There are 65 days left until September 17th, 2010, the official start of training camp, held at Santas Work Shop in the north pole. Or wherever The Island of Misfit Toys Prince Edward Island is. We're pleased you've decided to keep looking for Dallas Stars news here, even though you know there isn't any. Well, not anything that will knock your socks off anyway.

There IS news, and I invite you to share in it's aggregation now below. First up is Fabian Brunnstrom. Imagine, if you will, you get hired by a company and you do a really good job the first year you work there. Then imagine that the second year you do a timid, scared job completely void of activity/productivity. Then imagine that before the third year, you request a raise. Stop laughing, I'm being serious. Fabian Brunnstrom is going to arbitration...

Fabian Brunnstrom, whose picture appears in Websters next to "sophomore slump" has an arbitration date:July 23rd, says the Dallas Morning News...

The Stars and Brunnstrom can come to an agreement on a new contract at any time before the hearing, but I don't expect that to happen. I think Brunnstrom wants a one-way contract, and the Stars are likely not going to offer that.

Puck Daddy saw this news and put it in quite a different way...

The Unicorn At The Circus wants a one-way contract with the Dallas Stars, and they aren't hearing that.

The description of "circus" is not as far off as we'd like. Just look at the transcredible exploits of The Texas Rangers sale this last week and try to make any sense of Tom Hicks' world. We're still hoping to avoid that mess with the Stars sale.

CBSsports.com presents a review of Pacific Division off-season moves, and doesn't think the Stars are headed in the right direction...

The Stars have a lot of ground to make up in the division and have done little so far in terms of upgrades, adding only fourth-line forward Adam Burish from Chicago and backup goalie Andrew Raycroft from Vancouver. But if the Stars do get the ownership situation settled soon, there is lots of cap space and only a few roster spots to fill. Heading: Down.

That doesn't quite pass the d-u-h test. Let's hope that pipe dream of new ownership will open the greenback flood gates.

Dallasstars.com presents some interesting Adam Burish quotes...

"There were a couple of other teams," revealed Burish, who signed a deal for $2.3 million over two years ($1 million in 2010-11 and $1.3 million in 2011-12). "And I talked with my dad and with my agent, and they said, ‘I can hear in your voice that you want to go to Dallas. I can tell just by the way that you’re talking about it that you want to go there.’ It was funny, the last four years, I always loved coming to Dallas, I loved playing in Dallas, and I always hated playing against the Stars. I thought they were always hard to play against, and so now I’m going to be happy to play with those guys."

It's always easy to say these kinds of things afterward. Let's hope he means them, and that Coach gives this guy a chance to live up to enthusiasm he's displayed in the off-season.

Don't forget about Stephen at Hundred Degree Hockey as he talks to Coach Gulutzan about the Texas Stars first season, and their challenges moving forward...

On the make up of the 2010-11 team, with loss of veterans:

"We already know we've lost a couple of those [veteran] guys. I think we're going to be a lot younger, but at the same time, these young guys may not be up to speed right away, but if we can as coaches do a good job and keep bringing these guys along, I think we have some potential. These young guys are good, they're just young. We have to do our job developing them. I think that's going to be key for us next year. To make sure we're working hard throughout the year and get focused on the second half, our young guys is always important in the American League."

On the importance of the play of veterans remaining:

"It's big. Whenever your core group of guys can show the way, you can withstand losing players as long as the core and the mentality stays the same within the core. That's going to be important. We're going to need other guys to step up. Greg Rallo, Travis Morin, those types of players need to step up and be leaders, be more accountable than they were a year ago if we lose some players."

He's got lots more, so be sure to visit Hundred Degree Hockey.

This one's to remind you more that Foxsportswouthwest.com exists than the content...

Stars fans saw another member of that great 1999 Stanley Cup championship team leave hockey on Wednesday when ex-Dallas defenseman Darryl Sydor finally decided to hang up his skates after nearly two decades as a professional.

 

Sydor was originally drafted by the Los Angeles Kings and came to Big D by way of a trade with the Kings in February 1996 that netted the Stars Sydor and a fifth-round draft pick for Shane Churla and Doug Zmolek. He would remain a Star for the next seven seasons.

 

Of course, the highlight of his stay came in 1998-99. Not only did Sydor have a career-high 48 points (14 goals, 34 assists), but he also had 12 points in the playoffs and was a key member of that stellar Dallas defense that was regarded as one of the finest units in the entire league.

The Morning News makes note of Desjardins' title: "Associate" coach...

Desjardins has been coaching mostly in junior hockey, spending the last eight seasons as coach and general manager of the Medicine Hat Tigers. But the 53-year-old brings a world of hockey experience, including stints with the Canadian national team and a professional team in Japan.

"He's a career coach and a student of the game, and that's a great thing to see," Stars coach Marc Crawford said. "His honesty as a coach and a person, I think, is something that will really help this organization."

Desjardins will be Crawford's right-hand man and will move ahead of assistants Charlie Huddy and Stu Barnes – who received a one-year contract extension Tuesday – in the chain of command.

The title was part of the deal the Stars had to make to get Desjardins, who was studying other offers, but also is an important part of how general manager Joe Nieuwendykwants to structure the coaching staff.

First Stars fans asked if coach Gulutzan in Cedar Park could be taking Crawfords' job. Now the emails have started about Desjardins. But if I had to guess, I'm guessing that Marc Crawford is probably going to have Marc Crawford's job for a few more seasons, until he's at least given a chance with a roster that spends to the cap, whenever that might materialize.

+10 points to anyone who spotted the Futurama reference.