Stargazing: Stars wait on Gustavsson, Zubov

Stargazing is a daily assortment of Dallas Stars news, as well as a look at what's happening around the Pacific division and the rest of the NHL.


News from around the NHL crawled to a stand still over the holiday weekend, but the Stars still have a couple of big off-season question marks. The backup situation in goal is something they'd like to see resolved this week, and Sergei Zubov has a tough choice ahead for himself and his family depending on what offers come his way. We'll be here to talk Stars hockey with you all this week as Dallas attempts to round out the roster.

Fans of Toronto and Dallas continue to wait for Jonas Gustavsson. He continues to delay. Have we said all we can say about this yet?

Defending Big D on Gustavsson's situation yesterday.

The Morning News confirms the report from HockeyBuzz.com:

Stars GM Joe Nieuwendyk said he has no updates on the Jonas Gustavsson chase.

He said he's waiting for the call like everyone else.

Andy Strickland at Hockeybuzz has the story that Fabian Brunnstrom had dinner with Gustavsson on Saturday, and the Stars confirm that.

And so we wait.

Mike Heika reports that the Stars have canceled their usual summer prospect camp...

To cut costs, the Stars have eliminated their prospect camp this summer.

However, several key players will come in to do a week's worth of training starting Monday with strength and conditioning coach J.J. McQueen...

When asked, in light of the Stars cost cutting, where training camp is likely to be held, Mr. Heika said part of camp could possibly be held in Cedar Park at the Texas Stars new facility.

Mark Stepneski at Andrew's Stars Page offers thoughts on Skrastins, and points out that we have yet to hear from Fistric and the offer made by the Stars:

Adding Skrastins gives the Stars six NHL defensemen under contract and Mark Fistric, a restricted free agent, still to be signed. That would add to up seven, but I don’t think they stop there. That’s why they are still interested in Sergei Zubov. Of course his status is up in the air. There are reports he is getting interest from several teams. We’ll have to see how that plays out. If he’s healthy, Zubov can still be a very effective player and that’s why he is getting some attention from other teams.

...

The NY Post speculates that the New York Rangers might knock on Sergei Zubov's door:

...To that end, Sather is likely to check in on old buddy Sergei Zubov. Zubov will be 39 in three weeks, and is coming off a season in Dallas in which he played 10 games because of a hip injury that was repaired by surgery performed by the very same Dr. Marc Philippon who performed hip surgery on Gaborik.

Around the Pacific:

• San Francisco Chronicle: Ryane Clowe re-signs with Sharks
  
• Ryan Smyth is dealt to the Los Angeles Kings, says he's looking forward to playing with Kopitar and Brown. (Sportingnews.com)
• Be sure to check out our friends at Battle of California for their entertaining, violent thoughts on Ryan Smyth in a Kings jersey.
• Teemu Selanne says next season will be his last "without doubt" [Rotowire]
  

Around the NHL:

• Rick Nash gets his extension done with the Blue Jackets, still needs that first playoff win. He's got lots of time of course; He's only 25.
  
• ESPN.com: 20 players file for NHL Salary Arbitration
  
• The Black Hawks may have missed the deadline for extending some qualifying offers [Chicago Tribune]
  
  
• And the Canucks signed Mikael Samuelsson of Detroit Red Wing fame