Once again, congratulations to the Pittsburgh Penguins. No more hockey until October is depressing, however.
On top of this past week’s coaching change, we have a couple of nuggets of news to look at.
Jonas Gustavsson, the highly sough after Swedish goaltender, is going to be visiting the United States next week in order to personally visit with several teams. One of the stops will be with Dallas, when he will meet with Joe Nieuwendyk, who will do his best to persuade the talented goalie away from Toronto and Colorado. Gustavsson has stated that he wants to go where he has the best chance of starting, but Nieuwendyk will have the tough task of convincing him that Dallas affords him the best opportunity to adjust for one season before (possibly) taking over next season.
Fabian Brunnstrom is a good friend of Gustavsson’s and went through this same process last year, picking the Stars over a couple of other teams. The Stars are probably using him to help the process.
Nieuwendyk was with the Maple Leafs‘ front office before taking the Stars job and also was in Switzerland as an assistant GM with Team Canada at the World Championships (where Gustavsson’s people talked to several teams), so he is very familiar with the recruiting of Gustavsson. However, Les Jackson was the man who won the recruiting battle to sign Brunnstrom and has directed the Stars’ recruiting effort with Gustavsson, so he will lead the visit. Also a big player has been Stars goaltending consultant Andy Moog, who visited Gustavsson in Sweden with Stars scout Johan Garpenlov.
Gustavsson would help settle the Stars goaltending situation, as he would both support and battle with Marty Turco. Dallas then could have Brent Krahn splitting time in the AHL with either Matt Climie or Richard Bachman.
Signing Gustavsson would be a big, big move towards having a much more stable and healthy team next season. It would allow Turco to play less and not wear down and give the Stars the chance to allow the younger goalies develop in the minors.
Some of your favorite
will be playing in the Reebok Heroes Baseball game today.
Mike Modano has done a ton for kids in the Metroplex with his charity, The Mike Modano Foundation, and one of the biggest fundraisers he has all year is the Reebok Heroes Baseball Game in Frisco, which will be held today, with a Home Run contest at 4 p.m. and the game
at 6 p.m.
It’s a great cause, you get to see a lot of your sports heroes (Modano, Brenden Morrow and Marty Turco will be playing) up close and relaxed, and it’s a nice evening of entertainment.
You can get in as cheaply as $5, and the best seat is $10. C’mon, that’s the price of a movie these days.
Mike Modano will also be appearing at the Whole Foods Market on Sunday:
Take the plunge with the Mike Modano Foundation and Crazy Water at Whole Foods Market in Plano on Sunday, June 14th from 2-6pm. Mike Modano will be signing autographs starting at 4:30pm and taking his turn in the Crazy Water dunking tank with all money raised going directly to benefit the Mike Modano Foundation, Mike’s personal charity dedicated to helping abused children.
Here is the Sunday Schedule:
4:30pm Mike signing 100 autographs and taking photos with fans signing
5:30pm Mike steps into the dunk tank
5:30pm His wife Willa throws the first ball to try and dunk him
5:40pm Selected fans get their chance to dunk Mike
Location: Whole Foods Market Parking Lot
2201 Preston Road @ Park Lane, Plano, TX
Steve Ott talks about the hiring of Marc Crawford: