Parrish is also a valuable asset as far as goal production. 4 goals in five games doesn't look bad, but I'm hoping that he can keep the scoring up; that number looks that way because of his debut hat trick.

The Stars made a couple of moves in between the time of my writing.

First off, they traded defenseman Phillipe Boucher for Darryl Sydor. This is Sydor's third go-round in a black-and-gold jersey, and I think he'll be able to combine well with Sergei Zubov, just like the old days. Boucher was a great help, and it's sad to see him go. However, he's joined a strong contender in Pittsburgh and he should have a good time out there.

Also, the Stars lost B.J. Crombeen to the St. Louis Blues via waivers, which made me pretty mad. However, at the same time, James Neal was called up the the Stars, so hopefully he can gain from Crombeen's departure. Neal, and fellow rookie Fabian Brunnstrom, could help the Stars out a lot by picking up their production on ice.

That's all for today. Dallas goes up against Chicago tomorrow, and I'll be watching that game with anxious anticipation, and hoping for a win.

Stars vs. LA (Pre-game)

2008-11-11T17:39:00.002-05:00

Some Stars fans might look at tonight's schedule and rest in peace, knowing that Los Angeles is a typically easy team to beat.

I, for one, am not so easily assured.

That's not to say the Stars won't win; to the contrary, I think they'll play a great game after several days of rest.

I'm just saying, let's take this game one step at a time. In their past couple of games, L.A. has won due to the strong goaltending from Erik Ersberg and a good power-play.

The Stars' main focus tonight needs to be NOT TAKING PENALTIES!!!!!

There have been many games in just this season where the momentum is even keel until Dallas takes a bad penalty, the other team gets a goal, and the rest of the game slowly goes down the drain.

If the Stars can keep their men out of the box (and if Turco can restrain from over-handling the puck) then the game should be locked up. Dallas' defense has gotten over its annoying tendency to turn the puck over, and is stronger now with the return of Sergei Zubov.

The offense can have a different leader simply depending on who picks up their game. Often times, we'll see superb passing skills from Mike Ribeiro lead to a win; on other nights, the reckless play of Brenden Morrow will lead to a rebound goal or two; and yet on another night we could see the inspired play of Mike Modano lead to a strong performance by the whole team.

Some key players tonight;
*Sean Avery*- If the ultimate super-pest can draw a few penalties, it'll allow Dallas' powerplay many opportunities to gain the lead. His erratic offensive skills could come in handy as well.

*Fabian Brunnstrom*- He might be the only guy on the Stars with enough talent to play on any line. He's helped out defensively on several occasions, and seems to have a Morrow-like knack for getting goals in front of the net.

*Sergei Zubov*- It's a little early to expect anything huge from the Stars' reigning veteran defender, but if he can pop in a goal, it'll boost Dallas' confidence and momentum.

*Marty Turco*- Everyone says it; you can't win without good goaltending. Specifically for Turco, he'll need to take less risks when handling the puck, and the San Jose game should have solidly implanted the risks into his mind.

I'll post tomorrow with my post-game review, and hopefully some video highlights and/or pictures as well.

The Back-to-back Curse Strikes Again

2008-11-09T13:54:00.002-05:00

I just had to say something, didn't I?

I was talking to my friend Jamie last night, who was lucky enough to attend the Stars-Sharks game, and as a closing statement, I said "I hope our back-to-back game curse doesn't kick in again, or else you'll enjoy watching your Sharks get a win."

Wouldn't you know it, with 30 seconds left in the third period, Marty Turco had yet another one of his famous stick-handling blunders that gave Patrick Marleau a goal and the Sharks a win.

However, that game wasn't too bad for Dallas. They had a lot of scoring chances, and played some good defense. But Brian Boucher brought his 'A' game, and Loui Eriksson was the only Stars player able to break his shutout, during the third period.

The positive side to Dallas' back-to-back curse is that they always have a good game as well, and that would be the 5-2 win they got in Anaheim on Friday.

Mark Parrish certainly had an excellent debut, becoming the second player this season to score a hat trick in his Dallas debut, following the footsteps of Fabian Brunnstrom, who also had a goal against Anaheim. Brad Richards had the other tally for the Stars, and Marty Turco had a really strong game in goal.

The kind of play I saw from Dallas, which involved lots of physical play, a willingness to drive to the net, and strong defensive coverage. Fabian Brunnstrom continues to impress me with his knack of being in front of the net at the right time. After watching highlights of his play overseas on Youtube, I took him to be a finesse guy with superb passing skills who might occasionally pop in a goal. However, while he still doesn't share the same physicality as resident Dallas net-crasher Brenden Morrow, he's displayed an excellent talent of sitting on top of the crease and knocking in rebounds and/or skilled passes from Brad Richards, Mike Ribeiro, Mike Modano, and even Toby Petersen once. If the rest of the team can display that kind of willingness to win, whether on offense or defense, we'll have a more successful season.

NOTES:
Here's some quick food-for-thought that I noticed today;

- Minnesota is doing ok so far this year, but you'd think they'd be a bit more worried when Krys Kolanos has as many goals in the season as Marian Gaborik. The Wild's resident super-star hasn't played due to an injury, and he'd help an awful lot if he came back.

- Is it possible to have two people switch bodies? The Washington Capitals might think so, seeing as the numbers typical of an Alex Ovechkin start to the year are being produced by Alexander Semin. Ovie only has 2 goals and 8 points so far. I don't think the Caps should be worried though; they'll see 35-50 goals out of Ovechking by the end of the year.

- Too bad the Thrashers didn't let Bryan Little play a full AHL year last season; if this had been his rookie NHL year, he would be a strong Calder candidate for sure. With 8 goals and 14 points in 14 games, the talented Atlanta center is outperforming Ilya Kovalchuk and could be the cornerstone of the franchise if Kovie does indeed leave town next summer.

Fistric and Neal go AHL; Mark Parrish joins Dallas

2008-11-05T17:29:00.002-05:00

The Stars made some interesting roster moves yesterday.

Youngsters James Neal and Mark Fistric were sent down to the NHL, while free agent forward Mark Parrish was signed to a one-year deal.

I expected Fistric to see some AHL time this year simply because the blue-line in Dallas is over-crowded. Out of Sergei Zubov, who is still out with an injury, Phillipe Boucher, Stephane Robidas, Trevor Daley, Matt Niskanen, Nicklas Grossman, Fistric, Doug Janik, and Garrett Stafford, it's hard to figure out who deserves an NHL spot the most.
I guess Doug Janik will get some NHL time until Zubov returns from injured reserve.

Also interesting will be how Mark Parrish can perform in place of Neal, and where he'll end up fitting on the team. My hope? That Parrish can accept more of a depth role to allow Fabian Brunnstrom to get more ice time, while still playing a productive game.
Here's some potential lines now, with Parrish in the system;

Morrow--Ribeiro--Brunnstrom
Avery---Richards-Eriksson
Parrish-Modano---Crombeen
Ott-----Petersen-Barch

Another option, if the Stars really want to get experimental;

Morrow-----Ribeiro--Parrish
Brunnstrom-Richards-Eriksson
Avery------Modano---Ott
Crombeen---Petersen-Barch

The third way I would put together lines might turn out like this;

Morrow--Ribeiro--Eriksson
Parrish-Richards-Brunnstrom
Avery---Modano---Crombeen
Ott-----Petersen-Barch

Obviously, these aren't the only line combinations that could work. There are dozens of ways the Stars could slip Parrish into the line-up, not to mention that they've been changing up lines every few games anyways.

Focusing on Neal, I think the assignment to Manitoba could actually be beneficial. Although his production largely slowed down because the Stars as a whole slowed down, I still think he has a few things to learn in the game, and perhaps the mentoring of Mike Keane, who's played with Vancouver young guys Jannik Hansen, Mason Raymond, Rick Rypien, and others. It'll allow him to show his full potential in a full AHL season, while at the same time, he'll be the obvious choice for a call-up if a forward gets injured.

Hopefully, this whole shake-up will turn out beneficial for the Stars, who need to start winning NOW.

Reality Check: Everyone Gets Injured

2008-11-04T20:25:00.002-05:00

The New Jersey Devils have one heck of a dilemma on their hands.

Super-human goalie Martin Brodeur went down with an elbow injury, and will require surgery. This means 3-4 months of a Marty-less team.

Ouch.

The Devils have relied on Brodeur since I was too young to know anything about hockey, and their back-up right now? Kevin Weekes.

Now, I'm not trying to say Weekes is a bad goalie; he's in the NHL, that obviously means he has some skill. But he hasn't been the starting goalie for a team since the 03-04 Hurricanes, where he went 23-30-11 in 66 games. Since then, he's compiled a 20-23-3 record as a back-up for the Rangers and the Devils over 4 seasons, including the 2 games he's played this season.

The Devils have several options, and it'll be interesting to see which one they go with.

A) The Devils go with Weekes as a starting goaltender, and give AHL goaltender Frank Doyle some NHL time. Straight up, there's no way Lou Lamoriello will go with that.

B) The Blackhawks need to get Nikolai Khabibulin off their hands, even though he's been a good goalie as of late. He could fit into the Devils system relatively well and have a strong year.

C) Ottawa doesn't know what to do with it's trio of Martin Gerber, Alex Auld, and Brian Elliot, all three of whom are deserving of starting goalie time. The Devils could trade for one of them without giving up too much.

There are other options, of course, but I think one of these three would be the most likely to occur. Thoughts? Random Rants? Feel free to comment.

Two very, very bad games..

2008-11-03T18:10:00.003-05:00

The Stars had an extremely rough weekend, losing 5-2 to Chicago and 5-1 to Boston in back-to-back road games.

The Boston game was especially horrendous, in my opinion. The Stars played with the awfulness of a team who doesn't care about the playoffs any longer, rather than a team who just needs a couple of wins to get back on track. Sean Avery and Steve Ott played really dirty games, and although they may have just been trying to help give the team some momentum, it really didn't work.

The Chicago game wasn't nearly as bad. Other than a few turnovers resulting in goals, the Stars did play an ok game. They had a lot of good chances on offense, but Nikolai Khabibulin really had his game on that night.

The Stars play the Ducks on Friday, so they have plenty of resting time, and practice time, until then. Hopefully they'll spark up a little and get a good win against Anaheim, and keep up the momentum throughout November and the rest of the season.

Stars vs. Wild (Post-game)

2008-10-31T16:25:00.004-04:00

That's the kind of game fans want to see out of the Stars!

A 4-2 win against the Wild will hopefully spark the Stars into playing some better hockey tonight, and throughout the rest of the season.

Here's some notes from the game:

- During the pre-game interviews, Dave Tippett essentially reinforced the fact that the Stars need Sergei Zubov in the line-up. He talked about how one of the best things the Stars do on defense is pair a young guy with a veteran, and that Zubov and Matt Niskanen were one of the stronger duos using that system.

- You gotta love Steve Ott's personality. When asked about playing on a line with Sean Avery, he said this: "...so look for us to just dump the puck, drive the corner and run some people over." Typical tough guy, but they're key to the team.

- The Morrow-Ribeiro-Eriksson line had a great start to the game, and kept it up the whole time. The opening goal took advantage of a lazy Minnesota defense, and

- Minnesota tried to fight back during the first period with a lot of hitting, and the entire match turned out to be full of hits, although there were no fights.

- Seeing Fabian Brunnstrom on the fourth line surprised me a bit; he had that little bit of chemistry with Toby Petersen on his first goal, but other than that, there weren't many positives. He didn't get very much ice time, although he was given some power-play time, and he didn't have many scoring opportunities either. I'm not sure that he should move, though; every other line looked pretty good.

- Tobias Stephan's first start of the year was excellent. He made a lot of key saves during the game, and some were even spectacular. As for the goals he gave up, they were goals that any goaltender would have given up. Marc-Andre Bergeron just might have the scariest slapshot of any defender (with respect to Zdeno Chara), and Andrew Brunette's fluke goal would've slipped under anyone.

- Brad Richards had a great game, scoring a goal and an assist to bring his season totals up to 3 goals and 5 assists for 8 points on the season. He'll be a top scorer in Dallas again.

- Sean Avery's offensive skills only took a few games to click in. After last night's two-assist performance, he has a goal and 5 assists in 10 games.

Like I promised earlier, here's a fun little stats pro-rating thing that would show how the Stars scorers would finish their seasons if they kept up the same exact pace through 82 games. Fabian Brunnstrom, Steve Ott, Joel Lundqvist, Toby Petersen, and Mark Fistric will all be pro-rated based on if they were to play the rest of the season without missing any more games. Doug Janik has only played one game, so he doesn't have anything to pro-rate.

-------------------G--A---P--PIM's----
Brenden Morrow----33--57-90--164------
Mike Ribeiro-------9--81-90--32-------
Mike Modano-------32--50-82--32-------
Brad Richards-----25--31-66--0--------
Stephane Robidas---8--49-57--115------
Loui Eriksson-----33--24-57--16-------
Fabian Brunnstrom-50--10-60--0--------
Sean Avery---------9--40-49--271------
B.J. Crombeen------8--33-41--172------
Trevor Daley------16--16-32--82-------
James Neal--------16--16-32--65-------
Steve Ott---------15--15-30--200------
Krys Barch--------17---8-25--98-------
Matt Niskanen------8---8-16--0--------
Toby Petersen------0--10-10--20-------
Mark Fistric-------0---9--9--36-------
Joel Lundqvist-----0---9--9--18-------
Phillipe Boucher---0---8--8--49-------
Nicklas Grossman---0---8--8--90-------

Now obviously, most of those stats (if not all) will be completely different, but just doing that shows some of the flaws in the Stars' game so far through October. For example, this pace would give the Stars 7 different players with at least 90 PIM's. That's an awful lot of penalties.
Also, it's fairly obvious that B.J. Crombeen, Sean Avery, and Mike Ribeiro will score more goals then this. And while Ribeiro might have the potential to get that many assists, I doubt Crombeen and Avery will set up _that_ many goals. It'd also be pretty funny to see Fabian Brunnstrom score 50 goals while only getting 10 assists. Maybe someday he'll get into that range, but I think he's a more complete player and get a little more than just 10 assists.

*Dallas vs. Chicago:*
Tonight, the next up-and-coming team in the NHL goes up against the Stars, and Dallas needs to come out with a win to keep their momentum going.

The Hawks will be led by the heroics of Patrick's Kane and Sharp, Jonathan Toews, and surprising young rookie Kris Versteeg. Brian Campbell and Duncan Keith will hold down the defensive end, while either Nik Khabibulin or Cristobal Huet will be relied upon to keep goals out of the net.

On Dallas's end of the ice, they'll look for scoring from anyone and everyone, while hoping that a young defense can bring Wednesday's performance to the ice and keep the Hawks' sharpshooters away from likely starter Marty Turco, who needs to bounce back from a rough start to the season.

Something just "clicked"

2008-10-30T22:54:00.003-04:00

Steven Stamkos apparently decided the best time to play amazingly is when your NHL season is at the brink of dissipating.

In the last of Stamkos's 9 games to prove himself ready for the NHL, he scored two goals against the Buffalo Sabres to lead the team to a 5-2 win.

The first goal was originally inconclusive, but was credited to Stamkos when scorers determined that he re-directed the puck into the net off of Vincent Lecavalier's slap shot. However, his second goal was without a doubt his. Taking a smart pass from Adam Hall on a 2-on-2 break into the Sabres zone, Stamkos slapped the puck past Ryan Miller for the second goal of his young NHL career.

Now, without question, the Lightning are going to keep the young forward up with the big team. He didn't impress during his first 7 games, although that was largely attributed to lack of ice time given to Stamkos by coach Barry Melrose. However, you don't send a player back to juniors after he scores 2 goals in a game, no matter how much he would learn with more seasoning.

The interesting question will be whether or not Stamkos can keep this kind of play up, and whether or not he'll get the ice time he needs in order to do so.

For now, we'll see if Stamkos can wrestle back his "Calder lock" title back from the likes of Kyle Turris, Fabian Brunnstrom, and Derick Brassard.

Stars vs. Wild

2008-10-29T16:44:00.002-04:00

Tonight is the night of Antti Miettinen's return to Dallas! Minnesota comes to town looking strong, on the verge of their seventh win early in the season, while Dallas hopes to get off with a win just to keep the balance.

For Minnesota, they must hope that their newly formed trio of Andrew Brunette, Mikko Koivu, and Miettinen can keep up their scoring; Koivu has a goal and 12 assists, Miettinen has 6 goals and 3 assists, and Brunette has 3 goals and 4 assists. They also hope that Nicklas Backstrom can keep up his strong goaltending, and that the defense can hold back Dallas. They'll have to bring the scoring without the help of superstar Marian Gaborik.

For the Stars, they need to focus on not having any defensive lapses. They've given up a lot of goals in their first 9 games, and haven't been able to score many themselves. They'll rely heavily on the offensive instincts of Brenden Morrow, Mike Ribeiro, Brad Richards, Mike Modano, and Fabian Brunnstrom, while hoping that Phillipe Boucher, Stephane Robidas, and Matt Niskanen can keep the puck out of the defensive end. Marty Turco needs to bring his "A" game.

We'll see which team can come out on top tonight!

Stamkos gets first NHL point Update Video Highlight

2008-10-28T21:14:00.004-04:00

Steven Stamkos, the extremely hyped up first overall draft pick by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2008 draft, has recorded his first NHL point.

The circumstances of it can only point once again to the tried and true saying; More ice time equals more production.

Stamkos, apparently getting some time on the power-play with Vinny Lecavlier and Vaclav Prospal, notched an assist in his 8th NHL game, getting the second assist on a Lecavalier goal in the second period. I'll update with a video as soon as one goes up.

*Update* Well, I have the "official" highlight off that goal, and although it isn't really a pretty play, kudos to Stammer for getting his point anyways. Hard to really see that he helps, but apparently he does, so congratulations.

Dallas vs. Washington

2008-10-26T12:43:00.004-04:00

It was like opening night all over again.

The Stars and Capitals trading momentum all throughout regulation, up to the last-minute game-tier by Mike Modano. However, just like against Columbus, the Stars could not capitalize on their chances in overtime, and a sloppy defensive play led to a toe-drag wrister from Alexander Semin that won the game.

The Stars are now at 3-4-2 in their first 9 games of the season, and many Stars fans, often myself included, are wondering what the heck is going on.

I think there are two key problems to the Stars' rocky start this year: defensive play, and forward line combinations. Both problems can somewhat be attributed to injury; the Morrow-Ribeiro duo hasn't found a solid right-winger since Jere Lehtinen went down with an injury, and the defense is still without the veteran presence of Sergei Zubov.

However, now is not the time to make excuses and put the blame on something we can't control.

For example, the Stars defense should be strong, even without Zubov. Phillipe Boucher is a veteran leader as well, Stephane Robidas is a valuable defender who improves by the day, Trevor Daley is capable of quarter-backing a power-play and likes to play in his own end as well, and youngsters Matt Niskanen, Nicklas Grossman, and Mark Fistric are loaded with potential. Right now, it's impossible to blame any specific defender as the cause for the rough play; each one has their own partial excuse. Boucher is coming off an injury filled season last year, and was also injured for most of training camp. Fistric only played a partial season last year as an injury call-up, yet he doesn't appear to need any AHL seasoning. Niskanen and Grossman are young, still learning to play consistently, but definitely deserving of NHL time. Robidas is adjusting to a larger role overall, and it's hard to expect spectacular play out of Daley if he often only gets second or third pairing ice time. For the time being, the Stars can only hope that practice will improve the current group, and that Zubov can be a steadying influence once he returns to the line-up.

The forward group is another story. There aren't enough solid duos or trios to go around. For example; last night against Washington, the line of Morrow-Ribeiro-Eriksson played really well, and had a good game on Thursday against the Isles as well. However, Fabian Brunnstrom has also been great on that line, and he didn't click on a line with Brad Richards. Eriksson and Richards had good chemistry last year during the playoffs. One guy that can't seem to find a consistent place is Sean Avery. Now, I'm not saying he isn't a good player, because he might even be a key player. But other than a few nights where he's managed to either rough it up, and last night, when he scored his first goal as a Star, he hasn't been very effective. He's been shuffled around, but it's been very hard for coach Dave Tippett to find a good spot for him. Another question in terms of the forward line-up is; who will go down once Jere Lehtinen returns from an injury? Toby Petersen would initially be seen as the main candidate, but his play is very underrated. He got his only assist of the season so far on a skilled play to set up Fabian Brunnstrom's first NHL goal, and last night nearly scored a short-handed goal off of a pass from Mike Modano.

Moving past the negative parts of the season, here are some positive notes from last night's game and the season in general:

- It's nice to see a lot of Stars producing early on, despite the losses. Mike Modano especially is having a surprising season; not many people expected 4 goals and 10 points in 9 games. Stephane Robidas is keeping up his production from last year's playoffs; he's got a goal and 6 assists in 9 games. Brandon Crombeen is also producing beyond my expectations; he has a goal and 4 assists through 9 games while keeping up his physical play with 21 PIM's. Brad Richards should also have a strong season, with a respectable 2 goals and 6 points through 9 games, Loui Eriksson has the opposite, with 4 goals and 6 points in 9 games.

- Fabian Brunnstrom has found his job with Dallas; stand in front of the net, and capitalize on rebounds or passes from behind the net. He doesn't quite have the typical power-forward qualities; we've yet to see a particularly notable body check, or goal from on his back, but he's got the finesse skills to score in close, and it's gotten him 5 goals and 6 points in 7 games.

- Tobias Stephan hasn't looked to bad as a rookie so far this year. He's been credited with losses so far, but only because he closes out games that Marty Turco has essentially lost. However, in those games, Stephan hasn't looked to bad; against St. Louis, he only gave up a goal in the 3rd period after Turco gave up 5, and he only gave up one against New Jersey after Turco gave up 4.

- Here's some food for thought: Steven Stamkos has 0 points and is -3 in 7 games. Here's more: it's not his fault. That's right, even the people who are saying Stammer should go back to major-junior aren't blaming Stamkos. Instead, the coaching of Barry Melrose is probably at fault. Through his 7 games, Stamkos has never had more than 14:53 in ice time, and most nights, he doesn't get past 12 minutes. That's hardly the expected ice time for a guy with enough talent to be playing on Tampa's 2nd line. Tampa's only option is to send Stammer back down the OHL, let him dominate for the whole year, and hope that Melrose's brain kicks in and realizes that Stamkos can bring the Bolts a lot of points and some wins, too.

- How about this? Todd Bertuzzi is on pace for 62 goals....and 0 assists. As opposed to captain Jarome Iginla, who is on pace for 62 goals and 106 points. That would definitely be an interesting season for both right-wingers.

- Andy McDonald is on pace to have one of those season typical of Marc Savard and Joe Thornton, where the assists out number the goals 11 to 1. Literally, McDonald has a goal and 11 assists in 8 games so far.

That's all for now. I'll have a special pro-rate stats preview after the Stars play their tenth game against Minnesota on Wednesday.

Dallas vs. NYI

2008-10-25T10:36:00.004-04:00

Again, I've been so busy, that this time, I wasn't even able to watch the two games that have passed since my last post. And here's one thing to think about right away; so far, the Stars have always had one good game and one bad game whenever they have back-to-back games. Most recently, the bad game was against the New Jersey Devils. They lost 5-0, and boy, they sure looked like they were in for a playoff-less season.

However, their good game might give the Stars some momentum. A win against the New York Islanders (not that hard, but still) must have felt pretty good to earn. Mike Ribeiro specifically redeemed himself in my eyes, scoring a goal and getting FOUR assists. That game alone brought gave him the lead in points for Dallas. Brenden Morrow and Loui Eriksson also each had really good games, and Eriksson looks to have a strong season coming up. Marty Turco managed to pull off an ok performance after looking bad in the NJ game, and the defense was definitely a little stronger than it has been.

I love how Krys Barch is all of the sudden a legitimate power-forward at the start of this season. He fights all the time, and now he has two tip-in goals. Obviously, I don't expect him to come up with a 30-goal season...or a 20-goal season....or even a 10-goal season....but he could chip in with 5-6 goals by the end of the year and be a valuable contributor with his physical play.

Dallas vs. NYR; Dallas vs. NJ preview

2008-10-22T19:36:00.002-04:00

Yikes! Haven't had a lot of time online recently, so I'll quickly look over some points from the Rangers game, and get a quick preview in on the Dallas-New Jersey game.

NOTES:

- The opening line for the Stars was Sean Avery, Mike Ribeiro, and Loui Eriksson; a line that may have only ever been seen in practice before this game. While that line didn't manage much offensively, it wasn't awful, either. It also allowed Fabian Brunnstrom, Brenden Morrow, and Brad Richards to experiment together; the first result was a nice goal by Morrow on a rebound from a Brunnstrom shot that looked like a very smooth pass.

- Markus Naslund had a power-play goal, proving only one thing: the Stars are still taking way too many penalties.

- Mike Modano is currently scoring at a point-per-game pace. He probably won't keep it up, but does Dallas's main man since the late 80's have another 45-60 point season left in him?

- Both teams had a heck of a game for one reason; they had scoring chance upon scoring chance and never slowed down. The main reason for the Stars winning was the amazing play of Marty Turco; he shut down the potent New York duo of Brandon Dubinsky and Aaron Voros, and filled the highlight reels with his saves.

Dallas vs. New Jersey
At the time of this writing, the game had already started, and the score was 1-0 in favor of Jamie Langenbrunner. Unfortunately, he's no longer a Star. I'll be watching the rest of the game as soon as I can, and I'll post after the end, if I can.

At Least it Wasn't 6-1

2008-10-18T20:15:00.002-04:00

Well, the Stars did alright in today's game, that I unfortunately missed seeing. However, I was pleased to check the scoreboard and see both Fabian Brunnstrom and James Neal with goals. Also nice to see Loui Eriksson with a couple of points. The highlights probably sum up any notes I could write down, so I'll leave you to watch those for this game. I'll try and get something up tomorrow.

Just Plain Awful

2008-10-17T20:27:00.002-04:00

I almost didn't write this blog, but I promised (at least to myself) 82 games of coverage and I can't skip Thursday night's awful road loss to the St. Louis Blues.

I kid you not, it was terrible. I might be one of the biggest Stars fan out there, and I can honestly say that I couldn't find any bright spots in last night's game. You can't use Barch's goal as a bright spot, because his job isn't to score.

NOTES:

- Right off the bat, John from Stars Live jinxed us (sort of) by rhetorically asking if Brunnstrom would be able to repeat his big performance. The Swede had a few good chances, but obviously he wasn't the only one who couldn't beat Manny Legace.

- A James Neal trademark that will hopefully help the team in the long run; he's got incredible speed, and can hold on to the puck really well. He'll score on that left-side swoop before the year's over.

- The defense was again at fault on Thursday night: Keith Tkachuk's goal came on a turnover, Jay Mckee was left wide open to capitalize on a puck-handling slip-up by Turco, Steve Wagner scored because the Stars weren't willing to step in and take a puck for the team, Eric Brewer's one-timer also could have been blocked, and Yan Stastny had way to much time to shoot the puck on his goal. Penalties were also a big, big, problem; Brad Boyes scored on a 5-on-3, and the Blues had tons of other chances on the power-play.

- The Stars' 4th line played with the most energy last night; Krys Barch scored the only Stars goal, and Joel Lundqvist and Toby Petersen were probably the only Stars with a reasonably good outings.

- Tobias Stephan's second NHL game officially ended with him getting a loss, but he only played the last period, and only gave up 1 goal. That's not too bad, considering the Blues knocked 5 past Turco.

All in all, I was really disgusted with that game. I'm hoping we won't see another performance like this out of Dallas for the entire year, and if the boys can bounce back with a solid game against Colorado tomorrow, they'll be back on track.

Brunnstrom's on fire; Stars get first win!

2008-10-16T16:37:00.005-04:00

Wow.

Maybe I should start bashing the Stars before every game, and they'll all score hat tricks.

Before the Stars-Preds game started, I claimed that the addition of Brunnstrom would cause shaky line combinations to give the Stars trouble. How did he answer me? With a hat trick in his very first game.

The Stars finally pulled out a win, and it couldn't have been sweeter. Mike Modano scored two goals and got an assist, including an empty-netter that gave him 530 goals for his career. Brad Richards had two assists, and Sean Avery picked up his first point as a Dallas Star. But the night belonged to Brunnstrom, who, after being scratched for the first two games and leaving his hype in question, decided that the Stars needed some offense and went ahead and became only the 3rd player in NHL history to score a hat trick in his debut.

NOTES:

- Steve Ott was out with an injury, and the line of Brenden Morrow, Mike Ribeiro, and Loui Eriksson didn't mesh all too well. The Stars need to find a way to have every line producing; once Jere Lehtinen comes back, the lines will be more even. I'm seeing:
Morrow-Ribeiro-Lehtinen
Brunnstrom-Richards-Eriksson
Neal-Modano-Avery
Ott-Petersen-Crombeen
Krys Barch would be the 13th forward, occasionally playing in place of Crombeen.

- Dave Tippett on Fabian Brunnstrom, pre-game: Brunnstrom is a very respectable guy, he had no problems with being scratched the first couple of games. The only thing he really needs right now is to understand how we play. Once he can play our kind of game, he'll stick for sure.

- One of the main reasons that Brunnstrom played so well was the fact that Dave Tippett wasn't afraid to give him plenty of ice time; he was out on the ice during the Stars' first power-play of the night.

- An interesting line combination that played well last night was that of James Neal, Mike Modano, and Brandon (B.J.) Crombeen. Neal and Crombeen each had assists on Modano's first goal of the night, along with bringing physical play and speed to the game. I'll be interested as to whether or not Tippett keeps that group together; it would be hard to find a sure place for Avery if he does. All of the sudden, Dallas has good depth on the right wing: Eriksson, Avery, and Lehtinen all deserve top-six spots and B.J. Crombeen could easily play in that group as well.

- A few questionable calls were made in front of the net during this game, but the good thing was that the refs kept their original decisions; they didn't review a questionable goalie-interference call on Brenden Morrow that canceled a goal for Loui Eriksson, and when the ref initially called Martin Erat's goal a good one, and then went to a review that was inconclusive, they stuck with the on-ice call.

- Toby Petersen has to be one of the more unappreciated guys in the NHL right now. He got all sorts of ice time last night, from the penalty-kill, to making a killer move around two Predator defenders to set up Fabian Brunnstrom's first NHL goal.

- After starting the season with poor power-play results, the Stars managed a power-play marker in this game after Mike's Ribeiro and Modano set up Stephane Robidas' slap-shot goal.

- Matt Niskanen showed the maturity of an NHL veteran when he stayed on the ice during a Stars penalty-kill despite taking a painful shot the leg. He played later in the game, so the injury wasn't so serious, but a less-experienced player might have rushed off the ice to make sure he wouldn't get hurt. Kind of reminiscent of Glen Wesley back in the '06 Cup Finals, in my opinion. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to prevent Radek Bonk from scoring a power-play goal.

- Three rookies scored their first NHL goal in this match; Patric Hornqvist had one heck of a cool-looking tip off of a slap-shot from Shea Weber. Ryan Jones showed his tough presence in front of the net by not giving up on a wild, bouncing puck, and eventually knocked it past Marty Turco for his first goal.

- Niskanen really redeemed himself, in my eyes, by his defensive play last night. He was one of the weaker-looking defenders in the Stars' first two games, but last night, he had several shot-blocks and defensive plays that really shined.

- Greg Zanon is perhaps the craziest, yet best, shot-blocking defenseman in the NHL. Not once, but twice in last night's game, he dropped down on the ice to stop a shot and was hit in the head with the puck. Both times, he didn't take long to come back and keep playing. He's giving Nashville a real hard time finding ice-time for Kevin Klein.

- Sean Avery isn't the best fit with Brad Richards, in my opinion. He can still play the body-guard role, but several times last night, I saw him recieve killer-passes from Brad Richards and fail to capitalize on them. Loui Eriksson is a much better fit, and we could see a lot of offense from the Stars second line if they go with a combination of Brunnstrom-Richards-Eriksson.

- Speaking of Greg Zanon getting hit in the head with the puck, it was that reason that Fabian Brunnstrom didn't have four goals last night.

Overall, this was a really strong game for the Stars. Despite giving up 4 goals, they never trailed in the game, and played with much more energy than in the first two games. Tonight, they'll be up against the St. Louis Blues. I don't think I can live-blog tonight's game either, but I'll do my best to get you coverage on everything that happened.

NHL Quick-Check + Stars vs. Predators preview

2008-10-15T13:27:00.003-04:00

Some news around the NHL:

- Ryan Hollweg has gotten himself suspended again. Personally, I think this is getting out of hand. I mean, some NHL players have gotten longer suspensions (Chris Simon) or suspensions for worse reasons (Sean Hill), but Hollweg is ridiculous. Barely into the second week of the 08-09 season, Hollweg has his second 3-game suspension. This man is going to get himself kicked out of the NHL, and I'm surprised that the Leafs haven't demoted him to the Marlies already.

- I know it's only a few games into the season, but it's always fun to look at the names atop the score charts and imagine what the NHL would be like if those guys led the league for the whole season. Then again, if Aaron Voros (7 points) was leading the NHL in points at the end of the year (along with Brandon Dubinksy, also 7 points), then the NHL might want to check back and see just how useful those rule changes would be.

- Along the topic of scoring leaders, can Keith Tkachuk make a comeback? The old power-forward has 4 goals already for St. Louis, and is on pace for, well, technically 82-84 goals. While that obviously won't happen, it'll be interesting to see if the Blues winger can get his goal-scoring into the 30-40 range for a few more years. He scored 27 goals last year.

- The NHL has decided to get the fan's answer on the ultimate question (no, not the question of life); Who's better? Alexander Ovechkin or Sidney Crosby? Fans across the NHL can write their own argument for either star player and have the opportunity for their opinions to appear on NHL.com. I'd write my own piece, but I like the play of both superstars and would only barely come out with Ovechkin on top.

Stars vs. Predators Preview:

- The Fort-Worth Star Telegram is reporting that Fabian Brunnstrom is going to make his debut tonight. But hold your applause, Stars fans—Brunnstrom is reportedly going to play on a line with Brad Richards and Sean Avery. Now, I'm not saying this line combo can't work. But not only does it break up the skilled duo of Richards and winger Loui Eriksson, it also takes bodyguard/agitator Avery off of the Neal-Modano-Avery line that played so well in the opening game of the season. Now, Avery is a new player, so his chemistry can still be messed around with, but Eriksson and Modano have rarely, if not never, played together and won't have much time to learn each other's game. The Stars need a win tonight, and they need it badly. A better line combo choice could have been Brunnstrom-Richards-Eriksson and keep the Neal-Modano-Avery line together. Another option that would have been interesting to see would be Morrow-Ribeiro-Brunnstrom. The Stars have had Steve Ott play the protector role for the intimidating duo of Morrow and Ribeiro, but Morrow is a tough guy in his own right and Ribeiro is no weakling either. Essentially, my ideal line combinations would be as follows:
Morrow-Ribeiro-Brunnstrom
Neal-Modano-Avery
Ott-Richards-Eriksson
Barch-Petersen-Crombeen
Hopefully, though, Brunnstrom can prove me wrong and play well tonight. Perhaps another Star will get his first goal in his first game?

- Jason Arnott suffered a hand injury and is expected to miss about 3 games, according to ESPN. This could be seen as very helpful to Dallas; without Arnott, the last Stars-Preds game would've ended up 1-1. Arnott terrorized the Stars by scoring 2 goals, and had so many other scoring opportunities that 4 goals wouldn't have seemed impossible.

- The Stars' defensive play will be under the most scrutiny; it was the main reason for a 0-1-1 start that surprised many Stars fans. I'm hoping that defensive coverage and awareness was the main focus during the Stars' practices, and hopefully tonight will produce better results.

That's all for now. I'll have a blog up after the game, most likely tomorrow, unfortunately live-blogging won't be an option.

Another loss of life affecting the hockey world

2008-10-14T19:43:00.005-04:00

Wow. Just after hockey fans were getting over the shock of Luc Bourdon's untimely death, Alexei Cherepanov has an unexpected collapse on the bench during an KHL game. Cherepanov played for Omsk, and last season had excited the NHL by breaking Pavel Bure's rookie record for goals in the Russian Elite League with 18 compared to Bure's 17. He was probably in line for a roster spot as soon as his contract with Omsk was up.

However, apparently, God (or fate, depending on whom you believe) has decided otherwise. In the past year, the hockey world has lost Mickey Renaud, Luc Bourdon, and now Cherepanov to tragic incidents that nobody could predict happening. I could go into the history of incidents like this throughout the NHL's history, but I've depressed myself enough.

Instead, I'll hit a more interesting note: Why does the KHL, a league with so much money, not have the proper medical equipment at the rink? I've seen reports that a defibrillator may have been able to say Cherepanov, and even if they decided to carry him out for speed, the safer option would have been a stretcher, had one been available in the building. I recently read a blog (for the life of me, I can't remember who wrote it, very sorry) about someone who played in an amateur men's league that experienced a shock much like this; another man on the ice had collapsed from a heart disease (may have been a heart attack) and died because the proper equipment could not be found. The blogger afterwards petitioned for the rink to acquire a defibrillator, and was successful. It was a very touching story, and it immediately rose to the top of my mind when I first heard of Cherepanov's death. I'm not going to bash the KHL for neglecting to take care of their players; obviously, they didn't expect anything on such a serious level, and neither did Alexei. However, if there had been a defibrillator, or perhaps other medical equipment in the room, a life could have been saved. This is another incident where professional and amateur sports leagues, players, and building managers need to hear about this, look at their own equipment, and realize that with a few simple upgrades, they could save many lives.

UPDATE: After finding this link on James Mirtle's blog, this may be the saddest story I've ever read involving hockey. Credits to the writers who translated this: Cherepanov's Tale.

NHL Quick-Check

2008-10-13T12:06:00.002-04:00

Thanks to Columbus Day, I have today off from school. So, in order to take full advantage of it, here's a look at some news around the NHL:

- The Sharks may have found the perfect balance between an overloaded platoon system (Vesa Toskala and Evgeni Nabokov, especially in 06-07) and over-working Nabokov (77 games in 07-08). Sharks coach Todd Mclellan made the smart move yesterday, going with Brian Boucher in goal even though Nabokov had won his previous two games. The results? Boucher was named second star of the night for the entire NHL after posting a 21-save shutout against the Los Angeles Kings. Sharks rookie Lukas Kaspar made sure Boucher would get his win, scoring the lone goal of the game for his very first NHL goal, and first game-winner as well.

- The New York Rangers were perhaps the one team in the NHL to recieve so many different opinions in the off-season. Some said that acquisitions Markus Naslund, Wade Redden, Nikolai Zherdev, Dan Fritsche, and Dmitri Kalinin would push the Rangers over the top and into the Cup Finals. Others said that the Rangers had simply picked up some past-their-prime players and would collapse because of their lack of skill. Still more said that the Rangers would be the same team as last year, Naslund becoming the new Jaromir Jagr, and the other new guys making no difference whatsoever.
I don't know who will eventually turn out right, but as of right now, it's leaning in favor of the ones who say New York will win the Cup; the Rangers have started their season at 4-0.

- This seems to be the year of losing defensemen. The Flyers have been ravaged the worst, losing Ryan Parent and Randy Jones, two defensemen who would've been in their top-six for sure. Bryan McCabe is out for Florida, and the Blues lost Erik Johnson and Jeff Woywitka. The Maple Leafs lost Jeff Finger for a little while, and the Stars are missing Sergei Zubov temporarily, and I suspect these won't be the only blue-line injuries to ravage the league. On the plus side, we might see a heck of a lot of goals scored throughout the year. I mean, if the Islanders can score five on St. Louis, you never know what might come next.

- Despite all the rumors of the Sedin twins wanting to take off to another team if the Canucks struggle again this year, it hasn't stopped them from playing well. Daniel was one of the 'Three Stars' of the week for the NHL, scoring 2 goals and 3 assists in 2 games, while Henrik has a goal and 3 assists in those same 2 games. These numbers are still following the pattern of Henrik being more of a play-maker while Daniel is the goal-scorer.

Rookie Report: Didn't See Him Coming:
Some of the more surprising rookies of the first week in the NHL-
Rick Rypien- This rookie center for the Vancouver Canucks has taken a long and hard road to the NHL. He recieved call-ups totaling up to 29 games in 3 seasons before 08-09, which I believe cancels out his Calder eligibility, but this year, his performance appears to be paying off. Rypien (pronounced Rippin', like, he's rippin' shot after shot at the net) is tied for the rookie goal-scoring lead with 2 goals in his first 2 games.
Kevin Porter- Originally thought to be too far down on the Coyotes depth chart to make the team, Porter instead jumped into the line-up and has been solid for Phoenix. Currently, through 2 games, he's tied with Kyle Turris for the rookie lead in assists with 2.
Chris Porter- Another young Porter (although I believe the two are unrelated) was a surprise addition to his St. Louis Blues team after only scoring 12 goals and 37 points in 80 AHL games last year. However, he cracked the line-up for the Blues and enjoyed his first NHL assist when the Blues defeated the Predators in their first game.

- On the subject of rookies, what the heck happened to Steven Stamkos??? After playing two games in Europe against the Rangers and displaying potential by ringing a shot off the crossbar, he's been off the map. Sure, it's only the first week, but his team played two weeks ago, and had a game in this past week! With Kyle Turris topping the scoring lists for rookies and several other young guys making big impacts, the Lightning's first overall pick in the 2008 draft better pick up his play (scoreless in 3 games with a -1 rating) if he really wants that Calder trophy.

Phoenix rookies giving the Desert Dogs a chance

2008-10-12T23:31:00.002-04:00

Coyotes fans saw it Saturday night against Columbus, and they saw it today against Anaheim;

The young guns are in charge now.

Kyle Turris and Mikkel Boedker scored their first NHL goals against the Ducks today. Peter Mueller and Keith Yandle scored against Columbus yesterday. Rookie Kevin Porter has two assists in two games, and Viktor Tikhonov looks pretty good as well. The veterans are chipping in as well; Turris assisted on Olli Jokinen's first goal as a Coyote against Columbus, and assisted on one of Shane Doan's two goals today against Anaheim. Steven Reinprecht has 3 assists in two games, and Todd Fedoruk has two assists in the games.

Could this be the start of a very surprisingly strong season for the Phoenix Coyotes? We'll see...

Stars Game 2 of 08-09, Live-blog.

2008-10-11T19:28:00.006-04:00

Alright people, I'm going to be attempting my first live blog for tonight's Stars vs. Predators game. I doubt I can update it every time I can add something, but I'll do my best.

PRE-GAME:

6:50- I don't know if this is because of my cable service (Time Warner) or because the Stars or Predators board just made a very odd decision, but apparently, the only place to watch this game is on NHL Center Ice on TV. The free online preview of NHL GameCenter isn't even showing the game. I really can't believe this. Versus isn't showing any games. Fox Sports Southwest is showing football. KDFI is showing some old, two-star movie called Hair Show that I've never heard of. No other local channel in Dallas is showing this game. I'll do the best I can to listen to the audio feed, and write about that, but I'm really outraged at the fact that no TV channel is showing this game unless you're paying however-much-per-year to get Center Ice subscription. This really makes me mad.

7:07- Problem solved! Apparently, Time Warner was showing me the wrong scheduling for FS-SW. I visited the Stars site out of desperation, and it told me the game was indeed on FS-SW, so I re-checked, and now that awesome Stars intro-commercial is on.

7:09- Both goaltenders are or were Stars players, and oddly enough, both goaltenders (Turco and Ellis for those who are new to either team or the whole league) gave up 5 goals in their games yesterday.

FIRST PERIOD:

- Opening lines for Dallas: Robidas-Grossman on defense, Neal-Modano-Avery up front.

7:13 - Could the Stars already be in trouble? A turnover at Nashville's blue-line sends the puck the other way, where Shea Weber, un-covered by any Star, pounces on a rebound and scores the opening goal of the game. Right after that, Martin Erat gives the Stars a quick scare, but Trevor Daley keeps him from getting a shot off.

- All the Stars lines are the same; apparently the Stars think they'll get enough offense from the groups they have.

7:15 - Well, look who wants to be an offensive defenseman. Trevor Daley pots a goal, snapping a high wrist-shot from the top of the face-off circle.

7:15 - Daley takes a penalty right after his goal, but the Stars' penalty kill appears to be on top of its game.

7:17 - Turco keeps getting scaring me. He's still over-handling the puck, and Phillipe Boucher had to save him from giving up a goal.

7:19 - Dan Ellis makes a nifty little up-ice pass...think he took more than a few lessons from Turco?

7:20 - The Predators just look like they have more overall energy right now. They're fighting harder in the corners, playing better defensively, and passing well. I hope we can get some energy in us somehow-perhaps another Barch fight?

- Unlike last night's collection of rookies for the Blue Jackets, Nashville's lone youngster Patric Hornqvist is so far invisible. He's already been given at least two shifts, and he's done almost nothing.

7:23 - Mike Ribeiro got tripped up by Ryan Suter; he looked a little shaken up, but he's still on the ice, so I guess he's not hurt.

- The Stars had an exceptionally weak power-play against Nashville last year, 0-for-26. So far, after one power-play, it's 0-for-1.

7:26 - Two fights at once! B.J. Crombeen against Greg de Vries, and Sean Avery vs. Dan Hamhuis. Both fights getting broken up pretty quickly, but not half-bad. Jordin Tootoo was actually the original cause, messing around with Marty Turco after a play. Steve Ott and Trevor Daley immediately jumped on Tootoo, and then the two fights erupted. Ott, Crombeen, and Avery are all in the penalty box, and one lady is just absolutely shouting her lungs out at Avery. It's pretty funny, mainly because the enigmatic Avery is just kind of looking at her like, "Who do you think you are?"

7:30 - Apparently, Mr. Avery has been kicked out of the game. Both Brenden Morrow and Dave Tippett don't like the call, but oh well. Sucks for the penalty-box lady, she'll have to waste her breath shouting at Ott and Crombeen.

7:33 - I can't imagine Avery and Crombeen will be the only fighters of this game. Shoving matches are occuring after every whistle.

7:34 - Another Stars penalty, Mark Fistric for slashing.

7:35 - Jason Arnott takes advantage of a rough PK unit (Morrow, Niskanen, Robidas, Barch) to score his first goal of the year. If the game stays at this pace, we might see another 5-4 game, or higher.

7:38 - The Stars really need to catch a break offensively. They're having a really hard time bringing the puck into Nashville's end.

7:40 - Shea Weber came close to giving Dallas a goal bringing the puck around his net. Right after that, Turco makes a nice pass the Brad Richards almost caught up to for a break-away. We're getting to that energy level...

7:42 - Brenden Morrow, Mike Ribeiro, and Phillipe Boucher combine for a good scoring chance.

- Jason Arnott's house caught fire. Wow, I hope he and his family can deal with that smoothly.

7:47 - The Stars are still looking slow. They can't seem to get the puck moving, which is probably the opposite of how yesterday's first period went, even though on both occasions, Dallas was outshot.

7:48 - B.J. Crombeen in the box. Nashville is getting way too many chances. However, the penalty-kill still looks strong.

END OF FIRST PERIOD

- The Hawks-Caps game is pretty interesting. Alex Ovechkin made up for yesterday by scoring a goal already, and energy player Matt Bradley has scored as well. For the Hawks, rookies Kris Versteeg and Jack Skille have scored.

- Miroslav Satan has a goal for the Penguins against New Jersey. Brian Rolston is shooting a lot.

- Trent Hunter, Andy Hilbert, Sean Bergenheim, and Mike Comrie have all scored for the Islanders, and rookie Kyle Okposo already has an assist. Brad Boyes will probably be the top scorer for St. Louis again; he's got goals in back-to-back games so far. Rookie Alex Pietrangelo is at -1, getting 11:33 of ice time through two-periods.

- Ouch. Whoever does intermission schedule reports for Dallas just said it's already been two periods of the game. Woops.

SECOND PERIOD:

8:08 - Ralph and Razor are right; the Stars really need Sergei Zubov back. He's old, but he's key.

8:09 - Still making lots of turnovers, but at least we're doing better in our own zone.

8:11 - Mark Fistric really needs to work on his defensive coverage. When Zubie comes back, I'm expecting Fistric to get at least a quick AHL assignment until the next defender goes down with an injury.

8:11 - Nashville takes another penalty. The Stars can't afford to go 0-for-2 tonight. They're keeping the play in Nashville's zone, but they can't get a good pass or shot off. James Neal is getting power-play time, and he doesn't look out of place. Dan Ellis is making some awesome saves.

8:14 - Nashville takes a minor with 2 seconds left on the first one. Technically, the Stars are 0-for-2 now, but they kept the play alive pretty well. David Legwand and Scott Nichol both nearly got short-handed goals, and it took a desperate diving trip from Robidas to keep Nichol from getting a perfect opportunity on a break-away.

8:20 - Brenden Morrow snaps a shot that almost goes in. Can the captain bring the energy? We'll have to wait 40 seconds though, Preds have a power-play.

8:21 - Stars have another good penalty-kill. J-P Dumont gets a great shot off and gives Jason Arnott a rebound to pounce on right after it, though, but Marty Turco comes through with a huge save.

8:24 - Again, Turco makes a risky move to try and play the puck, and almost gives the Preds a goal. He's got to be more careful!

8:26 - Dave Tippett is mixing up the lines, trying to get something going. I don't know that it's gonna work, though.

8:32 - Mike Modano has a great chance to score, but Dan Ellis is just too poised. The Stars only have 10 shots so far, which worries me.

8:39 - Turco gets lucky on a shot that goes high, and Nichol rams into him. Can the Stars turn a goalie interference power-play into a game-tying goal? I hope so.

8:39 - An odd minor called now, Stephane Robidas and whoever #25 is for Nashville both called for hooking at different incidents, so it stays a 5-4. The Stars really need to use this power-play to get a goal.

8:43 - Stars get lucky on a 3-1 right after the power-play, Scott Nichol fanned on a shot.

END OF SECOND PERIOD

- Montreal destroyed the Maple Leafs 6-1. Sorry Leafs fans, your team isn't invincible after all. Alexei Kovalev, Roman Hamrlik, Alex Tanguay, and Guillame Latendresse all scored for the Habs, and Sergei Kostitsyn came through with a 2-goal performance. Jason Blake scored the lone Toronto goal.

- Johan Franzen scored two goals, and Valterri Filpulla scored the opening goal as the Red Wings topped the Senators 3-2. Alex Picard and Nick Foligno scored for Ottawa.

- Keith Tkachuk couldn't rally the Blues, and Bill Guerin put the icing on the cake as the Islanders beat the Blues with a final score of 5-2.

- Nik Zherdev, Blair Betts, Freddy Sjostrom, and Michal Roszival all scored for the Rangers, as Sarah Palin's puck drop did little to help the Flyers, who lost 4-3. Scott Hartnell, Simon Gagne, and young leader Mike Richards are scored for Philly.

- Alex Ovechkin potted his second goal of the night, and Brooks Laich popped in the winner as the Caps came back from 2-1 to defeat Chicago 4-2.

- David Booth came out as a hero, scoring the Panthers opening goal, and also knocking in an overtime winner as Florida beat the Atlanta Thrashers 3-2. Stephen Weiss also scored for the Cats, as Slava Kozlov and Jason Williams couldn't get the Thrashers another win.

THIRD PERIOD:

9:02 - Despite his non-presence, Barry Trotz is keeping Patric Hornqvist on the top line. He managed a shot that got blocked, but I still don't see too much special about him yet.

9:07 - Both teams are moving pretty slowly, but it's most worrying that the Stars are still missing that jump on the puck.

9:09 - Morrow and Ribeiro are both giving their all towards another Stars goal, but they can't get anything past Ellis.

9:10 - James Neal is getting all sorts of ice time. He's a great player, but Tippett needs to be careful about overplaying him and ruining his rookie year.

9:12 - The Stars, on the penalty-kill, are still letting players get way too close to Marty Turco. Jordin Tootoo got in 3-4 rebound shots before Nicklas Grossman finally knocked him away.

- As someone who has a bad reputation with me for knocking out Stephane Robidas a while ago, I'm loving how Jordin Tootoo keeps getting dropped by Stars players.

9:14 - Toby Petersen was ever so close to a goal with a deflection on Robidas' shot fomr the point.

- Funnily enough, James Neal's #18 jersey has me thinking I'm seeing #10 have a lot of good shifts. Not that Morrow isn't doing good, but you get my point...

- I love how Time Warner is telling me I'm watching College Football, UCLA at Oregon. So odd...

9:22 - Good job by Brad Richards to keep fighting for the puck in the middle of the ice, he drew a penalty. With about 7 minutes left, the Stars need all the shots they can get.

9:28 - This game might be over. Steve Ott takes a high-sticking penalty with about 4 minutes left. If they can kill it off, and score a goal with just over 2 minutes left, it'll be great. However, look at last night's game. The Stars scored 2 goals in about 3 of the final minutes, but then lost with 21 seconds left in overtime.

9:31 - Definitely over. Jason Arnott scores his second goal of the night after the puck bounces off him onto his stick and into the net. It'll be awfully hard for Dallas to come back from 3-1 in 3 minutes. There's a chance, but it's a small chance. However, maybe the desperation energy will kick in.

9:36 - The Stars pull Marty Turco in hopes of getting goal. Can they do it? I really hope so.

9:37 - 37 seconds to go. It's highly unlikely that Dallas can get 2 goals, but they are definitely giving a strong effort with the empty net, taking a lot of shots.

9:39 - The game's over. Personally, I blame the Stars....for letting Jason Arnott and Dan Ellis leave as free agents. Honestly, the entire game belonged to Arnott and Ellis. Ellis's only goal allowed was through a screen, and he had a countless number of skilled saves through the whole game. Arnott's two goals and one assist led his team, and led to the win.

The Stars have started the season 0-1-1, but I think the main reason for tonight's loss was fatigue. The Stars looked tired for the entire night, and struggled defensively, like yesterday. I'm sure that Dave Tippett will be running plenty of 2-on-1, 3-on-1, 2-on-2, and 3-on-2 drills, especially focusing on covering that third man in. Hopefully, with some rest and practice, Dallas can come out and get a win against Nashville at home on the 15th.

Game 1 of 08-09 for Dallas (frikkin CBJ)

2008-10-11T13:41:00.009-04:00

Well, amazingly enough, the Stars' first home game of the season turns out to be a loss.

After some insane trading of goals in the 3rd period, Rick Nash won the game for the Blue Jackets with less than a minute left in overtime.

Here's some of the things I noticed last night (rough notes translated from my phone).

- Dave Tippett on the Stars' play during the pre-season: Our record wasn't that great, but we use the pre-season to test our younger players and now that the season has started, the guys know that it's time to get serious.

- The opening ad for the Dallas Stars' 08-09 season was awesome. It spent a lot of time focusing on how important the fans are the team, which is something the entire NHL needs to focus on.

- I haven't noticed it before, but the fan tradition of shouting 'Stars!' every time the word 'star' or 'stars' comes up in the national anthem is awesome. Some people might criticize Stars fans for not respecting the national anthem, but I think it's just another great way to show team spirit. If the Kelowna Rockets sang the U.S. national anthem before games, it'd be great for their fans to shout 'Rockets!' if they wanted to.

- Right off the bat, both teams were playing rough and fast, which is exactly the kind of hockey I love. Players like James Neal, Jason Chimaera, Loui Eriksson, and others showed exactly why their foot-speed got them to the NHL, especially on several break-away chances for Eriksson and on Neal's tip-in goal.

- The Stars really seemed to control the puck well throughout the whole game, and although they ended up losing in OT, it was due to the passing skill of the team, and Mike Ribeiro's puck-handling skill for the tying goal, that let the Stars stay in the game after going down 1-0 and 4-2.

- Dave Tippett went with these lines up front: Morrow-Ribeiro-Ott, Lundqvist-Richards-Eriksson, Avery-Modano-Neal, and Barch-Petersen-Crombeen. The idea of having at least one defensive/enforcer-type player on each line (Ott, Lundqvist, Avery, and the entire fourth line) seemed to work fairly well for the Stars. I was especially impressed by the play of Neal, Avery, and Modano. The three players, each of whom play differing styles, clicked really well. Modano's speed, although limited at his age, and passing skill seemed to work with Neal, whose crash-the-net scoring style has many hockey experts thinking "Morrow pt. 2." Avery provided a sort of bodyguard presence, getting into several shoving matches, but at the same time, his unpredictable offensive abilities would occasionally kick in and give the Stars a good scoring chance.

- Brenden Morrow's offense was at it's usual level; he hit the post on one play, had several shots, and ended up scoring the tying goal in the second period to make the score 1-1.

- The first power-play unit of Eriksson, Mike Ribeiro, Modano, Stephane Robidas, and Brad Richards didn't connect on its first opportunity, and it looked like they had a little trouble moving the puck around. The Stars do need to work on their power-play a little, but it usually ends up with midde-of-the-pack numbers, and an annually strong penalty kill will help even out the rough patches. The second chance for the power-play was strong though, with Morrow scoring a goal.

- The defensive pairs of Grossman-Robidas, Fistric-Boucher, and Niskanen-Daley were a little interesting to me. I think Tippett was trying to go younger players with more experienced ones, but I'm not too sure that the lines were as strong as they could be. However, Nik Grossman and Robidas were a solid pair all of last season, and looked alright tonight. Robidas is still consistently becoming a two-way defender, and he looked good assisting on Neal's goal. Mark Fistric and Phillipe Boucher made a real nice shut-down pair, but Fistric is still young, and may need a little more time in the minors, whereas Boucher is still coming back after an injury-filled 08-09 season where he only got into 32 regular season games.

- Loui Eriksson continues to impress me with his offensive play. He didn't score last night, but had several break-away chances, and was on top of the puck all night, battling hard in the corners, and doing his best to give the Stars some offense. He'll be another great Stars winger, and the announcers (Ralph and Razor are still great) even compared him to Jere Lehtinen.

- Marty Turco was solid, despite giving up 5 goals. He had several incredible saves during the game, and it's hard to believe that he won't have another amazing year.

- Sean Avery played his usual style, getting up in players faces. When I first hear that the Stars had signed Avery, I had thought it was pointless. We already had Morrow, Steve Ott, and Krys Barch bringing a tough physical presence to the team, and even rookie B.J. Crombeen fights a lot. However, Avery's pest factor is something that he's practiced for a while. I still see him as very similar to Steve Ott, as each player can fight, get in the other team's face, and occasionally back up his actions with a goal or an assist. However, I think Avery will fit in pretty nicely with the team, and he should have a good year.

- I was very surprised to see a lack of Fabian Brunnstrom in the lineup. I mean, obviously Neal and Crombeen are talented young players, but I was really into all the hype that the entire NHL was giving to Brunnstrom. However, if he couldn't secure a roster spot straight out of camp, he may just turn into another undrafted free agent out of Europe who can't secure an NHL job. I really hope he doesn't.

- Mike Modano really seemed to slide in the third line role without a problem. He's been one of the better defensive forwards in the NHL for a long time, and even at his age, he can bring the speed and passion that many Stars players don't.

- Jakub Voracek looked really good on the ice for a rookie. Even though the only people to originally catch his first NHL goal were the Stars play-by-play men, anyone could see that he can play smart offensively. His positioning and timing for that goal seemed like those of a seasoned veteran, and he'll probably be a great NHL player. It was funny to hear the ref say that Voracek's goal was "good" before confirming that it was an actual goal. I'm not sure if he was just stating his own opinion, or if he just thought that it was a goal, but I got a laugh out of that.

- Krys Barch and Jared Boll had one heck of a fight during the first period:

I am probably one of very few people in the hockey world that likes Krys Barch. I know he'll probably be a pure fighter for the rest of his NHL days, but he's just one of the guys I enjoy watching fight. He's got that killer 'grab-hand jab' that we'll probably be seeing used by a lot of NHL players this year, and he's not bad with his other hand either. Boll and Barch had another fight last year, which Boll completely dominated, to be honest. I'd definitely call this second one a win for Barch, so they're even for now. I'll try and keep track of their record if they fight again this year.

- The Blue Jackets will definitely have a more physical blue-line, led by Mike Commodore. Sean Avery got absolutely creamed entering the offensive zone from a clean check by Commodore, and we'll probably see a lot more Commodore hits as the season progresses.

- Stephane Robidas can just click with anyone. On one penalty kill, he rushed the puck into the Columbus zone and almost combined with Joel Lundqvist for a short-handed goal. Pascal Leclaire, who's on his way to becoming a premiere goaltender, stopped Lundqvist on that play, and had several other crazy saves, including one with the chin of his facemask.

- James Neal's first NHL goal came off of a great deflection, and it only helped prove that he'll be another Brenden Morrow-type player.

- Kristian Huselius showed that he can provide plenty of offense, capitalizing on a poor rebound left by Turco, and just pounding it in the net. Rick Nash, you're not alone.

- The Stars definitely had some trouble with their defensive coverage; Andrew Murray's goal only came about because he was wide open right in the middle of the ice. The Blue Jackets forward (I can't remember who) made a smart pass, and Murray had all the time in the world to pop a backhander past Turco.

- Rookie Derick Brassard scored his first goal of the season (he had a goal in 17 games last year), and that nearly toppled the Stars there and then. Right after Murray's goal, Brassard picked up the puck in the corner and made a smart move to, maybe even deliberately, bank the puck of a Stars defender and into the net past Turco.

- The Stars finally caught a break late in the third period, when Stephane Robidas took a slapshot in the point, and Brad Richards, in the typical power forward spot despite being more of a finesse player, had the puck bounce in off his shin and into the net.

- That break brought the life back into the Stars, and Mike Ribeiro proved how much of a leader he can be by out-skating and out-stick handling most of the Blue Jackets on the ice before making a nice pass to Trevor Daley, who slammed a one-timer past Pascal Leclaire to tie the game and eventually send it into overtime.

- The Stars were re-energized by both goals, and controlled the puck well during overtime. James Neal had a really nice opportunity, swooping into the offensive zone, but there were too many bodies in front of the net for him to get a good shot off. Mike Ribeiro's skilled puck control almost led to another goal to win the game, but to no avail. With 21 seconds left in the game, the Stars had one last fatal defensive slip that led to Nash's break-away game-winning goal.

Despite the loss, though, I think the Stars had a really good game. A lot of the forwards found their groove on a line, and the Stars brought back the combos of Morrow-Ribeiro and Richards-Eriksson, really good moves in my opinion. Hopefully, tonight against Nashville, the Stars can bring some better defensive coverage on the ice, protect the front of the net a little better, rush the offensive zone with the same intensity, and come out with a win. I'll be watch that game, and I'll let you know in a blog tomorrow how it turns out.

Luc Bourdon Tribute Was Amazing

2008-10-10T18:02:00.002-04:00

I watched a Youtube video of the Vancouver Canucks' tribute to Luc Bourdon during their home opener, and I was amazed and touched.

Here's a video:

The amount of time people in Vancouver must have spent putting that together is incredible. That song was really great too, and I'm hoping somehow it goes up on iTunes, because I would pay for that.

Also had to love how Alex Burrows pointed to the sky after his first goal, as a tribute to Luc. It's amazing how people still categorize hockey as a brutally violent and cold sport when everyone in the game can put together something like this.

Here's some video highlights of the actual game, which Vancouver completely dominated. Burrows scored two goals, while new captain Roberto Luongo showed some strong leadership by shutting out the Calgary Flames.

Toronto vs. Detroit OPENING NIGHT!!

2008-10-09T20:49:00.002-04:00

Wow.

The Toronto Maple Leafs actually beat defending cup champ Detroit on the NHL's opening night. 3-2 was the final score, and there were definitely a lot of points to notice in the game, mainly about the revamped Toronto team.

- Can Pavel Kubina be a second offensive catalyst from the blue-line? He showed some offensive instincts eerily similar to the good days of Sandis Ozolinsh with that first Maple Leafs goal. The Leafs would love not having to rely on only Tomas Kaberle. However, Kubina hasn't ever really been an offensive defenseman.

- Dominic Moore was all the hype after Toronto's first pre-season game, showing a lot of offensive prowess and challenging for the no. 1 center spot. He goes on to score the game-tying goal tonight; will the Leafs use him for offense as well as defense?

- Tomas Holmstrom showed that he's still going to be one of the best goal-crashing forwards in the league, scoring both goals for Detroit in his usual style.

- Nikolai Kulemin made a very promising NHL debut; how does first game-winning goal sound? Could the Leafs have a challenger for the Calder trophy in their hands?

- The entire Leafs set of forwards seemed to be based on getting offensive opportunities, and even the 'D', specifically Kubina, Kaberle, and rookie Luke Schenn, had a couple of chances at the net. A lot of the Leafs plays came from playing physical, tough hockey in the corners, and battling for the puck at every chance.

- Although not generating any goals, the Leafs line of Jason Blake, Mikhail Grabovski, and Alexei Ponikarovsky was strong on the puck all night and got several shots off. Sophomore Jiri Tlusty also seemed to connect pretty well with Niklas Hagman. Alex Steen, Jonas Frogren, and Dominic Moore clicked well on Moore's goal, while Nik Kulemin was just plain showing off (not) on a break-away.

- I'm hoping Nicklas Lidstrom can have a good influence on younger players by deciding to wear a visor throughout the year. I know it's only because of his facial injury (puck to the face in the pre-season), but hopefully he'll look "cool" enough to make some younger hockey players keep a visor on even when they have the option not to wear one.

- Attention all fans of scraps in front of the net and plenty of body checks: the NHL has you covered.

That's all I can write for tonight. I'll get a little more up tomorrow about the Boston-Colorado game. No chance to watch Def Leppard, though.

Say What?!

2008-10-08T20:02:00.002-04:00

www.thehockeynews.com has an interesting new feature up on their website, which should be fairly entertaining.

The 'Say What?!' feature was introduced yesterday with a quote from Shane O'Brien. It wasn't exactly funny, but it definitely showed how physical of a player O'Brien is.

You can RSS Feed 'Say What?!' here.

L.A.'s new captain

2008-10-08T18:38:00.003-04:00

Dustin Brown was named captain of the Los Angeles Kings yesterday, finalizing the obvious youth movement that the Kings are going through.

Brown, the youngest captain in Kings history, had a strong year last season, scoring 33 goals as well as leading the team in hits. It'll be interesting to see if he stays captain of Los Angeles for his whole Hollywood tenure, or if the Kings believe he's warming the spot for Anze Kopitar. Both players are youthful, offensively strong leaders for L.A.

NOTES:

- Alex Ovechkin isn't injured, apparently. He sparked rumors across the league after leaving practice early a few days ago, but he's still on the opening night roster, and coach Bruce Boudreau has said everything is ok.

- Craig Rivet was named captain of the Buffalo Sabres, which is interesting specifically because he's the full-time captain. Fans were all but sure that Jason Pominville or Derek Roy were the definite captain candidates, and both probably deserve it more than Rivet mainly because of what they've done for the team compared to newcomer Rivet.

- Ryan Parent's out for the Flyers for a good 12-14 weeks, and according to James Mirtle, this means Luca Sbisa will get a little taste of the NHL before the season's over.

- Again from Mirtle, Doug Janik went through one hectic little scare today. The Blackhawks claimed him off of waivers from the Dallas Stars, only to trade him back for a conditional draft pick. How weird is that?

Bailey sticking with NYI?

2008-10-07T20:56:00.002-04:00

According to Hockeybums, Josh Bailey is going to stick on the Isles roster as the 13th forward.

Bad idea.

Bailey is just coming off his first truly productive OHL season, and would benefit much more from first or second line time in the AHL, or even a return to the OHL. Remember, the Isles are perhaps the weakest offensive team in the NHL and Bailey would almost definitely have been cut by any other team now.

That's not to say Bailey is a bad player–look at all the other NHL talent that's been cut by teams. Teddy Purcell, who tore up the AHL as a rookie last season, was sent back to Manchester by the Los Angeles Kings, who need some help on the wings. The Ducks were forced to cut Bobby Ryan because of salary cap issues.

New York can play Bailey for 9 games into the season before they can't send him back to his junior team.

NOTES:

- NHL.com made me a little disappointed today. While reading some news pieces that included an inspiring article about young Ben Stafford, a former Calder Cup winner with the Philadelphia Phantoms who's leaving the US to fight in Iraq, two polls about the Flyers season and the NHL cut into the middle of the page. They were just so randomly placed, it was kind of awkward. It was like in-line ads on Blogger, except more distracting. Maybe the new updates aren't so perfect.

- Vancouver needs offense. Badly. So what is their first trade of the season? Sending Juraj Simek and Lukas Krajicek to Tampa Bay for Shane O'Brien and Michel Oullet. Sure, Oullet has more offense than Simek, but the Canucks sent Oullet straight to Manitoba of the AHL. And Krajicek brings a more offensive game to the table than O'Brien, although O'Brien brings strong physical play.

- Blake Wheeler is finally going to get his NHL chance with the Boston Bruins this year. Wheeler's name was not among 5 cuts the Bruins made, including forwards Peter Schaefer and Carl Soderberg. It'll be interesting to see how Wheeler can adapt to the NHL level. He never made the NHL with Phoenix, but he's been highly touted ever since being drafted. I don't expect him to play like Kyle Turris or Steven Stamkos, but for all his hype, he better be good.

- Sean Avery is really going to be in a movie. Wow. I wonder how it'll turn out. Hopefully, the producers (New Line Cinema, I believe) can incorporate a little bit of hockey, just like Mike Myers' Love Guru did. The movie is based on Avery's time as an intern at the fashion magazine Vogue, and is supposedly a 'romantic comedy.' Can Avery portray himself as a good actor? Or will hockey's reputation in the celebrity world get blown to bits? We'll find out.

Thoughts on Part 2 of the Euro-NHL opener

2008-10-05T17:42:00.002-04:00

I got to watch most of both games in Europe today, and I noticed a few things that didn't seem to get touched on much.

- The Senators gave a lot of heat to Crosby during today's game, and he still managed an assist with a second left in the game. Can we expect more of the same treatment-wise from other teams? And can Crosby still produce despite it?

- Dany Heatley looks to be back on his 05-06 and 06-07 track, starting the year off with 3 goals in 2 games. Heatley scored 50 goals in back-to-back seasons after the lockout before facing injury troubles and "only" scoring 41 goals in 71 games last season. Of course, in that same pace, Heatley would've had 11 more games to score 9 more goals, so he might have still hit the half-century mark if he had remained healthy.

- Sidney Crosby was all for showing his critics that he can play physical, laying a heavy check on Chris Kelly and taking several hits from Senators players without the response his critics would expect (rushing to complain to the refs, etc.).

- Lauri Korpikoski sure seemed to fit in as a Ranger in the second game, creating several offensive opportunities and playing a good game overall. For a while, I always had Korpikoski and now-Stars prospect Lauri Tukonen in the same category because their offensive production was no good. However, Korpikoski appears to have broken through, and he should be another strong young player on the Rangers roster.

- Steve Stamkos rang a shot off the crossbar. That's gotta be painfully close to a first goal for the '08 #1 pick.

- I was way under-informed on how weak Tampa's blueline really was. I mean, I knew it was thin, but Janne Niskala already with an NHL job, and Jamie Heward is a veteran presence? Ouch! Maybe no playoffs for the Bolts after all.

Alright, short thoughts for now. I'll try and get a post up tomorrow about the Stars-Oilers game, and if any of you link to this from BallHype, sorry about my last submitted post, I said it was the last Stars pre-season game but I was wrong, tonight's is.

SO Loss to the Hawks

2008-10-03T15:55:00.002-04:00

Dang, why do we have to face the one team that's really rearing to go?

This time, the Hawks were led by Kris Versteeg, Aaron Johnson, Andrew Ladd, and Antti Niemi. According to www.nhl.com, Kevyn Adams scored the game-tying goal to lead to a shootout, where Ladd scored the winner, but I thought Adams had left the team? Perhaps not. Either way, the game ended when Ladd scored on Marty Turco, and Niemi stopped Sean Avery.

However, two of the Stars' young players showed that they both belong on the team, with Fabian Brunnstrom scoring from Brad Richards and Stephane Robidas, and James Neal potting a goal with help from Avery and Toby Petersen.

I'm still convinced that both Brunnstrom and Neal will make the team this year, but keep an eye out for B.J. Crombeen, a young winger who had two fights in the first period before earning a game misconduct in the second. That may be a little too rough for an immediate job, but Crombeen can be an easy replacement for any one of Krys Barch or Steve Ott. Avery may bring a little more offense to the table, but Crombeen did manage 14 goals and 28 points while totaling up 158 PIM's and keeping a plus-1 rating.

Elsewhere around the league:

- Caps center Sergei Fedorov is revisiting the old days; he's been practicing on the blue-line with Washington. Now, this is interesting specifically because the Caps have Karl Alzner and Sami Lepisto waiting in the wings on 'D'; Lepisto has already been cut, but he could easily be called up. However, an interesting option if the Caps do play Fedorov on the blue-line would be the option of pairing him with Tom Poti or Mike Green to play on the first line. A group of OvechKING, Nicklas Backstrom, Chris Clark/Viktor Kozlov, Fedorov, and Green all on the ice at the same time would produce a heck of a lot of goals, and it wouldn't need to wait for power-plays either.

- Nathan Gerbe has been assigned to Portland of the AHL by the Buffalo Sabres, but don't expect him to stay there for long. The product of Boston College has enough potential to kick Clarke MacArthur of the roster and force Adam Mair to play wing.

That's all for today, folks. I'll probably write (as in pencil and paper write) a blog as I watch the NHL season opener in Europe, and post it up here as soon as possible.

Loss to the Avs

2008-10-02T17:12:00.003-04:00

Another pre-season loss, this time coming at the hands of the Colorado Avalanche.

However, I don't think Stars are in this pre-season to win. Rookie Matt Climie has been getting time in every other game, and while he's obviously not NHL ready, he has been able to show potential as a future NHL goaltender. Meanwhile, Marty Turco has been merely warming up.

Steve Ott should be able to reproduce last season's 11 goals and 22 points fairly easily; he's scored two pre-season goals so far.

Ryan Smyth is doing fine for Colorado in the pre-season. Now the Avs just have to hope he won't get injured, and he'll be able to get back to his normal playing standards.

Note: Raymond Sawada, who scored 9 points in 10 AHL games for Iowa last year, has been assigned to the AHL. This very likely means that both Fabian Brunnstrom and James Neal will play in the NHL this season. The Stars are weak at right-wing, and Sawada was expected to play on the fourth line straight out of Cornell University with only 10 AHL games of experience. However, now Brunnstrom will likely switch over to the right-wing, where he could get 3rd line playing time for the entire season. This would be especially good for the rookie, as he would play alongside Mike Modano and Joel Lundqvist. Modano's experience would actually be beneficial for Neal or Brunnstrom, depending on who switches over to the right side. The other will start out on the fourth-line left wing spot, and work their way up.

FFTI is now featured on...

2008-10-01T16:43:00.003-04:00

http://hockey-bums.blogspot.com/!!!

That's right, folks, this author will now be covering WHL and NCAA hockey for Hockeybums. The site has several other writers, and is often updated as many as ten times a day. For the most part, I'll be writing weekly features on both leagues every Saturday, starting this week. However, be sure to check out the rest of the site, as you can find out some pretty up-to-date happenings across the hockey world.

Time for another rule change?

2008-09-30T16:36:00.002-04:00

That's what hockey minds across the nation are probably thinking as they read the news headlines today.

Already written about by James Mirtle and The Two-line Pass, Roberto Luongo has been named captain by the Vancouver Canucks. He can't officially wear the 'C' due to an NHL rule originally created by other teams complaining about Bill Durnan (Canadiens goalie captain back in the 40's) taking so many trips to center ice to discuss penalties and calls with referees that he was actually giving the Habs crucial time-outs without actually using a time-out.

However, NHL teams are still allowed to name a goalie as captain. Most teams have refrained from this because, obviously, it's hard to let people know that a goalie is your captain when he can't wear the 'C'. Vancouver has announced that veteran defensemen Mattias Ohlund and Willie Mitchell, respectable Canuck leaders in their own right, will wear the 'A's of alternate captains during games, but Luongo will be the official captain.

Perhaps this will lead other NHL teams rally behind their goalies, and eventually rid the league of the anti-'C' rule. Manny Legace's veteran presence with St. Louis could deserve the captaincy, while the Sharks would certainly name Evgeni Nabokov captain if they didn't already have Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau.

Either way, this a near-revolutionary move by the Canucks, and it'll be interesting to see how it impacts the rest of the league.

Another Pre-season Loss

2008-09-29T17:21:00.002-04:00

Chicago's looking strong, and they proved that against Dallas last night with a 4-3 win. Brian Campbell especially proved that he can produce, with 4 assists.

On the Stars' side of things, Matt Niskanen, Joel Lundqvist, and Loui Eriksson scored for the team. It's encouraging to see Lundqvist producing offense, as Dallas will be relying on him to do all season long. Eriksson will be expected to improve on last season's career high numbers of 14 goals and 31 points, whereas the Stars would be pleased if Niskanen at least repeats his rookie numbers of 7 goals and 26 points from the blue-line.

Jack Skille scored a smooth backhander for the eventual game-winning goal, as he continues to solidify his position as a third or fourth-line right winger. Patrick Sharp scored his fourth pre-season goal in only 3 games, which has Hawks faithful believing he can repeat last season's 62 points and team-leading 36 goals while playing on a line with young stars Jonathan Toews, who had two power-play goals, and Patrick Kane.

The Hawks recently placed Nikolai "The Bulin Wall" Khabibulin on waivers, suggesting that the back-up job will go to either AHL powerhouse goalie Corey Crawford (29-19-0 in 55 games) or Finnish netminding sensation (a common NHL phrase) Antti Niemi, who won last night's game for Chicago. Crawford is the sensible choice, as the Hawks have already let him sit and perform incredibly in the QMJHL and AHL while they sort out the rest of their prospects, but Niemi has the common story of the undrafted Euro who's big year (26-14 in 49 games) drew plenty of free agent offers.

Selanne's Back!

2008-09-28T17:36:00.003-04:00

Have no fear, Ducks fans. Your favorite Finn is back!

Selanne signed a two-year contract with Anaheim earlier today, and James Mirtle has the financial side of things here. However, the most interesting aspect of this deal is the fact that now the Ducks are not only guaranteed, but will be forced, to make at least one roster move to get their salary numbers below the cap.

Now, the obvious option is to make a trade. However, in this situation, the Ducks would need to not acquire a player in return. This aspect will make it hard to dump any real salary, however, unless Brian Burke is willing to trade a marquee player (the only possible option there would be letting go of a defensive player like Samuel Pahlsson, which Burke would never do) for a high draft pick.

Instead, Burke will likely demote several players to the minors, trade a couple of no-name guys or low-potential prospects, and be about 42 cents under the cap by the start of the season; overall, typical money-saving procedure.

Something else interesting: What does this spell for rookie Bobby Ryan? Last season, he scored 5 goals and 10 points in 23 NHL games, and 21 goals and 49 points in 48 AHL games. A natural right-winger, many people assumed that Ryan would take up the second-line right wing spot, but that was before there were reports that Selanne was coming back, before he signed a tryout contract simply to practice with the team, before Burke gave him a two-year deal. Now, it appears that Ryan is destined for the third or fourth line, unless he can transition smoothly to the left wing. Transitioning would actually be the best for Ryan, as not only would he be with two offensive producers (Brendan Morrison and Teemu Selanne) but also two great veteran presences.

Either way, it appears that the Ducks' roster will be a bit stronger this season, depending on how their next moves pan out.

Pre-season Knock Out!

2008-09-27T11:44:00.002-04:00

Well, it wasn't quite as spectacular as Steve Downie's hit on Dean McAmmond last season (nor was it as illegal), but Tomas Kopecky laid one heck of hit down on Montreal Canadiens prospect Matt Carle (not Tampa's Matt Carle).

The video only shows the hit once, but I'm sure it's clean. Actually, it looks a lot like the hit Jordin Tootoo laid on Daniel Winnik last season, although with a clean shoulder instead of a nasty elbow, but similar in terms of a blindsiding aspect.

I don't think it'll have to be reviewed, but I sure feel sorry for Carle. Getting knocked out is never fun.

Schneider A Member of the Thrash

2008-09-26T20:40:00.003-04:00

That title sounds so much like he's part of a band...

Anyways, Matt Schneider was traded to Atlanta for Ken Klee, Brad Larsen, and Chad Painchaud. James Mirtle has the more important financial details here, but I'm more into the impact side of things.

First of all, everyone knows that Atlanta was pretty dang weak on defense. Young prospect Zach Bogosian was nearly guaranteed playing time before he signed a contract, and Ron Hainsey was sure to run the top pairing with Toby Enstrom.

However, after acquiring Schneider, the Thrashers blueline will look much better. Enstrom and Schneider form a formidable offensive duo, while Ron Hainsey and Niclas Havelid could make a good shutdown pair. Bogosian will slide into the spot of the departed Ken Klee, and should learn a few tips from Garnet Exelby about defensive play, and smashing people into the boards (An Exelby trademark). Of course, the pairings could also be switched up. Enstrom and Hainsey could still make a good pair, one strong offensively and the other a little stronger in the defensive zone, and Schneider might make a good mentor for Bogosian on the second line. Exelby and Havelid could be great together, but Havelid's new contract doesn't spell third pairing time.

Another improvement Schneider should provide is a point man to run the powerplay. Tobias Enstrom is a little young for the job, but should run the second unit quite nicely. Schneider's overall offensive support will help out the club, which finished 22nd in the NHL in goals-per-game, to at least slightly improve on that number.

As a little side note, Schneider hasn't participated in any training camp, and won't get much time to adjust to Atlanta's system before they stick him in the lineup for a pre-season game.

First Pre-season Home Game

2008-09-26T16:10:00.003-04:00

Ok, I'm trying to calm down and remember that this is the pointless pre-season, but a large part of me instinctively wants to explode and criticize the Stars simply for losing to the Avs.

I'll restrain myself, for now.

However, it was an interesting game. Stars fans in attendance got to see goaltender Matt Climie for (most likely) the first time, and although he gave up two goals in the third period, it's hard to expect a better performance for a guy who was with Bemidji State University (where?) last season. And, if he can bring his college game (14-8-3 in 27 games with 5 shutouts) to the NHL, the Stars might continue a tradition of strong goaltenders with Climie and 2008 pick Tyler Beskarowany.

Also interesting to note was the signings of defensemen Trevor Ludwig and Guillame Monast. Although neither is very likely to make the NHL in the next couple of seasons, it'll be interesting to track their progress.

Brenden Morrow and Mike Ribeiro scored the two goals for the Stars, who lost the game 4-2. Now, I'm curious as to why those two are in the pre-season games. Sure, they can help gain a win, but that's not what I would think matters in the pre-season. The main event of these games is to see how ready certain prospects are when it comes to receiving NHL time. The pre-season can also unveil players who went undrafted, or were forgotten late round picks. I'd rather see Morrow and Ribeiro give the Stars wins in the regular season, and watch the play of young prospects like Ondrej Roman, Colton Sceviour, Climie, and Ludwig.

A few other noteworthy items:

- Claude Lemieux is reportedly attempting a comeback to the NHL or AHL. Say what??? Yes, folks, CLAUDE LEMIEUX. The original Sean Avery, for those of you who hate Avery's tactics. I can't imagine that any team would sign a player who hasn't played in the NHL since 2003, and hasn't played professional hockey since 2004. I first saw this in a blog from someone who was at James Mirtle's live blog (sorry that I can't remember who it was, or I would've linked it) but I was reminded of it today after seeing it on www.thehockeynews.com. Obviously, no team has expressed an interest in signing Lemieux, and I doubt anyone will. Seriously, the guy is 43! The only people who could even be allowed to play at that age are Gordie Howe and Chris Chelios, and Claude's career was nowhere near their level. Now, if this was Mario Lemieux, who's only been retired since 05-06, I could see it happening. But Claude "The Turtle" Lemiuex? He'll be lucky to get an SPHL tryout.

UPDATE: I believe the blog that I first saw the story of Lemieux's attempted comeback was in two-linepass's blog. Check it out, he's got some interesting views on it as well.

- Viktor Tihkonov scored for Phoenix in a 3-1 'Yotes loss to Calgary last night, showing he might be a little more prepared for the NHL than most people are guessing. However, he'll likely just earn an AHL job for at least the start of the season.

That's all for this post, but I'll add posts later if anything of note comes up.

Who will be the next Darren Helm?: Part 2

2008-09-25T18:25:00.000-04:00

Alright, back to the guys fighting for roster spots, etc.

Montreal Canadiens: Mathieu Dandenault- Once a valued player for his ability to transistion between defense and right wing, Dandenault suddenly finds himself 5th on the depth chart at wing. Enforcer Tom Kostopoulos proved his worth last season with 7 goals and 13 points in 67 regular season games, and then 3 goals and 4 points in 12 playoff games. Dandenault, on the other hand, had only 9 goals and 14 points in 61 regular season games, and went scoreless in 9 post-season games. The main worry, however, was his weak -11 rating.
Helpful Aspect: He'll be a useful injury call-up, at the least, and can provide some veteran leadership with Hamilton.
Negative Point: Formerly a strong defensive player, a -11 makes Dandenault look about as useful as AHL enforcer Greg Stewart.....or even less useful, for a lack of fighting.

Nashville Predators: Jed Ortmeyer- Ortmeyer never truly secured an NHL job, but he was always one of those kind of heart-soul-and-guts players that never seem to run out of desire to play the game. However, this season, Ortmeyer has been pushed out of the main picture by rookie Patric Hornqvist. Ortmeyer could still make the team out of camp, but would only recieve a fourth-line job.
Helpful Aspect: Not many other Preds play with the drive that Ortmeyer does.
Negative Point: The Predators also have a few other young wingers who'll be fighting for a spot, making the training camp battle even tougher.

New Jersey Devils: Barry Tallackson- The Devils prospect has been scoring at a reasonable level in the AHL for a while, but has only scored a goal and an assist in 16 NHL games over three seasons. With fellow up-and-coming Devils Mike Hoeffel, Alexander Vasyunov, and Mattias Tedenby also on the left side, this season may be Tallackson's last chance.
Helpful Aspect: Last season, Tallackson potted a career-high 22 goals for Lowell.
Negative Point: He's only earned 3-game runs for the past two seasons after getting 10 games in 05-06.

New York Islanders: Jeff Tambellini- The dynamic AHL scoring ace hasn't produced very well in 79 NHL games over the past 3 seasons, scoring only 4 goals and 17 points. Many experts have surmised that if Tambellini doesn't have an impact this year, he'll be just another "AHL star", like Kirby Law (who apparently is playing in the KHL now).
Helpful Aspect: He has done very well in the AHL. If he can finally translate his success, he'll stick with the big club.
Negative Point: Although slated for the fourth line, he'll have to duke it out with winger Andy Hilbert, who's been a solid defensive player for the past two seasons, and he can contribute offensively as well.

New York Rangers: Fredrik Sjostrom- This is Sjostrom's make-or-break season. He's been inconsistent since 2003-2004, and although he's got lots of potential, he can't seem to produce at either the NHL or AHL level. He'll be given a chance on the fourth line this season, most likely swapping in and out with fighter Colton Orr.
Helpful Aspect: He did score a career high 12 goals in the NHL last season.
Negative Point: That's only two less than his AHL high of 14 goals.

Ottawa Senators: Lawrence Nycholat- Nycholat has been a strong AHL defenseman who hasn't really earned a chance with any team's blue-line. He had what looked to be a jump-start run in 06-07, scoring 8 points in 19 games with Washington and Ottawa, but was relegated to Binghamton for 77 games last season, and only got into 3 NHL games. However, Ottawa's blue-line has weakened this year with the departure of Mike Commodore, Luke Richardson, and Wade Redden. Nycholat has an outside chance to make the team, but might be beaten out by rookie Brian Lee.
Helpful Aspect: Nycholat's been able to produce offense in the AHL, scoring 12 goals and 49 points last season.
Negative Point: Nycholat could turn out to be just another AHL player who can't find his game at the NHL level.

Philadelphia Flyers: Steve Eminger- The ex-Caps blue-liner has been heavily criticized for not living up to his potential as the #12 overall draft pick in 2002, a first round that included Rick Nash, Jay Bouwmeester, Ryan Whitney, Keith Ballard, Alex Steen, and Cam Ward. Last season, Eminger was a healthy scratch often, only getting into 20 games, and posting a meager 2 assists and a -4 rating.
Helpful Aspect- The Flyers still thought enough of Eminger to give up a first-round pick.
Negative Point: Eminger hasn't had a strong rating in the plus/minus area in a while...

Phoenix Coyotes: Jeff Hoggan- The former Blue and Bruin hasn't been able to stick with an NHL club. Heck, he's barely been able to hold down a job in the AHL before, although last season did produce impressive results (71 games, 29 goals, 60 points). However, Phoenix has a lot of youth coming up at forward in the next couple of seasons, and Hoggan will most likely be lost behind Mikkel Boedker and Enver Lisin, and may even be beaten by Viktor Tihkonov in training camp.
Helpful Aspect: Hoggan has plenty of AHL experience, compared to Tikhonov and Boedker, who are just coming out of Russia and the OHL, respectively.
Negative Point: The Bruins only called Hoggan up for one game, despite his high-scoring in the AHL.

Pittsburgh Penguins: Kris Beech- I'll be honest here and say that Beech is actually one of my favorite minor-league players. However, this may be the last season that he can win a solid NHL job, and he'll only get the fourth line at best. However, Beech would have to beat out Maxime Talbot and Jeff Taffe for just the fourth line, and Talbot seems to have that job pretty well locked up. Beech's only real chance would be if the Penguins move up Jordan Staal back to left wing to play with Evgeni Malkin, and the fourth line spot opens up.
Helpful Aspect: Beech actually has some playoff experience, having gone on deep AHL playoff runs with Wilkes-Barre Scranton and Hershey.
Negative Aspect: Beech hasn't played a full season in the NHL since 06-07, and only scored over 20 points twice, in 06-07 and 01-02.

San Jose Sharks: Marcel Goc- Goc has a chance to secure the fourth line center spot while filling in for Torrey Mitchell, whose broken leg will cost him 8 weeks. Last season, Goc scored 5 goals and 8 points in 51 games, but his main contribution is on the defensive end. However, that's also the reason that could lose Goc his NHL job, as he was a poor -15 in those 51 games. Mitchell scored 10-10-20 in 82 games, and was only -3. Goc will have to prove himself in the limited amount of time that he runs the fourth line.
Helpful Aspect: Goc hasn't suffered any major injuries throughout his NHL career, and would've played all of last season if he hadn't split time with Curtis Brown.
Negative Point: Goc's offensive output has gone down in the past 3 seasons, from 22 points, to 13, to 8 last season.

St. Louis Blues: Alex Pietrangelo- With the recent injury to star defender Erik Johnson, the Blues have a gaping hole on the blue-line, and Pietrangelo is hoping to close it. He had two assists in his first pre-season game against (grr) the Dallas Stars, helping the Blues to a 3-2 win. He has a chance to make the team, and even stick, if he can outplay Jeff Woywitka or Steve Wagner for a spot on the third pairing.
Helpful Aspect: Many considered Pietrangelo's offensive skills to be on par–or even better–than 2nd overall pick Drew Doughty, although Doughty has been said to be a better skater.
Negative Point: Pietrangelo probably needs at least half a season of AHL play to adjust to the pro level before earning a full-time NHL job.

Tampa Bay Lightning: Brandon Bochenski- On another team not so loaded with forwards, Bochenski might be a regular—if it weren't for the fact that Bochenski has been on 5 other teams, each one giving him a chance on the third or fourth line. Last season was the worst–Bochenski played 20 games with Boston, 8 with Nashville, and 12 with Anaheim. He signed with Tampa as a free agent, but is listed at 6th on the depth chart for left wing alone, behind several forwards with a lot more credentials on either offense (Vinny Prospal, Ryan Malone, Jussi Jokinen) or grit and leadership (Gary Roberts, Nick Tarnasky).
Helpful Aspect: Tampa is vaguely turning towards youth, and Bochenski is still young.
Negative Point: Playing for 6 teams in 4 years? That looks pretty bad, unless your name is Mike Sillinger.

Toronto Maple Leafs: Mark Bell- The ex-Hawk and Shark, Bell's offensive game has dropped back to the level it was at in his first two seasons, and it may have dropped even lower. He was originally going to man the fourth line left wing position, but after the additions of rookie Nikolai Kulemin and free-agent signee Niklas Hagman (27 goals in 07-08), Bell may be stuck in the minors. He's lost the look of the Bell who had two seasons of 20+ goals and 40+ points, and can only hope to stick by adapting to the role of a grinder.
Helpful Aspect: Bell can still put up about 10 goals and 20 points a season, which wouldn't hurt.
Negative Point: 10 goals and 20 points may not be enough to sastify the Leafs management.

Vancouver Canucks: Jannik Hansen- The Danish winger showed some exciting offensive potential last season, going 21-22-43 in 50 games with the Manitoba Moose. Offense is what the Canucks desperately need (haven't they needed it since Pavel Bure left the team?) and Hansen can provide it. On a weak right wing side, Hansen can potentially beat out Ryan Shannon for at least a fourth line spot, and work his way up from there.
Helpful Aspect: Hansen had a strong playoff run with Vancouver in 06-07 as a rookie, garnering one assist in 10 games and keeping up an even rating.
Negative Point: The Canucks may be looking more towards experience rather than youthful potential this season, meaning players such as Darcy Hordichuk and Jeff Cowan may get chances first.

Washington Capitals: Eric Fehr- A scoring beast in the WHL and AHL, Fehr has yet to show his prowess at the NHL level. He was close to at least having a consistent job last season, but injury struck him after only 23 games. This year is key–if he doesn't earn a solid roster spot, he may be on his way out of town. The Caps have several other scoring prospects (Mathieu Perreault, Francois Bouchard, Chris Bourque) and can't afford to wait much longer for Fehr to stick.
Helpful Aspect: Fehr totaled 22 goals in only 40 games in his last half-season in the AHL, and before that, tallied 25 goals in 70 games.
Negative Point: Drafted 18th overall in 2003, Fehr has had plenty of time to make his mark, especially in 03-04 and 05-06, when the Caps were still a fairly weak team offensively.

There's the end of that series. Now, it's probable that only a few of these players will make their teams, and possible that none will. We'll just have to see. Any comments or criticism on my writing is welcome! And make sure you read part one of the series as well.

Blues lose defensive stud: Johnson out indefinitely

2008-09-23T22:05:00.003-04:00

I just checked www.nhl.com, and apparently Erik Johnson has torn his ACL and suffered a tear in his MCL. I don't know what the difference is between tearing, and suffering a tear, but that's what it said on the St. Louis website.

Either way, this is a major loss for St. Louis, who relied heavily upon Johnson last season as a 19-year-old rookie. Johnson tallied 5 goals and 33 points last season, but also had a -9 rating. That no doubt would have, and still will, improve as the seasons go on, but this year was a key developmental year for Johnson, and he'll have to work hard to make sure that this injury doesn't affect his career permanently.

Part 2 of the "Who will be the next Darren Helm?" series comes out tomorrow, probably.

Hockey online, in Toronto, and Brazil...

2008-09-23T18:34:00.003-04:00

I had a great hockey conversation yesterday with quite a few other bloggers (many of whom I've added to my hockey blog list, any of you who I didn't add, shoot me an email or comment with a link and I'll add you).

The main subject was the pre-season game between Toronto and Buffalo, but a variety of hockey subjects were discussed. You can go to James Mirtle's blog to view an archive of the discussion, but there was one awesome point I wanted to bring up.

About two-thirds of the way through the chat, a man named Humberto joined us. We found out, through him, that Brazil actually has quite the hockey following. I can't understand much of it, being uneducated in the language, but it looks to be quite the paper. Humberto told me that it is run by just 13 guys who write every week, but they look pretty up to date. Humberto himself is a Red Wings fan, and I wouldn't be surprised if many of the others are too, although Calgary is another appealing option, with rock solid defenseman Robyn Regehr having been born in Brazil. Brazilian-born Michael Greenlay also had an inauspicious 2-game run with the Edmonton Oilers in 89-90, as a goaltender, but spent most of his career in the minor leagues.

Humberto's personal blog can be found at http://redwingsbrasil.blogspot.com/
He's pretty current as well, his last post being a quick note about Darren McCarty's contract (I think, something with McCarty).

Overall, I enjoyed talking with other bloggers in the hockey world, and maybe someday, if my blog gets enough readers, I'll try and host a live blog on here as well. Of course, it'll be Stars based! See ya later, folks.

Who will be the next Darren Helm? Part 1

2008-09-20T15:02:00.014-04:00

A blog from Brad Holland on NHL Connect inspired me to think of at least one player from each NHL team who could be the next Darren Helm; a.k.a. a player who gets called up from the minors mid-season and surprisingly has either a strong part of the regular season or a strong playoff run. Here are my picks for each team:

Anaheim Ducks: Andrew Ebbett- Last season's scorer for the Portland Pirates (AHL) surprisingly was not given much of a chance to prove that he could play in the big leagues, although he was stuck behind Getzlaf, Weight, Marchant, Pahlsson, and Carter on the depth chart. However, this season, he will challenge Ryan Carter for the 4th line spot and his scoring potential could move him up.
Helpful Aspect: A strong passer, as evidenced by his 54 assists in 74 games last season.
Negative Point: It would help if Ebbett was a left winger, where the Ducks currently have Brian Sutherby slotted for the second line.

Atlanta Thrashers: Bryan Little- The 12th overall pick of the 2006 NHL draft had trouble sticking in the NHL last season, with only 16 points in 48 games. However, this season's Thrashers team has almost no proven scorer at center, with Jason Williams and Erik Christensen currently slated for the top two pivot spots. If Little can bring his production up to the level he had it at in the OHL (41 goals and 107 points in his last season), he'll challenge for a top three center spot.
Helpful Aspect: The Thrashers desperately need to find someone capable of getting to the puck to Ilya Kovalchuk, and 10 of Little's 16 points were assists.
Negative Point: If Little doesn't crack the top line, he most likely won't have any linemates who are known for scoring prowess, which could severly drop his output.

Boston Bruins: Vladimir Sobotka- The Czech third of a trio of young Bruins centers had the lowest amount of points (7 in 48 games) among his fellow youngsters, but drew much fan appreciation with his rough and tumble style of play that so many young Boston players seem to bring to the table. He'll have to earn his time, even after camp, but he could make some noise in the right situations.
Helpful Aspect: Sobotka scored 10 goals and 20 points in 18 AHL games last season.
Negative Point: He was outscored by the other two young centers, Petteri Nokelainen and David Krecji, who each managed at least 5 goals and 10 points.

Buffalo Sabres: Nathan Gerbe- The ultimate hockey definition of that old Star Wars quote, "Size matters not," (with all respect towards Brian Gionta). Despite measuring at only 5' 5", the Boston College standout has been a point-per-game player at the NCAA level for the past two seasons. Gerbe surely will be the first to get a call if Buffalo loses a center to injury, and he would be guaranteed an NHL spot if the Sabres could offer him anything higher than the 4th line, at the moment. However, he'll soon bring his scoring proficiency to the Sabres.
Helpful Aspect: He's a surefire offensive player, so if the Sabres get fed up with another Connolly injury and ship him out of town, Gerbe can be the perfect replacement.
Negative Point: We still have to see how well he can adapt to the NHL and/or AHL at his size, but I don't think that'll matter too much.

Calgary Flames: Brandon Prust- A scrappy forward who missed out on NHL time last season because he missed training camp in recovery from a hip injury, he'll be in a training camp battle for a third or fourth line spot. He'll mainly be in competition with Dustin Boyd, David Moss, and Eric Nystrom, three other young Flames who have a similar style of play.
Helpful Aspect: Prust's willingness to try any role asked of him has already impressed the Flames' management.
Negative Point: Prust's competitors, specifically Boyd, Moss, and the recently returned Dan Ryder who has an outside shot, have more skill in the offensive area.

Carolina Hurricanes: Dwight Helminen- Although technically not a prospect, as a free-agent signee out of Finland at the age of 26, Helminen will still have to fight for a spot on the roster during training camp. Center is the one position where the Canes have depth, however, so Helminen's journey will be tough.
Helpful Aspect: Scoring 45 points in 52 games out of a league where most imports are low-scoring sure likes nice on Helminen's record.
Negative Point: If only 10 PIM's confirms that Helminen plays with the stereotypical European lack of grit, he won't impress management enough for a spot on the team.

Chicago Blackhawks: Troy Brouwer- Yet another Hawks prospect with a bright future, Brouwer has been an AHL goal-scoring whiz for the past couple of seasons. This season, he'll try and fight for a third line spot over Craig Adams and Jack Skille. While Skille is nearly guaranteed a spot, Adams is an aging veteran, and Chicago just might be tempted to bring in Brouwer instead. An opportunity for Brouwer will also arise in the case of another Martin Havlat injury. And if chemistry is formed between Brouwer and anticipated second-line center Dave Bolland, Havlat will no doubt be sent packing.
Helpful Aspect: The Hawks are pushing a full-blown youth movement and Brouwer is among the more talented of the prospects ready for work this season.
Negative Aspect: Was ranked 10th in THN's Future Watch for Chicago in the 08-09 Yearbook, which puts his potential in question.

Colorado Avalanche: Cody McCormick- This Avs youngster is the polar opposite of young star Paul Stastny, at least in terms of offensive production. However, it seems that Colorado is going for a gritty team, and McCormick can play gritty. He'll fight Cody McLeod and Ben Guite for a spot on the fourth line.
Helpful Aspect: Despite limited ice time (10:58 in 40 games) and only 4 points, McCormick posted a +5 rating and managed one game-winning goal.
Negative Point: Cody McLeod has an edge with 9 points and a much more defined role of enforcer.

Columbus Blue Jackets: Kris Russell- Russell was rushed into 67 games last year straight out of the WHL, and although he managed 10 points from the blue-line, his -12 rating proved that he needed some seasoning in the AHL. Then the Jackets brought in Fedor Tyutin, Mike Commodore, and Christian Backman, and all of the sudden Russell may have to play in the AHL regardless. However, he'll try and fight to win a job over O-K Tollefsen or Jan Hejda.
Helpful Aspect: Had three straight years of double-digit goals and at least 47 points in the WHL from 04-07.
Negative Point: Both Tollefsen (Designated team tough-guy) and Hejda (+20 rating in 81 games) have secured themselves jobs on the blue-line.

Dallas Stars: Toby Petersen- Petersen is currently ranked as the 5th center on Dallas's depth chart, and only got into 8 regular season games, garnering 3 assists. However, he got into twice as many playoff games and centered a line that was key to shutting down Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk in game 6 against the Red Wings. However, that might not be enough to earn him solid playing time.
Helpful Aspect: Petersen has playoff experience, unlike several rookies who are slated to earn a job this season.
Negative Point: Despite high offensive numbers in the AHL, Petersen's career high in NHL points is 18 in 79 games with the Pittsburgh Penguins back in 2001-2002.

Detroit Red Wings: Justin Abdelkader- Although Darren Helm himself is not guaranteed a spot with the defending Stanley Cup Champion, Abdelkader may have an easier time cracking the roster right off the bat. A right-winger, Abdelkader just might overtake Kirk Maltby during training camp. The two play a similarly gritty game, but Abdelkader is younger, and may have more offensive potential.
Helpful Aspect: Youth. The Wings want to stick around for a long time, and Maltby may have lasted long enough after winning 4 Stanley Cups.
Negative Point: The Wings only increased in depth on the right side after adding Marian Hossa as a free agent.

Edmonton Oilers: Gilbert Brule- Although many seem to think Brule will jump start his career in Edmonton, it's important to remember that the Oilers already have Shawn Horcoff, Sam Gagner, Kyle Brodziak, M-A Pouliot, Rob Schremp, and Ryan Potulny at center. Brule may be able to jump Schremp, Potulny, and Pouliot for the 4th line spot, but Brodziak secured spot on the third line with last season's 14-goal, 31-point performance.
Helpful Aspect: Experience never hurt anyone, and Brule has 146 NHL games to his credit.
Negative Point: Having only scored 12 goals and 32 points during those 146 games is more than a little worrying for a player who was formerly anticipated to be a second-line center.

Florida Panthers: Gregory Campbell- Despite having played three seasons of 60+ games since the lockout, and recently scoring a career high of 18 points, mainly from the fourth line, Campbell may very well be forced out of a job due to the arrival of Shawn Matthias. Campbell hasn't had strong numbers in the plus/minus department as of recently, and the Panthers would love to see Matthias on the second line, making Brett McLean likely headed for the fourth line.
Helpful Aspect: Campbell hasn't had any major injuries in his career, meaning he can be there night in and night out, regardless of his performance. He also plays a ruggedly and gives as much effort as he can.
Negative Point: The Panthers might not think 5 goals and 18 points a year is enough to keep the team strong.

Los Angeles Kings: Brian Boyle- Trained as a blue-liner, Boyle's offensive potential exploded when he was played at center during last season in the AHL. He scored 31 goals and 62 points in 70 games for the Manchester Monarchs, and also sored 4 goals in 8 NHL games. He has a defenseman's size (6'6", 222 lbs.) with offensive smarts of a finesse center. Yeah, he'll definitely be L.A.'s future power forward behind Dustin Brown.
Helpful Aspect: He's proven his talent at every level. Now he just needs to be given the chance.
Negative Point: Behind Anze Kopitar, Michal Handzus, and Jarret Stoll, the fourth line might be the only chance Boyle gets, and that's already knocking out solid defensive veteran Derek Armstrong.

Minnesota Wild: Krys Kolanos- Never heard of him? Makes sense. He's played a total of 115 NHL games and only scored 35 points. However, last season, he managed 63 points in 65 AHL games, and has an outside shot to manage Minnesota's fourth line this year.
Helpful Aspect: Minnesota lost a lot of scoring when Brian Rolston left town, and they'll be looking all over for new scorers.
Negative Point: He's been given opportunities with Phoenix and Edmonton, and has nothing better to show than 22 points in his 57-game rookie season.

Where's Matt headed?

2008-09-19T18:42:00.010-04:00

Fans all over the league are anticipating that Anaheim Ducks defenseman Matt Schneider will be traded in the next 72 hours or so. I agree, however, here's a potential outcome with could-be interesting results: another KHL signing.

Look at the facts: As of right now, no team appears to want Schneider, who was both offered on the trading block, and placed on waivers without being claimed. Now, the last couple of unwanted players (Vitaly Vishnevski and Marcus Nilson) were quietly shipped of to the KHL with transfer deals that saved each NHL team money.

Perhaps we'll be seeing Omsk improve their defense with Mattew Schneideer? (The KHL stats page is notorious for re-spelling NHL player names, see Teebz's KHL updates blog).

UPDATE}- As explained by Teebz in a comment on that blog, the Russian alphabet doesn't actually have the same letters, and thus translates names differently (a.k.a. Marcel Hossa = Martsel Hossa). So honestly, not being a master of the Russian language (I can say hello, what is your name, yes, no, and football, so I'd be toast up there), I have no idea what Matt Schneider's name would translate to.

A GOOD Publicity Stunt

2008-09-19T18:42:00.002-04:00

According to www.nhl.com, Def Leppard will perform their hit song "C'mon, C'mon" on national television before the home opener of last season's Stanley Cup Champion, the Detroit Red Wings (coincidentally one of the most musical cities in the NHL, with respect to Nashville) against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

As a huge rock music fan (actually, all music, but rock takes a slight edge), I'm definitely doing all I can to watch this. Heck, if I was just a Def Leppard fan, and couldn't tell the difference between Henrik Zetterberg and my next-door neighbor, I would watch this event. As Joe Elliot, lead singer and keyboard-ist for Def Leppard told NHL.com, "When Sav first played me "C'mon, C'mon", I remember saying to him, 'I can hear this being played in ever hockey arena all over the United States and Canada."
It's awesome to know that Detroit and Toronto fans across, well, the United States and Canada, will be hearing this song, along with many other DL songs.

IT'S ALMOST OCTOBER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Welcome back (we hope)!

2008-09-17T10:28:00.002-04:00

According to THN, Dan Ryder has rejoined the Quad-City Flames after leaving the team six games into the 07-08 season.

Although unknown at the time of his departure, Ryder had reportedly needed some time away from hockey, but the Flames hope he's ready now. Depending on his AHL production this year (he had a goal and five points in those six games), he could be seeing a lot of minutes in the NHL as a third or fourth line player.

Either way, it's nice to see that he's decided to return to hockey. Good luck with making the Flames!

A government cares about hockey????

2008-09-15T09:53:00.002-04:00

I just read an interesting piece off of the Puck Daddy blog on yahoo.com, and was surprised to hear that someone in the government actually made a comment about hockey!

Oh, my bad, folks, that was in Finland...

However, the more important part of Puck Daddy's blog would be the fact that more and more 'staged' fights are occuring in foreign leagues. So far, Chris Simon and Martin Grenier were involved in a brawl that Grenier predicted would occur; in this blog, a video of Sami Helenius and Kip Brennan is shown, and seeing as the players dropped the gloves at the whistle, it was obviously pre-meditated.

Now, Finland's sports minister has lashed out against all hockey enforcers, claiming that the next time he hears of a fight, he's going to discuss options with the big boys of the Finnish Hockey Federation. And by 'discuss options', he's implying that the next pair of thugs to stage a fight will be getting a little more than a 5-minute time-out.

However, fans obviously are into the fighting in these leagues. Yahoo's most popular hockey blogger wants to know: Why curb the enthusiasm? I agree. Wouldn't it be worth it to gain some extra money because a few more fans are in attendance due to a probable fight? I can guarantee you that some NHL owners wouldn't mind the increased revenue.

(Don't worry, readers, that blog about the Dallas Stars Breaking The Ice 2008 event is coming soon).

Fresh From The Ice

Mid-Season Report

Stars Season Still on the Right Track

Stars 5-1, Jamie Benn's Back

And So It Ends

Roster issues? Don't panic

Stars 4, Red Wings 1, My Ego = Through the Roof

Public Intoxication, Public "Kojak"'s, Public Salary Cap Mismanagement

Stars 4, Devils 3

Revamps for Cup Champs

Brunnstrom deserves zero hype

Modano To Red Wings Official On Friday

Turco To Hawks? Dallas Should Take Niemi

Steve Yzerman is a Genius

Let the Rantings Continue

Stars' Summer So Far..

Dallas Stars: Week 4 (plus a game)

Dallas Stars Week 3

Dallas Stars: Week 2

Final: 3-2 Shootout Loss to Nashville

Pre-post

Pre-season writings

Straying From the Usual

Free Agent Moves Around The NHL

Long Absence—Stars report

First Round Musings

We didn't sign you for THIS

Climie's Debut A Win; Looking Towards the Future

Long Hiatus; The Stars' Demise

The comeback kids?

Trade Deadline Analysis: Atlanta

Trade Deadline Analysis: Anaheim

Columbus vs Dallas and Richards hurt

There's a new Sean?

The week(-ish length of time) in review

(Late) Half-season review for Dallas

Lots of time away, lots of Stars news

Versus proving itself a mistake

Oh. My. Gosh.

Modano an All-star again

3-2 Shootout Victory

Loss to Edmonton, hoping for better results against the 'Nucks

Josh Bailey's first NHL goal

Two games to close the year

An edge-of-your-seat game

8-2!!!!

The OT curse strikes again

What a night..

Eriksson saves the day

Avery's Gone

The One-Year Wonder

A Win!

Avery Suspension Too Long

Fabian shows me up again

THE PLAN

Blackhawks ruined my first AAC game

Long time, no post

Stars vs. LA (Pre-game)

The Back-to-back Curse Strikes Again

Fistric and Neal go AHL; Mark Parrish joins Dallas

Reality Check: Everyone Gets Injured

Two very, very bad games..

Stars vs. Wild (Post-game)

Something just "clicked"

Stars vs. Wild

Stamkos gets first NHL point *Update* Video Highlight

Dallas vs. Washington

Dallas vs. NYI

Dallas vs. NYR; Dallas vs. NJ preview

At Least it Wasn't 6-1

Just Plain Awful

Brunnstrom's on fire; Stars get first win!

NHL Quick-Check + Stars vs. Predators preview

Another loss of life affecting the hockey world

NHL Quick-Check

Phoenix rookies giving the Desert Dogs a chance

Stars Game 2 of 08-09, Live-blog.

Game 1 of 08-09 for Dallas (frikkin CBJ)

Luc Bourdon Tribute Was Amazing

Toronto vs. Detroit OPENING NIGHT!!

Stamkos gets first NHL point Update Video Highlight