Dallas Stars Path To Improvement: A Long & Difficult Road

i am obviously a frustrated fan who is still……….waiting………..for…..something…..to….happen………..

it’s been like this for some time now. i appreciate this article’s defense of patience and how it extols management’s long-term approach. but honestly, i’m just frustrated. if my head says “yea, we have a decent, young core that’ll be good in 3 years,” my heart says, “i’m sick and tired of waiting and watching a completely inconsistent team flounder its way in mediocrity.”

it’s a good thing i’m not GM b/c i’m tempted to trade morrow while he still has value. his game and his body are slowing down. ribeiro is so focused on making a fancy pass instead of shooting when he’s open. i want to fire both of them. or trade them. that way they can hotdog on some other team and bring the stars some hard working talent that’s willing to crash and bang at full speed.

honestly, to me vincour is ready to take a spot on the 2nd line. at least he’s a puck possession fiend, even if he is allergic to scoring. i would trade any combination of morrow/ribeiro + 1st round pick + offensive prospect for an eric staal/getzlaf. at least that way we have a bona fide 2nd center who can play up and down for better matchups.

ott is a good 3rd line center with burish and fiddler/nystrom. best 3rd line in hockey. slide wandell to benn’s line on the left wing where he can thrive as a checking-playmaker, which he is. 4th line of peterson, dowell, and whoever will be great.

wandell-benn-ryder (wandell as checker/passer, benn as playmaker/shooter/general beast, ryder as pure shooter)

eriksson-getzlaf/staal-vincour (completely dominant possession line with eriksson and staal as shooter or if getzlaf to convince vincour that shooting is ok)

burish-ott-nystrom (nystrom has earned status as third line scorer)

peterson-fiddler-dowell

on defense, it’s time to trade some players too. you can’t have goligoski, daley, larsen, robidas on one team. too many undersized dmen who are giving up body and will get killed against a good forechecking team. dallas just signed daley and goligoski. so it’s time to get rid of robidas and maybe larsen. all that cap space means we can sign suter and weber.

hahhaah. ok, i’m starting to sound like an idiot. a;lsdjf;asdjf;lasjdf;asdfjlasdjf;askdjfoweirru. anyway, all i am saying is that i am getting frustrated even if my trade/signing scenarios don’t make any sense. the point is that i’m sure a lot of fans are also frustrated. we want something to happen. anything. and while waiting is probably the smart thing, it’s really freakin boring and………well…….did i say frustrating already?!

i plan on moving back to dallas within the next year or so. that means i’ll be able to buy season tickets for SUPER CHEAP because they will still be a crappy mediocre team and will miss the playoffs yet again!!!! Yay cheap tickets!

Yea, I’m frustrated. I am sick and actually stayed up late last night (east coast time, so I was up till 1:30AM) watching that CRAP.

…we’d better be working on it sooner than later. The more we keep waiting, the more chances there are that we get steamrolled by Canucks, Red Wings, et al. this month and find ourselves completely out of the playoff picture by the time the TDL rolls in.

I accept that, but I am still extremely frustrated.

We’re now 2 games out of the all star break and we’re exactly where we were about 6 weeks ago- treading water in 9th-10th-11th place.

On the one hand, I suppose it’s encouraging we haven’t fallen off a cliff yet and the playoffs are still actually in our sight (if you have strong glasses, preferably with rose-colored lenses).

But at some point, if we’re gonna get there, we need to put together a run- and this team, as constructed, simply does not appear capable of doing that.

So do we settle for mediocrity and a 10th place finish and wait til free agency to make any moves, or do we something now that might us over that hump so we can finish 8th and lose to Detroit/STL/Vancoiver/SJ in round 1?

I think that’s really what it comes down to, because we aren’t one player away from a Cup. Still, if this franchise needs the playoffs this season (and Gaglardi has said it does), then I think we have to try to so something now rather than wait til July.

i think just about any veteran player needs to be available in trade talks. there is a young core that should be untouchable,benn, loui, goose, kari, and maybe daley are the only guys i would say. maybe the answer is to send off our veterans for picks or prospects, i know nobody wants a losing season but what if it means getting a top 5 pick in return? i think morrow has needed to go for some time now even though people on here ripped me for saying so in november, i love ribs but will he be able to play at a high level when this team is ready to make a run in 3 or 4 years? as much as i would like to make the playoffs lets face it, this team is not a cup contender. i think it would be better to send out just about any veteran players in exchange for a chance to rebuild. its not as if we have to wait another 5 years for our young guys to get it together, we have plenty of good young players with the big club and in the minors. i can deal with a losing team for a couple seasons and to be honest i dont think going with all young guys would be that bad anyway, they’ve already got a franchise goaltender and a young dynamic player i benn and a puck moving dman. those are the three things you need to build around to win, so why not let those guys be the face of the team and move the vets out. if we get picks and prospects the young guys have plenty of time. it wont be a total rebuild since theyve already gotten the core, so i would rather see this team finally admit its looking at the future. modano is gone and he’s never coming back, so let’s finally start over.

it’s now a matter of “too much to do, don’t know where to start.”

Though I think that quote came from one of the original Gaglardi articles I don’t believe it. I think they know where they want to be. I also think they have several starting points identified. The problem is you can’t just go out and do it. Like someone said, it isn’t a video game.

To trade for a guy who makes an immediate contribution you have to give up some important assets … usually young NHL players with potential, promising prospects or high draft picks. Chances of finding a high level guy without doing that is very slim. Or we can be sellers and send off veteran guys that have value to teams thinking about a deep playoff run. Those teams don’t want to give up guys on their roster making current contributions. But you can pick up youngsters with potential, prospects or draft picks.

Lastly, if you sell off vets for youth it is always good to keep a few of the hardworking, play till the last whistle old guys. They set the tone for the youngsters, calm them a bit from the peaks and troughs young players go through. As an aside, I think that is the Oilers problem. Lots of young talent, but no grizzled old vets to help mold it.

First, you got to play it out for a week or two and see where we are. Making the playoffs is important. Fan buzz, player enthusiasm, playoff experience for your young guys, getting the monkey off their back, heck even a little playoff revenue. But not at the expense of future assets. If it’s clear you won’t make it go into selling mode and see what you can get for any of the vets … still don’t just give them away though.

Unfortunately, it probably won’t be that easy and we will probably be about where we are now. So keep your ear to the ground, listen to any offers but unless somebody makes a really good to great offer basically stay the course. Try to make a middling trade for somebody that can be part of your plans for the future … just for the minor buzz. Probably a Grossman type trade if you’ve determined you want to move on from there.

Work the draft, see what trades are available. Work free agency, again evaluate potential trades. But it really can’t be solved that quick. The free agents this summer really don’t have high end offensive talent. Try to build in your young team and maybe, maybe we can get final pieces 2013 trade deadline. Probably not, cause read above, people will want your young assets. Work the 2013 draft. And target the 2013 free agency to get those last high end guys. The 2013 free agent class looks to have a lot of quality in it.

Thats my take … and pretty much how I think the team is looking at it.

Including me, I’m not saying that ANYTHING I’m posting is realistic. I’m just BOLD, CAPS, HIGHLIGHTING, UNDERLINING that I AM FRUSTRATED. That’s all. I’m not saying that it’s a good idea to blow up the team. I’m not saying that we should make moves just to make moves. All I am saying is that I am extremely disappointed and plain ‘ole pissed at the performance of the team. The inconsistency is killer. I’d rather know that the team is going to string together a bunch of losses and tank than win one and lose another. Right now, I’m not sure if I’m supposed to just wait for 3 years or actually hope that we will make it to the playoffs this year.

In terms of trading Morrow, Robidas, Ribeiro, et al — I understand the concept of loyalty. Yes, they’ve been good to us. We’re supposed to be good to them. Believe me, I want to be good to them. But our team is so……..what’s the word….FRUSTRATING. I want them to be good NOW. And they aren’t! They are maddeningly inconsistent. They can spank a hot Ducks team, which you’d think would give them some momentum. Then they get DESTROYED by a Sharks team that’s had a tougher time scoring recently.

I am pneumonia. I should go to sleep at like 9PM. I stayed up all night to watch them play a west coast game here in NYC. And they got embarrassed. I’m embarrassed. I want to hate them so much. I hate them. Yet I can’t look away. ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In the game last night, how does that goalie have that good of a gaa and save percentage? i swear, if we actually had some extended time in their zone, we would have punched a couple more pucks in the net. If that guy is the future for the sharks, then i will love our chances in a couple years to own the pacific again. Secondly, i hear the rumor of the Flyers trying to trade JVR. do you think there is any chance we could ship Wandell and Grossman together for him?

Overrated. I am on the east coast and watch Flyers hockey on occasion. He’s like a poor poor man’s Bobby Ryan without the consistency. Makes the moves. Can’t pass. Scores an occasional head-turning goal. But can’t find the net enough to warrant top 6 minutes. He’s good for 15 goals and 15 assists a year. Which sucks for what you think you’re getting because I really want to root for him being a fellow American. But yea, very overrated.

We need to get someone who scores 15 goals but puts up 50 assists. Someone like a Paul Stastny, for example. He creates open space, has speed, and doesn’t hot dog the pass. Granted, Stastny isn’t my top choice, but he’s much better than JVR. It’s not like Colorado would give him up though.

Now we are looking for …. a Neil? I don’t know whether to laugh, roll my eyes and cry or shake my head knowingly and say that was a good move.

Actually I think I’ll do all three.