Stars Ups & Downs - Week 12 & 13

It's been a little while since we've done this, mostly because of the holiday rush and in some weeks having too small a sample size to truly grade the guys.  We're back at it though this week and just so we're all clear, this edition is only going to cover the past couple of weeks starting after the Christmas break with the loss to the Coyotes on the 26th of December up to the win against the Blues this past Sunday.

Goalies	Trend	Notes
Kari Lehtonen		Well call this even for now...  It's not like he was the cause of any losses the Stars have had recently, but he wasn't coming up with big saves either.  Much different case against the Blues where he looked the regular version of Kari.
Andrew Raycroft		Was masterful against the Predators and did well in mop-up duty against the Canucks.
Defensemen
Trevor Daley		Signed a new 6 year contract extension and his play since proved it might be money well spent.  Averages well over 20 minutes a game of ice time.
Jeff Woywitka		It would have been an 'even' until that little performance against the Blues where he literally quit on a play to whine to a referee.
Nicklas Grossman		Has battled through some minor injuries and while hasn't been his usual overpowering self, his play hasn't been overly poor either.
Matt Niskanen		He's moving the puck better as of late and being much more decisive with his play... That is, in the games he's been in and not a healthy scratch.
Stephane Robidas		"Stack the pads! Get up! Cover your angle and take it in the belly!" < Easily one of my favorite clips so far this season.
Karlis Skrastins		Anytime Karlis gets any kind of points - be it goals or assists - to go along with his rock solid defensive play, he's definitely trending 'up'
Mark Fistric		Gets an 'up' for that little two-goal run he had, but his positioning in his own end still concerns us.
Forwards
Jamie Benn		I think it's a very fair argument to make that Jamie is turning into one of the NHL's best - if not most fierce - penalty killers.
Tom Wandell		Starting to shoot on a little more of a consistent basis, but still not doing much with his limited ice time.
Adam Burish		He's cooled off a little and not providing the instant spark that he gave the team a few weeks ago.  He is handy with a Nerf sword though we hear...
Loui Eriksson		Maybe the reason we don't miss Jere Lehtinen as much as one would think the Stars would is because Loui pretty much plays that part now.  Great in his own end of the ice and will yet again be a 20 (dare we say 25 or even 30+?) goal scorer.
Brenden Morrow		Doesn't matter what kind of face protection he is or isn't wearing, the captain is playing some of his best hockey yet!
James Neal		Up until the 17:10 mark of the third period on Sunday he couldn't buy a goal.  Until that point though, looked like a player who was doubting his ability quite a bit.
Steve Ott		Did have a pair of points over the five games played and is still one of the team's best face-off guys.
Mike Ribeiro		It's the same story for Ribs as it has been all season.  Very creative play-maker, has a handful of assists but we'd sure like to see him shoot the puck more.
Brad Richards		Expecting anything less from the Stars best player this season?  Are those faint whispers of MVP talk were starting to hear from around the league?
Krys Barch		He's gotten himself on the scoresheet and had a FOTY candidate with the Blues Cam Janssen.  That's some good work right there!
Brandon Segal		I'd imagine more healthy scratches are on his way if his level of play doesn't pick up.
Brian Sutherby		In the three games he did play he was quite average.  If he played to a better level that we've seen him at in the past, he wouldn't be a healthy scratch so much.
Toby Petersen		His main role on the team is to be a penalty kill specialist and he hasn't been overly good with that role the last little while.
Aaron Gagnon		Played as injury relief against Detroit and Nashville, but was barely noticeable.