Analyzing The Dallas Stars Financial Situation
by Brandon Worley on Feb 9, 2010 12:21 AM CST
in Analysis
8 comments
Tom Hicks was overseas last week when the news broke that the Dallas Stars would potentially be up for sale this summer, and he met with the media in his office today to give his side of the story. There have been multiple reports on this meeting tonight, including a very lengthy story on ESPN.com, so I'm going to do my best to round up the most important news that came out today.
Before I get to the tidbits from Hicks and team president Jeff Cogen, I'd like to share a few personal thoughts on Tom Hicks as the owner of the Dallas Stars. This is an owner who allowed his general managers the freedom to make the moves they needed to make in order to build the team. Big trades, free spending in free agency; anything in order to maintain the Stars as competitive as possible. Yet a number of free agent blunders hurt the team financially, and the final straw seemed to come with the failure that was the Sean Avery contract.
Hicks Sports Group is a company that, led by Tom Hicks, tried to do too much at once. And while they have tried to maintain that the Rangers and Stars are separate entities, it's become very clear lately that HSG's financial issues are far reaching and are affecting all aspects of their operations. And during this time, Hicks has come across as stubborn and unwilling to admit when the issues were at their worst; this is most evidenced by reports that Hicks was dragging his feet in the sale of the Texas Rangers.
Stars fans have not had much to complain about during Tom Hicks' time as the team's owner, but now they are starting to feel the anger that many Rangers fans have had over the past several years.
And when you start to analyze what Hicks said today in his office, that frustration will grow even more.
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Rink Side Radio, 8pm CST: Brendan Burke, Kovalchuk and More
Once again, I'll be on Rink Side Radio tonight with Joe Fortunato. We'll be joined by a plethora of SB Nation bloggers as we discuss Brendan Burke, Ilya Kovalchuk, Olli Jokinen and the Olympics. Possibly.
Texas Stars Report: Lots of Goals, For and Against
by scm83x on Feb 8, 2010 6:00 PM CST
in Analysis
5 comments
In the midst of their busiest stretch of the season with 17 games in 27 days, the Texas Stars are mired in a 4 way battle for first place in the West Division. The Texas Stars, Milwaukee Admirals (Nashville Predators), Rockford IceHogs (Chicago Blackhawks) and Chicago Wolves (Atlanta Thrashers) are all within three points of the division lead. The Houston Aeros (Minnesota Wild) are only 3 points behind fourth place. For now, the Stars are clinging to the division lead.
The Stars played three games this week, once on the road and two games at home, which started a five game home stand for the team. In each game, at least one team scored five goals. It's been a week for scoring and bad goaltending. After the jump, we'll take a look at those games in depth along with some big news about goaltender Brent Krahn and the weekly look at who's hot and who's not among Stars prospects in the AHL.
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Stargazing: Steve Ott Has Appendectomy, Ribeiro Activated from IR
by Brad G on Feb 8, 2010 12:55 PM CST
in News
14 comments
Stargazing is a daily assortment of Dallas Stars and NHL news, and whatever other random ramblings are bouncing around inside our heads.
Good news about Mike Ribeiro this morning quickly turned to bad news about Steve Ott and Mark Fistric this afternoon.
Ribeiro has been getting closer for some time, practicing with the team and skating hard on his own in Frisco, and this morning the Stars finally activated him from IR. Curiously, they also re-called Francis Wathier and Ray Sawada from Austin. I had assumed the influx of bodies was going to be Mike Modano or Jere Lehtinen related, but it turns out that everyone's favorite agitator extraordinaire Steve Ott had an emergency appendectomy this morning.
The Morning News and Mark Stepneski both say that Otter is fine, and that the Stars hope to get him back by the time the Olympic break is over. For comparison, take the St. Louis Blues' T.J. Oshie, who had an appendectomy on October 24th. He returned to game action on November 5th, less that two weeks after the surgery. We don't know if Otter will heal that fast, but it's not out of the realm of possibility that he will be ready for their March 2nd contest against Los Angeles at the AAC when the season cranks back up.
Meanwhile Mark Fistric's knee is sufficiently bad that he needs to have it scoped. The Stars will call up a defenseman from Austin this week. Personally I expect it to be Maxime Fortunus.
So how does this affect the lines? How many minutes will Mike Ribeiro be able to handle? Why did the Benn/Morrow/Ott line have to end so soon? Follow the jump for all of this and more...
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Steve Ott Has Emergency Appendectomy
Andrew's Stars Page is reporting that Steve Ott had an emergency appendectomy this morning, and that he is fine.
Mark Fistric is having arthroscopic surgery on his knee.
Both players will miss the three game road trip leading up to the Olympic break. We'll have more on this later.
about 18 hours ago
Brad G
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The Case For Marty Turco
by Brandon Worley on Feb 8, 2010 12:22 AM CST
in Analysis
51 comments
Let's try something different.
All season long we've debated the merits of trading Marty Turco, of whether the Dallas Stars will be able to afford or even want to keep him after the season and what value he could have on March 3rd. Many felt that if Marty could put together a strong season that he force the Stars' hand, and the decision to keep the veteran goaltender would be made that much easier.
Yet with just four games to go before the trade deadline hits, it seems that the Dallas Stars are preparing to enter the 2010-11 season without Turco, and will most likely be testing his value in the coming weeks. If the team is going to ultimately lose Marty to free agency this summer, then logic says you must find a way to get something in return rather than give him away for nothing just a few months later.
Yet there's another scenario at play here, and one that hasn't been touched on much recently. With Joe Nieuwendyk publicly calling out Turco last month and with the Stars reportedly already deciding that Turco will no longer be a Dallas Star after next season, it seems that his fate has already been sealed.
But what if the Stars keep him?
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Super Bowl Sunday on SB Nation!!
by Brandon Worley on Feb 7, 2010 3:06 PM CST
in General
1 comment
Well it's Super Bowl Sunday.
Chips and salsa. Loaded nachos. Pizza. Hot wings. Guacamole. Lil' Smokies with tooth picks. Commercials that are sometimes better than the game itself.
Oh yeah, and football. There's a game on.
Saints and Colts. Brees versus Peyton. Should be a good one.
For the most comprehensive Super Bowl coverage you'll find anywhere, SB Nation has you covered here. They'll also be having a big open thread over on SBNation.com.
Be safe tonight, folks. Marty Turco story goes up tomorrow morning.
1 comment | 0 recs |
Stargazing: Marty Turco Shuts Out Coyotes, 4-0
by Brad G on Feb 7, 2010 12:00 PM CST
in News
14 comments
Stargazing is a daily assortment of Dallas Stars and NHL news, and whatever other random ramblings are bouncing around inside our heads.
Why is the most frustrating aspect of this Stars team also one of the very few things we can celebrate about them? I'm talking of course about their dichotomous road vs home play. Their road failure will probably be the greatest cause of their inevitable downfall, but their home play has been a joy to witness. I cannot recall (because I didn't attend the Coyote game last Sunday) the last time I walked out to the car from the AAC after a loss.
It was fun to beat Bryzgalov, finally, after Tippett saved him for us once again. It was nice to a see a win heading into the long break, where the season tickets sit lonely in a drawer, not to see the light of day for nearly 4 long weeks. And it was nice to party with a full barn- 18,532 at the AAC last night, without having to fill it up with fans of other teams. We sell out that place quite often, but usually with the assistance of the Red Wing fan, or Chicago fan, etc. Last night I personally didn't see any Coyote fans, and I certainly didn't hear them. It was a fun party heading into the break, and the Stars obliged with a beat down of Phoenix.
As for the game, Brandon illustrated the theme of the festivities quite nicely last night. It was the young guns leading the way in Neal, Eriksson, and Benn. Those three, in our estimation, should be considered the core of this group moving forward. Untradeable, in other words. But it wasn't only the young wingers doing the work last night. I thought Brenden Morrow had a strong game, physically engaging himself with 6 hits and an assist on the night. Mike Modano returned, going 12 of 20 in the faceoff circle, and of course Marty Turco was good too. He didn't have to stand on his head, per-say, but he made the stops they needed to build that lead. He was better than the guy at the other end, and that's something we cannot often say.
By the way, the Stars won 66% of the faceoffs last night. That is a pretty staggering margin as far as faceoffs go.
Even after another fun win at home, the loss in Columbus means that the Stars are right where they've been. In 10th place. Three points out. Nothing is going to change until they can win on the road.
Follow the jump for the quotes, reaction, and excuses for last night's game, then go party your ass for the Super Bowl...
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Stars Schedule
Next 5 Games
@
Chicago
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Tue 02/09 | 7:30 PM CST |
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@
Calgary
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Thu 02/11 | 8:30 PM CST |
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@
Phoenix
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Sat 02/13 | 7:00 PM CST |
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Los Angeles
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Tue 03/02 | 7:30 PM CST |
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St. Louis
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Thu 03/04 | 7:30 PM CST |
Last 5 Games
|
Phoenix
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Sat 02/06 | W 4 - 0 |
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@
Columbus
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Thu 02/04 | L 1 - 2 |
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Minnesota
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Tue 02/02 | W 4 - 2 |
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Phoenix
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Sun 01/31 | L 2 - 4 |
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Colorado
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Fri 01/29 | W 3 - 2 |
Pacific Standings
| GP | W | L | OTL | PT | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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San Jose
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59 | 39 | 11 | 9 | 87 |
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Phoenix
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60 | 36 | 19 | 5 | 77 |
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Los Angeles
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59 | 36 | 20 | 3 | 75 |
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Dallas
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58 | 26 | 21 | 11 | 63 |
|
Anaheim
|
59 | 28 | 24 | 7 | 63 |
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