Eric Godard, Colton Sceviour, Five Others Assigned To Texas Stars

by Brandon Worley on Oct 2, 2011 2:53 PM CDT in Dallas Stars News

The Dallas Stars have made a significant roster move today as they get closer to the 23-player NHL roster in preparation for the start of the season on Friday.

With Tomas Vincour showing great improvement over last season and being one of the more impressive players in camp, it appears as if he's going to get the chance to start the season on the NHL roster. The Stars assigned Eric Godard and Colton Sceviour, and five others, to the Texas Stars today -- leaving 25 players on the roster.

Players assigned to Texas:

G Richard Bachman
D Maxime Fortunus
F Eric Godard
F Travis Morin
F Ray Sawada
F Colton Sceviour
F Francis Wathier

The two extra spots right now on the roster are taken by Philip Larsen and Scott Glennie. It's likely that Larsen will be with the NHL team until midway through the week and Glennie cannot be sent to the AHL until he is medically cleared from his concussion.

For now, it seems that Vincour is going to get the chance to make a big impression early in the season with the Stars. Whether he's just a fourth line option or more, we'll find out on Friday. There's also the chance that Larsen is going to get a good look at possibly starting the season with Dallas, although I doubt that happens right away.

Tweet Comment 35 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

Larsen still being around is interesting. I wonder if the coaching staff just wants to spend an extra bit of time with him or if theres something more to it. Obviously he’s not going to stick around as the 7th dman but its not out of the realm of possibility that he bumps someone down and fistric ends up playing somewhere else.

by TimAH on Oct 2, 2011 3:03 PM CDT reply actions

Good for Vincour.

Good times are here and Stars will take what belongs to them. Sooner or Later.

by Henri Muroke on Oct 2, 2011 3:18 PM CDT reply actions

Hardly surprising for me.

I know a lot of you didn’t get a chance to see him but… Godard doesn’t have the wheels from what we saw.

Defending Big D

by Brad Gardner on Oct 2, 2011 3:43 PM CDT reply actions

True that.

by iHorses on Oct 2, 2011 5:54 PM CDT up reply actions

I think Larsen makes more sense for the roster than Fistric

He’s mobile, smart, and can move the puck. His main contribution would seem to be as a penalty killer, but with Robidas, Grossman, Pardy, Daley, and presumably Goligoski taking those duties I don’t think Fistric has a role here.

Defending Big D Check it out
Twitter
"You guys are talking about living forever like it’s a real thing, but I bust out a man shoving his head into a vagina, and it’s srs time?"
--iorange555 8/23/2011

by Josh Lile on Oct 2, 2011 4:12 PM CDT reply actions

fistric makes wayyyyy more sense as the 7th dman than larsen does.

by TimAH on Oct 2, 2011 4:22 PM CDT up reply actions

Agree. Fistric is far more solid both with and without the puck.

by iHorses on Oct 2, 2011 5:55 PM CDT up reply actions

The Stars disagree with your assessment of Fistric

He’s supposed to be a defensive minded defenseman yet last year the distribution of the faceoffs he was on the ice for was split pretty evenly between offense/defense/neutral zone.

In 2010 he barely took any defensive zone draws. In 2009 he was pretty much 33%/33%/33%.

I like what Fistric was in his debut season, but the evidence suggests that he profiles as a defensive defenseman that NHL coaches don’t trust to play defense. That isn’t very encouraging.

by Josh Lile on Oct 2, 2011 9:31 PM CDT up reply actions

Don't forget that this was under Crow, who apparently didn't like Fistric.

by iHorses on Oct 2, 2011 10:42 PM CDT up reply actions

He didn't like Fistric because he didn't do much positive.

He was the 5th or 6th best defenseman in Corsi ratings despite playing relatively easy minutes.

by Josh Lile on Oct 2, 2011 11:08 PM CDT up reply actions

As if Woywitka deserved the time he got more than Fistric. Come on.

Mark’s numbers would have been better if he played Woywitka’s time. And team would have benefited from some toughness he brings to the game.

by iHorses on Oct 3, 2011 12:51 PM CDT up reply actions

I never said Woywitka didn't suck.

Fistric and Woywitka both filled the same role last year more or less. Both have similar Quality of Competition and Quality of Teammate ratings suggesting they were both out there on a bottom pair, and that both performed at a lower level than their mediocre competition.

Fistric was so poor offensively last year that his offensive negative outweighed his defensive contribution (which, again, was made in relatively easy minutes). -1.4 Offensive GVT, +1.4 Defensive GVT. To put it another way, the Stars generate 10 more shots per 60 minutes if play with Fistric OFF the ice than with him on the ice. Of all defensemen that played in at least 50 games only 16 in the entire NHL put up worse numbers (Woywitka was higher). There is absolutely no way to defend that.

I’ve maintained that if you aren’t forcing him to try to play more offense than he can handle that he’ll be a useful piece, but not a core piece by any stretch.

by Josh Lile on Oct 3, 2011 2:02 PM CDT up reply actions

No, not a core piece, I agree.

by iHorses on Oct 3, 2011 11:27 PM CDT up reply actions

I think Fistic

makes more sense for the roster also. Larsen playing small minutes and being a scratch makes less sense than being in Texas in an important role. Also I like Fister getting a chances to prove himself, or worst case scenario getting minutes then being apart of a trade later on. No rush on Larsen IMO.

by brendan1 on Oct 2, 2011 5:02 PM CDT up reply actions

I never said Larsen would be the 7th dman

If he’d just be the 7th dman…then yeah, he should be in the AHL.

I don’t think he’s their 7th best defenseman though. I think he’s better than Pardy, Fistric, and quite possibly Souray right now, but Souray deserves a little bit of time to show that he’s healthy.

by Josh Lile on Oct 2, 2011 5:41 PM CDT up reply actions

With the salaries we are paying both Pardy and Souray, they'd better work out.

by iHorses on Oct 2, 2011 5:56 PM CDT up reply actions

The league average salary was 2.3 mil last year

It’s probably 2.5-2.6 this year.

Pardy will make 2 mil this year. Souray will make 1.65 mil. Not saying you should want or expect either player to fail, but if they do the Stars won’t exactly take a big financial hit.

I’m not sure why they gave Pardy so much money though. The last three years the Flames have generally kept him away from the defensive zone, and he isn’t much of an offensive threat.

by Josh Lile on Oct 2, 2011 6:26 PM CDT up reply actions

Its irrelevant - they still make much more than Fistric.

by iHorses on Oct 2, 2011 6:44 PM CDT up reply actions

It isn't at all irrelevant

And I’m not sure what Fistric has to do with Souray or Pardy, but Fistric only makes 400k less than Souray.

The point is that the dmen the Stars signed are making pennies. They aren’t tied to them long term, and they shouldn’t be.

by Josh Lile on Oct 2, 2011 7:56 PM CDT up reply actions

You just not getting my point I guess...

What I was trying to say is that neither Souray nor Pardy are better than Fistric at this point, and since Fistric makes less $$, I’d rather see both Pardy and Souray be better than Fistric, or there was no point in signing them.

by iHorses on Oct 2, 2011 10:44 PM CDT up reply actions

And I never compared Fistric with either player

I said I think Larsen is probably better than all 3 at the moment unless Souray can stay healthy.

But, for the record, Fistric should probably be 8th on the depth chart right now unless he can step his game up, and develop some poise.

by Josh Lile on Oct 2, 2011 11:11 PM CDT up reply actions

I didn't say you were. You totally taking this the wrong direction.

If you don’t like Fistric for some reason, that’s cool. I just think that saying Larsen would be better for the team over Fistric atm – makes no sense.

by iHorses on Oct 3, 2011 12:54 PM CDT up reply actions

Again, you're contorting what I've said.

I never said Larsen would be a better fit for the 2011-12 Stars. I said I think he’s probably better than those 3.

by Josh Lile on Oct 3, 2011 2:09 PM CDT up reply actions

Fistric's role is...

…and always will be the helmet smash. Apparently Pardy is a big hitter too and solid in the D zone, so sadly Fistric might be squeezed out.

by GeneralSpecific on Oct 2, 2011 4:17 PM CDT reply actions

Not surprised.

We knew Godard was never going to be more than a 4th liner/frequent healthy scratch. Vincour has the upside, and had an impressive preseason and has begun producing more offensively the past few games (which we all said he needed to do). I figured the writing was on the wall when Godard was placed on waivers a couple weeks ago.

by cms1171 on Oct 2, 2011 4:29 PM CDT reply actions

So, where do Toby and Wandangles fit into the mix?

It doesn’t make sense to keep Vincour and put him on the 4th line, but I also don’t see the advantage of having Tommy on the 4th or scratched. At the same time, Toby brings far too much leadership and PK ability to have him scratched (and I just like me some Toby). Something’s gotta give.

by LilEagle on Oct 2, 2011 4:54 PM CDT reply actions

i think Toby is what gives. I think he gets healthy scratched to start the season and they see how Vincour works out. Tobys a likeable guy who works hard but hes really not that good. We’ve added 3 players this offseason who can do the PK thing pretty well so i dont see it as any sort of problem. I dont think hes all that outstanding at it anyway.

by TimAH on Oct 2, 2011 5:04 PM CDT up reply actions

Well

Morrow/Ribeiro/Ryder
Ott/Benn/Eriksson are your top 6.

Fiddler/Burish will be on the 3rd line. Who is guaranteed to be the other 3rd line winger? I don’t think its out of the question that he’s the 3rd line winger with Dvorak/Dowell on the 4th line picking up a majority of their minutes on the penalty kill.

Vincour on the 3rd line is a pretty exciting possibility for me. He’s out there with two responsible defensive players so any mistakes he makes will be less costly, and with the defensive depth they’ve put together up front you can easily swap him with Dvorak/Dowell whenever you need some extra defensive oomph.

by Josh Lile on Oct 2, 2011 5:45 PM CDT up reply actions

good for vincour

he earned it

GET OFF NIEUWENDYK'S NUTS

by 8thegreat on Oct 2, 2011 5:20 PM CDT reply actions

Vincour/Benn/Eriksson...

is a pretty exciting, and potentially very dynamic combo. While that line would lose a good bit of defensive responsibility replacing Ott with Vincour, you could roll out Ott/Fiddler/Burish against other teams’ top lines and frustrate the hell out of them! Of course, with Ott/Benn/Eriksson, you have a scoring line that can check as well as almost any team’s designated checking line, which also would frustrate teams. Maybe that’s why they kept Vincour up, just to give themselves more line combo options to best match the team they’re playing against. I guess we’ll just have to see.

by wayupinboston on Oct 2, 2011 8:27 PM CDT reply actions