I know what Nicklas Grossman is being for Halloween.
Or at least, I know he would make a perfect Frankenstein's monster after his close meeting with the skate of New Jersey Devils forward Dainius Zubrus on Saturday night. After all, he wouldn't have to use makeup to simulate the massive facial stitching.
According to the always witty Daryl Reaugh, Grossman had to have an entire fleet of stitches put in to close the bloody gash on his right cheek.
For the many inquiring tweets regarding Nik Grossman's skate cut to cheek last night...60 stitches to close it.
#neveragainwinceatapapercut
I think fellow Swedish defenseman Borje Salming holds the record for facial stitches from skate cut. Reportedly 250 back in early 80s.
Um, ow.
After the jump
- With the Stars off from practice Sunday and today, Mark Stepneski takes the opportunity to break down the team's first month of the season. [ESPN Dallas]
- Okay, I know what Mike Heika is going for here with this lead in a story about Trevor Daley, but it really brings up images of multiple personality disorder. Since the rest of the story is behind a paywall, I have to assume it's not nearly as fun as that and is merely about the number of coaches he's gone through as a still relatively young defenseman. [DallasNews.com]
- Mike Ribeiro and his... issues in the faceoff circle make an appearance in this story about five stats 10 games in that likely won't last the season. Though I don't really get this insistence that the Jamie Benn might fill in at center for him. For one, Benn already is basically playing center (sans faceoff duty) and two, he's on an entirely separate line. [Puck Daddy]
- This profile of Eric Nystrom unfortunately doesn't feature the pictures of his Halloween costume, which he Tweeted on Sunday (hint: he went as a member of the dance group Jabbawockeez), but it does give some nice insight into his experience with the Minnesota Wild. [Fox Sports Southwest]
- The Stars and head coach Glen Gulutzan make a pair of appearances in this story about five early season questions answered. [USA Today]
- Is it me, or is it just like Sean Avery to send the Stars into a salary cap tizzy by being demoted by the New York Rangers only to convince the Rangers to bring him back up like two weeks later? [New York Daily News]
- More and more people are waking up to the impact Sheldon Souray has at on this team so far, at least in this case, from a fantasy hockey perspective. [The Province]
- Around the Pacific Division: Sunday could have been subtitled "no points for you" as the Anaheim Ducks lost to the desperate Columbus Blue Jackets 3-1 while the Los Angeles Kings fell just short of the Colorado Avalanche in a 3-2 loss. [The Cannon/Los Angeles Times]
- Another realignment scenario has popped up in NHL circles, this one a two-conference, four-division look that has the Stars mercifully with teams in their time zone. Huzzah. [Puck Daddy]
- Also from Puck Daddy, which had by far the best context for this little bit, I bring you "How Twitter can wreak havok on your Halloween costume choice." I think the author has a really good perspective on why Raffi Torres' costume really isn't that big of a deal even though the Internet exploded in mini-controversy as it is wont to do sometimes. [Puck Daddy]
- Full disclosure: This is about a week old, but with the team being off, I couldn't find any new videos on the website that I thought would be of interest. I did look around hard for a Halloween video, but alas, nothing other than the old 2005-06 Montreal Canadiens party video. For those of you from outside the Metroplex who are unfamiliar with this program, this is a weekly feature aired on Fox Sports Southwest that gives some behind the scenes access to the team.