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Hard to believe that over a quarter of the Dallas Stars season has passed and we are only in week four of the season. Last week, Brandon reviewed the Stars roster's performance for the first twelve games of the season. This week, we will look at how the players did since we last looked at them on February 11 in this week's Ups & Downs.
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Richard BACHMAN |
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| Comments: His play against the Calgary Flames is nothing to write home about. He finally seemed to settle a little bit in coming in to relieve Kari Lehtonen when he was injured against Vancouver, backstopping the team to an emotionally charged win. Needs to start seeing shots better and getting a little help from the guys in front to break out of his current funk. | |||
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Jamie BENN |
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| Comments: Hit a bit of a goal scoring slump this week, but continues to make plays for those around him. | |||
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Trevor DALEY |
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| Comments: Daley seemed to be finding his stride both offensively and defensively this past week. With an injury to his upper body, he didn't finish the Stars' last game of the week, and the team struggled to hold onto and keep a lead. Hopefully it is not serious, as Daley is one of the most veteran guys on the blueline currently. | |||
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Brenden DILLON |
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| Comments: Dillon is not only taking on some of the more difficult defensive minutes needed as a top-pairing defensemen, he also found a nice scoring touch. Granted, one of those was really kind of flukey, but at the end of the day goals don't have to look pretty for them to count. | |||
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Cody EAKIN |
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| Comments: Eakin busted out after last week's rankings, and has four points in his past three games. He's also been a shorthanded threat on the ice a number of times as an aggressive penalty killer. | |||
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Loui ERIKSSON |
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| Comments: Eriksson is struggling to find some scoring consistency, which is quite unusual for him. Also his defensive game isn't quite what Stars fans are used to seeing, either. Hopefully he finds his normal rhythm. | |||
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Vernon FIDDLER |
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| Comments: After some time to adjust, Fiddler has been a part of a fourth line that has been pushing the offense. He's also still doing well in the penalty killer capacity. Bordered on "Favorable" for the week. | |||
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Ryan GARBUTT |
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| Comments: After sitting a few games, Garbutt came back into the lineup and played very well. He notched two goals this week, and he is making sure that it will be difficult for the coaches to sit him once again. | |||
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Alex GOLIGOSKI |
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| Comments: Goligoski's defensive play at times has been spot on this week, but he still is struggling for portions of the games as well. | |||
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Jaromir JAGR |
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| Comments:The "shush" of Jagr to the crowd in Edmonton was just so...Jagr. | |||
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Philip LARSEN |
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| Comments: Larsen isn't doing any one thing good or bad necessarily, and he's on the edge of a #6/#7 defensemen on the team currently. Maybe this is what a sophomore slump looks like? | |||
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Kari LEHTONEN |
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| Comments: Lehtonen has been the best player on the team, hands down. He has stolen some games for the team, covered for the young defense's mistakes in front of him, and been a veritable stone wall at times. He went out of the Vancouver game with a lower body injury. Here's hoping he isn't out too long and returns ready to continue his strong play. | |||
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Brenden MORROW |
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| Comments: Morrow scored two goals in the goal scoring mayhem in Calgary last week. Teams have been able to effectively shut down the first line this last week, so his play suffered along with them. | |||
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Eric NYSTROM |
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| Comments: Nystrom finally found the back of the net for the first time this season, and seems to be playing off of the chemistry coming from his linemates Fiddler and Garbutt. Nice plucky fourth line play and still good on the penalty kill - the neutral zone turnovers continue, however. | |||
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Jamie OLEKSIAK |
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| Comments: Oleksiak was showing improvements while in Dallas. However, he wasn't getting the big minutes he would benefit from greatly. The Stars sent him back to the AHL to help his development by continuing to get those big minutes in Austin. | |||
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Stephane ROBIDAS |
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| Comments: The points for Robidas took a big turn upwards this past week, while he continues to play some of the toughest opponents' players. | |||
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Aaron ROME |
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| Comments: Rome still seems to be finding his stride in the defensive zone, but he's not sticking out as a liability either most of the time. | |||
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Antoine ROUSSEL |
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| Comments: After Roussel's "fun after the whistles" leading to penalty trouble, Roussel was sent back to Texas. He responded to getting called back up by keeping the penalties to a more reasonable level and scoring two goals in the last two games. | |||
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Derek ROY |
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| Comments: Roy has continued his creative play, and he still has a strong two-way game. However, Roy has had his linemates shuffled with Ray Whitney still out of the lineup, and it's caused a few defensive miscues common for not knowing who you're playing next to. | |||
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Michael RYDER |
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| Comments: Seems to have found quite a nice chemistry with Roy as his center, and his had quite a few nice backchecking moments. Playing a pretty well rounded game at the moment. | |||
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Reilly SMITH |
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| Comments: Two goals in the last two games and Smith nearly doubled his shots on goal to date for the season in just four games played this week. | |||
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Tomas VINCOUR |
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| Comments: Played one game and then found himself sent back down to Austin. | |||
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Tom WANDELL |
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| Comments: After sitting in the press box, finds himself down in Austin for a conditioning assignment. | |||
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Ray WHITNEY |
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| Comments: Whitney continues to be out for at least a few more weeks with a broken foot. | |||