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Help the Stars Volunteer With North Texas Food Bank
by Brad Gardner on Sep 2, 2010 10:58 AM CDT
in News
3 comments
The Stars will be volunteering at the North Texas Food Bank next week, and they're giving you a real good opportunity to get involved and meet some of them at a "private reception." No word on who all is going to be there right now, but if you have $500 just lying around somewhere you can automatically reserve your spot.
This is a dynamite opportunity for you Brad Richards stalkers with cash out there.
If not, you can donate $25 to help a good cause and get your name entered in the drawing.
You can donate online at ntfb.com.
Here's their official release:
Raffle tickets available now through September 6, 2010
Volunteer Experience and Reception on September 8, 2010Reach for the Stars… the Dallas Stars, that is! YOU and a guest could win the opportunity to volunteer with Brenden Morrow and a few other current Dallas Stars hockey players as they fill backpacks with nutritious food items for the Food 4 Kids program at the North Texas Food Bank on the evening of Wednesday, September 8th!
Here’s how it works:With a minimum donation of $25 to benefit the North Texas Food Bank’s child programs, your name will be entered into a raffle to win a chance for you and a guest to volunteer with the participating Dallas Stars players. The opportunity also includes a 15 minute private reception with the players following the volunteer session. For every additional $25 donated, your name will be added into the raffle. The more $25 donations you make, the more chances you have to win!
For every $500 donation, you will automatically reserve your spot for you and a guest to participate in the volunteer opportunity and private reception. In addition, you will receive a hockey stick signed by the participating Dallas Stars players.
I was pretty happy with my first two years. I certainly had some spots where I wasn’t that good. But last year, as a whole, I was pretty disappointed with my own play and where the team went as well.
It was kind of gut check time for me this summer and coming into camp this year I’ve got to re-establish myself as a better defenseman within the group and in the league.
Matt Niskanen, talking to Mark Stepneski yesterday, on his disappointment in his performance last season. The Stars have been committed this summer to working with Niskanen on improving his conditioning and to reset his focus on the ice.
StarGazing: Could Jack Campbell Be AHL-Eligible By Next Year?
by Pat Iversen on Sep 1, 2010 6:14 PM CDT
in News
6 comments
Days until official start of training camp: 16 (!!!)
Days since last Stars game: 144
Days until next Stars game: 37
We're almost there, people. And you know how I can tell? In July, when I wanted to find Stars news on Google News, the most I could find most days was a single article per week. And that article would usually be something like "Nicklas Grossman is one of a few Jewish Swedes in the NHL." Which is interesting, but not...news. Then today, there were eight pages on Google News when I searched "Dallas Stars." I was so happy.
You should be, too. Sixteen days. Meanwhile, some Stars news for you to feast on....
First off, I was intrigued when I stumbled across a story from The Record, a paper in Kitchner, Ontario. The story details the brewing controversy surrounding Kitchner Rangers forward (and Chicago Blackhawks prospect) Jeremy Morin:
The NHL has an agreement with the Canadian Hockey League. Teenage players must either stick in the NHL or be returned to junior.
But Morin skates on the shadowy edges of this understanding. He was drafted into the NHL in June, 2009 by the Atlanta Thrashers after two years in the U.S. national team development program. That Ann Arbor-based outfit has no agreement with the NHL.
So the Blackhawks, who traded for Morin in June, are working on the assumption that Morin can be assigned to their AHL team in Rockford should he fail to make the NHL.
The Rangers want him back in junior for a Memorial Cup run. The Hawks want the right to send him to the Rockford Icehogs, should they choose. Norm Maciver, Chicago's player development director, says the team believes Morin is AHL-eligible.
*snip*
Incoming Windsor Spitfires goalie Jack Campbell, 18, could find himself in the same situation as a first-round pick of the Dallas Stars - one and done for the OHL.
Interesting. Campbell was also drafted out of the U.S. national development program, so technically the NHL would not have much of a say if the Stars wanted to place Campbell on the Texas Stars after this season. At that point, he would be 19 years old as well. There's really no way of knowing what will happen, though. First off, as the article goes on to say, this is likely something that will be fully addressed when the NHL's collective bargaining agreement is up. Secondly, we don't know what the Stars' plans for Jack will be a year from now.
That said, it will be interesting to see if this situation will arise again between the Stars and Windsor. Like the article said, you can't convince me a player wouldn't prefer a $50,000 AHL contract to $50 a week in juniors.
After the jump, Matt Niskanen, Stephane Robidas, and Fabian Brunnstrom news...
Ex Dallas Star Marty Turco Making the Rounds in Chicago
by Brad Gardner on Sep 1, 2010 10:10 AM CDT
in News
11 comments
Marty Turco was officially introduced as a Blackhawk this week, becoming the second long time Dallas Star to don a central division, red-laden sweater of an original six team. Not quite as painful as the Modano press conference last month, no, but a little uncomfortable for the Stars fan anyway.
He's in full PR force this week around Chicago as he tries to get his feet set in his new home before starting his first non-Stars camp in a couple of weeks.
Turco aficionados can enjoy this video and Marty's celebrated media savvy. Particularly when these two clucking hens ask Marty Turco (35) how he can possibly step into Antti Niemi's (27) big shoes. Marty shoots that notion down quite easily and expertly. (via ABC affiliate in Chicago)
NHL.com has a good story on the goings-on yesterday. Details are starting to emerge in every Turco engagement suggesting that Marty had targeted/was hoping for the Blackhawks very early on in the process once he realized he would not be coming back to Dallas. Bowman indicated that he had spoke to Marty before the Niemi situation had been fully resolved, and told him that he was backup plan #1.:
He said Turco was his "Plan A" if things with Niemi didn't work out. But that meant Turco having to wait out a lengthy contract negotiation for Niemi that didn't get resolved until an arbitration ruling in late July.
"I said (to Marty), ‘If you've got to do something else, that's your prerogative,'" Bowman said. "I didn't mislead him and say we've got anything in the pocket here. They were interested. From what he said, this is where he wanted to be. He obviously had hoped that it would work out." [NHL.com]
And in case you missed the fanshot posted a couple of weeks ago, you can see his new masks here.
He'll be wearing #30 in Chicago as #35 has of course been retired there for Tony Esposito.
A Defending Big D Milestone
by Brandon Worley on Sep 1, 2010 8:34 AM CDT
in News
15 comments
Yesterday evening, sometime around 7 p.m. CDT on the last day of the month, Defending Big D celebrated our best month of traffic since we launched in January of 2009. At just over 86,000 page views for the month of August, we eclipsed our previous best of the 85,000 views we enjoyed in July.
What's impressive about these numbers is the fact that July and August are supposed to be the slow months, the time of the year when no one cares about hockey. August, especially is a rough month as we fight for ideas for content while the team stays out of the spotlight before starting training camp in September.
To give you an idea of how far we've come, last August we had just under 24,000 page views for that month.
That we have come this far is a testament to all of our loyal readers and those that find us every day. We hope that we provide you with the best Dallas Stars news and analysis (from a fan's perspective) that you can find. As Stars fans, we're going through a rough time together and my only hope is that we can continue to grow as a community and continue the excellent debates and comments we've been enjoying over the past year.
Heading into the season, we're committed to providing you with more original analysis and breakdowns than ever before. Hopefully September will soon become the best month in DBD history, and so on for each coming month.
Sometime in the next month we'll enjoy our 1,000,000 page view to Defending Big D. Then we'll really celebrate!
15 comments | 1 recs |
How Will Marc Crawford's System Evolve In 2010-11?
by Brandon Worley on Aug 31, 2010 3:35 PM CDT
in Analysis
51 comments
Last summer we discussed endlessly the hiring of Marc Crawford and the changes he would bring to the Dallas Stars. We talked about a faster, more entertaining team that embraced the "new" NHL. He would transform the Stars from an ugly and defensive team into one that scores lots of goals and everyone would cheer and buy lots of tickets to watch the Stars be super exciting.
What did we actually get, going from the 2008-09 season to 2009-10 with essentially the same team, but this time healthy?
- Five more points in the standings. (83 points in 08-09; 88 points in 09-10)
- One more win.
- Seven more goals scored overall. (Yes!!)
- Three less goals-against. (Whoo hoo!!)
- One supremely confused hockey team for the first two months of the season. (Nothing new, actually)
- Once again, no playoff berth.
Nearly every critic of Joe Nieuwendyk the GM points to his first decision as his worst one. While Marc Crawford was a fairly surprising choice at the time, if Nieuwendyk was hoping to go in a new direction with the Stars then there was no better choice to be the exact opposite of Dave Tippett. Unfortunately, it seems we didn't exactly get the Crawford we had known in Colorado and Vancouver; instead we received a quiet and peaceful man who was no longer the offensive innovator he once was.
Still, he'll get at least one more season to prove his worth. If the Stars tank again out of the gates, he might only get half a season. Regardless, Crawford will have a chance to build upon the progress of last season (yes, there was some) with a team that now has some continuity in his system. While the team signed just a few free agents, the Stars will look vastly different this season and unlike any Stars team we've known before.
After the jump, I look at some of the factors that will play into the further evolution of Crawford's system in Dallas and what we might expect this season that could be different -- and what is likely to be the same.
SB Nation's Mock NHL Expansion Draft: Dallas Stars Protected List
by Brad Gardner on Aug 31, 2010 10:16 AM CDT
in General
37 comments
In the interest of killing time in the waning off-season, the SB Nation NHL community is putting together a mock expansion draft. Voting has already taken place at the main NHL site, and Winnipeg and Quebec City have been chosen the winners despite my best efforts to vote a new NHL franchise for Houston of Kansas City in an effort to reduce hypothetical Dallas Stars travel. Oh well.
Visit the main page for the mock draft exercise here.
The next step in the process is for each team to submit a protected list.
Here are the rules:
- Teams can protect either 1 goalie, 5 defensemen and 9 forwards OR 2 goalies, 3 defensemen and 7 forwards.
- If you protect two goalies, at least one goalie left unprotected must have played in at least 10 games last season OR 25 games in the last two seasons combined. One game = at least 31 minutes.
- Each team must leave unprotected at least one defenseman who appeared in 40 games last season OR 70 games in the last two seasons combined.
- Each team must leave unprotected at least two forwards who appeared in 40 games last season OR 70 games in the last two seasons combined.
- Players who have not played 50 NHL games are automatically exempt.
That leaves us with pretty few choices where the Stars are concerned. None of the kids on the farm (I don't think) have played 50 NHL games and thus are protected.
We're going the 1 Goalie, 9 forward route, obviously.
The forward list of 9 writes itself: Brenden Morrow, James Neal, Jamie Benn, Loui Eriksson, Brad Richards, Mike Ribeiro, Steve Ott, Tom Wandell, and.... and... uhhh...
That's where we need a little help, so vote below for the forward that you would protect from the expansion draft. If anyone wants to place a wager on Brunnstrom winning, email me about some great odds I'm offering.
The Defense: Robidas, Grossman, Fistric are shoe ins. We figure we'll protect Skrastins just because. Some say Daley, and others say Niskanen. Protecting Niskanen is an option because he seemingly has the most potential, where as Trevor Daley has had that said about him too many times now, and his salary might be a little high for services rendered.
So also discuss Niskanen vs Daley, and go ahead and assume that "neither" is not an option.
***All of this is assuming that Niskanen and Neal get re-signed, and that Jere Lehtinen retires. ***
Sifting Through The Jere Lehtinen Retirement Rumors
by Pat Iversen on Aug 30, 2010 7:04 PM CDT
in News
22 comments
It's finally the end of August, and training camp is a mere weeks away. For about a month now, news concerning the Dallas Stars has been slow, as the team is apparently done signing free agents, the sale is moving on slowly behind the scenes and GM Joe works quietly on re-signing James Neal and Matt Niskanen.
But ever since the offseason slowed down for the club, one nagging question has remained: What's going on with Jere Lehtinen?
Today, we (kinda, maybe) have some news. Today, Sportsnet published a story online with the headline "Lehtinen To Retire". The article cited a story from a Finnish publication, which (thanks to Google Translate) reads:
One of the long Finnish Playing career is ending. Jere Lehtinen is seriously considering leaving.
Lehtinen, 37, met the Dallas CEO Joe Nieuwendykin last week, but that did not take place, that category should be continued.
Lehtinen did not participate in training camp in Dallas.
Seriously think about a career in an end, eh?
"Yes, you can put it in there. Is it true," Lehtinen said.
Summer placements Lehtinen took lightly. Their own words, he spent a difference in the summer. It was a step towards a career in the end.
Obviously, Google Translate is a bit shaky on this one. (I know we have some Finnish-speaking readers out there, this is your time to shine!). But taken for what it's worth, Lehtinen is at least seriously considering retirement at this point, if we are to believe that article.
You'll remember that Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News reported last week that Jere had met with GM Joe and he had not yet reached a decision, and Joe has no deadline for said decision. However, taking a look at the roster and the fact that the Stars currently have 23 players under contract (with two still unsigned) it appears as if the Stars are fully prepared to move on without Mr. Yellow Skatelaces.
Update: Heika again, after talking with Jere, says he has NOT made a decision yet. [LINK]
Now, this isn't an instance of Nieuwendyk "pushing" Lehtinen out; this is an example of Nieuwendyk takes the steps necessary to be prepared in case Lehtinen decides to retire. More so than with Mike Modano, it appears as if the Stars knew going into the summer that Lehtinen was not going to make a decision until just before training camp.
For many, Jere Lehtinen represented everything that has defined Dallas Stars hockey over the years. While Modano provided the flash and Sergei Zubov was the defensive quarterback, Lehtinen was the perfect combination of defensive prowess and offensive ability. Remember when he was the leading scorer on the Stars for a couple of seasons in a row?
It's going to be sad to see him go. Lehtinen is the last remaining remnant of those glory seasons in 1999 and 2000.
Judging by his comments both last season, this summer and above, it certainly appears as if retirement is what is on his mind.
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