Dallas Stars Return To Practice With Eight Healthy Defensemen

Beat the team you’re supposed to, and see if you can beat San Jose that you have basically no hope of catching in the standings anyway. So why don’t you like this again?

But, I do see a scenario where I’d want Bachman playing against Anaheim and Kari against San Jose.
However, going on the hope that Kari’s play will carry over to the Anaheim game, and we get that game, that’s probably what Gully is going for. I don’t necessarily see starting Bachman as a sign we’re “giving up” that game.

And Josh has built his case, over the course of several posts that detail why certain decisions being made are questionable.

I can’t speak for Josh, but I want to address certain things you’ve said the past few days.

First, I think my negativity is rubbing you the wrong way. And I’ll admit, my statements in the post yesterday were a bit scathing. But what I brought up is something we’ve built as an argument over the past few weeks with hard statistics to back it up, and it’s been a frustrating process.

I, by nature, am an extraordinarily optimistic Dallas Stars fan. One reason I started this blog was because of the pervasive negativity that existed on HF Boards, the official team boards and elsewhere. I wanted a grounded, realistic approach to the Stars….and that’s what I do.

I’ve been doing this nearly every day for three years. Writing multiple articles about the Dallas Stars….every. single. day. Seven days a week. Now, I’ve added some writers so we can space out the work load but in the past three years I have personally published 1,106 articles on this blog.

There will be times that I can’t be positive every post. I can’t always find a positive spin on the Stars. Right now, I’m frustrated. I’m frustrated that I’m writing almost the exact same post-All Star break article for the third straight year. I’m frustrated that the front office isn’t being more aggressive with certain aspects of the organization. I’m frustrated with Gulutzan’s decision making.

You know what? That’s my job. We are critical of every aspect of the Dallas Stars players and their performance on the ice; being critical and analytic of coaching decisions is something that we are allowed to do as well. We try to balance our criticism with numbers to back it up, and that’s one major reason I brought Josh on board — because his statistics help to provide a clearer picture of what is really going on.

I also brought Josh on because we don’t always see eye to eye. I like that. I love a good hockey debate. I love debating all things hockey and the Dallas Stars, I think it’s healthy and I’d be concerned if everyone always agreed, every single time. I like having you — the readers — hold me accountable for what I write. If you don’t agree with something I say, question it and be prepared for me to back up my feelings and thoughts.

I may not agree with Josh’s opinion on the goaltender situation, but he wrote an article recently that highlighted WHY he is frustrated with how the goalies are used. He can back up his opinion.

I don’t see anything wrong with that.

Why not straightforwardly build your case that Gully showed be replaced/taken behind the woodshed?

I didn’t say he should be replaced. I didn’t say he should be taken out behind the woodshed. I said they don’t do much tactically. If you want to extrapolate that to a broader generalization, be my guest. Those aren’t my words though. I think he’s a rookie head coach, supported by a relatively inexperienced front office, and as a group they’re struggling. Particularly, i think they lack in in-game management.

I had a national writer send me a message when watching the Stars a few weeks back asking me what the Stars line combos are because quote “I have no idea what’s going on.”

He should be rested to start both given that they’re coming off the break anyway.

is the number one side effect of All-Star breaks.

Look it up.

Inflection can’t be conveyed over the internet.

Really, I’d just like to have some hope. They don’t give me much reason to hope for better things right now, and going through all the reasons why makes it look like either A) I don’t even like hockey or B) I’m a miserable human being. Neither are completely true.